Paul’s residence in Ephesus is distinguished in his literary history,
as the period in which he wrote that most eloquent and animated of his
epistles,――“the first to the Corinthians.” It was written towards the
close of his stay in Asia, about the time of the passover; according
to established calculations, therefore, in the spring of the year of
Christ 57. The more immediate occasion of his writing to the Corinthian
Christians, was a letter which he had received from them, by the hands
of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus. Paul had previously written
to them an epistle, (now lost,) in which he gave them some directions
about their deportment, which they did not fully understand, and
of which they desired an explanation in their letter. Many of these
questions, which this epistle of the Corinthians contained, are
given by Paul, in connection with his own answers to them; and from
this source it is learned that they concerned several points of
expediency and propriety about matrimony. These are answered by
Paul, very distinctly and fully; but much of his epistle is taken
up with instructions and reproofs on many points not referred to
in their inquiries. The Corinthian church was made up of two very
opposite constituent parts, so unlike in their character, as to render
exceedingly complicated the difficulties of bringing all under one
system of faith and practice; and the apostolic founder was, at one
time, obliged to combat heathen licentiousness, and at another, Jewish
bigotry and formalism. The church also, having been too soon left
without the presence of a fully competent head, had been very loosely
filled up with a great variety of improper persons,――some hypocrites,
and some profligates,――a difficulty not altogether peculiar to the
Corinthian church, nor to those of the apostolic age. But there were
certainly some very extraordinary irregularities in the conduct of
their members, some of whom were in the habit of getting absolutely
drunk at the sacramental table; and others were guilty of great sins
in respect to general purity of life. Another peculiar difficulty,
which had arisen in the church of Corinth, during Paul’s absence,
was the formation of sects and parties, each claiming some one of the
great Christian teachers as its head; some of them claiming Paul as
their only apostolic authority; some again preferring the doctrines of
Apollos, who had been laboring among them while Paul was in Ephesus;
and others again, referred to Peter as the true apostolic chief, while
they wholly denied to Paul any authority whatever, as an apostle.
There had, indeed, arisen a separate party, strongly opposed to Paul,
headed by a prominent person, who had done a great deal to pervert the
truth, and to lessen the character of Paul in various ways, which are
alluded to by Paul in many passages of his epistle, in a very indignant
tone. Other difficulties are described by him, and various excesses
are reproved, as a scandal to the Christian character; such as an
incestuous marriage among their members,――lawsuits before heathen
magistrates,――dissolute conformity to the licentious worship of the
Corinthian goddess, whose temple was so infamous for its scandalous
rites and thousand priestesses. Some of the Corinthian Christians had
been in the habit of visiting this and other heathen temples, and of
participating in the scenes of feasting, riot and debauchery, which
were carried on there as a part of the regular forms of idolatrous
worship.
The public worship of the Corinthian church had been disturbed also
by various irregularities which Paul reprehends;――the abuse of the
gift of tongues, and the affectation of an unusual dress in preaching,
both by men and women. In the conclusion of his epistle he expatiates
too, at great length, on the doctrine of the resurrection of the body,
vehemently arguing against some Corinthian heretics, who had denied
any but a spiritual existence beyond the grave. This argument may
justly be pronounced the best specimen of Paul’s very peculiar
style, reasoning as he does, with a kind of passion, and interrupting
the regular series of logical demonstrations, by fiery bursts of
enthusiasm, personal appeals, poetical quotations, illustrative
similes, violent denunciations of error, and striking references to
his own circumstances. All these nevertheless, point very directly
and connectedly at the great object of the argument, and the whole
train of reasoning swells and mounts, towards the conclusion, in a
manner most remarkably effective, constituting one of the most sublime
argumentative passages ever written. He then closes the epistle with
some directions about the mode of collecting the contributions for the
brethren in Jerusalem. He promises to visit them, and make a long stay
among them, when he goes on his journey through Macedonia,――a route
which, he assures them, he had now determined to take, as mentioned by
Luke, in his account of the preliminary mission of Timothy and Erastus,
before the time of the mob at Ephesus; but should not leave Ephesus
until after Pentecost, because a great and effectual door was there
opened to him, and there were many opposers. He speaks of Timothy as
being then on the mission before mentioned, and exhorts them not to
despise this young brother, if he should visit them, as they might
expect. After several other personal references, he signs his ♦own name
with a general salutation; and from the terms, in which he expresses
this particular mark already alluded to in the second epistle to the
Thessalonians, it is very reasonable to conclude, that he was not
his own penman in any of these epistles, but used an amanuensis,
authenticating the whole by his signature, with his own hand,
only at the end; and this opinion of his method of carrying on his
correspondence, is now commonly, perhaps universally, adopted by the
learned.
♦ “ownn,ame” replaced with “own name”
“Chapter xvi. 10, 11. ‘Now, if Timotheus come, see that he may
be with you without fear; for he worketh the work of the Lord,
as I also do: let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him
forth in peace, that he may come unto me, for I look for him
with the brethren.’
“From the passage considered in the preceding number, it appears
that Timothy was sent to Corinth, either with the epistle, or
before it: ‘for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus.’
From the passage now quoted, we infer that Timothy was not sent
_with_ the epistle; for had he been the bearer of the letter, or
accompanied it, would St. Paul in that letter have said, ‘_if_
Timothy come?’ Nor is the sequel consistent with the supposition
of his carrying the letter; for if Timothy was with the apostle
when he wrote the letter, could he say, as he does, ‘I look for
him with the brethren?’ I conclude, therefore, that Timothy had
left St. Paul to proceed upon his journey before the letter was
written. Further, the passage before us seems to imply, that
Timothy was not expected by St. Paul to arrive at Corinth, till
after they had received the letter. He gives them directions in
the letter how to treat him when he should arrive: ‘if he come,’
act towards him so and so. Lastly, the whole form of expression
is more naturally applicable to the supposition of Timothy’s
coming to Corinth, not directly from St. Paul, but from some
other quarter; and that his instructions had been, when he
should reach Corinth, to return. Now, how stands this matter
in the history? Turn to the nineteenth chapter and twenty-first
verse of the Acts, and you will find that Timothy did not,
when sent from Ephesus, where he left St. Paul, and where the
present epistle was written, proceed by a straight course to
Corinth, but that he went round through Macedonia. This clears
up everything; for, although Timothy was sent forth upon his
journey before the letter was written, yet he might not reach
Corinth till after the letter arrived there; and he would come
to Corinth, when he did come, not directly from St. Paul, at
Ephesus, but from some part of Macedonia. Here therefore is
a circumstantial and critical agreement, and unquestionably
without design; for neither of the two passages in the epistle
mentions Timothy’s journey into Macedonia at all, though nothing
but a circuit of that kind can explain and reconcile the
expressions which the writer uses.” (Paley’s Horae Paulinae,
1 Corinthians No. IV.)
“Chapter v. 7, 8. ‘For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed
for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.’
“Dr. Benson tells us, that from this passage, compared with
chapter xvi. 8, it has been conjectured that this epistle was
written about the time of the Jewish passover; and to me the
conjecture appears to be very well founded. The passage to which
Dr. Benson refers us, is this: ‘I will tarry at Ephesus until
Pentecost.’ With this passage he ought to have joined another
in the same context: ‘And it may be that I will abide, yea,
and winter with you:’ for, from the two passages laid together,
it follows that the epistle was written before Pentecost, yet
after winter; which necessarily determines the date to the part
of the year, within which the passover falls. It was written
before Pentecost, because he says, ‘I will tarry at Ephesus
until Pentecost.’ It was written after winter, because he tells
them, ‘It may be that I may abide, yea, and winter with you.’
The winter which the apostle purposed to pass at Corinth, was
undoubtedly the winter next ensuing to the date of the epistle;
yet it was a winter subsequent to the ensuing Pentecost, because
he did not intend to set forwards upon his journey till after
the feast. The words, ‘let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,’ look very
much like words suggested by the season; at least they have,
upon that supposition, a force and significancy which do not
belong to them upon any other; and it is not a little remarkable,
that the hints casually dropped in the epistle, concerning
particular parts of the year, should coincide with this
supposition.” (Paley’s Horae Paulinae. 1 Corinthians. No. XII.)