Corinth Corinth was one of the oldest cities of Greece, with evidence of settlement going back to at least 3000 BC. Its prime location along both east-west and north-south trade routes enabled it to become a center of commerce and trade, and it reached the height of its strength and power between 800 and 600 BC. When in the mid-100s BC the Roman military machine began a relentless march to forge a vast empire, Corinth led the Hellenic League to oppose Roman dominance in Greece. They were no match for the Romans, and in 146 BC Corinth was completely destroyed, its men executed, its women and children sold into slavery. Corinth lay in ruins for a century. In 44 BC Julius Caesar established a Roman colony at Corinth. The colony attracted a mixed group of Italians, freedmen (freed former slaves) from Rome, and dispossessed Greeks. With great industry and ingenuity the new inhabitants quickly reestablished the city as a prosperous center for trade, commerce, and industry. By the time Paul came to Corinth, it was a bustling cosmopolitan city with a population of almost 700,000, including many wealthy people, and many others who were struggling to become so. Corinth attracted trades...

Belonging to Christ To many modern readers, the New Testament seems to portray an extreme view of the Christian life. Believers are called to forfeit their rights, suffer, and even die for the sake of Christ (Mark 8:34-36). They are to turn away from the things of the world that everybody else lives for (1 Jn 2:15-17) and even to despise their life in this world (John 12:24-25). Paul encourages believers to give up the normal desires for marriage and family and remain single for Christ, if they have that spiritual gift (1 Cor 7:7). What lies behind such an apparently extreme view of life? For Paul, it is the awareness that believers are claimed by Christ and so belong to him, body and soul. When Christ died, he bought them for himself (6:20). They must no longer live simply for themselves and their own desires (2 Cor 5:14-15). Having died to their own personal interests, they are called to live entirely for their Lord (Rom 14:7-9). For true Christians, obedience to Christ is not an onerous burden, but a way to express their love and loyalty to the one who died for them. For the people of Christ, the whole of life is to be a joyful expression of thanks for the grace God has...

Holiness and Sexual Purity The Bible emphasizes the importance of being holy in our sexual relations. God created humanity as sexual beings, and the first command that he gave Adam and Eve was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28). But after sin entered the world, the good that God had created—including sex—became prone to distortion, and the pages of Scripture are filled with examples of sexual sin. God’s people were called to holiness, and the Israelites were given numerous commands that connected sexuality to their holiness (see, e.g., Lev 18:1-30). The sexual purity of God’s people would be seriously tested in the land of Canaan where illicit sexual practice abounded. Over and over again, the Israelites would fail to live up to God’s standards for sexual purity. The believers to whom Paul wrote likewise found themselves living in environments where illicit sexual activity was commonplace. In contrast to the so-called sexual freedom of the Greco-Roman world, the sexual life of God’s people was to be characterized by faithfulness and purity (1 Thes 4:3-8). Sexual relationships are to be restricted to marriage alone (1 Cor 7:1-9, 36-37). God has made Christians holy by...