Letters of Paul to the Corinthians

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Two letters from Paul to the Corinthians are preserved in the New Testament :

They give an insight into the life of an early Christian community, which is supplemented by the information from the Acts of the Apostles .

overview

Corinth was a rich port city with great social differences, a wide ethnic and religious diversity and, in Greece, a proverbial immorality.

On his second missionary trip , Paul came to Corinth from Athens and stayed with Aquila and Priscilla . He worked there as a missionary and church planter for about a year and a half.

Paul probably wrote more than two letters to the church in Corinth (cf. 2 Cor 2: 4  EU ), but only two of them have survived. The 3rd letter to the Corinthians is, however, an invented letter that was written in the name of the apostle and forms part of the Coptic Acts of Paul (Acta Pauli) .

Reconstructed course of visits and letters

The following sequence can be reconstructed from the information in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters to the Corinthians. Based on an inscription found in Corinth relating to the proconsul Gallio , Acts 18.12  EU can be dated to the year 51.

  • 50–51: Establishment of the Corinthian congregation and Paul’s stay in the city for a year and a half ( Acts 18.11-17  EU )
  • Not received letter of Paul to the Corinthians ( 1 Cor 5,9  EU )
  • Answer of the Corinthians ( 1 Cor 7,1  EU )
  • Visit of the people of Chloe to Paul in Ephesus ( 1 Cor 1,11  EU )
  • Sending Timothy to Corinth ( 1 Cor 4.17  EU )
  • Arrival of Stephanas in Ephesus ( 1 Cor 16.17  EU )
  • 54 or: 55 Composition of the 1st letter to the Corinthians in Ephesus ( 1 Cor  EU )
  • Unsuccessful interim visit of Paul in Corinth ( 2 Cor 2.1  EU )
  • Paul's return journey to Ephesus
  • Interim letter delivered by Titus , Fortunatus and Achaicus ( 2 Cor 2,4  EU )
  • Paul's journey to Macedonia and Troas ( Acts 20 : 1-6  EU and 2 Cor 2.12  EU )
  • Meeting with Titus ( 2 Cor 7.5-7  EU )
  • 56 or 57: Composition of the 2nd letter to the Corinthians in Macedonia ( 2 Cor  EU )
  • Execution of the collection by Titus ( 2 Cor 8 : 16-24  EU )
  • Intended third visit of Paul to Corinth ( 2 Cor 13,1  EU ).

literature

  • Hans Frör: Oh your Corinthians. The correspondence of the church in Corinth with Paul . Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1994, ISBN 3-579-02283-0 .
  • Ernst Lerle : Practical commentary on the first letter to the Corinthians. Evangelical Publishing House, Berlin 1978.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Berger , Christiane Nord: The New Testament and early Christian writings. Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-458-17249-1 , pp. 1232-1234.