The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Edition (The New International Commentary on the New Testament | NICNT)

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“Thus, the picture that emerges is one of a predominantly Gentile community, the majority of whom were almost certainly at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder, although there were two or three wealthy families. As former pagans they brought to the Christian faith a Hellenistic worldview and attitude toward ethical behavior. Although they were the Christian church in Corinth, an inordinate amount of Corinth was yet in them, emerging in a number of attitudes and behaviors that required radical surgery without killing the patient. This is what this letter attempts to do.” (Page 4)

“Truly Christian conduct is not predicated on whether I have the right to do something, i.e., whether it is to my own benefit or not, but whether my conduct is good, meaning ultimately helpful to those around me.” (Page 279)

“As often happens in such centers, vice and religion flourished side by side. Old Corinth had gained such a reputation for sexual vice that Aristophanes (ca. 450–385 b.c.) coined the verb korinthiazō (= to act like a Corinthian, i.e., to commit fornication).” (Page 2)

“A God discovered by human wisdom will be both a projection of human fallenness and a source of human pride, and this constitutes the worship of the creature, not the Creator.” (Page 76)

“Paul addresses, in response to reports (1:11; 5:1; 11:18) or to their letter (cf. 7:1), at least eleven different, somewhat disparate concerns, ten of which are behavioral; only the issue of the resurrection of the dead (chap. 15) is theological as such, and even there he concludes both major sections with ethical warnings and imperatives (vv. 33–34, 58). But in every case his greater concern is the theological stance behind the behavior.” (Page 5)