Corinth was the capital of a province known as Achaia in southern Greece. When we look at a map, it becomes apparent that the city was in an ideal location. It is near a narrow stretch of land separating two seas.
The arrows shows the route ships had to take around the area known as Peloponessus.
The location of a city affects its commerce and wealth. Just as Glasgow and Liverpool became wealthy because of their location, Corinth became a wealthy trading city. Greece can be divided into two geographical areas each with a famous city - Athens was the leading city of Northern Greece and Sparta in Southern Greece. So Corinth was located in the centre of ancient Greece and was the centre of trade and commerce. Many goods arrived at ports located near Corinth. There were several attempts to dig a canal across this neck of land to make it easier for sailors to travel from the Gulf of Corinth on the west (labelled A in the map) to the Saronic Gulf on the east (labelled B on the map). Around 44 BC, Julius Caesar had tried to build a canal across the four mile strip of water and much later in AD 67 Nero again tried to dig this canal and he had the advantage of a supply of Jewish prisoners during the Roman-Jewish war. It was not until the nineteenth century that the present canal was excavated and it is very narrow and is unsuitable for larger ships. I have marked the route around the Pelopenessus with blue arrows. The picture below shows the modern day Corinth Canal.
Picture from www.caingram.info
In the markets of Corinth there were goods from all over the world and the city was cosmopolitan - it had a variety of nationalities and people of different races. Some of its citizens became rich and like the Glasgow Tobacco Lords, they built beautiful houses made to last and decorated with marble columns. Other Corinthians lived in hovels made from flimsy materials such as wood, hay and even the stubble left on the fields after the harvest (See 1 Corinthians 3:12). So the city was divided socially and economically with a few very rich people and the majority very poor. Slavery still existed and many inhabitants of the city had no rights whatsoever.
Corinth was notorious for immorality. The pagan religion of the city promoted immorality. Our perspective sees religion as promoting family values - and monogamy. In Corinth it was exactly the opposite - the temple of Aphrodite was a brothel with 1,000 prostitutes actively promoting promiscuity and sex. In addition, there were so many sailors and travellers hanging around waiting for their boats to be hauled over the isthmus (narrow neck of land) that there was every opportunity to indulge in sexual activities. A man on a long sea voyage away from wife and family in a city where sex was readily available is an opportunity for lust and licence. There was a word coined - to corinthianise - which meant to engage in rampant sexual activity.
Corinth was a Roman colony. Julius Caesar arrived at the ruins of the ancient city and rebuilt it to form a colony which would be loyal to Rome. Corinth was proud of its links with Rome - its Romanitas (proud to be described as Roman). There were many temples in Corinth to Roman and Greek gods such as Aphrodite (goddess of love), Poseidon (god of the sea and also earthquakes), Apollo (god of archery, music and dance) and Asclepius (god of healing). However, there was another temple which stood slightly higher than the others - this was the imperial temple, which represented the Roman emperor who was treated as a god.
One writer described Corinth as a 'city of drunkards, cheats and swindlers.' While Paul was in Corinth, he dictated his famous condemnation of paganism which he saw all around him. (Romans 1:21-32) Paul knew very well the kind of lifestyle which the Gentiles (non-Jews) lived. He was a Jew who had grown up in Tarsus . But Corinth was even worse than his home town. Here is his verdict on the Gentile way of life of which Corinth was a good example.
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; [Romans 1:29-30 NIV]
So this was the city where one of the early Christian churches was founded. We are going to be having a look at Paul's letter to this church and we will learn that the church faced many problems and difficulties. We cannot isolate our local church from its location. Whether we care to admit it or not, we are influenced by the society all around us.
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
This is a French saying which I will translate roughly as follows - the more things change, the more they remain the same. We live in a different world today with modern technology and values but there are many features of Corinth which are remarkably similar to our society. We live in a world of inequality - some very wealthy people live extravagant lavish lifestyles and many people struggle to survive. Although we don't worship false gods such as Apollo, there are still gods such as celebrities and politicians or habits or addictions that dominate our life. There is still promiscuity and a decline in marriage and family values. Our society quite openly promotes a moral lifestyle that is contrary to God's Word. As Christians we need to live in the world but not get sucked in to its ways and its values.
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