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Occasion for First Corinthians   During Paul’s third missionary journey, while he was at Ephesus he wrote the first epistle to the Corinthians. The immediate reasons for the correspondence were to respond to various issues within the Corinthian Christian community that had been made known to Paul. First, Paul had received reports from the family of Chloe (1:11) of serious problems within the church at Corinth. Paul responded by writing First Corinthians 1-4. Second, Paul had received a letter from the Corinthians themselves (7:1) filled with questions that plagued them. Paul responds to these question and/or issues, sometimes seeming to quote from their letter (7:1, 8, 10, 25; 8:1; 10:23 [cf. 6:12]; 11:2; 12:1; 15:12).   Third, before Paul could respond to the letter he had to address a serious immoral situation in First Corinthians 5-6. The report may have been brought by three men from Corinth: Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus (perhaps they delivered the letter to him) (5:1 with 16:15-17). Also, Paul seems to be responding to a report in 11:18 (from Chloe’s household or the three messengers). Finally, Paul brings up his own agenda concerning a collection for God’s people (16:1). Hence, the letter at times looks as though it is answering a series of questions and issues rather than a monolithic development of a major theme. Copyright © 2010 ScriptureWorkshop.com