Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother. (2) To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. (3) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. Corinth was a strategically located and a major trading center in southern Greece – a city infamous for its culture of debauchery and moral corruption. Corinth was also the venue for the Isthmian games bringing increased traffic. Another major attraction was Corinth was the site of the temple of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. The temple was served by 1000 priestesses or prostitutes who worked at the temple by day and would visit the city by night.  Paul founded the church there on his second missionary journey and followed his pattern of teaching at the synagogue at first and then removing himself when he encountered seemingly inevitable resistance. However, he preached with some success as  two of the leaders of the synagogue embraced Christianity and one of those Jewish leaders  was Sosthenes who is probably the well known scribe mentioned in our verse 1.

We learn later on in this letter that there were problems with the church in Corinth but our verses today tell us that Paul is establishing his authority as an apostle and an apostle by the will of God.  Paul is writing a corrective letter and here is basically saying that if the Christians oppose him they are also opposing the will of God.  He is reminding the Christians in  Corinthians of their position as men/women justified in faith in Christ Jesus and of their journey of sanctification. An important element in these verses is Paul is reminding them that they are called by God to be holy – set apart – and they are to behave as they believe.  A Christian is a sinner saved by grace through faith in Christ not yet perfect.  But he/she is in their way to heaven – the culture of Corinth was causing some to backslide.

The paradox here is Paul went to urban areas, strategically located – and while constant traffic enabled the spread of the gospel, the intrinsic values of the Christians in such cities were more easily corrupted by the surrounding pagan culture.