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 apostle Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians. This was an occasional letter to the faithful, written because of problems in the church at Corinth and in in defense of his apostolic calling. Paul was an apostle by the will of God – An apostle was one who had seen the Lord and proclaimed His message and Paul had seen Christ on the road to Damascus. The Will of God had made him God’s chosen vessel. Also, The Corinthians would know the name of Sosthenes as he was the former powerful and respected head of the synagogue in Corinth who became a believer in Christ and had continued on with Paul when he left Corinth for Ephesus.

The church in Corinth was founded by Paul on his second missionary journey; his ministry there began in the synagogue where as a Rabbi he was invited to speak and preached the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises and prophesies in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Most of the Jews resisted the gospel and Paul declared that he was parting from the Jews and the synagogue and would in the future be known as the apostle to the Gentiles. The time had come to give clear testimony.

Corinth was a pagan culture and many believers were unwilling to divorce themselves from their old selfish immoral ways. It became necessary for Paul to write to correct this. It is believed that there was an earlier corrective letter which has been lost. In 1st Corinthians Paul teaches on many doctrines that directly relate to matters of sin and righteousness. Wrong living stems from wrong beliefs. In the moment of trust in Jesus Christ, God separated the faithful and sets them/us unto Himself in Christ. That moment we were sanctified and that sanctification is a perfect one.