Why was 1 Corinthians written?
Paul had visited Corinth and spent time there teaching the good news about Jesus Christ (see Acts 18:1-17). During this time he became close to the followers of Christ who lived in Corinth. He wrote to them because they were his friends and because he had heard about certain arguments and disputes among them. He was especially concerned about the way the Corinthian Christians were dividing themselves into different groups (1:10 – 4:21) and about the way they were treating one another (5:1 – 6:20). He also wrote to answer their questions about marriage (7:1-40) and about whether it was appropriate to eat food offered to idols (8: 1-13; 10:23 – 11:1; cf. Romans 14). They had sent these questions to Paul in an earlier letter (7:1). Finally, Paul wanted to let the Corinthians Christians know that he intended to return to Corinth and stay with them for a while (16:5).
