Corinthians, FIRST AND SECOND EPISTLES TO THE, two writings forming part of the New Testament Canon, addressed by the Apostle Paul to the Christian church which he had founded at Corinth (q.v.) during his sojourn there, in part of 52, the whole of 53, and part of 54 A.D. Paul had been succeeded at Corinth by Apollos, and Apollos by certain Judaising teachers, and the church had become divided into four parties (1 Cor. i. 12). The First Epistle—which contains a reference to another epistle which preceded it, but has not been preserved (1 Cor. v. 9, 10)—was written from Ephesus in the spring of 57 or 58, and was occasioned by the reports which Paul had received from 'those of the household of Chloe' (1 Cor. i. 11) about these divisions. It was intended also to correct various abuses, and answer certain questions which the Corinthian Church had asked him by letter (1 Cor. vii. 1; viii. 1; xii. 1; &c.).
The reports brought by Titus of the condition and disposition of the Corinthian Church, and of the impression made on it by the previous epistle, induced Paul to write the Second. In this he appears to many scholars to refer to a second visit he had paid to Corinth (2 Cor. xii. 14; xiii. 1) some time between the first visit and our First Epistle—though by others this supposed second visit is much disputed—urges a collection for the mother-church at Jerusalem (2 Cor. viii. and ix.); endeavours to remove certain scandals that still existed, and to re-establish his apostolic authority, which had been contested by the schismatic teachers; and expresses his intention to pay another visit to Corinth. The epistle was written from Macedonia in the autumn of the same year (57 or 58 A.D.). The two epistles are unquestionably genuine, and show in the clearest light the personal character of the writer and the inner life of the primitive Gentile Church. 'We are here,' says Stanley, 'and (as far as the epistles are concerned) here only, allowed to witness the earliest conflict of Christianity with the culture and vices of the ancient classical world. . . . It is the Apostle of the Gentiles, as it were, in his own peculiar sphere—in the midst of questions evoked by his own peculiar mission—watching over churches of his own creation.'
The best of the special commentaries on both epistles are those of Meyer (6th ed. 1881), Holsten, Das Evangelium des Paulus (vol. i. 1880); Godet (English trans. in Clark's Series, 2 vols.); Stanley (5th ed. 1882); and Beet (3d ed. 1885); on the First Epistle, those of Heinrich (1880) and Lias (1886); on the Second, of Klöpfer (1874).