Paul's Letter to the Corinthians Essay

The Apostle Paul’s strategic mission of expanding the church and spreading the Gospel was significant considering the challenges he had to conquer. His life and example was and is applicable to modern cross-cultural leaders and organizations. Philippians 2 is a letter written by Paul to the church of Philippi. It was prepared during his imprisonment in Rome for spreading the Gospel of Christ in an area where people predominately and traditionally believed in Judaism. His writing in this passage highlights Christ as the ultimate example of humility and Paul’s encouragement to his followers to keep the unity, as they are the light of the world.

With the ability to assimilate to various aspects of the universal Roman society, the apostle is able to relate to and address many different types of people. This aspect of his life makes Paul able to apply the collective ‘we’ when instructing believers of opposing backgrounds. Likewise, after his conversion

Paul was writing the letter to the churches of Thessalonica which is the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. His purpose of writing was to praise them on their “faith and love” that Timothy had brought and to focus on the instruction on how to live their Christian lives. Paul was writing this letter while he was on his mission in Corinthian where he was farther south in the province of Achaia. He wants the letter to be read aloud “to all his brothers” which means all his believers in Thessalonica. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 it is confirmed of the conclusion that the churches of Thessalonica was mostly composed of gentile

The Corinthians had a way of self-praise and boasting over their superior actions. They would speak in tongues and prophecy in public “not to benefit others who are in attendance but, in Paul’s view, simply to elevate themselves in the eyes of others” (Bart Ehrman, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament, p. 228). In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lists the variety of gifts that various members of the church possess, saying that the Spirit has assigned each gift to each individual. Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that God has given the individuals in the community distinctive roles and gifts that, when used appropriately, better the church as a whole. To emphasize the importance of unity in the church, Paul writes, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Cor 12:12). Paul shows how each member of the church has imperative value, just as each part of the body is essential for it to work properly. The Corinthians’ problem of boasting would fade away as soon as they acknowledge that there is value in the diversity of the members of the church. God placed each person in the role that He intends for them to fill and everyone must recognize His placement. Greater than all other gifts is the gift of love. Love is crucial because it builds up the community and strengthens every believer, regardless of their differences. Paul stresses that the most excellent gift is love, writing “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor

Christian ought to examine himself and seek to bear his own sins. As motivation to do good, Paul

Paul expresses an equality of human beings as those he equally owes a duty and a debt to preach the gospel. As mentioned before, some cultures of mankind arose from the refusal to glorify and acknowledge God with purity and righteousness. As a result, they developed cultures of darkness, shamefulness, and foolishness. Furthermore, such cultures of humanity caused their people to lose moral attributes and to grow wicked, selfish, and cruel (Romans 1).

Paul was also concerned how this sin had affected the Corinthian Church. The consequences of our

The apostle had evidently issued a warning to the Corinthians to maintain a clear separation from those persons who continued to exhibit the pagan lifestyle that was characteristic of Corinth. (As we have seen, the city was renowned for its

We learned that Paul used his letters to point out problems that the congregations may have been facing and he would also write to them solutions on how to solve the issues or better themselves. Paul had a tremendous impact when it comes to how Christianity was spread. His letters remain to be a critical source of theology, pastoral life, and worship in today’s modern day churches. The letter he wrote to the Romans was his longest letter and could have been arguably one of his greatest writings. Paul’s letter to the Romans church helped spread the views of Christianity due to the size and population of the city and church. Romans isn’t the only letter that Paul wrote in which he guides his fellow followers and helps clarify on specific issues. All the letters he wrote gives us a glimpse of who Paul truly is and how much love he has towards his faith and Jesus Christ. In one of the letter he comes to tell us that he was chosen to spread the word of Jesus Christ and to build as many churches he can across the

Paul begins his letter with honesty and speaks of his genuine dealings with the church of Corinth. He goes on to

Throughout the Pauline letters, we see the effectiveness of Paul’s leadership skills. Within the letters, he wrote and those others wrote about him, we see a leader that is encouraging and motivating. Praising the Lord through the good seasons and the bad, Paul shares the value he held for family and unity to

Paul is developing and spreading the doctrine of the Church in his letters. The body of Christ (the Church) is being revealed in his letters to the seven churches. Paul’s revelations about the Church concerned its heavenly calling, promise and destiny. The administration and organization of the Church was revealed to us through the apostle Paul.

Paul begins the letter of Romans by introducing himself and stating his mission. Concisely stating the gospel message, Paul encourages the Roman Christians to “bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name” (1:5), or for the glory of Jesus Christ. He goes on to write of his desires and intentions to visit Rome in order to preach the gospel of Christ to the Jews as well as the Gentiles. Paul continues by explaining his excitement for the gospel as well as the need to live the gospel out in our lives. Finishing the first chapter, Paul presents the inexcusable idolatry, sinfulness, and evilness of the ungodly.

The previous section of the letter is the introduction and Paul’s note of thanks for the Corinthian believers. There is a distinct note of commendation and love in the first section before Paul begins to condemn and exhort the Corinthians for their poor behavior. Much of this behavior is linked to their boasting about their wisdom, or the wisdom of those whom they choose to follow. Therefore, much of Paul’s teaching is in relation to true wisdom, as opposed to worldly wisdom. Paul continues to address the issue of factions in the church by further concentrating on the issue of wisdom, before he begins approaching other issues from the report in chapters 5 and 6. Following this, Paul begins to address the questions posed by the

In this letter Apostle Paul showed how great his love was for the church of Philippi, showing his gratitude for their financial support to further the work of the ministry and to express his concern about their spiritual walk. His only thought was about advancing the cause of Christ and building the Philippians’ faith to continue their mission in spite of the persecution they were facing. Within their church many of the people were at odds and some were trying to hinder the spread of the Gospel. Because of this, Paul encourages the church of Philippi to "stand fast, be of the same mind, rejoice in the Lord always but by prayer let your request be made known and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (4:1-7).