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Analysis of 1 Cor 3:5-9
In this analysis, we will look into the book of 1 Corinthians and interpret its geographical
context, relational context between Paul and the Corinthians, the structure of the letter, and its
literary context in regards to the passage 1 Cor 3:5-9. With help from The Anchor Bible
Dictionary and three other commentaries on 1 Corinthians, we will try and answer what Paul is
trying to say to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 3:5-9.
To start we will analyze the geographical setting of the city Corinth. In the article titled
Corinth
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, written by J. Murphy-O’Connor, found in the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, lies
important information relevant to Corinth’s geographical context. In the article it states that
the third largest city of the ancient world, Corinth, was about 4 square-km. Corinth had the port
of Lechaeum which was considered to be its artificial harbor since it was partly excavated.
Corinth’s second harbor, Cenchreae, was found to be 9 km east of the Saronic Gulf. Having
control of the two harbors, and its position on the Peloponnese peninsula next to the isthmus
(land bridge) linking the Peloponnese to mainland Greece, gave Corinth a large geographic
advantage, for it was a logistical answer to be the trading cross roads for the ancient world.
Corinth was in the perfect place to be involved in large amounts of trade coming from each and
every direction of the ancient world. With this high productivity demand, Corinth would find
itself with a prospering robust economy. In order for Corinth to develop their East-West
trading, a man by the name of Periander, led a project to build a paved road across the isthmus
which allowed small ships to be taken across the isthmus from one sea to the other. The ships
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J. Murphy–O’Connor, “Corinth”, ABD 1:1134-1135.
were able to be hauled by using a platform that ran along the pavement using grooves cut into
the pavement. Similar to an early version of a railroad car. With the combination of a robust
economy and unusual social/political stability, Corinth was reputably found to be a place to
fornicate, or in other words, their reputations were known to be sexually immoral. Murphy-
O’Connor states how Corinth’s reputation is considered to be commercialized love, “Athenian
writers made Corinth the symbol of commercialized love. Aristophanes coined the verb
korinthiazesthai, “to fornicate”. Plato used korinthia korē, “a Corinthian girl,” to mean a
prostitute. These neologisms, however, left no permanent mark on the language, because in
reality Corinth was neither better nor worse than its contemporaries.”
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. Although Corinth had
its sexually immoral reputations, it was realistically not that much worse than their other
ancient civilization counterparts.
Moving forward, the relational context between Paul and the Corinthians is quite
