The account of Paul’s first visit to Corinth is given in Acts xvii. He continued there a year and six months, going thence to Syria, and making a brief stay on his way to Jerusalem at Ephesus, to which he returned and remained for over two years. The church at Corinth became the most important of those founded by the apostle, and probably embraced the church at the adjoining seaport of Cenchreae (see on Rom. xvi. 1), and the Christians scattered throughout Achaia (2 Cor. Bah
ae Paul’s departure from Corinth, Apollos, commended by the Ephesian church, was sent to labor there. Notwith- standing his efficiency he involuntarily became the cause of division in the church, as the nucleus of a party which pre- ferred his polished rhetoric to the plainer utterances of Paul (1 Cor. ili. 4, 5).
Besides this, the characteristic sensuous and pleasure-loving tendencies of the Corinthians began to assert themselves within the church. The majority of the converts were of a low social grade, many of them slaves, and the seductions of the gay city often proved too strong for resistance.
The report of these evils, brought to Ephesus by Apollos on his return from Corinth, called out a letter from Paul which is lost, but which is referred to in 1 Cor.v.9. Additional tidings came in a letter from the church to Paul, asking advice on the following points: 1. Celibacy and marriage. Was married life a lower condition than celibacy, or was it wrong in itself ? Were marriages allowable between Christians and heathen ? Should a Christian wife or husband abandon a heathen spouse ? 2. Meats offered to idols. Jdol sacrifices were festivals. Gen- tile converts refused to abandon the society of their heathen friends, and mingled with them at the idol feasts ; while a meal at a public festival was a substantial help to the poor. Might Christians attend these festivals? Might they buy in the mar. ket the resold meat which had been offered to idols? 3. Rules in assemblies. Should men cover their heads? Should women