1st Corinthians

1 Corinthians is a letter written from the apostle Paul to the Corinthian people. In this letter, Paul logically approaches and addresses many issues. He advises on the quarrels in the Corinthian church. He delves into the issue of morality, telling what is and is not appropriate. Finally, he directly broaches the subject of church matters and faith. Throughout the letter, Paul stresses the unity of the church as well as an all-consuming devotion to God.

To begin with, Paul describes how there is a division in the Corinthian church between followers of different leaders. He quickly chastises the people for being so foolish as to squabble. There is but one God and the various leaders are inconsequential because they should all be united in worshipping the one true God. They have faith in God, not men. This makes a great deal of sense and is perfectly logically sound because they all to the same monotheistic religion. Paul backs himself up by claiming that the people must trust the wisdom of God. That a person is the only one who can understand themselves and therefore only God can understand himself. Since Paul is a messenger of God's word, the people must trust him fully because they are creations of God and are therefore inferior. He then gives the people motivation to be spiritual by telling them they need to do so in order to receive all of the gifts that God can offer. Paul's way of thinking is very circular; he often gives one example and then gives the converse. He really says very little with many words, though it is justified when the topic is taken into consideration. Eventually, Paul gives the people sound but simple advice. He tells them to imitate himself and to stop being arrogant. He essentially wants the people to devote their lives to God and no longer worry about ephemeral things. With this wise advice, the Corinthians may solve their issues.

Paul then discusses the morality of the Corinthians. He specifically touches on the issues of sex, marriage, and divorce. His overall view on sex is that it should not be had, but if it must be had, it should only be between husband and wife. Also that neither spouse should refuse the others conjugal rights unless both choose to abstain. Paul is very reluctant to advocate sex, but he must for procreation's sake. On marriage, he essentially believes that people should stay single, but if they marry, they should stay married and keep the same partner for life and that the woman is always subordinate to the man because he created her. Paul shows incredibly strong conviction in his beliefs and goes into detail of what one can and cannot do in a marriage. This is a great issue because marriage is the only acceptable arena for sex in his mind. As for divorce, he only accepts it in the case that an unbelieving partner wants to leave because they are not holy. Once again, he proves very conservative in his views on marriage. Paul actually never even advocates marriage in the first place. He believes that, as a temple of God, the human body should not be concerned with