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A Journey to Thessalonica & Corinth
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Readings for Daily Masses During Ordinary Time Year II, Weeks 21 - 24
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Getting Oriented
After three brief days with the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, we will spend three and a half weeks with the First Letter to the Corinthians. We also hear from 1 Corinthians during January and February of all three years of the Sunday lectionary cycle.
Thessalonica (or Thessaloniki) is located on the northwestern edge of the Aegean Sea. As we discuss on our page about 1 Thessalonians, the city was a regional hub of commerce. Acts 17:1 - 9 tells us that Paul spent no more than 3 weeks in Thessalonica, most likely in 50 AD. Nevertheless, Paul kept in touch with the Christian community he founded there.
Shortly after leaving Thessalonica, Paul spent roughly 18 months establishing a Christian community in Corinth. Because Paul interacted with the proconsul Gallio (Acts 18:12 - 17), scholars are confident that Paul lived here for at least part of the year 51 AD. Corinth is in southern Greece, located on the narrowest part of an isthmus separating the Adriatic and Aegean Seas by only 7 miles. In Paul's time, Corinth was a large, recently re-established city, with a population of remarkable ethnic and philosophical diversity.
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2 Thessalonians: Background & Content
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Words to a Community Awaiting Christ's Return
Scripture scholars debate the authorship of 2 Thessalonians. Perhaps it was written by Paul shortly after 1 Thessalonians, but the majority of modern scholars think it was written decades later by someone using Paul's name. Refer to this page for more on the theories of authorship of the various New Testament epistles, including 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians addresses concerns similar to those in 1 Thessalonians: warning the audience not to be deceived by others predicting the exact time of Christ's return, and exhorting them to support one another in industriousness and mutuality. One of best-known passages in 2 Thessalonians is "Anyone who would not work should not eat" (3:10b). To the chagrin of many theology students, this passage is often read at Monday morning prayer in the Divine Office before they trudge off to classes.
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John Smith & Vladimir Lenin quoted
2 Thess 3:10b to justify their policies.
Colorized engraving of John Smith - Encyclopedia Britannica
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1 Corinthians: Background
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Icon of Saints Aquila and Priscilla - Wikimedia Commons
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Paul's Ministry in Corinth, and His Ongoing Correspondence with the Community He Founded
To support himself and to meet people in Corinth, Paul worked as a canvas-maker and most likely set up a stall in the marketplace. It was there that he presumably befriended fellow canvas-makers Priscilla (Prisca) and Aquila, a married Jewish-Christian couple who had fled Rome when the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from that city c. 49. They were key collaborators with Paul as he established the first Christian community in Corinth. The couple later headed to Ephesus ahead of Paul to begin the work of founding a Christian community there.
After leaving Corinth, Paul kept in frequent contact with the Christian community there. Some scholars posit that Paul sent at least five letters to the Corinthians: the first and third letters have been lost, but the second letter (written c. 56) is what we call 1 Corinthians, and the fourth and fifth letters combine into what we call 2 Corinthians.
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The Atmosphere in Corinth: Like a Modern College Campus?
As Emory University's Donald G. Shockley suggests in Campus Ministry: the Church Beyond Itself, the atmosphere of 1st-century Corinth may have been quite analogous to the modern American university town. The worshipers of Apollo were dedicated to the pursuit of art and philosophy; some who worshiped Aphrodite participated in a ritual sex cult; yet the port city was dominated by the pursuit of wealth.
Davis Applied Technology College
Throughout the Roman Empire, the phrase "to act like a Corinthian" described particularly depraved behavior. Sailors in particular enjoyed Corinth's wide variety of carnal pleasures — either at the end of a voyage traveling east on the Adriatic Sea, or at the conclusion of the portage of their ships from the Aegean Sea in the west.
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The Most Relevant Epistle in the Western World Today?
Perhaps Paul deliberately chose to "set up shop" as an evangelist and as a canvas-maker in Corinth because it was a city of such diverse ideas and people, with travelers frequently connecting it with other parts of the Roman Empire.
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Light Bulb - Theo Crazzolara
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It seems less likely that Paul anticipated another gift Christianity received from his establishing a community in Corinth. After Paul left, the Corinthian Christians struggled to keep themselves from falling back into the practices of their pagan neighbors. Therefore, they corresponded with Paul about the practicalities of how their beliefs should affect their daily behavior.
These issues are still bracingly relevant today:-
If I am saved through my baptism, do my actions matter?
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How should we treat members of our community who are sinning?
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What obligations do we have to one another as Christians?
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What are our obligations to our non-Christian neighbors?
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Paul addresses most of the Corinthians' concerns by reflecting on the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. In the history of Christianity, Paul is the foremost interpreter of the life of Jesus, writing long before the canonical gospels were compiled. Many of Paul's most familiar, most quoted passages come from 1 Corinthians. Of the four longest epistles in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians is probably the most accessible to the typical reader. It does not have the theological density of Romans, the references to unspecified events of 2 Corinthians, nor the numerous allusions to Jewish practices in Hebrews.
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1 Corinthians: Content & Structure
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The Main Theme: The Witness of Our Unity As Christians
Paul addresses divisions within the community, questionable moral behaviors, marriage and virginity, participating in the activities of non-believers, the separation of wealthy and poor Corinthian Christians at community gatherings, and the nature of the resurrection. On every specific issue, Paul's insistence is the same: for the small Christian community in Corinth to be an effective witness of the gospel in such a cosmopolitan city, the community's unity and holiness must be readily apparent to all observers.
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Chapters 1 - 4: Divisions within the Community;Meditations on Humility and Leadership
After a brief greeting, Paul addresses divisions that have arisen among the Corinthian Christians. They have broken into factions based on who first brought them to the faith: Peter (called "Cephas"), Paul, or an apostle who came to Corinth later named Apollos. To think in such a way, chides Paul, is to divide Christ. It is Christ who sanctifies the Corinthian Christians, not any specific follower of Christ.
Paul then reflects on human beings' complete dependence on God. Two verses are particularly notable:-
"The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." (1:25)
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"What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him." (2:9)
In chapters 3-4, Paul contemplates the nature of leadership within the Christian community. He and Apollos are "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God," he explains (4:1). "I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth" (3:6). -
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Chapters 5 - 7: Matters Regarding Sexuality & Relationships
Paul next addresses the Corinthian Christians' use of secular courts to resolve disputes among members of the community. He warns that such practices lead to scandal. Why should the Corinthians resort to a system based on the secular values of winning and losing, of guilt and punishment, when the Christian community is formed around the values of love and reconciliation?
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Paul advises that the Corinthian Christians' desire for judging others should be turned inwards. Each Christian should first and foremost judge his or her own behavior. He speaks of a number of serious offenses, including some of the sexual perversions prominent in the notoriously permissive city of Corinth. If a Corinthian Christian is to judge the actions of anyone else, condemnation should be reserved for the behaviors that lead their fellow Christians astray from gospel living. Paul speaks in particular in chapter 5 about a man in the community who openly lives with his father's wife. If the man will not change his behavior, then the Corinthian Christians must expel him from their company, in the hopes that this will prompt him to reconsider his ways, and thus "his spirit may be saved" (5:5).
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In chapter 7, Paul considers sexual relations in general. Thinking that the second coming of Christ is imminent, he advises that those who are able to remain celibate should do so. Those who feel unable to remain celibate should marry. If one is married to a non-believer, that is fine, unless the pagan opposes the Christian spouse's practice of the faith. In that case, Paul gives permission for the couple to divorce.
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Excursus: Considerations When Quoting Chapters 5 - 7
Unless we consider chapters 5-7 within the full context of 1 Corinthians, we can easily manipulate snippets to "proof text" positions contrary to what we consider to be the best practices in Christianity today. We offer three examples:
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Sadly, the sexual abuse crisis has revealed that internal judicial systems all too often value protecting the reputation of the institution — be it a religious or secular institution — over protecting victims. In nations with transparent, democratic judicial systems, the Catholic Church now requires that sexual abuses be reported to secular authorities.
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Paul's praising celibacy as a state superior to marriage must be understood in the context of his belief that Christ would return within a relatively short amount of time. As we continue to await the second coming of Christ nearly two millennia later, the Church no longer holds celibacy as a "higher" state than marriage.
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While Paul instructs the Corinthian Christians to expel the man boasting of his incestuous relationship, such expulsions should be used as a last resort. Even then, excommunication should be reserved for only the most egregious offenses, always carried out with the hope that the community will eventually reconcile with the person committing the offense.
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Chapters 8 - 10: Food Sacrificed to Idols
In chapter 8, Paul addresses a question that the Corinthian Christians have about eating the food sacrifced to pagan idols by their neighbors. Since the Christians do not participate in the rites themselves, nor do they believe in the idols, what harm is there in eating this food that may otherwise go to waste? While Paul acknowledges that there is no scandal in eating the food, it is still wrong to do so because of the appearance of scandal. Eating the food appears to endorse pagan beliefs and practices.
Paul apparently expects the Corinthian Christians to question this pronouncement. He explains the dangers of idolatry as well as the dangers of becoming overconfident that one's baptism will lessen one's culpability for sins committed later. "Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall" (10:12). He reflects on all the restrictions he has placed on himself in order to become a better apostle: "Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible" (9:19).
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The Martyrdom of St. Paul - Robert Reid
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In Catholic churches today, a woman's wearing of a veil is a personal choice,
not a requirement.
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Chapters 11 - 14: The Love of Christ Overcomes All Divisions
Paul opines on why women's heads should be covered while prophesying and why men's heads should be uncovered. While there used to be a tradition of women covering their heads in church, most Christians today see Paul's argument stemming from cultural practices of Jewish, Greek, and Roman cultures of the day, rather than from theology. The Church today upholds that both men and women are made in the image and likeness of God, rather than Paul's claim that "man... is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man" (11:7).
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What follows in the next several chapters is an extended treatise by Paul to address what he considers to be one of the most egregious sins of the Corinthian Christians: dividing themselves into factions based on economic status. When the community gathers, the wealthy come first and eat a full meal, but they do not allow the poorer members to join them until after the meal is completed and they prepare to celebrate the Lord's Supper. "In this matter," Paul says angrily, "I do not praise you" (11:22).
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It is then that Paul recalls the Last Supper (11:23 - 26). This passage, proclaimed every year on Holy Thursday, is the oldest written account of the Last Supper, preceding the accounts written by Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Paul then condemns those rich Corinthian Christians who have offended the Body of Christ by excluding the poor from the meal. When the rich Corinthians partake of the Body and Blood of Christ at the Eucharist immediately after rejecting the poorer members of Christ's Body, they are profaning Christ himself (11:29).
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The Belly and the Members - Wenceslas Hollar
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From there, Paul moves into chapter 12, his extended analogy of all believers being members of the one Body of Christ. The analogy of all people belonging to a single body was familiar to people in the Greco-Roman world, as it alluded to a fable by Menenius Agrippa. In the fable, the parts of a body, jealous of the stomach getting to consume the food they gather, go on strike. As all the parts weaken and die, they learn a lesson: they must serve the stomach. The moral of the fable is that everyone has a role in society, but some parts are more important than others, with the Emperor ruling over all. Slaves and other marginalized people should accept their lot without complaining. Paul turns the analogy on its ear, claiming that all parts of the Body of Christ — including the poorest of the poor — are essential and interdependent on one another.
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And then, in one of the best-known passages in the Bible, Paul explains the idea of interdependence in "a still more excellent way" (12:31): the way of love. To the surprise of many people, Paul did not write that staple of Christian weddings, 1 Corinthians 13:1 - 13, to describe married love. He intended to explain how a community of Christians are to love one another, despite their differences, their needs, and their flaws. As it proclaims:
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated,
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4 - 8a)
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Family Reunion
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In chapter 14, building on chapters 12 and 13, Paul addresses that everyone in the community has different gifts for the benefit of the whole. It seems that the early Corinthian Christians valued those who spoke in tongues over all others. Paul explains that all gifts are useless unless they serve the community (14:9). In addition, the indiscriminate speaking in tongues will lead to disorder in the community's gatherings, unless others exercise gifts of leadership and interpretation (14:40). Some scholars posit that because the prohibition of women to prophesy publicly in 14:34 - 35 directly contradicts 11:5, one of the two passages — most likely 14:34 - 35 — was added by a later editor.
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Chapters 15 & 16: The Bodily Resurrection, Conclusion
Paul reminds the Corinthians that Christ's bodily resurrection is the bedrock on which the Christian faith rests. "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins" (15:17).
He acknowledges that while some members of the community accept that Christ was bodily resurrected, they struggle to believe that they themselves will be resurrected on the last day. Paul points out that without belief in our own bodily resurrection, the very idea of dying and rising with Christ through baptism makes no sense (15:29). He exhorts them:Behold, I tell you a mystery.
We shall not all fall asleep,
but we will all be changed,
in an instant, in the blink of an eye,
at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet shall sound,
the dead will be raised,
and we shall be changed.
(1 Corinthians 15:51 - 52)
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Christ, the First Fruits of the Resurrection -
Russian Orthodox Cathedral,
San Francisco (Lawrence OP)
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Paul concludes the letter in chapter 16 with a number of practicalities. He encourages the Corinthians to contribute to the collection for the poor Christians suffering in Jerusalem. Writing from Ephesus, he tells them that he will visit them after passing through Macedonia next fall... a promise he apparently fails to fulfill, as we learn in 2 Corinthians. He asks them to treat Timothy and Apollos with all courtesy. He conveys his greetings and those of the other Christians in Ephesus, including Prisca and Aquila.
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Views of Thessalonica and Corinth
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The response to the first reading during these weeks is always from the Book of Psalms. In week 21, the gospel reading is taken from the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 23 - 25. In weeks 22 - 24, the gospel reading is taken from the Gospel of Luke, chapters 4 - 8.
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