By: Augie Burkhardt

This letter is written to the Corinthians who are having a tough time finding God with their new found excitement with tongues and idolism The Corinthians at this time were people who carried pagan cults into church with them. The people who turned to mystery religions went from rational content to emotional yearning. They turned toward pagan worships to get a sort of an ecstatic feeling for their pagan god. The Corinthians were straying away from God and moving toward pagan gods. Most prevalent thing that the Corinthians were doing was speaking in tongues. Paul told the Corinthians that they should learn to love all, and to do so without bad behavior. Everything that they do is bad if not informed with love. The early Christian value expressed in this passage is love. Paul sees both the good side of love and bad side in this passage, he recognizes the “patient” and “kind” aspects of love but Paul also sees the bad side of love through the behavior from some of the Corinthians. ( 1 Corinthians by Richard A. Horsley The Letters of Paul by Calvin J. )

If Paul were to come to Prep he would challenge all prep students with the early Christian value of love all. In today’s society and even at Prep bullying is evident and something that would be looked down upon by Paul. So Paul would want the men of Prep to change their thought process and to think before they speak because words can affect a person more than they might think.

From this project you should take away the fact that the Corinthians made a mistake by turning away from God and towards pagan gods. They ate idol foods and spoke in tongues which disrespected God. This disrespected God because the Corinthians were not working in the Spirit of God instead they were more involved with the ecstatic experiences of the pagan religions, speaking in tongues and idolatry. If God were to save them when he came to take his kingdom he would need them to buy into the idea of living in the Spirit. Also Paul told the Corinthians to stop using tongues but it was important to him that they used the love all idea in whatever they did. (Vital New Testament Issues: Examining New Testament Passages and Problems by Roy B. Zuck )

1 Corinthians by Richard A. Horsley The Letters of Paul by Calvin J. Roetzel Paul by E.P. Sanders Vital New Testament Issues: Examining New Testament Passages and Problems by Roy B. Zuck