Written to the church at Corinth in AD 55, the apostle Paul writes his first canonical letter to the Corinthian Christians from Ephesus while he was traveling on his third missionary journey. This church was established by Paul during his second missionary journey when he also met Aquila and Priscilla, two Jewish believers whom Paul lived with during his time in Corinth (Acts 18). Paul remained in Corinth for approximately a year and a half, but experienced much resistance from the Jewish leaders in that city, so he departed to Ephesus with Aquila and Priscilla. After Paul's departure, the church at Corinth began experiencing problems because the people remained spiritually immature and divided in their mission; furthermore, they had a difficult time staying distinct from the carnal culture around them, and often returned to their immoral lifestyle.

Paul used the majority of this letter to call the Corinthian Christians to a change of behavior, dealing with issues such as disunity, immorality, relationships, diversity, and misunderstandings about worship in the church.  Paul knew that the survival of this church was dependent on a proper understanding of truth and a willingness to submit to that truth.  Since Paul loved and cared for the people at Corinth, he sent this letter to hopefully challenge them to mature in their faith and remain faithful to the truth they had been taught by him.

Week 1: Unity Problems - Popularity Contest (1 Corinthians 1)
Week 2: Unity Problems - Humility (1 Corinthians 2)
Week 3: Unity Problems - Immaturity (1 Corinthians 3)
Week 4: Unity Problems - Discipline (1 Corinthians 4)
Week 5: Sexual Problems - Immorality in the Church (1 Corinthians 5)
Week 6: Sexual Problems - Consequences of Sexual Sin (1 Corinthians 6)
Week 7: Sexual Problems - Marriage, Singleness, Widows (1 Corinthians 7)
Week 8: Food Problems - Meat Offered to Idols (1 Corinthians 8)
Week 9: Food Problems - Surrendering Freedom (1 Corinthians 9)
Week 10: Gathering Problems - The Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11)
Week 11: Gathering Problems - Building Up the Church Body (1 Corinthians 12)
Week 12: Gathering Problems - Keeping Love the Main Thing (1 Corinthians 13)
Week 13: Gathering Problems - Speaking in Tongues (1 Corinthians 14)
Week 14: Theological Problem - The Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15)
Week 15: Conclusion (1 Corinthians 16)

To combat disunity in the church (Chapters 1-4)
Disunity condemned (1-3)
Disunity combated (4)

To define discipline in the church (Chapters 5-6)
Discipline in immoral matters (5)
Discipline in legal matters (6:1-11)
Discipline in carnal matters (6:12-20)

To explain difficulties in the church (Chapters 7-16)
Difficulties in domestic issues (7)
Difficulties in social issues (8-11:1)
Difficulties in church issues (11:2-34)
Difficulties in practical issues (12-14)
Difficulties in doctrinal issues (15)
Difficulties in financial issues (16)