Paul’s first letter to Corinth dealt, at
least in part, with the issue of associating with the sexually immoral (1 Cor.
5:9). This letter, usually referred to
as Letter A or the “Previous Letter,” is almost certainly lost, although
some scholars believe that a fragment is preserved in 6:14–7:1. In this letter
Paul enjoined the Corinthians not to associate with sexually immoral members of
the Christian community (cf. Eph. 5:3-7), but the Corinthians understood him to
be commanding their social separation from immoral pagans. Paul clarifies his
intended meaning and addresses a number of other issues in his second letter to
Corinth, the canonical 1 Corinthians (Letter B). This letter, occasioned by an
oral report about the Corinthian church from Chloe’s people (1 Cor. 1:11) as
well as a letter from the Corinthians themselves (7:1), was written from
Ephesus ca. 54 (1 Cor. 16:8). About the same time as Letter B, Paul sent
Timothy to Corinth, anticipating that his co-worker would return in time to accompany
him on a trip through Macedonia to Corinth (1 Cor. 4:17; 16:5-11). Precisely
what happens following the dispatch of Timothy and Letter B is unclear, and all
reconstructions of this later period of Paul’s contact with Corinth involve
inference and conjecture. (Eerdmans
Dictionary of the Bible, S.V. "Corinthians, Second Letter To
The")
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