Hey fam, if we're honest, reading the Bible consistently can be a challenge.

But it's never too late to start, and we're in this together.

Thanks for journeying with us, and here's your host, Emma Daughter.

Thanks for joining.

As we continue through the Pauline epistles, which is a fancy way of saying letters written by Paul,

we'll be reading First Corinthians next. First

Corinthians is Paul's letter to the church at Corinth, which Paul actually found it. In fact,

he likely spent a year and a half with the believers there. However, you fast forward a few years,

and Paul started to hear things were not going so well in Corinth. It's interesting.

Corinth was a city marked by a lot of trade and travelers. It was positioned in really what was

one of the most ideal locations for trade and commerce, but with its economic success came wealth

and materialism, lots and lots of merchants and travelers, unethical business practices, and

pagan religions that often included the selling of one's body for intimate interactions with others.

And these pagan religions viewed this immoral lifestyle actually as an act of worship to many

of their gods or goddesses, the city became known for its

promiscuous behavior. One commentator says, all of this evidence together suggests that Paul's

Corinth was at once the New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas of the ancient world. So it makes

sense that Paul would need to write to the

Corinthians and urge them to correct the corrupted ways of living relating to one another and

worshiping. However, it's important for us to note that First Corinthians is not actually

Paul's first letter of correction to the Corinthian Church. In First Corinthians 5, Paul refers to another letter, one that he calls

his former letter. We don't have that letter today, but we can be certain 1st Corinthians

...