For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced. (2 Corinthians 12:20-21)

What Paul Found At Corinth

The city of Corinth was known as a city of ill repute, wickedness, sexual immorality, and the worship of Venus, whose temple was on Acrocorinthus, was attended with shameless decadence, 1,000 female slaves being maintained for the service of strangers. It is little surprise how difficult the church of Christ existed in the pagan world of the Corinthians. From Paul’s two letters to Corinth, the church was rocked by charges of division and immorality. In his first letter, Paul remanded the saints for allowing a man to have his father’s wife. He warned them to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, and all indications from his second letter is the man repented and was restored to the Lord.

What Paul found at Corinth in his second letter raised concern for the church’s spiritual condition as they battled bad attitudes and actions unbecoming those who should be perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Strife was dividing the church. A spirit of envy destroyed the fellowship of the brethren. People were filled with sinful anger against others. Saints quarreled, slandered, and spoke evil of one another. Some of the Christians thought of themselves as better than others. The result was that the church at Corinth was filled with disorder, unruliness, and total confusion. Jesus did not die for brethren to act in such a manner. Because of their carnality, the brethren at Corinth allowed the influences of their environment to taint the image of the Lord’s people.

Paul was concerned there were saints at Corinth who had not given up their immoral practices that had been left behind when they gave up idolatry. The church was filled with worldliness, sexual immorality, and indecent conduct. Immodesty and impurity still plagued the Corinthian church. He had warned them to flee from sexual immorality and remove the influences of idolatry from their lives. There could be no fellowship with the wanting acts of unbelievers. The church must be a bastion of righteousness against lawlessness. As people of light, they were to shine in a world of darkness. Christ was the head of the church, not Satan. Yet, the church struggled to remove the influences of the world from their midst.

The church is a perfect union of divine wisdom made up of imperfect souls striving to remain unspotted from the world. Every church struggles to guide its members into a holy path of godly living. Paul had a great love for the church in Corinth and prayed they would cleanse themselves of the carnality of the world. It takes spiritual leadership to create an environment of godliness and truth among the saints as they fight against the forces of evil in the world. Paul was bold in preaching against unrighteousness and measured his preaching with love and understanding. He did not excuse the actions of the church. His preaching was hard and to the point. The church of God at Corinth needed rebuking in the spirit of gentleness like so many churches today. Satan is not finished in his work to destroy the local church. He desires more than anything to fill the church with division, strife, immorality, and false teaching. Leaders must listen to Paul’s admonition to Corinth. His appeal to Corinth is for them to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith and to test themselves. We can do no less.