W. Harold Mare, 1 Corinthians: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), 175.
Corinth was a large trade-city, so it attracted traders, sailors, and business people. On average, roughly 200,000 people populated this booming city at its peak with as many as “half a million slaves in its navy and in its many colonies.” Indeed, scholars estimate the population anywhere from 100,000 to 700,000 people—most of whom were slaves. There was some sort of Jewish population in Corinth—at least big enough to have a synagogue (Acts 18:4), and Philo confirms the fact that Jews lived in Corinth during the dispersion.
W. Harold Mare, 1 Corinthians: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), 175.
Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: an introduction and commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), footnote.
Philo, Legatio ad Gajum, 281f. Cited in Hans Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975).
James is an elder at Dwell Community Church, where he teaches classes in theology, apologetics, and weekly Bible studies.
