the letter’s integrity and rightly argues that the primary aim of this letter is to address factional behavior in the congregation and to encourage unity.51 We notice that the central appeal (παρακαλῶ) for solidarity in 1:10 seems linked with an appeal for imitation in 4:16, which in turn connects with the charge for imitation in 11:1. Together these link up with other topics and correspondence questions to which Paul responds in 1:11; 5:1; 7:1; 8:1; 12:1; 15:12; 16:1; and 16:12. In terms of rhetorical arrangement, the supporting proofs of the prothesis in 1:10 include 1:18—4:21; 5:1—7:40; 8:1—11:1; 12:1—14:40; 15:1–58; and 16:1–12. The reader may wish to consult these sections for further understanding, and see the complete outline above. Paul, at any rate, is dealing with a unique set of problems in Corinth, and he must respond to specific issues. He is more concerned about the congregation’s moral and spiritual state than orchestrating a one-tracked, perfect piece of rhetoric on bodily solidarity. Our apostle is foremost a minister of the gospel who, to be sure, attempts to persuade his recipients to accept and enact on his words, but at the same time he trusts ultimately in the Spirit of God for the power, wisdom, and guidance necessary to lead his recipients to that acceptance.
1. On Paul’s early years, see Gal 1:11—2:15; Phil 3:4–6; 2 Cor 11:32–33; Acts 7:54—8:3; 9:1–30; 11:23–30; 13:1—15:25; 22:2–21; 26:4–23; Hengel 1997; Murphy-O’Connor 1996:1–101.
2. Although Acts has its own agenda, Keener 2014:3.2681–83, recently shows that its account of Paul in Corinth is generally reliable.
3. See inscription evidence in Fitzmyer 2008:40–42.
4. For the former date, see e.g., Schnabel 2006:38; for the latter, e.g., Schnelle 1998:57.
5. Thucydides Hist. 1.13.2–5; Strabo Geogr. 8.6.19, 20a, 23d; Dio Chrysostom Or. 37.36.
6. See e.g., Pausanius Descr. 2.1.2; 7.7.1–16.10; Cassius Dio Hist. Rom. 21[9.31]; Strabo Geogr. 23a; Salmon 2006:235–37; Murphy-O’Connor 1983:42–43, 49, 63–64.
7. See Lanci 2005:205–20. Differently, Williams 1986:17–21; Schnabel 2006:22, suggest imported influence from Phoenician-Astarte. Pausanius connects Aphrodite’s cult to Phoenicians (Descr. 1.14.7).
8. See e.g., Hamilton, 1969:32–33.
9. Lanci 2005:220.
10. So Conzelmann 1975:12; Murphy-O’Connor 1983:55–57, 105–6.
11. See James 2014:17–36; Gebhard/Dickie 2003:261–78.
12. Walters 2005:403–4.
13. Millis 2010:13–36; Millis 2013:38–53.
14. Adams/Horrell 2004:3–7; Engels 1990:17–19; Harrison 2008:81–109.
15. Engels 1990:43–65, 121–30.
16. Witherington 1995:8.
17. See Kent 1966:19; Fitzmyer 2008:30; though the graffiti is Greek.
18. Walters 2005:409.
19. Rapid changes in Corinth’s civic identity helped produce “a growing ambiguity in the population’s civic religious identity,” which seems to have resulted in magistrates and decurions being reluctant to enforce laws on private associations (Walters 2005:410).
20. See Fee 1987:3 (though his identities for these terms may be too limiting).
21. See Bookidis 2005:156–64; Walbank 1996:201–14; Coutsoumpos 2008:175–76. For a convenient inscription list on the emperors that is keyed to Meritt 1931, and West 1931; see also Keener 2014:3.2691.
22. Contrast Deissmann 1965:16 (100 BCE–200 CE) with Adams/Horrell 2004:10 (5th c. CE).
23. Pausanius Descr. 2.1.1; Philostratus Vit. soph. 2.611.
24. Pausanius Descr. 2.5.1; cf. Apollodorus Libr. 1.9.3; Homer Il. 6.151–54; Sourvinou-Inwood 1996:1414.
25. See Bitner 2015a:177–78.
26. Gebhard 2005:165–203
27. Pindar Ol. 13.63–92; Homer Il. 6.152–202; Euripedes Bell.; Hamilton 1969:134–37.
28. Robinson 2005:116–27.
29. March 1996:237–38.
30. See Bitner 2015a:174–75, 179–80.
31. Mulroy 2012:73–75.
32. Apollodorus Libr. 1.9.27; Apollonius Argo.; Mulroy 2012:56–62.
33. Pausanius Descr. 2.3.6–11; Euripedes Med.; Epictetus Diatr. 2.17.19–22.
34. Robinson 2005:128–40.
35. See Keener 2014:3.2695.
36. Murphy-O’Connor 1983:66–67, 113, associates freedmen among these workers. The city sites in Paul’s day are conveniently described with maps in Murphy-O’Connor 1984:147–59.
37. Translation in Murphy-O’Connor 1983:94.
