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  COMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 7-8
  by Chuck Smith
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CONTENT
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Shall we turn now in our Bibles to the seventh chapter of I Corinthians.

The Corinthian church was a mess. There were just a lot of problems, a
problem with carnality. There were divisions in the church, some saying
that they were of Cephas, or Peter, and others saying that they were of
Paul, and some saying that they were of Apollos. They were suing each
other at law, going to the earthly courts. And Paul had received the
report, so he wrote to them about these things. But basically his
purpose of writing was to answer a letter that they had sent to him with
certain questions. So, Paul beginning with chapter 7 is responding now
to their letter and the questions that they had asked in their letter to
him.

Now, it is important that we understand, really, the background of this
situation in Corinth. Corinth was an extremely pagan city. On the
acropolis above Corinth there was a great temple to Aphrodite, and the
temple priestesses would come down into Corinth each evening. They were
prostitutes, and the worship of the goddess was supported by the
earnings of the prostitutes.

In this city God had many people. For when Paul was there in Corinth,
the Lord encouraged him, and said, "I have many people in this city."
So, Paul established the church there. But, as I say, the church was a
mess.

They had a lot of weird kind of teachings, doctrines that had spread.
They felt that the body was completely evil, and so that left a twofold
kind of an attitude. First, there were those who said because the body
is totally evil it doesn\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/chuck-smith/commentary-on-1-corinthians-7-8/
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