Through the Ages

While Paul was in Ephesus, he had received information from several sources concerning the  conditions existing in the church at Corinth. Paul heard that some of the Corinthians had moral  difficulties, so he wrote them a letter to pass on some helpful advice I Cor. 5:9. This letter has  not been preserved. Some scholars believe that this letter is lost without trace. Paul heard that some of the Corinthians had developed strong feelings against him personally,  even to the extent of doubting whether he was really an apostle. He therefore sent Timothy and  Erastus to Corinth to try to deal with some of the problems in the church Acts 19:22; I Cor 4:8- 13, 18-21. In the meantime, some believers from Corinth arrived in Ephesus. They gave Paul the  disturbing news that factions had developed in the Corinthian church because people had  favourites of different teachers 1 Cor. 1:10-13. Paul heard also that there was a serious case of  sexual immorality ...

Paul is identified as the author in the opening verses of both epistles (I Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1).  This view is also held by the early church fathers. Clement of Rome has supported this view  as Carly as A.D.96. Paul's authorship is almost universally accepted. Paul was in Corinth for 18 months on his second missionary journey in AD 51 & 52. After establishing a church Paul left Corinth . Later in his third missionary journey Paul visited Ephesus  and stayed there for about 3 years. It was when Paul was in Ephesus that he heard about the  prevailing problems in the Corinthian church. He decided to write a letter to the Corinthians to  solve the problems there. According to I Cor. 16:8 Paul intended to remain in Ephesus  somewhat less than a year when he wrote | Corinthians. This indicates that 1 Corinthians was  written about A.D.55 towards the close of Paul's three-year stay in Ephesus