Corinth
Corinth is an ancient city mentioned in the New Testament, located in the region of Greece in modern-day Greece. It appears across 11 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Corinth was one of the most important cities in the New Testament world and the site of one of Paul's most fruitful and challenging missionary endeavors. The apostle arrived in Corinth on his second missionary journey, around AD 50-52, and remained there for eighteen months (Acts 18:1-18). He labored alongside the tentmakers Aquila and Priscilla, preached in the synagogue, and eventually established a thriving but troubled congregation. Corinth appears across eleven New Testament references spanning Acts and Paul's letters. The church at Corinth was remarkably gifted but beset by divisions, immorality, disputes over spiritual gifts, and questions about the resurrection — issues that prompted Paul's two surviving letters (1 and 2 Corinthians) and at least two additional letters now lost. The city's position on the narrow isthmus connecting northern Greece with the Peloponnese made it a crossroads for commerce and culture, explaining both its wealth and its reputation for moral laxity. Paul's Corinthian correspondence remains among the richest theological documents in the New Testament.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Ancient Corinth was destroyed by the Roman general Mummius in 146 BC and refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. American excavations beginning in 1896 and continuing to the present have uncovered the agora, the bema (judgment seat) where Gallio heard the case against Paul (Acts 18:12-17), the temple of Apollo, various stoas and shops, and an inscription mentioning an aedile named Erastus — possibly the city official Paul mentions in Romans 16:23. The site is remarkably well-preserved and provides direct context for understanding the urban environment in which the Corinthian church flourished.
Verse Appearances (11)
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →