Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians is one of the most fascinating books of the New Testament. It provides the reader with an entry into the life and times of a mid-first-century Christian community. It gives us the names of some of the people who were part of that community and tells us something about their travels and their turmoil. It tells us about the provincial capital with its many cults, its games, and its theater. It informs us about a Christian community that celebrated baptism and Eucharist without always drawing the appropriate implications from its ritual. It has something to say about sex, death, money, and relationships. It speaks about faith in a struggle with knowledge that comes from reason. It tells of hope in confrontation with those who say that there is no resurrection from the dead. It describes and invokes love in a community that is divided and locked in a power struggle. First Corinthians is a letter in every sense of the term. It was part of an ongoing correspondence between Paul and those whom he had evangelized in the provincial capital of Achaia. It followed the usual conventions adopted by letter-writers in the Hellenistic world. It is a product of Hellenistic culture, Christian faith, and Paul's pastoral care for his brothers and sisters in Corinth. The apostle believes that they were called to be God's holy people. His letter spells out for them the implications of their call to holiness.