Because so many of the topics treated in these epistles are occasional and closely related to particular cultural circumstances, 1 and 2 Corinthians offer potent opportunities to observe how the unchanging gospel, taught in the languages and cultures of the first century, was first applied to changing circumstances. For instance (to use the example of Childs, pp. 275, 279-81), the particular form of the Corinthian denial of the resurrection may not be popular in the twentieth century (although, arguably, an adaptation of it is returning in some sectors of the New Age movement), but Paul’s strenuous insistence on the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus as part of the nonnegotiable “given” of the gospel may be applied in many circumstances. Also, 1 Corinthians 15 constitutes not only the earliest written list of the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection but the most important New Testament treatment of the nature of the resurrection.
No part of the Pauline corpus more clearly illuminates the character of Paul the man, Paul the Christian, Paul the pastor, and Paul the apostle than do these epistles. He thereby leaves us some substance in his invitation to imitate him, and thereby imitate Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).
Because 1 and 2 Corinthians directly confront overrealized eschatology and all forms of professed spirituality that presuppose independence from the realms of ethics and conduct, these epistles speak volumes to contemporary Western Christianity. First Corinthians makes an enormous contribution to the doctrine of the church—its nature, unity, diversity, characteristics, conduct, interdependence, and discipline—even though there is very little in this epistle on church government (apart from inferences drawn from such passages as 1 Cor. 5:1ff.). Also, 1 Corinthians 15 constitutes not only the earliest written list of the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection but the most important New Testament treatment of the nature of the resurrection.
These two epistles constitute the most telling condemnation of arrogance, self-promotion, boasting, and self-confidence in the Pauline corpus; conversely, they describe in practical terms the nature of Christian life and witness, emphasizing service, self-denial, purity, and weakness as the matrix in which God displays his strength. Perhaps the high-water mark is the emphasis on love as “the most excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31-13:13) all Christians must pursue.