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The evidence of Ac 18:1-8 and 1 Corinthians suggests that “the church was in many ways a mirror of the city” (Fee, 3). The majority of its members were Gentiles, former idolaters, largely of lower socioeconomic status. The heterogeneous mix of Jew, Greek, slave, free, rich, and poor inevitably led to tensions and internal rivalries. We cannot reconstruct the specific Corinthian situation with precision. First Corinthians, an ad hoc response to serious problems in the church, was probably written in the spring of a.d. 54-57. Paul’s knowledge of the situation depended on oral reports and a letter from the church.