Polytheism in the City of Corinth

In Paul's time Corinth was a very impressive city built on two levels of terrain with the Acrocorinthus, a huge hill, in the background. Evidence of pagan polytheism was obvious everywhere, with temples and statues of deities all around. Remains of the temple of Apollo, built in the sixth century BCE, are still standing. There was also the temple of the Isthmian Poseidon, within whose sanctuary were statues of athletes who had won victories in the Isthmian games. Paul aptly uses the language of athletes in 1 Cor. 9.24-27 (see also Phil. 3.12-16). A statue of Athena in bronze stood in the center of the agora (marketplace). Within the city there were also sanctuaries of the gods Isis and Serapis, as well as a temple of Asclepius, god of medical arts. On the road to the seaport Lechaeum were a bronze image of a seated Hermes and statues of other gods.

No wonder, then, that in the Corinthian letters we find Paul's declaration of monotheism: ‘We know that no idol in the world exists and that there is no God but one’ (1 Cor. 8.4; see also 8.5-6). In light of surviving evidence from the temple of Asclepius, Greek god of healing, of the practice of medical arts in Corinth, it is also no surprise that in Paul's letters we find references to healing only in 1 Cor. 12.9, 28, 30.