"Was Corinth A Successful Church?"

June 09, 2026 | By Chuck

 When I think about the Corinthian Church, I am reminded of multiple problems.  The Corinthians were divided over their favorite preachers.  They struggled to agree with one another and get along.  They were dealing with sexual immorality or not dealing with it at all really.  They were taking each other to court and actually filing lawsuits against their own brothers and sisters—can you believe that??  This sounds like the most problematic and unsuccessful church of their time. 
          With the knowledge of the church’s issues, few would consider the church at Corinth successful.  I guess when we consider a successful church, we think of one that has it all together.  I’m not sure I know of a church either then or today who truly has it all together, whatever that means.  Keep in mind that the city of Corinth was known as an immoral place.  I’m sure it was not the easiest place to be a Christian with such worldliness all around.  It’s not easy to be a Christian today in the United States where we are inundated by sinful influences on a daily basis. 
          So consider again the question, was Corinth a successful church?  You may assume that question has already been answered by the acknowledgement of their many church problems.  However, I’m not convinced that church problems truly indicate an unsuccessful church.  How many churches do you know that don’t have a problem or two?  I’m sure they did a lot of things wrong.  I’m sure they mishandled plenty of situations.   But there is a passage we need to take a serious look at while considering the success of the church at Corinth. 
          “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (I Cor. 1:2).  Did you catch what Paul called these imperfect and immature Christians?  He called them “saints.”  The members of the church at Corinth—even with all their problems and issues—were still referred to as saints.  Saints, because they were people who were purchased by the blood of Jesus.  Imperfect, yes, but washed and forgiven by the blood of the Lamb.  When the apostle Paul refers to a church as “saints,” I would classify that church as a success.