1 Corinthians
Paul started churches in many of the cities that he visited. But many of these churches had problems when he left. The church in Corinth was one of the worst. They were bitterly divided and they boasted in their sin. They took the Lord’s supper in a dishonorable way and they didn’t use the spiritual gifts correctly. Some of them were even denying that bodily resurrection was possible! Thus Paul had to write a long letter to try to straighten them out. This is good for us, because this book gives us a lot of answers that we wouldn’t otherwise have.
2 Corinthians
Paul’s first letter apparently didn’t work so well, so he had to write a second one. One of the big problems now is that some of the people in the church in Corinth think Paul is not an apostle or not a good apostle. So he has to spend a lot of time defending himself and what God has called him to. There’s a lot of scorn and sarcasm in the second half of the book.