As was customary, Paul opens his letter with a greeting, or salutation (1:1–3). This conforms to the normal compositional pattern for personal letters written during the Greco-Roman era. (For an excellent introduction to the pattern of Greco-Roman letters, see Doty.) A greeting of this type routinely contained the name of the sender(s) of the letter, joined on occasion by a short self-description; the name of the intended recipient(s) of the letter, again joined on occasion by some short descriptive comment; and a word of greeting.

In 1 Corinthians the senders are Paul, who describes himself as an apostle sent out by Christ Jesus and by the will of God (see also Rom. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:1), and Sosthenes (see Acts 18:17). The letter is addressed to the church at Corinth (that Paul ad…