How should we read and study 1 Corinthians?

Les explains that before teaching a book, he always likes to give the background because very few people know the circumstances surrounding a particular book or letter, and knowing the circumstances and background makes all the difference in understanding. He notes that Paul is writing 1 Corinthians to the congregation in the wicked, immoral, pagan, idolatrous city of Corinth, not so much to commend them but to correct them; they had many problems, and the whole theme of the letter is to correct problems. In chapter 3, verse 1, Paul says he has to write to them as carnal, as babes, not ready for the meat of the word. So the whole letter has to be read or studied in that light—that Paul is writing to a congregation of weak, carnal, fleshly believers, but they are believers. Les also mentions their problems: they picked personalities, with some saying they followed Peter or Apollos, and others saying they would not go by Paul but by Jesus, which Paul corrected. They were also going to pagan courts and suing each other, and Paul corrected them on that basis.