Periodically groups of believers will...
Periodically groups of believers will sell their possessions, go into hiding and await the immediate end of the world. For some this means nuclear destruction and for others it means the second coming of Christ. Reports of these groups always hold our interest for whatever the truth of their claims, there is no doubt that "the form of this world is passing away."
Paul's words to the Corinthian Christians speak to a community permeated with this apocalyptic sense of time. So many signs in their environment seemed to indicate the conclusion of creation as they knew it.