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Paul: Ministry in Corinth
Paul left Athens and made his way to Corinth, traveling across the Corinthian Isthmus alongside hundreds of other travelers. The cool breezes drifting off the ocean and the salty seaspray perfuming the air would have created the perfect traveling conditions and it would have been easy for Paul to spend the long walk thinking.
Through the Port of Lechaion and up the slight incline through the gates of Corinth, the capital of the Roman Province of Achaia. Yet another greek city stuffed full of temples and shrines to unnumbered idols. Paul’s attitude in Corinth was different from what it had been in Corinth. Reflecting on this later he wrote “And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:1-3)
Maybe the long walk helped Paul to clear his head and assess what had happened in Athens. Maybe he felt that he had tried to impress the Athenians too much with his knowledge of Greek philosophy and his oratory skills. Maybe he felt he needed to go back to the basics with the Corinthians, strip his messaging down to the bare bones of the message without any accompanying frills. Whatever the reason he appears to have had a clear plan about what to preach in Corinth from the outset.
The first people Paul met in Corinth were Aquila and Priscilla. The Bible says “After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth and he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked for they were tentmakers by trade” (Acts 18:1-3)
They quickly became friends, forging a bond that would last the rest of their lives. Aquila and Priscilla were Jewish converts to Christianity and were fairly peripatetic having lived in various parts of the empire before settling down in Corinth. They opened their home to Paul, as eager to learn from him as he was to drink in their fellowship. Providentially Aquila was a tentmaker so it made sense for Paul to live and work alongside them and for them to help Paul with his missionary endeavors.
Paul didn’t stray far from his usual pattern of breaking new ground. He found a local synagogue and used it as a base of operations, gathering both Jews and Greeks on the Sabbath and preaching to them. Silas and Timothy finally got away from their responsibilities in Macedonia and joined him, adding numbers and strength to the growing missionary outpost.
Paul preached on his favorite subject in the synagogue; Jesus. He was determined to help everyone, both Jews and Greeks realize that Christianity was not merely an extension or derivative of Judaism but the substance and fulfillment of all that it stood for. Christianity was the completion of everything Paul and other Jews had believed in their entire lives.
But as much as Paul strove to reach the Jews, they seemed to push back against him with equal fervor. The Bible says “and when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them ‘your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the gentiles” (Acts 18:6-7) Turning away from the Jewish community in Corinth Paul focused all his attention on the gentiles within the city. Leaving the synagogue he went to the house of a man named Titius Justus. The Bible describes him as “a worshiper of God’ (Acts 18:7) and conveniently his house was next door to the synagogue, making it easy for Paul to transfer his base of operations with minimal disturbance.
Paul’s time in Corinth was fraught with both success and danger. Crispus the ruler of the synagogue accepted the good news and became a Christian along with numerous other Corinthians. But the mood within the city, especially among the Jewish community, was sullen and violent. So much so that God encouraged Paul in a vision; “And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, ‘do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10)
That was all the encouragement and reassurance Paul needed to keep going and he worked in the Corinthian mission field for a total of 18 months. Eventually, the unrest and aggravation of the Jews which had been simmering during Paul’s entire stay bubbled over into violence.
“But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal saying"this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law” (Acts 18:12-13). Unlike the Jews in Thessalonica or even Iconium, the Corinthian Jews accused Paul of stirring up dissension against the Jewish ceremonial law. It was a tactical error. As Roman proconsul, Gallio cared little for communal Jewish debates. If they had accused Paul of stirring up sedition against Rome, that would have piqued his interest, and given the nature of Christianity and its ardent commitment to Christ or Caesar, this was an accusation they could have made. Irritated by their railing Gallio said to them “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things” (Acts 18:14-15)
As an act of retaliation, the Jews beat Sosthenes, one of the rulers of the synagogue before Gallio’s seat but he paid them no mind. It was a debacle, made all the more unpleasant by the Jews’ violence towards one of the believers but Paul and the new church were undeterred in their determination to serve God.
Paul’s willingness to serve God in the face of almost continual opposition exposed the depth of his commitment to his calling. He wasn’t just compelled to preach the Word of God, he was consumed by it. It shaped his life in every way that mattered. Obstacles and challenges were merely stepping stones in the pursuit of his goal.
Paul was a man who lived wholeheartedly mainly because he served God wholeheartedly. There was no room for mediocrity in his world. There rarely is when you give your whole heart to something.
