“Introduction to First Corinthians”

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Let’s take a brief look at Paul’s trip to Corinth and the events that occurred while he stayed there in the city:

After Barnabas and Paul went their separate ways, Paul took Silas and embarked upon his second preaching journey (Acts 15:39-40). They picked up Timothy (Acts 16:3) and Luke (Acts 16:11) along the way, and after they received “the Macedonian Call” (Acts 16:6-10), they all sailed to Neapolis, and then to Philippi. In the city of Philippi, a prominent woman named Lydia was converted (Acts 16:14), and also a very grateful “jailer” (Acts 16:33), along with other people.

From there, Paul and Silas went on to Thessalonica, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia (Acts 17:1). They taught the Gospel for three Sabbath days in the synagogue at Thessalonica and many converts were made before the Jews became envious and ran Paul out of town (Acts 17:5). He and Silas then travelled to Berea (Acts 17:10-15), where Timothy rejoined them. Paul was soon driven out of Berea as well, and he went alone to the city of Athens in Greece and taught in the synagogue, in the agora and on Mars Hill (Acts 17:16-34).

From Athens Paul travelled to the nearby city of Corinth (Acts 18:1), and established the church in that city. He said in 1 Corinthians 3:10 that he had “laid the foundation,” and that he was their “father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). When he arrived in the city he met up with Aquila and Priscilla, two Jewish Christians who had been forced to leave Rome, and he stayed with them (Acts 18:2-3). They were actually with Paul in the city of Ephesus when Paul wrote the epistle we call “First Corinthians”. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:19 that “Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”

Paul taught in the synagogue every Sabbath day, and when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul gave up tent-making and began to devote himself fully to preaching the Gospel (Acts 18:4-5). When the Jews resisted, Paul focused his attention more heavily on the Gentiles of the city (Acts 18:6). He taught regularly in the house of a man named Justus who lived next door to the synagogue (Acts 18:7). He obviously did not completely give up on his Jewish kinsmen because he converted a man named Cryspus who was a leader of the synagogue (Acts 18:8).

We read in Acts 18:9 that the Lord Jesus appeared to Paul “in the night by a vision” and encouraged him. The Lord said to him, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10). Paul had been met with a lot of resistance and opposition on this journey, and specifically in the city of Corinth, and became troubled and frightened. Just because Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit and specially commissioned by God to preach the Gospel, he was not some sort of superhero. He was a human being just like you and me, and he needed encouragement and strength from the Lord to continue on.

Paul continued to work in Corinth for eighteen months and preached with great success with help from the Lord (Acts 18:11). After a man named Gallio became proconsul of Achaia, the Jews brought charges against Paul (Acts 18:12). Gallio was not the slightest bit concerned about the issues of Jewish law that were brought before him, and he dismissed the whole matter (Acts 18:13-16). After the ensuing ruckus calmed down, Paul stayed in Corinth for an unspecified “many days longer” (Acts 18:18), and then left for his home base in Syrian Antioch, thus ending his second journey (Acts 18:18-22).

Paul wrote the letter of 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (16:8), in the late spring (5:7; 16:8), around 55 or 56 AD.

Please read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 for tomorrow.

Hope your Saturday is blessed!

- Louie Taylor

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