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CORINTH

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17TH STOP OF PAUL'S SECOND JOURNEY
Greece
"After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. 12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. 13 “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” 14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” 16 So he drove them off. 17 Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever." ACTS 18:1-17

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Let us first reflect on the trajectory of Paul’s second journey thus far. Chapters earlier, Paul received a dramatic, supernatural vision of a man begging him to "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9). One would naturally expect him to arrive in Macedonia and immediately anchor down a headquarters for his ministry. But looking at the physical reality, it is anything but so. Paul is effectively hunted from one town to the next, never able to stay for long.

In Philippi, he gets beaten with rods, thrown in a dungeon, and politely asked to leave town. In Thessalonica, he ministers for only three weeks before an angry mob forces him to flee under the cover of night. In Berea, although warmly welcomed, finds the previous agitators who tracked him down and run him out of the city, and ultimately out of Macedonia. In Athens, Paul stands alone, gets mocked by the intellectual elite, and effectively leaves.

Paul has walked the entire length of Macedonia and Greece following a call from God, but everything seems disastrous, disjointed, chaotic, and exhausting.

Now he finds himself in Corinth, a city of complete debauchery centered on a temple looming over the city that infamously houses a thousand female prostitutes. I can only but imagine what Paul must have been thinking. Will he even last a day here?

Well, it turns out over 500 days…

A CALL TO STAY

We are offered a glimpse into Paul’s internal struggle during his first few days in Corinth when he later wrote to the church there, confessing that he arrived "in weakness with great fear and trembling" (1 Cor. 2:3). He was broke, entirely alone, and, perhaps, likely wondering if he had misheard the Macedonian call from the very beginning. To survive, he didn't ask for support or preach; he went to work in a dusty and noisy workshop making and repairing leather travel tents alongside Priscilla and Aquila.

But then, in the quiet of a Corinthian night, God broke the silence with a vision that changed everything: “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.” For the first time, God has called him to stay. The painful and chaotic path that ran him out of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea wasn't a series of failures - it was the road to the destination. God didn't want Paul to anchor down in the communities of Macedonia or the academic libraries of Athens. He wanted him right here, at the “sin-city” of the Roman world.
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CONTINUE FOLLOWING PAUL'S JOURNEY

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