In Paul’s day Corinth was the largest city in Greece and the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. It was about 20 times as large as Athens and an important commercial centre. Most of the commerce passed through it from the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire. Sailing around the northern tip of Greece was notoriously dangerous due to unpredictable violent storms. To avoid this, merchants preferred to use Corinth as a shortcut.
At the back of the city stood a rock rising almost perpendicularly to the height of more than a thousand feet. Along the one steep path men climbed to the wall which surrounded the citadel at the top. On the summit of the hill stood the beautiful temple of Aphrodite (Venus) the goddess of love. To this goddess there ministered a thousand priestesses, who, though dressed in white robes were living lives which were unclean and black with sin. Corinth was synonymous with luxury, materialistic excess, and sexual debauchery.
Paul went to Corinth during his second missionary journey. After preaching a sermon to the philosophical elite of Athens with mixed results “Paul left Athens and went to Corinth” (Acts 18:1). The cold, mocking tone of the Athenian philosophers was as discouraging to Paul as the scourgings, stonings and imprisonments of the Jewish mobs; so he left for Corinth a city located about 50 miles directly west of Athens. When Paul left Athens for Corinth he was alone. Silas and Timothy were still in Macedonia.
Paul must have felt a little dejected as he walked the fifty miles to Corinth. Since coming to Europe, he had suffered a terrible beating in Philippi, civil rejection in Thessalonica and Berea and indifference in Athens. The spiritual concerns and discouragement about his ministry, the constant opposition, loneliness, physical pain and weariness, and the lack of funds, were weighing on Paul. He describes how he felt during his early days in Corinth, “I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling” (1 Cor.2:3).
He arrived there at Corinth alone, a total stranger who did not know anyone. He had never been there before, but was confident that God would provide a place for him to stay. Before long “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 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them” (Acts 18:2-3).
The Jewish couple had been kicked out of Rome where they probably had a profitable business established. They were probably confused as to why they were driven out of Rome. But, God designed it so they would meet Paul in Corinth; and in his providence they went to Corinth, where they would discover that what seemed to be a major life setback was just the opposite. God had used Claudius to advance his own course.
Aquila and Priscilla found their way to Corinth and settled there, pursuing their trade as tentmakers. When Paul, a tentmaker himself, came to Corinth he found a place to stay and a source of income. Every male child in Israel was to learn some trade in order to support himself. Paul was a converted rabbi and rabbis worked for a living as they taught the Scriptures. This background prepared Paul well to be a pioneer missionary.
He maintained a marketable trade which helped support his God-given calling to take the gospel to both the Jews and the Gentiles. As was his practice, when he arrived at Corinth he looked for a synagogue; “every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18: 4). In his letter to the Romans he wrote, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them” (Rom.16:3-4).
This notable couple eventually established a house church in their home (1 Cor. 16:19). Aquila and Priscilla grew mightily in the Lord over the 18 months they spent with Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:24-26). In Aquila and Priscilla he found fellowship and companionship which as God's Spirit would have it, budded into their lifelong friendship! They became close friends with him as attested by their mention in three of his epistles (Romans16:3-4; 1 Corinthians16:19; 2Timothy 4:19). This friendship would last for all of Paul's life.
In his very last recorded words, he acknowledged them (2Tim.4:19). The eternal rewards of Priscilla and Aquila will far and forever overshadow any temporal earthly loss they might have experienced by being displaced from Rome. They will forever affirm the absolute truth of Romans 8:28 that "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”.
“When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah”(Acts 18:5).They brought a generous gift that enabled Paul once again to devote himself completely to the ministry of the Word. Years later he wrote to this church, “when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so” (2 Cor.11:9).
The financial gift was probably from the Philippians; In his letter to them he said “moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only” (Phil.4:15). It appears that Paul’s years of service included seasons in which he was fully funded and times when he needed to resort to tent making to meet his needs. And he had learnt to be content in Christ no matter the season (Phil.4:11-13).
In addition to delivering financial support, Silas and Timothy also brought an encouraging report regarding the Thessalonians. Having been forced to leave the city prematurely, Paul longed to know whether their faith had remained firm under persecution. He wrote to them “when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time, out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you… but Satan blocked our way. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess.2:17-20).
“So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service ... to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them… For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain” (1 Thess.3:1-5)
Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. …Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? …May the Lord ... strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones” (1 Thess.3:6-13).
The church at Thessalonica made a great impact in the community and regions beyond. Paul wrote to them “we always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ... You became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere” (1 Thess.1:2-10).
Many churches today measure their success by what is going on in the congregation. It is wonderful to have things happening within the congregation as people mature spiritually, but that is not the only mark of success. The church is successful when things start happening in the world around it. Jesus said, "you are the salt of the earth ... you are the light of the world" (Matt 5:13-14). God expects the Christians to have evident impact in the community where they live. Until something starts happening in the community, the church has not fulfilled its full mandate yet.
It’s sad to see a community with church buildings on every side, having corruption, self centeredness, materialism, envy and other evils accepted as the norm. It is an indication that there is something seriously wrong with the churches of that place. All the evils we have in our modern day were present back then in cities Paul visited. But his radical, revolutionary message was striking right at the very core of the life of the cities, breaking down the patterns of evil that had locked people into bondage.
Timothy was sent by Paul to the Thessalonians, one of the churches in Macedonia (1 thess.3:2).He joined Paul again at Corinth. He brought good news to Paul; his labor had not been in vain; his ministry had made a great impact in Macedonia, Achaia and beyond. Paul wrote the words “Timothy has just now come to us from you” (1 Thess.3: 6) from the city of Corinth during his second missionary journey. 1 Thessalonians was either the first or the second (after the Galatians) letter written by Paul.
The fellowship of Silas and Timothy, the news of the Thessalonians, and the generous gifts strengthened the apostle. Their coming set him free from tent-making for a while so that he began to devote himself with fresh consecration to preaching. Whereas before he was proclaiming Jesus mainly on the Sabbath, now he was free and presumably proclaimed Him daily with the assistance of Silas and Timothy(2 Corinthians 1:19).
The Jews were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul. “when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6). Paul's sermon in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:16-41) elicited a similar reaction. He made a similar pronouncement (Acts 13:46) and together with Barnabas "shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium" (Acts 13:51).
Jesus told his disciples “if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet” (matt.10:14). What Paul was saying by carrying out these apparently well-known gestures (shaking dust or shaking garments) was like using our modern phrase, “I wash my hands of it,". It was a symbolic way of saying he had done all that can be done and therefore he had no further responsibility for their rejection of the Gospel.
“Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God” (Acts 18:7). Paul immediately made good on his declaration that he would go to the Gentiles! So for the next 18 months of Paul's stay in Corinth, Luke never mentions that Paul returned to the Jewish Synagogue! Titus Justus opened his home for the ministry and for the gathering of believers.
God has a sense of humor; Paul is kicked out of the Jewish synagogue and God provides a Gentile house next door to the synagogue! The Jews have to pass by on their way to the synagogue! And guess who gets saved in the next verse? “Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8).
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