Friday
Friday
Paul in Corinth
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
Acts 18:1
It seems to have been Paul’s deliberate policy to move purposefully from one strategic city center to the next. So Luke depicts him visiting Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus, three major cities of the Greco-Roman world.
“After this [following his Areopagus speech and its aftermath], Paul left Athens and went to Corinth” (v. 1). It was about this journey that Paul later wrote, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:2–3). Some commentators explain Paul’s resolve in this way. His sermon to the philosophers had been a flop, being too intellectual and focused on the creation instead of the cross. So on his way to Corinth he repented and determined to preach the cross alone. But Luke gives no hint that he thinks Paul’s sermon a flop. On the contrary, he records it as a model of Paul’s preaching to intellectuals. Besides, he did preach the cross, because he preached the resurrection, and you cannot preach one without the other. Further, some did believe, and Paul did not change his tactics when he reached Corinth.
No, the reason for Paul’s anxiety and resolve was different. It was surely the pride and immorality of the Corinthian people that intimidated him, since the cross comes into direct collision with both. The Corinthians were proud of their city (its wealth, culture, and games) and of its prestige as capital of the province of Achaia, taking precedence even over Athens. But the cross undermines all human pride. Corinth was also associated in everybody’s mind with immorality, as korinthiazai meant to practice immorality. On the flat summit of the Acro-corinth behind the city stood the temple of Aphrodite or Venus, the goddess of love, and a thousand of her female slaves roamed the city’s streets by night as prostitutes. But the gospel of Christ crucified summoned the Corinthians to repentance and holiness. It is in this way that Christ’s cross, in its call for self-humbling and self-denial, was a stumbling block to proud and sinful Corinthians. Hence Paul’s weakness, fear, and much trembling.
For further reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1–5