Paul In Corinth; Acts 18: 1 – 17 Part 2

Church History: Date: A.D. 49-52

The Jewish synagogue at Corinth was the place that Paul chose, hoping to gather the beginnings of his Christian church out of the converted Jews. He reasoned with them in the synagogue every Sabbath. Her preached concerning Jesus as the Messiah, proving this point from their own Scriptures, collated with the facts of our Lord's life. He persuaded the Jews and the Greeks alike. Many, both Jews and proselytes, were convinced of the truth of his doctrine. Among his converts was Epenetus, the first fruit of his labor in Achaia, (Romans 16:5); and the family of Stephanas was the next; and then Crispus and Caius, or Gaius; all of whom the apostle himself baptized, (1Corinthians 1:14-16).1

When Paul was obliged to leave Berea, because of the persecution raised up against him there, he left Silas and Timothy behind. He later sent word for them to rejoin him at Athens as soon as possible. It appears, from (1Thessilonians 3:10), that, on Timothy's coming to Athens; Paul immediately sent him, and probably Silas with him, to comfort and establish the Church at Thessalonica. How long they labored here is uncertain, but they did not rejoin him until sometime after he came to Corinth. It appears that he was greatly rejoiced at the account which Timothy brought of the Church at Thessalonica; and it must have been immediately after this that he wrote his first epistle to that Church, which is probably the first, in order of time, of all his epistles.

Paul was pressed in spirit, or he was constrained by the Spirit of God, in an extraordinary manner, to testify to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. "And when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted all of his time, now that he had their assistance, to preaching the Gospel.

Many of the Jews, actually most of them, persisted in their contradiction to the gospel of Christ, and would not yield to the strongest reasoning or the most winning persuasions. They opposed Paul’s teachings and blasphemed; they set themselves in battle array (so the word signifies) against the gospel; they joined hand in hand to stop the progress of it. They resolved they would not believe it themselves, and would do all they could to keep others from believing it. They could not argue against it, but what was wanting in reason they made up in ill language: they blasphemed, spoke reproachfully of Christ, and in him of God himself, (compare Revelation 13:5-6). To justify their infidelity, they broke out into downright blasphemy.