Paul in (and out of) Corinth

Third Saturday of Easter

Lectionary texts for Saturday:

1 Peter 2:11-17

1 John 3:16 -24

 

Lectionary Texts for Sunday:

Acts 5:4-12

Psalm 23 (UMH 754 or 137)

1 John 3:16 

John 10:11-18

Thanks to Jennifer for her comment. The word "colossal" is a bit frightening. I have thought about how big this project is. It will likely be something larger and more complicated than I'm envisioning, Although I'm dealing with a terminal disease, it's advance is slow. I'm thinking The Daily Office project will take about four years. My Ph.D. dissertation took five. My book, Jesus and the Pleasures, took three. It's best to think of these things "one day at a time."

Back to Acts. Please read Acts 18:5-11.

Paul's mission in Corinth began, as always, in the synagogue with his preaching to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. Any adult Jewish man could preach in the synagogue. Luke 4;16-20 is a good example. Jesus goes up to the pulpit, opens the scroll of Isaiah, reads from it. Then he sits down to preach. Synagogues were run by laypeople, not presided over by a priest. Services were on the Sabbath. Paul would go to a synagogue every Sabbath, wherever he was, and preach. His continually preaching that Jesus was the Messiah began to rile the congregation after a few weeks. Was he also preaching that Jesus was the Son of God, the incarnation of God? That would certainly rile them more. The protests against Paul and the lack of acceptance of Christ eventually led Paul to give up on preaching to the Jews in Corinth. From this point, he went only to the gentiles there. 

He did succeed with at least a couple of synagogue officials and a fair number of synagogue attendees. That Crispus and his whole family became Christians (Acts 18:8) is directly confirmed in 1 Corinthians 1. Sosthenes, another synagogue official became a Christian (v. 8) is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:1 as being with Paul during his writing of that letter. Perhaps he transcribed the letter. 

After a largely happy year and half in Corinth, things turned sour for Paul. A Jewish group brought charges against Paul to the Roman governor Gallio. They brought Paul to trial before the bema, or Judgement Seat," which in Corinth is a large rock outcropping cut flat on top and standing in the middle of the city. Gallio found the case to be an internal Jewish matter. He rendered no judgment but told the Jews to take care of the matter themselves. Sosthenes was beaten. Apparently this was enough to satisfy the Jewish opposition, since Paul was no longer preaching in the synagogue. 

Three times I have stood atop the bema in Corinth, where Gallio stood, and read Acts 18:1-17 to students and tour groups. The first time I did it I was stopped by a park ranger sort of official who told me only licensed Greek guides were allowed to speak there. When we showed him that I was reading the Bible to them, he withdrew objection. The next two times I told the park officials ahead of time. They were quite clear that I could do nothing from the bema except read scripture--no guiding, no commentary. It was still quite a thrill to read the scripture on exactly the spot where the event took place.

God of Paul, of Jews and gentiles,

Bless these words of scripture to our hearing and understanding. Bless the courage and faithfulness of Paul, Crispus, and Sosthenes in the face of virulent criticism and violence. Help us to be a little bit more courageous than we are. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian