As usual, Paul attends the synagogue meetings in the city and argues that Jesus is the Messiah. This ministry is more successful when Silas and Timothy catch up to Paul, allowing him to devote himself to preaching. It is as a result of this synagogue ministry that there is another “rejection” of the Jews, parallel to Acts 13 and 28. Paul declares that from that time on he will go to the Gentiles, as he did in Acts 13 as well.
Two key converts are mentioned – Titius Justus, a god-fearing Gentile, and Crispus, the leader of the synagogue (See the comments for Richard Fellow’s view on Crispus and Sosthenes). A third convert is implied in Romans 16:23 – Erastus, the “director of public works” (NIV) or city treasurer. It is unusual for Paul to identify a person by title, but this is an important title (Theissen, 76). What makes this person of particular significance is that in 1929 an inscription was discovered honoring Erastus, identified as the aedilis of Corinth, a title normally translated by the Greek agoranomos. The title given in Romans is that of oikonomos of the city. While this is not exactly equivalent, it is close enough that many have made the connection between this convert in Romans 16:23 and the city manager of Corinth in the mid-50’s.
Erastus Inscription from Corinth (January 2019)
Paul may have been concerned that his success would breed a violent backlash from the synagogue, as it had in Thessalonica. In fact, Paul has seen this happen before. The normal pattern is for him to enter the synagogue and face serious persecution. He is not afraid for his own life; in fact, he seems more than willing to suffer physically for the Gospel.
1 Cor 2:3-4 indicates that Paul was afraid his ministry was destined for failure. He does not yet know of the fate of the Thessalonian believers; perhaps even Berea is unknown to him. Athens likely did not result in a church. Will Corinth go just as badly? Yet in 1 Cor 2, Paul claims that any success in Corinth was based solely on the power of the Holy Spirit, not his own rhetorical ability.
1 Corinthians 2:3-4 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.
In Acts 18:9-10, Luke tells us that Paul has a vision in which the Lord tells him he will not be harmed in the city of Corinth and that there are many people in the city who are “the Lord’s.” There are three short, related commands: Do not fear, continue to speak, and do not be silent.
If these commands reflect Paul’s mood prior to Silas and Timothy’s return, then it is possible that Paul considered, like Jeremiah before him, to remain silent and not open himself up to further persecution (Jer 20:7-12). Like Jeremiah, Paul cannot keep the Gospel to himself; he must be what he is, the light to the Gentiles. Even if this means he will be persecuted. This vision encourages him to continue, since his Gospel message will be received in Corinth.
He will remain in the city for 18 months, Paul’s longest place of ministry since his commission from Antioch in Acts 13.
Bibliography:
H. J. Cadbury, “Erastus of Corinth” JBL 50 (1931) 42–58; J. Murphy-O’Connor, “The Corinth That Saint Paul Saw” BA 47 (1984) 147–59; Gerd Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity. Essays on Corinth (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982); Bruce Winter, After Paul Left Corinth: The Influence of Secular Ethics and Social Change (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001)
Phillip,
following John Chrysostom, some have argued that Sosthenes was Crispus renamed. See the paper here:
http://www.tyndalehouse.com/tynbul/library/TynBull_2005_56_2_07_Fellows_PaulsChurches_Crispus.pdf
If Keener is right that the audience of Acts was the churches of the Aegean then they could have known Crispus-Sosthenes and his names. What is your view, and why? I don’t think I asked this last time around.
I think your solution in the article is elegant and satisfies me, at least. I have never been convinced by “two Sosthenes.” While there is something attractive about Paul converting not only one, but two synagogue leaders, I just do not think that is clear from Acts / 1 Cor. I read your paper quite a while ago, but I will give it another look this weekend, thanks for the link.
Thanks, Phillip. From inscriptions we know that synagogue rulers were benefactors of the synagogue community. I suggest that, after his conversion, Crispus diverted at least some of his benefactions towards (uncircumcised) believers (leaving less for the Jews). This explains why:
1) “many hearing become believers”.
2) The Jews resented the inclusion of those (uncircumcised) who “worship God in ways that are contrary to the Law”.
3) Crispus was named “Sosthenes” (saving strength).
4) He was beaten by Jews (who would have felt that he had not met his obligations as their benefactor). A.D 51 was probably a time of food shortage in Corinth. In the ancient world it was common for the people to attack high status individuals whom they held responsible for their hunger.
5) He was included as co-sender of 1 Corinthians (his role as founding benefactor gave his name authority).
I think this tightens the arguments for Crispus-Sosthenes.
Paul’s extended stay in Corinth was one that was very interesting to evaluate. He really did a lot of effective ministry, and it was rather interesting to see how God really placed a lot of direction in his life. There was not a lot of direction in the sense that Paul was brought to a lot of different places, and the fact that 18 months was the longest that Paul got to stay somewhere speaks a lot to the things that Paul got to do in his time doing ministry.
Paul wasn’t shy of getting physical to spread the Gospel, but rather like Long said, “1 Cor 2:3-4 indicates that Paul was afraid his ministry was destined for failure.” Paul rather was so worried that his calling to be the light to the gentiles would receive the same backlash as his ministry to the Jews did. But similar to Jeremiah, Paul could not hold back his calling. Instead of leaning on himself and his own abilities, all the glory and credit was given to the Holy Spirit, because even in Paul’s weaknesses, the HS was still working through him to make Christ’s name known. That would give Paul the confidence and humility to continue in his calling to be a light to the gentiles, and not hold back from fear of failure, because even in his failures, the Holy Spirit would “demonstrate his power” (1 Cor. 2:4)
The thing that stands out to me is Paul’s rejection of the Jews in the synagogue in verse 6. I imagine Paul was exhausted from the constant backlash he received from the Jews that he preached to in the different cities throughout the ancient Roman world. However, Christ was faithful and gave him clarity and direction in verses 9-10. Polhill (2008) notes how this guidance from Christ in Paul’s vision kept Paul in Corinth despite historically being driven from places of persecution during his prior missionary journeys (p. 2123). Paul was then free to stay in Corinth with the assurance of safety and prosperity in preaching the Gospel. This would allow Paul to focus on his ministry without the stress of being persecuted. Polhill (2008) continues this idea by showing how Christ’s promise was recognized in Gallio’s judgment that Christian’s would not be found guilty when preaching the Gospel (p. 2124). This opened the door for the Gospel to plant deeper roots now that it was free from the confines of Roman law. Perhaps this ruling opened the door for the difficulties that the Corinthian church faced later on in 1 Corinthians because of the comfortability of living in a place where they were free from persecution. Whether or not this was a factor, this allowed the Gospel the freedom to come into the city and gave Paul an opportunity to stay and build the church further. This would have been a welcome change of pace for Paul who had been so consistently persecuted throughout his previous mission work.
I think Paul’s trust in God to use his Ministry is really demonstrated through Paul’s time in Corinth. At this point, he feels his Ministry is destined to fail and yet he still trusts God and goes where He is called. To be completely honest, at this point, I probably would have given up if I was Paul. If I felt like I was having little success in every other place I went to I would really start to question if God “dialed the right number” when He called me. Something that is really admirable about Paul is that even though he is receiving lots of backlash because of his message, he does not stray from sharing it. Even in his fear he cannot keep his mouth shut. I am sure it was also helpful to be backed and supported by Silas and TImothy again. I think Paul’s ability to still spread his message even with fear is something that many Christians lack today. I avoided what I felt was my calling for years because I thought some people in my life would be very upset with me. They were very upset with me so my fear was valid, but I still should have trusted sooner that God would provide.
Paul’s Ministry in Corinth is one that is often considered one of the most successful stays out of any where he stopped during his missionary journey’s. The start of Paul’s stay is similar to what we elsewhere in many places in Acts. Paul goes to his people. The gospel is presented to the gentiles, and it seems to be in vain per usual. We read this is not necessarily the case. The leader of the synagogue is receptive to Paul’s message and repents. This must have been an encouragement to Paul. I had never considered that Paul may have thought that his ministry might be failing. Often with modern media we just know what is going on wherever, whenever at any time. I like the highlight that Paul usually is very bold and not afraid of the physical repercussions of sharing the Gospel, but it seems by his writings in 1 Corinthians that he was timid and not in his normal headspace when it came to people in Corinth. I like that Paul there mentions he shows the authority of God through the Spirit.
God’s word tom Paul must have more reassuring than almost anything Paul could have experienced. Then reassurance of no physical danger I am sure changed his outlook on the possibilities that could happen in Corinth. We see the evidence of this in the converts we read about. The Conversion of not only the synagogue leader, but also the Erastus demonstrates God’s influence on the people of Corinth. This demonstrates the faithfulness of God to Paul. The evidence that God had many followers serving him in the city. The ability for Paul to stay in one place for that long was extremely rare and unheard of at this point in his ministry. Even the proconsul shows that God was work through his handling of the Jews bringing Paul to him. He says Paul has done on crime or wrongdoing in the way he has operated in his ministry in Corinth. Overall, Paul’s time in Corinth would have considered a major success for the Early church. I also appreciate the insights the article brought to my attention concerning where Paul’s headspace might have been while operating in Corinth. The question remains to why the Corinthian church seems to have strayed so far from where it seems they started.
Paul is counted in the Bible as one of the most fearless man to live. Here’s why I say that. As you look through the book of Acts alongside the Pauline epistles, you begin to see a pattern of a man who does not cower away from any situation. In Acts 16, Paul casts out an evil spirit from a slave girl, which then angered the slave girl’s owners as they began to lose profit. As a result, Paul was beaten and then thrown in jail. Even in the midst of his sufferings, Paul says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us”. So sufferings can’t seem to get Paul to stop him from obeying God. Later on in Acts, while imprisoned, Paul uses the opportunity to convert the guards to Christianity. Furthermore, the threats to take Paul’s life meant nothing to him, “for to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). My point here is that whether Paul was living or not, he was a man who knew the scriptures, and knew the truth behind God. And that truth was that if Paul was being led by the Holy Spirit, then he had nothing to fear. Paul was not a super human being, though, he is just as human as any of us. He gets scared, he gets sad, afraid, happy, and angry. As to what you mentioned Phillip, in 1 Cor 2:3-4, Paul shares his worry of his ministry not being effective. That is a very understandable worry, but this worry displays that he is human, just like everyone else.
With that said, Paul sets the example of what a fearless christian can look like. The accomplishments that the Lord was able to make through Paul are still impacting people 2000 years after they occurred. This is true because of Paul’s decision to obey instead of running away from God’s calling. He feels the same emotions as we do, but what stands out about Paul is his heart of surrender to let the Holy Spirit guide him and use him, even when his emotions are leading him away from danger. And his emotions are rightfully valid, Corinth is a very unsafe, pagan city. Nonetheless, Paul let the Spirit strengthen him and to carry him through.
This blog post sparked a hermeneutical fear in me that, when we read the Bible, specifically the Acts of the Apostles, we lack a sense of the reality in which the apostles were living. This idea was brought to my mind when reading through Professor Long’s mention of 1 Corinthians 2:3–4, where Paul says he had much fear and worry when coming to Corinth. As I was reading through Acts 18 and examining Corinth through the lens of Ben Witherington’s A Week in the Life of Corinth, it exposed in me the false picture that I had of Paul and of how things went down when he came to a city to evangelize. I picture a brave Jewish Roman citizen, the greatest missionary we know of, who went from city to city proclaiming the gospel, full of the Spirit and courage, dominating every city he went to with the gospel. While some of this is true, I’m afraid I miss the drastic lifestyle and cultural rigidity of a city like Corinth and how that brought many more struggles to Paul’s ministry than you may think or see on the surface.
“Some pagan residents had worried that it sounded like cannibalism” (Witherington, p. 34). Witherington notes this to give us insight into how a resident of Corinth might have responded to the whispers of Paul and his converts taking the communion meal at one of their secret dinner parties. To us, even someone who may not be a Christian might still have some sort of idea about the conduct of a church: praying, singing songs, going to church on Sunday, that kind of thing. But contrarily, in Paul’s context, this idea of Christianity—putting your faith in a guy who hung on a cross outside of Jerusalem and abstaining from eating food sacrificed to idols—was completely new and crazy to a pagan living in Corinth. This is just one example of a cultural hardship early Christianity faced in Corinth. Others can be listed, such as participating in the Isthmian Games, following the honor-and-shame code of Rome, and your role in contributing to society. These are real issues that early converts had to walk through, and frankly, I am not too sure if Paul would have known how to answer all of these struggles.
I find that the value in peeking behind the curtain of vast cultural differences enables us to see a hidden layer within Scripture. Not in a weird, second-century gnosticizing way; rather, when we can see what it was really like for Paul to spend 18 months in Corinth and the troubles and hardships that were present, we learn to appreciate and see how God was moving and bringing the light of the gospel into the darkest, most far-off cultures. Nevertheless, for Paul, we read in Acts 18:10, “for I have many in this city who are my people.” God was greater and had provision when Paul might have lost hope. Despite the treachery in Greco-Roman culture, the light of the gospel prevailed.