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.