Acts 18: 1-23
Christ in Corinth

By this point in Acts we are accustomed to seeing Paul getting kicked out of nearly every city he enters.  Whenever he begins proclaiming Jesus Christ in a new place, we can almost expect it’s just a matter of weeks before he’ll be attacked by the opposition and run out of town again, fleeing under cover of night or being lowered in a basket through a hole in the wall, or else being escorted out of town by Roman officials who’ve just released him from jail. 

One begins to wonder, is this the Christian life…?  Does this message have any staying power?  Is it really the role of an apostle to roam about harassed and helpless (like a sheep without a shepherd)?  How is it that you can plant churches and establish new congregations in just a matter of weeks anyway? 
(Paul must have asked these questions himself.) 

Well…the trend changes in Corinth, and we will see that though the response of the people in Corinth is similar to other places, yet in this case Paul does not flee the city – he is, in fact, commanded to stay in Corinth. 

Scripture Reading 

Intro:

To set the context me should understand that the city of Corinth was a major commercial center in the ancient world.  Corinth was situated next to a narrow isthmus of land connecting northern and southern Greece.  It was a port city, but with two ports –one to the West, serving Italy, and one to the East, serving Asia.  So it was a wealthy and populous place – a conservative pop. est. 200,000 to 300,000 people (some claim twice that number). 

Corinth was also the capitol of the Roman province of Achaia, so it had political as well as commercial significance.  Corinth had, furthermore, been re-founded as a Roman colony city which means it was more closely linked with Rome herself than other towns.  When Rome founded a colony city, they typically had the original residents removed and brought in their own people to settle the place as Roman citizens.  The land in a colony city was not thought of as mere conquered territory, but was given the legal status and privilege of Italian soil.  So far in his journeys, Paul has visited only one other Roman colony – and that was Philippi, where he was beaten with rods and spent the night in jail.  Though situated within Greece, the city of Corinth at this time was a very Roman place – more Roman than Rome, some have suggested.  (Nearly all inscriptions found in Corinth from this time period are written in Latin, which is strange in Greece.)

Paul is now closer than ever to the seat of Imperial power.  And how fitting that we find Claudius, the emperor himself, mentioned here. 

Acts 18: 2   And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. 

Now we know that Claudius held a generally favorable policy toward

Jews in the empire.  Near the beginning of his reign he once issued a decree (in response to a plea by his friend Herod Antipas for Jewish rights): 
“It will, therefore, be fit to permit the Jews, who are in all the world under us, to keep their ancient customs without being hindered in so doing.  But I charge them also to use this my kindness to them with moderation, and not to show contempt of the superstitious observances of other nations, but to keep their own laws only. 

And I will that this decree of mine be engraved on tablets by the magistrates of the cities and colonies, and municipalities, both with and without Italy, both kings and governors, by means of the ambassadors, and to have them exposed to the public for full thirty days, and in such a place that it may be plainly read from the ground.”  (Josephus, Ant., 19.287-91) 

“…and on the other hand I explicitly order the Jews not to agitate for more privileges than they formerly possessed, and not in future to send out a separate embassy as if they lived in a separate city, a thing unprecedented, …otherwise I will by all means take vengeance upon them as fomenters of what is a general plague infecting the whole world…” (Loeb translation, Pap. Lond. 1912) 

“He expelled from Rome the Jews constantly making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus” (Seutonius, Claudius 25) 

So, if Suetonius has this right, it is likely the Jews were expelled from Rome b/c of riotous controversy about who is the Christ – probably controversy about whether Jesus was the Christ. 

We were told that there were Jews from Rome at Pentecost, and the message about Jesus has probably already reached Rome when those diaspora Jews returned home from the feast – some 20 years before Paul gets to Corinth. 

It may be that Priscilla and Aquila already are Christians when Paul meets them.  We read nothing of their conversion; they simply welcome Paul into their home as a fellow Jew and a fellow tentmaker, (perhaps also fellow Jewish Christians).  (We don’t know, we do know they are Christians by the time Paul leaves Corinth.)  But they are three travelling Jews bound together in a cosmopolitan city. 

There were other Jews who called Corinth their home, probably a large number of Jews, and Paul tries to persuade these Jews about Jesus, so “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath.” 

Acts 18: 5   When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 

***It is too easy for us, as 21st century Christians, to suppose that our faith is primarily about being kind to others, keeping close fellowship with friends at church, giving to the needy, honoring our commitments, and generally staying on good behavior without making a bother in the world. 
But to reduce Christian faith to ethics is to neglect the person at the center of our confession. 

Paul does not go to the synagogue to argue about ethics.  He does not go there to tell his fellow Jews to be kind to one another, or even simply to preach that God is good and loving and merciful.  No, Paul comes to declare that Jesus is the Christ.  The message is about a person who has come…a person who is alive…a person who is the King, the Christ, the Son of God. 

It is not an abstract gospel, but a personal gospel.  It is not an un-intrusive message, but a disruptive one.  It is a message which demands allegiance. 

At the center of Christian confession is the man Jesus Christ – Christ the anointed one, Christ the King. 

It is, therefore, a message which cannot be hidden, even in a cosmopolitan city like Corinth the message must not be hidden. 

Furthermore, this personal message belongs to Him, to Christ and not to us.

And, lastly, this message, as the personal gospel of Jesus Christ, will be misunderstood by the world. 

      The gospel message…

      …cannot be hidden

                   …It belongs to Jesus

                                …And it is misunderstood 

1. B/c the man Jesus is at the center of Christian confession, our message must not be hidden.

Having been rejected by the synagogue, Paul goes out to preach to the Gentiles (or non-Jews) of Corinth, but he does not leave the area.  He doesn’t even leave the neighborhood; Paul goes next door. 

Surely Luke gives us this detail for a reason….despite opposition, Paul understands that the message about Jesus must not be hidden. 

Ultimately, the gospel cannot be hidden because it is not the message of a personal/ ethical faith but the proclamation of the kingdom of God, and the coming of his Anointed One. It is the public announcement that God is alive and at work in His world. 

Illus}  It is the character of public announcements that they are difficult to hide; indeed, that they must not be hidden.  For Example:

Kiev, Ukraine’s parliament in a public session this past Tues., ratified a deal to harbor Russia’s Black Sea fleet in exchange for cheaper gas.  When the announcement was made…eggs were thrown at the speaker, flares set off to smoke out the parliament building, fights broke out among parliament members.

Public announcements have public political consequences, but public announcements (like the gospel of Jesus Christ) cannot be hidden.  Even if those members of parliament in Kiev had wanted to announce and ratify this policy privately they could not have because it was a matter of public law to be ratified in public assembly. 

App}  Similarly, our message is not a private one about mere personal convictions.  Nor is it a secret message to be contained only within our club of insiders.  Not at all, our gospel message is public news about King Jesus, so we must maintain the posture of a public announcement in the world and to the world that the kingdom of God has come, that Jesus as King is worthy of worship, and yes, that all will be answerable to him.  It is a message with vast socio-political and ethical ramifications, but it is a message that begins with a Person.

We must maintain the public character of this message no matter how much egg we may get in our faces.

Yes, sometimes our message is maintained and communicated quietly, but other times our confession must be maintained in a way that is rather “in your face”.  Surely Paul’s gesture was… “in your face” offensive to the Jews of Corinth – meeting next door, with the synagogue ruler converted. 
It’s become popular in many Christian circles to quote Francis of Assisi:  "Preach the gospel at all times -- If necessary, use words." 
I like that quote myself, because it reminds me that my actions will often speak louder than my words, that in testimony to Jesus Christ my daily practice matters as much as whatever I may speak from the pulpit.

But I think we should also learn to quote these words of our Lord Jesus as given to Paul in Corinth:

"Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, The gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be hidden.  It is a public faith, with public ramifications.  If you wait until you are “ready” to testify to Christ, you may be waiting forever.  Esp. if for you being ready to speak requires living a life without sin, you will never share your faith in this life.  The message is not about you and your obedience; it’s about Christ and his obedience, Christ and his Lordship, Christ and his salvation. People need to hear our message today, they need to hear it from un-sanctified people like you and I.  Our testimony is that we have been saved, not that we have saved ourselves.  Praise Christ that Paul did not wait until he stopped sinning before preaching the gospel. 

1 Timothy 1: 15-16  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 

It is partly our sin itself which will help others to see the mercy, the goodness, and the glory of Christ. 

Our message cannot finally be hidden, and

2. B/c the man Jesus is at the center of Christian confession, our message belongs to him.

Paul probably did have some trepidation by this point in Corinth.  Thus far the pattern looks similar:  after a few Sabbaths the majority of the Jews reject his message while a few believe, then Paul goes to the Gentiles, we should be expecting charges and punishments to follow soon.  But before any charges are brought Paul gets a word from the Lord. 

The command from Jesus, not only enjoins Paul so speak, but also reminds Paul (and us) that the message and the people who receive it do not belong to Paul, but to Jesus Christ.  Paul is not alone in this endeavor.  There are many names listed in this passage:…Aq. And Prisc., Silas and Timothy, Titius, Crispus and his household, but of course the most important person present is Jesus himself. 

10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." 

How easy it is for us to forget that the message belongs to Jesus, and that in receiving the message we ourselves belong Him.  If we are people of the message, then we are his people.  That’s what makes the message good news.  The King has come not to judge, but to save.  He comes to claim us as his own; he is the good master who comes to deliver us from the evil mastery of sin and self and Satan.  The message is good news because it asks you to accept his claim on you by faith. 

The word for people here is laos (not ethnos).  It is the language of the covenantal formula “I will be your God, and you shall be my people.”

We first heard it from James in Acts 15 at the apostolic council… 

Acts 15: 13-18  After they finished speaking, James replied, "Brothers, listen to me.  14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.  15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,  16 "'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,  17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things  18 known from of old.'

Leviticus 26: 11-13  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.  13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. 

Paul is not alone; Jesus is with him.  Jesus has many others in this city. 

App}  Do you sometimes feel afraid…?  In professing Christ, do you sometimes feel alone?  Do not forget that you are not your own; the gospel declares that you no longer belong enslaved to self and sin and Satan, but you are now, in Jesus, the people of the Living God.  And if Jesus has claimed you, no sin…no Satan can steal you from his hand.  You belong to Christ, you are children of the Living God, you need not be afraid to declare the Lordship of your Father, your King, because he is a benevolent and a forgiving Lord. 

1 Corinthians 1: 26-31  For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,  29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.  31 Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." 
Jesus is not only at the center of our message, but the message itself belongs to Him. 

3. B/c the man Jesus is at the center of Christian confession, our message will be misunderstood in the world.

Some of the Jews in Corinth accepted Paul’s message about Jesus as the Christ and some of them did not – in Roman eyes there is still no hard distinction between Christian Jews and non-Christian Jews, it’s just two different interpretations of the same religious faith. 

It’s really the correct view.  There is no understanding of Christ Jesus without the Jewish story, the Jewish prophets, the Jewish temple. 

Gallio refused to enter into such matters which he considered outside his charge.  It was a pragmatic political move, much like Pontius Pilate who attempted to refuse judgment of Jesus.  And Gallio’s disregard for the matter was a favorable judgment for Paul and the early church. 
Gallio is no low-level magistrate. He is proconsul of Achaia, so his ruling will at least set a precedent for an entire province, perhaps helping to set a precedent for the empire – a precedent of treating Christians like Jews and thus implicitly bearing the same privileges as Jews in the empire. 
It was a favorable outcome for Paul and the mission, but it is not an altogether favorable picture of Gallio, and Gallio – on the whole – is not necessarily favorable toward Jewish people.

Acts 18: 16-17  And he drove them from the tribunal.  17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. 

Gallio refuses to rule on the matter, but by allowing Sosthenes, a Jewish leader, to be beaten in front of him without charge Gallio demonstrates a typically Roman anti-Semitic posture, disregarding Jews as second class citizens. 
Gallio was right to interpret the charges as a matter to be settled among Jews.  He was probably wise to dismiss the charges from his court. But Gallio was wrong to disregard this issue as only a matter bearing on Jewish religion. 
Acts 18:15 15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things." 

What Gallio fails to recognize is that these words and names and this law may just have some bearing on himself, that words and names may matter very much.  And if it’s the right name, it may matter most of all. 

Gallio fails to recognize or even consider whether this message may have any bearing on himself.  And he fails to recognize this exactly because it’s all tied up with a Name. 

The world persistently misunderstands and misinterprets a personal gospel because generally the people of the world are too preoccupied with their own names to consider the bearing of the Name of Another.  It’s precisely b/c there is a Name at the center of our confession that we are persistently misunderstood, and that we ourselves persistently confuse the gospel. It is not about us, but about Another, and the mystery is that he has made us his own. 

In his first letter to the young church there in Corinth, Paul explained:

1 Corinthians 2: 6-16  Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.  7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.  8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  9 But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"-  10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.  13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.  14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.  15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.  16 "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 

Though our proclamation is an unhidden public announcement, yet our message will be misunderstood by the world precisely because we belong to the Name, we are bound to a Person, and we are bound to one another through his Word, his Name, and his Spirit.  It is a message concerning words and names and the law of God.  And the message, therefore, transcends human knowledge and the human political sphere.  Knowing this, every Christian should expect to be misunderstood in the world, realizing we walk as though strangers in a strange land – bound to Christ, bound to one another, yet separate and distinct from the world. 

Conclusion: 

Acts 18: 22-23  When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.  23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 

I have tried to emphasize that our Christian confession is personal and public Because Jesus is at the Center our message cannot be hidden, we belong to Him, and the world will misunderstand. 

But this last passage about Paul’s returning travels emphasizes that \ in belonging to Jesus, we also belong to one another. 

Why does Paul return, visiting Jerusalem, Antioch, and all the churches he founded in Phrygia and Galatia?   B/c it’s not about him.  Paul knows it’s about Jesus and that in Jesus he is bound in communion with and in obligation to the whole church. 

This Christian union among fellow disciples of Christ is a critical emphasis in our observance of the Lord’s Supper – the communion table is intended as a profound expression not only our bond with Christ himself, but also our bond with one another through Jesus Christ. 

Paul once explained to the church in Corinth…

1 Corinthians 10: 16-17  The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 
As we now turn to partake of that same cup and that same bread, bound together even with those ancient Corinthian Christians (– with Priscilla and Aquila, Crispus, and Titius Justus –) let us prepare our hearts in prayer.