Picture: Preaching the Power of the Cross in Corinth 4TC 127.1
This chapter is based on Acts 18:1-18.
Corinth was one of the leading cities of the world. Travelers from every land filled its streets, intent on business and pleasure. It was an important place in which to establish a presence for God and His truth. 4TC 127.2
Among the Jews living in Corinth were Aquila and Priscilla, earnest workers for Christ. Paul became acquainted with them, recognized their good qualities, and stayed and worked with them. 4TC 127.3
In this place filled with travelers, Venus was the favorite goddess, and many demoralizing rites accompanied her worship. Even among the heathen, the Corinthians had become famous for their gross immorality. 4TC 127.4
In Corinth the apostle followed a different course from how he had worked in Athens, where he met logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy. He realized that his teaching in Athens had borne little fruit. In his efforts to attract the attention of the careless and indifferent in Corinth he determined to avoid elaborate arguments, and “not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” He would not preach “with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” (1 Corinthians 2:2, 4.) 4TC 128.1
Jesus, whom Paul was about to present as the Christ, came from a town widely known for its wickedness. He had been rejected by His own nation and finally crucified as a criminal. The Greeks considered philosophy and science as the only way to reach true elevation and honor. Could Paul lead them to believe that faith in this obscure Jew would uplift and ennoble every power of the being? 4TC 128.2
To many people living today, the cross of Calvary stirs up sacred memories. But in Paul’s day people regarded the cross with horror. To uphold as the Savior someone who had met death on the cross would naturally result in ridicule and opposition. 4TC 128.3
Paul knew very well how people would receive his message. It would make his Jewish hearers angry. In the opinion of the Greeks his words would be absurd. How could the cross have anything to do with elevating the race or saving mankind? 4TC 128.4
But ever since Paul’s career of persecuting the followers of the crucified Nazarene had been cut short, he had never stopped glorying in the cross. He had received a revelation of the infinite love of God as revealed in the death of Christ. This had worked a marvelous transformation in his life, bringing all his plans and purposes into harmony with heaven. He knew by experience that when a sinner yields to the love of the Father as seen in the sacri fice of His Son, a change of heart takes place, and Christ becomes everything to the believer. 4TC 128.5
From then on Paul devoted his life to trying to portray the love and power of the Crucified One. “I am a debtor,” he wrote, “both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise” (Romans 1:14). If his zeal ever weakened, one glance at the cross and the amazing love it revealed was enough to cause him to push ahead in the path of self-denial. 4TC 129.1
See the apostle in the synagogue at Corinth, reasoning from the writings of Moses and the prophets and bringing his hearers right to the advent of the promised Messiah. Listen as he makes plain the work of the One who by sacrificing His own life was to make atonement for sin and then begin His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The Messiah for whom Paul’s hearers had been longing had already come. His death was the fulfillment of all the sacrificial offerings. His ministry in the sanctuary in heaven was the great reality that cast its shadow backward and revealed the meaning of the ministry of the Jewish priesthood. 4TC 129.2
From the Old Testament Scriptures Paul traced the ancestry of Jesus from Abraham through David, the royal psalmist. He read the testimony of the prophets concerning the character and work of the promised Messiah and showed that all these predictions had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. 4TC 129.3
Christ had come to offer salvation first of all to the nation that was looking for the Messiah’s coming, but that nation had rejected Him and had chosen another leader, whose reign would end in death. Only repentance could save the Jewish nation from the approaching ruin. 4TC 129.4
Paul told the story of his own miraculous conversion. His listeners could not help but see that he loved the crucified and risen Savior with all his heart. They saw that his whole life was bound up with his Lord. Only those who were filled with the bitterest hatred could remain unmoved by his words. 4TC 129.5
But the Jews of Corinth closed their eyes to the evidence the apostle presented and refused to listen to his appeals. The same spirit that had led them to reject Christ filled them with fury against His servant, and, if God had not especially protected him, they would have killed him. 4TC 130.1
“But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God.” 4TC 130.2
Silas and Timothy had come to help Paul, and together they preached Christ as the Savior. Avoiding complicated, far-fetched reasoning, the messengers of the cross appealed to the heathen to look at the infinite sacrifice Jesus made in mankind’s behalf. If those groping in the darkness of heathenism could see the light streaming from Calvary’s cross, they would be drawn, the Savior had declared, “to Myself” (John 12:32). 4TC 130.3
Their message was clear, plain, and forceful. And not only in their words, but in their daily life, the gospel was revealed. Angels cooperated with them, and many people were converted, showing the grace and power of God. “Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.” 4TC 130.4
The Jews’ hatred now intensified. The baptism of Crispus exasperated these stubborn opposers. They slandered the gospel and the name of Jesus. No words were too bitter, no device too low, for them to use. They boldly affirmed that Paul accomplished his wonderful works through the power of Satan. 4TC 130.5
The wickedness that Paul saw in corrupt Corinth almost took his courage away. The moral corruption among the Gentiles and the insults he received from the Jews caused him great distress. He doubted the wisdom of trying to build up a church from the material he found there. 4TC 130.6
As he was planning to leave for a more promising field, the Lord appeared to him in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you ...; for I have many people in this city.” Paul understood this to be a guarantee that the Lord would give a harvest for the seed sown in Corinth. Encouraged, he continued to work there with zeal. 4TC 131.1
Paul spent much time in house-to-house effort. He visited the sick and the grieving, comforted the afflicted, and lifted up the oppressed. He was greatly concerned that his teaching bear the stamp of the divine rather than the human. 4TC 131.2
“We speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8, 13). 4TC 131.3
Paul spoke of himself as “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10). In the apostle’s teachings, Christ was the central figure. “It is no longer I who live,” he wrote, “but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). 4TC 131.4
Paul was an eloquent speaker. But now he set all soaring oratory aside. Instead of indulging in poetic but empty expressions that might please the senses but not touch the daily experience, with simple language he tried to bring to the heart the truths of vital importance. The present trials that people struggle with—these he wanted to meet with practical instruction in the fundamental principles of Christianity. 4TC 131.5
Many in Corinth turned from idols to serve the living God, and a large church was established under the banner of Christ. Some of the most shameless sinners among the Gentiles became towering examples of the power of Christ’s blood to cleanse from sin. 4TC 131.6
Paul’s increased success led the unbelieving Jews to oppose him even more fiercely. They “made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal” of Gallio, proconsul of Achaia (NRSV). With loud, angry voices they complained: “This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” 4TC 132.1
Paul’s accusers thought that if they could fasten on him the charge of violating the Jewish religion, which was under the protection of the Roman power, he would probably be handed over to them for trial and sentence. But Gallio, a man of integrity, refused. Disgusted with their prejudice and self-righteousness, he would not allow the charge to stand. As Paul prepared to speak in self-defense, Gallio told him it was not necessary. Then turning to the angry accusers, he said: “‘If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.’ And he drove them from the judgment seat.” 4TC 132.2
Gallio’s immediate dismissal of the case was the signal for the Jews to leave, frustrated and angry. The proconsul’s decisive course opened the eyes of the noisy crowd who had been helping the Jews. For the first time during Paul’s work in Europe, the mob turned to his side. “Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.” 4TC 132.3
“So Paul remained a good while” with the believers in Corinth. If the apostle had been forced to leave Corinth at this time, the converts would have been in a dangerous position. The Jews would have tried to follow up on the advantage they had gained, even to exterminate Christianity from that region. 4TC 132.4
