Corinthian Church Attacked
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2023 · 13 August 2023
This is the story of the arrival of the Apostle Paul, and with him the Gospel, in the city of Corinth. At this point he is discouraged. So through the circumstances at Corinth, God sets about to encourage His discouraged apostle. Our Psalms indicate that a Christian is going to have trouble, where the child of God is going through trials, but God is with him and will see him through it.
Paul wrote back to the Corinthians and said, “God is the God of all comforts.” Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait on the Lord,” and that’s good advice. We often want what we want now and sometimes cannot wait for God. Isaiah 40:31 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.”
Well, as Paul arrived in Corinth on his second missionary journey he was discouraged. In 1 Corinthians 2:3, he wrote, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” And so he arrived with some real problems in his own heart and mind; then when he faced the city of Corinth, that only increased his problem. And the city itself, with its sinfulness, must have caused his trembling.
God moves to comfort him and to encourage him. And we showed you that there are four ways that God encourages him. We’ve been through the first two to remind you that, first, God encouraged him with companionship. God encouraged him with some very dear friends. Verse 2, “He found a certain Jew named Aquila born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla.
So the apostle is introduced to two people who become lifelong friends and co-laborers in the Gospel. God allowed him the ministry on the Sabbath, working the rest of the week. God encouraged him further with two old friends. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia bearing good news and giving money so that he didn’t have to make tents anymore, but he could fulfill his apostleship.
Secondly, we found in verses 5 - 8 that when he was freed up by the offering of the Macedonian Christians brought to him by Silas that he then began to preach. And as he began to really give himself to preaching, things really began to happen. If he was encouraged by friends, he was doubly encouraged by converts. People started to get saved, and Paul’s heart became full of joy.
Verse 5 says, “Paul devoted himself to preaching the Word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.” But the Jews organized opposition. Verse 6, “When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” “I’ve delivered the Gospel. Now I will preach to the Gentiles.”
So he began his ministry among the Gentiles. He entered a certain man’s house named Gaius Titus Justus. This man worshipped God. He is a Gentile who goes to the synagogue. His house was next door to the synagogue. So his first convert is this Gaius. The second in verse 8, “And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord and all his house.”
It must’ve been bad enough for the Jews to have to endure the salvation of the man who lived next door, and on top of that see their own leader and his whole house saved. Verse 8 continues, “Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.” All imperfect tense Greek verbs, which means there was continuously occurring action. Day by day people believed, and were baptized.
So, after some Gentiles started to get saved, the Jews got uptight, and persecution started. They tried to stop Paul from preaching. Now, the Gospel was about to come to a halt. Unreasonable and wicked men were threatening and persecuting, so it was a tough go. So God Himself comes. Verse 9, “The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.”
God is personally involved with His servants. When we serve Jesus Christ, we get the idea that we’re just a drop in the bucket. Well, that is not the case. God is personally, actively involved in the life of every servant. Verse 10-11, “For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God.”
He was at the point of quitting right here. “How do you know that?” Because the Lord came to him and said, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent,” which implies that Paul was really thinking about stopping his preaching. And the Lord gives him three reasons in verse 10. They’re three promises that a Christian can apply in his own life. Number 1, “Keep preaching, Paul, for I am with you.”
The emphasis is on God’s very presence. Now, that’s the promise of power. None of us can fathom the power of God. If you can understand the fact that once there was nothing and in the next instant there was everything, you’ll understand something of His power. That a God who could speak everything into existence must have some kind of power. God has unbelievable power.
Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us.” Because we are filled with all the fullness of God, we can do what we can’t even dream. I’m not even sure myself that I understand that. I haven’t even begun to see what God can do.” But that’s essentially what God is saying to Paul. “Paul, I, Myself, am with you.”
Now the Lord comes to Paul in Corinth and says, “I will protect you. No one will hurt you.” At the end of his life, he says, “No one has hurt me. God keeps His promises.” When you understand the power of the God and the preservation of God amassed in your behalf, you have nothing to fear. Paul says, “Nothing is going to happen to me. He will preserve me to His heavenly kingdom.”
Now, you can’t always take that literally. Some of the hairs of all of our heads may be perishing in the process of life. But what He is essentially saying is that in terms of enemies and attacks against you, not the smallest infringement on your life can take place outside the plan of God. What a promise. “Don’t stop preaching. My power is there. My preservation is there.”
Verse 10 also says, “I have many people in this city.” Do you believe that God absolutely is producing fruit in your life? Often times we don’t think that God is really producing fruit. But God promises to every Christian to have fruit in their life. In other words, there are some elect here chosen before the foundation of the world, who are waiting to hear the Gospel so they can believe.
Salvation comes about in eternity past by election, in time by the response of faith. But God says, “I have chosen them. Their names are in the Book of Life. They need to hear the Gospel, so they can respond to it now.” Paul just preached the Gospel to everybody and let God worry who was elect. His responsibility wasn’t to pick and choose. His responsibility was to deliver the Gospel.
Now, that’s the divine side of salvation. The Bible teaches that God chooses people to salvation. You know, some people get uptight about the doctrine of election and they panic, because they think that makes everything unfair. You should stop your panic and find out how you can deal with it, scripturally, because it’s in the Bible. And, that’s the most peaceful thing in the world.
Just believe it. Just to give you an illustration, in 2 Timothy 1:9 it says, “He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” You didn’t have anything to do with it. You know when salvation was given to you? “Before time began.” It’s there in the Bible.
You say “God’s unfair. No, you can’t say that, because then you’re judging God, right? In Romans 9:20-21 Paul says, “On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?”
You cannot avoid scripturally, the doctrine of sovereign election. It’s all over the Bible. The Bible also teaches human responsibility, right? Look at verse 6, “Your blood is on your own heads.” The Bible teaches both of those things. Let them exist in a paradox. You don’t understand it, just believe it. Election is not just to Christ’s likeness. It’s not just to maturity. It’s to salvation.
So then you can live any way you want. No. Colossians 3:12-14 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
And then fruit are other converts. There may be times when you appear to have no fruit in your life. But fruit will come. So many times in the Christian’s life, we go through the winter as we gain the strength and the direction for the purposeful times of fruit bearing. Don’t underestimate God. Let God do it in His own time. You have the promise of power, preservation, and the promise of fruit.
Verse 11, “He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.” And people continued to be saved and built in the faith. And you notice what he did in his time there? Teaching the Word of God. That’s his calling. So he was encouraged by his fellowship with God. God strengthened him. Lastly, hardship. You say, “How you can be encouraged by hardship?”
Let me give you three reasons. It will tell a lot about a man who his enemies are. If you’ve got bad, sinful enemies, that’s good. You’re doing something right. Secondly, you can be encouraged by how ineffective they are. Have you ever noticed how your enemies work so hard and don’t seem to get anywhere? And thirdly, you can be encouraged by seeing what God does to them.
Verse 12-13, “While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal. 13 “This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Gallio was an important person, he was the deputy or the proconsul of Achaia. He was like a governor under the Roman emperor. Gallio was a very kind man by reputation.
The Jews attacked Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. This proconsul was in Corinth, and he set up his movable judgment seat in the agora, the marketplace. And he had his policemen around to bring about the execution of the penalties. So the Jews said, “Let’s take Paul’s case to the Roman proconsul.” And what was determined in one case could then become precedent for other cases.
Gallio could see that Paul’s brand of Christianity was just a form of Judaism in his own mind. Maybe they had a different view on just who this Messiah was. It certainly was no crime, and that’s exactly how he responds. And it’s exciting to see how God uses Gallio to accomplish His purpose. God either uses you willingly or unwillingly, wittingly or unwittingly, but He uses you.
Verse 14-15, “As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews. 15 But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.” He says, “If this was a case of crime against the law, I would act in this case.”
But if it’s a question of semantics, decide yourself. You all talk about your same religion. You all talk about the Messiah. And now you’ve got one guy that thinks this is the Messiah, and you don’t? That’s a theological problem. You deal with that one. No sense of me getting involved.” If he had judged against Paul, Christianity’s history would’ve been changed for 10 - 12 years.
Verse 16, “He drove them from the tribunal.” Well, the Jews stayed around for a while, but the police chased them out. Can you imagine that, the Apostle Paul hadn’t even opened his mouth? He was encouraged by how ineffective they were, right? They couldn’t stop him. But there’s a third way to get encouraged, and that’s by what God does with your enemies.
Verse 17, “Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.” In the original manuscript it says, “Then they all.” It leaves out the Greeks. Now, who beat them up? Because of the chasing of the Jews, the Greeks who were anti-Semitic took the opportunity, and the Greeks beat up Sosthenes.”
Later Paul wrote a letter back in 1 Corinthians 1:1 that says, “Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through God’s will, and Sosthenes, our brother unto the church.” You see, God not only encourages His saints by who your enemies are, but by what He does to them when He transforms them. Verse 18, “After staying for some time.” He was able to continue his ministry. Let us pray.