Into this centre of commerce, shrine of art, and vortex of iniquity St. Paul came probably in the autumn of A.D. 50. He came alone, depressed by the apparent failure of his preaching to the intel- lectuals of Athens, entering his new sphere of labour, as he confesses, with a sense of ' weakness and fear and much trembling' (1 Co 2^). But
when his companions, Silas and Timothy, whom he had left in Philippi, rejoined him after some weeks, ' he was constrained by the word ' [awei- xero ry X67V, Ac 18"). This probably means that to these companions it seemed as if all his ener- gies were being ' compressed' into one channel, all his thoughts controlled by a master idea. Carlyle has shrewdly observed that ' the preaching man of our day has lost the point.' The greatest preacher of apostolic times had, perhaps after some hiimiliation, rediscovered the point. His profound philosophical disquisition in Athens— his noble attempt to find common ground with the speculative minds of Hellas — having apparently missed the mark, he determined not to repeat his error in Corinth ; here he would preach noth- ing ' save Jesus Christ and him crucified ' (1 Co 2-). He did not, of course, contemplate the preaching of a new gospel, for in the province of Galatia, and doubtless elsewhere, Christ had already been 'openly set forth crucified' (Gal 3^). But in Corinth he seemed to limit himself to one aspect of 'the word,' to preach the Cross with anew passion. His message, like his mind, was ' compressed.' The in- tensity of spirit with which Christ faced His own last task was indicated by the same word, irws awi- Xo/J-ai, ' how am I straitened ! ' (Lk 12"°).
The 'word of the cross,' preached with such fer- vour, wrought moral miracles in pleasure-loving Corinth. The spiritual attraction of Calvary was the counter charm to the sensual temptations of the corrupt city. Writing not long afterwards to his converts, St. Paul gives a black list of the vari- ous types of evil-doers in Corinth, and adds : ' such Avere some of you ; but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God ' (1 Co 6"""). And if he found that the in- veterate habits of a light-hearted pagan society speedily re-asserted themselves even within the Church (1 Co 5' e'-'^"), it was still by the spiritual influence of the same sacrifice that the members of Christ's body were to make and to keep themselves pure (58-«- "-'=* 6"-2<>).
St. Paul had not intended to remain long in Corinth, his heart being in Macedonia, to which he had been Divinely called (Ac 16»- ^"), and where his appointed task seemed scarcely begun. He would have quickly retraced his steps if certain difficulties, which seemed to him Satanic hin- drances, could have been removed (1 Th 2"- ^^j. But another night-vision (Ac 18"- ^°), attaching itself no doubt to waking thoughts which had be- gun to shape themselves in his mind, convinced him that it was now his duty to remain in Corinth, where many converts were to be won. As in other cities, he laboured there with his own hands, that his motives as a preacher might be above suspicion. Being of the same trade (o/ji&rexvos) with Aquila and Priscilla {q.v.), he accepted an invitation to live in their house (18^). In a commercial centre like Corinth the presence of Jews was a matter of course (cf. Philo, Lecf. ad Gaium, 36), and their numbers had lately been augmented by the edict of Claudius which banished all Jews from Rome (Ac IS^). A number of Greeks had gradually been attracted to the worship of the synagogue, in which St. Paul, adhering to his plan of going to the Jew first (Ro V^ '^■> ^°), 'reasoned every Sab- bath' (Ac 18^), till the inevitable rupture took place (v.^). He was then offered the use of the house of the 'God-fearing' Titus Justus, who was probably one of the Roman coloni, and who may have adopted the cognomen of Justus when he be- came a proselyte. The preaching of the gospel in such a house was calculated to win the ordinary Gentile population, who might have been slow to enter the synagogue.
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CORINTH
COKINTHIANS, EPISTLES TO THE
The Corinthian converts were drawn from three classes of inhabitants — Roman colonists, Greek incolse, and Jewish settlers. The number of those who bear Latin names — Lucius, Tertius, Quartus, Fortunatus, Achaicus(Ro 16-'"-^ 1 Co 16''')— is strik- ing. A few were men of some social standing, such as Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue (Ac IS**), Gains, who was hospitable to St. Paul and to ' the whole Church ' (if this means that the Church met at his iiouse, it is possible that he is to be iden- tified M'ith Titus Justus), and Erastus, the city treasurer (Ro 16^). Not many in philosophical, administrative, or aristocratic circles were called (1 Co 1-"), and St. Paul glories in the apparent im- potence of the means by which the gospel gains its victories : ' faex urbis lux orbis.' Yet Ramsay may be right, on the whole, in maintaining that in Corinth, as everywhere else, ' the work of the Christian Church was to create or to enlarge the educated, the thoughtful middle class ' {Expository 6th ser., i. [1900] 98).