§ 1. CORINTH
THE Grecian Peloponnesus is connected with the continent by an isthmus from four to six miles wide. On this isthmus stood the city of Corinth. A rocky eminence, called the Acrocorinthus, rises from the plain almost perpendicularly, to the height of two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is sufficiently broad at the summit for a town of considerable size. From the top of this abrupt hill the eye reaches towards the east over the expanse of the Ægean sea, with its numerous islands; and westward, towards the Ionian sea, a prospect scarcely less inviting was presented. Looking towards the north, the eye rests on the mountains of Attica on the one hand, and north-eastern Greece on the other. The Acropolis of Athens was clearly visible at a distance of forty-five miles. As early as the days of Homer, Corinth was an important city. Its position made it, in a military point of view, the key of the Peloponnesus; and its command of a port on two seas, made it the centre of commerce between Asia and Europe. The supremacy enjoyed by one Grecian State after another, had at last fallen to the lot of Corinth. It became the chief city of Greece, not only in authority but in wealth, magnificence, literature, the arts, and in luxury. It was characteristic of the place, that while the temple of Minerva crowned the Acropolis of Athens, the Acrocorinthus was the site of the temple of Venus. Of all the cities of the ancient world it was most notorious for licentiousness. It was entirely destroyed by the Roman consul Mummius, 120 years B. C., its inhabitants were dispersed, and the conqueror carried with him to Rome the richest spoils that ever graced the triumph of a Roman General. For a century after this event it lay in ruins, serving only as a quarry whence the Roman patricians gathered marble for their palaces. Julius Cæsar, recognizing the military and commercial importance of the position, determined to rebuild it, and for that purpose sent thither a colony consisting principally of freed men. This accounts for the predominance of Latin names which we meet with in connection with the Christians of this city. Erastus, Phoebe and Sosthenes are Greek names; but Gaius, Quintus, Fortunatus, Crispus, Justus, Achaicus are of Roman origin. This colony, however, was little more than the nucleus of the new city. Merchants flocked thither from all parts of Greece; Jews also were attracted by the facilities of commerce; wealth, art, literature and luxury revived. The Isthmian games were again celebrated under the presidency of the city. It was made the capital of Achaia, which, as a Roman province, included the greater part of Greece. Under the fostering care of Augustus, Corinth regained much of its ancient splendour, and during the century which had nearly elapsed since its restoration, before it was visited by the apostle Paul, it had reached a preëminence which made it the glory of Greece. It was at this time under the rule of the Proconsul Gallio, the brother of Seneca;—a man distinguished for integrity and mildness. His brother says of him: Nemo enim mortalium uni tam dulcis est, quam hic omnibus. His refusal to entertain the frivolous charges brought by the Jews against Paul (Acts 18:14–16), is in keeping with the character given of him by his contemporaries. He was one of the victims of the cruelty of Nero.*
§ 2. PAUL’S LABOURS IN CORINTH
As Corinth was not only the political capital of Greece, but the seat of its commercial and intellectual life; the place of concourse for the people not only of the neighbouring cities but of nations; a source whence influences of all kinds emanated in every direction, it was specially important for the diffusion of the gospel. Paul therefore, leaving Athens, which he had visited in his second missionary journey, went alone to Corinth, where he was soon after joined by Silas and Timotheus, who came from Macedonia. (Acts 18:5.) A stranger in this great city, and without the means of support, he associated himself with Aquila, a Jew lately come from Italy in consequence of the edict of Claudius banishing the Jews from Rome. While living in the house of Aquila, and working with him at his trade of tent making, Paul attended the synagogue every Sabbath, and “persuaded the Jews and Greeks.” But “when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean: henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence and went into a certain man’s house named Justus, one who worshipped God, and whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing it believed and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul by night, by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” (Acts 18:1–11.) The success of Paul aroused the enmity of the Jews, who determined to arraign him before the Roman Governor. As soon as the governor ascertained the nature of the charge he refused to listen to it, and dismissed the accusers from the judgment seat with evident displeasure, which encouraged the bystanders to beat the Jews. Thus the opposers of the apostle were ignominiously defeated. After remaining some time longer in Corinth he sailed from Cenchrea, the eastern port of the city, to Ephesus, with Aquila and Priscilla. Leaving his friends in that city he sailed to Cæsarea, and thence went up to Jerusalem. After remaining a short time in the Holy City he went to Antioch, and thence through Phrygia and Galatia again to Ephesus. Shortly after Paul left Ephesus the first time, Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew, having been more fully instructed in the doctrine of Christ by Aquila and Priscilla, went to Corinth, and there “mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the Scripture that Jesus was the Christ.” (Acts 18:24–28.) It is altogether probable, considering the constant commercial intercourse between Corinth and Ephesus, that the apostle had frequent opportunities of hearing of the state of the Corinthian church during his three years’ residence in the latter city. The information which he received led him, as is generally supposed, to write a letter no longer extant, exhorting them “not to keep company with fornicators.” (See 1 Cor. 5:9.) Not satisfied with this effort to correct an alarming evil, he seems himself to have made them a brief visit. No record is indeed found in the Acts of his having been to Corinth more than once before the date of this epistle; but there are several passages in his second epistle which can hardly be understood otherwise than as implying an intermediate visit. In 2 Cor. 12:14 he says, “Behold the third time I am ready to come to you.” This may indeed mean that for the third time he had prepared to go to Corinth, but this the context does not suggest, and would really amount to nothing. It was not how often he had purposed to visit them, but how often he had actually made the journey, which was the point on which stress is laid. In ch. 13:1 he says, “This is the third time I am coming to you,” which is still more explicit. In ch. 2:1 he says, “I determined I would not come again to you in heaviness.” This supposes that he had already made them one sorrowful visit, i. e. one in which he had been obliged to cause sorrow, as well as to experience it. See also ch. 12:21, and 13:2, where further allusion seems to be made to a second visit. Notwithstanding his frequent injunctions, the state of things in Corinth seemed to be getting worse. The apostle therefore determined to send Timothy and Erastus to them (1 Cor. 4:17; Acts 19:22.) Whether Timothy reached Corinth at this time is doubtful; and it would seem from 1 Cor. 16:10, that the apostle himself feared that he might not be able to accomplish all that had been appointed him in Macedonia, and yet get to Corinth before the arrival of this letter. After the departure of Timothy, Paul received such intelligence from the household of Chloe, and from a letter addressed to him by the Corinthians themselves (1 Cor. 7:1), that he determined at once to write to them.