PAUL THE APOSTLE ( PART 34 ) | THE SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY | PAUL AT CORINTH ( PART 1 )

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3134

PAUL THE APOSTLE ( PART 34 )


THE SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY
PAUL AT CORINTH ( PART 1 )

Paul had taken the gospel to Athens - an intellectual city peculiarly enslaved by pagan philosophies and idol worship.

Now he was led to evangelize Corinth, a sin city marked by gaiety, luxury and lust. Its landmark was the Temple of Aphrodite ( or Venus ) - the goddess of love -that stood atop the hill flanking the city ( known as the Agro Corinth) which employed more than one thousand temple prostitutes who were also called priestesses.

On a more aesthetic note, Corinth was known for its artworks. A good example is the ornate Corinthian Column which was widely admired and copied throughout Greece and beyond.

It was also a rich trading city. Uniquely it had two ports and three harbors as it was located on a narrow stretch of land that joined the Peloponnesian Peninsula with the mainland of Greece. It could handle commercial traffic on both the western and eastern seas so that its riches eventually rivaled Athens which was inland and portless just 48 miles away. Under the Romans, Corinth became the seat of government for Southern Greece or Achaia. 

But Paul arrived in Corinth somewhat dejected:

1. The Athenians unlike the  Thessalonians and Bereans did not respond to the gospel he shared.

2. He was concerned for the fate of the Thessalonian church under persecution.

3. He missed the company of his co-partners in ministry - Luke who stayed behind in Philippi and Silas and Timothy whom he had sent back to Thessalonica for first-hand news of the well-being of the church and its members.

But God encouraged him. For he will meet an extraordinary Jewish couple from Rome - Priscilla and Acquilla - who would become his converts, ardent co-workers, and loyal friends in the spread of the gospel.

Abba Father, however daunting and dangerous the task of evangelizing faced by Paul as a pioneer of the faith, You were there to encourage him with the warmth of human companionship and the burning zeal of the right ministry partners.

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