PAUL THE APOSTLE ( PART 36 ) | THE SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY | PAUL AT CORINTH ( PART 3 )

Pastor Christopher Choo,

Lesson 3136

PAUL THE APOSTLE ( PART 36 )

THE SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY
PAUL AT CORINTH ( PART 3 )

There were many Jews in Corinth who rejected the gospel preached by Paul. 

But it was only one and a half years later that some of them eventually brought Paul before the Roman proconsul Gallio at the judgment seat in the forum, known as the “Bema".

This ties up with Acts 18.5-.12 where Luke recorded that Paul began preaching full time in Corinth, and stayed a year and a half in the city before some of his Jewish opponents hatched a conspiracy against him, bringing him before the Roman Proconsul, Gallio, for judgment.

However, the Proconsul proclaimed that it was an internal religious matter, not a crime, told everyone that he was unwilling to make any judgment on the issue, and drove them away from the Bema ( The Judgment Seat ).

But some Greeks got hold of the new ruler of the synagogue named Sosthenes - who succeeded Crispus - and beat him at the Bema ( Acts 18:17 ). According to 1 Cor.1:1, Sosthenes was also a convert and this may be the reason for his beating.

When our study tour visited the ruins of Corinth this year, we found the Bema Seat in the market place. And in the museum nearby, there is a lintel with Jewish inscriptions that testified to the existence of a synagogue in Corinth.

But remarkably it was in the museum at Delphi in Central Greece that we saw a first-century stone that contains a proclamation of Emperor Claudius. This proclamation refers to Gallio as the Roman Proconsul of Greece in the year in which it was issued. That year corresponds to 52 AD, which is the approximate date of Paul’s Corinthian trial. Proconsuls generally served for only one year.

This is an important independent chronological confirmation of the date of Paul’s visit to Corinth.

Moreover, historians tell us that Claudius’ edict expelling the Jews from Rome happened in 50 AD, which edict sent Aquila and Priscilla to Corinth when they met Paul by divine appointment.

Abba Father, we can see Your invisible hand in this incident of Paul's trial. In fact, You prepared Paul to face this ordeal by warning him in a night vision and encouraging him not to be afraid. Your words were recorded for our benefit by Luke in Acts 18:9-10 - " 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 many people in this city". Indeed whatever Man may propose, You can well dispose as You are the God of history and nobody can displace Your will for the gospel to go forth and be heard through Paul as Your chosen mouthpiece.