and consummate tact he added a profound sympathy for those whom he sought to reach. His method, like that of Jesus, was not negative and destructive, but prevailingly positive and constructive. His aim was not merely to interest and convince men, but to save them. The motive power in Paul, the orator, therefore, was not mere logic, but love for men and loyalty to the Master whom he served. Back of his words was his heroic personality. He spoke from personal experience, directly out of his own heart to the hearts of men. To these strong qualifications were added a wide and varied knowledge of the world and of human nature, a bold originality and unusual ability in using apt and popular figures of speech and illustrations. These he drew from the life of the merchant, the farmer, the traveller, the sailor, and even the athlete. Colloquial phrases, current in the agora, the forum, and the temple, were constantly on his lips, for Paul was supremely skilful in interpreting the Gospel into the every-day life and thought of the exceedingly varied audiences to which he spoke.

V. Paul's Problems and Methods at Corinth. The great metropolis of Corinth lay on the "Bridge of the Sea," the isthmus which separated the Corinthian from the Saronic Gulf. This narrow neck of land cut straight across the shortest natural highway from Rome to Ephesus and the East. Every cargo sent on this route must here be transshipped. Hence it was one of the most important commercial centres in the Roman world. The city was built on a broad natural terrace above which its acropolis rose to a height of about eighteen hundred feet above the sea-level. Corinth had been a Roman colony since the days of Julius Cæsar. To it had gravitated the most varied population. It was opulent, cosmopolitan, corrupt, and profligate. Into it had poured, not only the gold and the ideas, but the vices of the East and West. Strategically, it was of the greatest importance, for ideas implanted here would readily spread through the Roman world. Corinth was a city well calculated to appeal powerfully to the sympathies, to the heroic daring, and to the broad statesmanship of Paul. Fortune, or rather seeming misfortune, drove him here. Hunted from Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroa, baffled at Athens, anxious, harassed by poverty and weakened by sickness, Paul about 50 A.D. entered upon his work in this capital and metropolis of Achaia. For about a year and a half he lived and worked here. To support himself he took up his occupation as a tent-maker. His earliest friends and fellow workmen were Aquila and his wife, Prisca, or, as she is better known by the diminutive form of her name, Pris

PAUL'S PROBLEMS AT CORINTH

cilla. They were natives of Pontus, but had lived in Rome until they had recently been expelled by the edict of Claudius, which is dated by Orosius in 49 B.C. Suetonius declares that this expulsion of the Jews was due to a certain riot led by one Chrestus. Apparently this is a popular corruption of the name Christ, and the remark of Suetonius suggests that at this early date the Christians already formed a strong community in the capital city. The fact that Paul early made his home with Priscilla and Aquila and that he never includes them among his converts indicates that they were Christians before they found refuge in Corinth. Paul's intimate relations with them undoubtedly put him in close touch with conditions in Rome and must have contributed to his growing desire to visit the imperial city. Following his usual custom, Paul first sought through the Jewish synagogue to gain a public hearing. Silas and Timothy aided him in his work, but soon they experienced the usual reaction. A majority of the Jews rejected Paul's claim that Jesus was the Messiah; but at least one devout proselyte, and probably several, opened their hearts and their homes to Paul's message. With his usual persistence and boldness, Paul chose the house of Titus Justus, which adjoined the synagogue, as the new centre of his work. Crispus, a high official in the synagogue, accepted Paul's teachings and his example exerted a strong influence on all classes in Corinth. So successful was Paul's work that it aroused the usual persecution, especially on the part of the Jews. In their blind rage they dragged Paul before the Roman proconsul, Gallio, a brother of the famous Stoic philosopher Seneca. Recognizing that the case was simply a quarrel between the partisans of different religious sects the proconsul summarily dismissed the case and drove them from the tribunal. It is not entirely clear whether it was hatred of the Jews or interest in Paul and his teachings which led the mob to seize Sosthenes, the president of the Jewish synagogue, and beat him. Their action certainly did not reflect the spirit of Paul's teachings. It is possible, however, that this was the same Sosthenes to whom Paul refers later as a devoted convert. In his correspondence with the Corinthians Paul tells us that at Corinth he abandoned all philosophical discussions and terminology and devoted himself solely to proclaiming in simplest terms the Gospel of the cross.

VI. The Results of Paul's Work in Corinth. The eighteen months spent at Corinth were among the most critical and fruitful in Paul's ministry. The transformation of the ignorant and corrupt Greeks of this voluptuous city into worthy Christians was the great

The super

scrip

Paul's

est miracle in Paul's ministry, if not in the early history of Christianity. Here he was battling with the most seductive and brazen form of immorality which, under the guise of the old pagan religions, had permeated the whole life of Corinth. To this deep-seated immorality was added the gross materialism of a strongly commercial city and the fickleness which has always been a characteristic of the Greek race. In the face of all these odds Paul established a strong Christian church at Corinth. The so-called First Epistle of Clement, which was written near the close of the first Christian century by the Church of Rome to the Corinthian Christians, speaks of their name as venerable and famous and worthy of all men's love. Elsewhere in the same epistle is found this high commendation: "Who ever dwelt even for a short time among you, and did not find your faith to be as fruitful of virtue as it was firmly established? Who did not admire the sobriety and moderation of your godliness in Christ and who did not rejoice over your perfect and well-rounded knowledge?" It is from Corinth also that Paul sent his letters to the Macedonian churches and, through the frequent visits of his assistants, strengthened and confirmed them in the Christian faith. Here also he met the attack of the narrow Judaizers who sought to undermine his work in Galatia and even found their way to Corinth itself. Paul's ministry at Corinth appears to have been one long battle, and the battle by no means ceased when he went on to Ephesus; but in the end he won a victory which marked a great and signal advance in Christianity's conquest of the Roman world.

§ CLVII. PAUL'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE

CORINTHIAN CHURCH

Paul called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, with brother Sosthenes, to the church of tion to God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated in Christ second Jesus, called to be saints, as well as to all who in every (I Cor. place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

letter

11-3)

reasons

His I thank my God continually in your behalf for the divine for grace which has been bestowed on you in Jesus Christ, in thanks that through him you have been so richly blessed with all giving power of speech and with all knowledge. Thus in you the testimony which we bore to Christ has been confirmed.

(4-6)

PAUL'S APPEAL TO DROP PARTY STRIFE

to drop

(10-17a)

Brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg of Appeal you that you all speak in harmony. There must be no party divisions among you, but rather you must be united with strife the same mind and by the same point of view. For I have been informed regarding you, brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you. What I mean is this: each of you is saying, 'I belong to Paul,' and 'I to Apollos,' and 'I to Cephas' [Peter], and 'I to Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or was it in Paul's name that you were baptized? I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no man can say that you were baptized in my name. Yes, I did baptize the household of Stephanus, but I baptized no one else as far as I know. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

mes

the

(21-25)

For when the world with its wisdom failed to know God The in his wisdom, God was pleased, through the foolishness simple of the message which we proclaim, to save those who be- sage of lieve. The Jews demand miracles and the Greeks seek cross wisdom. We, however, proclaim Christ, the crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, mere foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, whether Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

trated

in the

Corin

thian

church (26-29)

For, brothers, look at those of your number whom God Illus hath called: not many wise according to human judgment, not many mighty, not many of noble birth have been called. Rather, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to put to shame the wise; God hath chosen the weak things in the world, to put to shame the strong; God hath chosen the base and despised things of the earth-things which are not-to bring to naught the things which are, that no mortal man may boast in the presence of God.

And so when I came to you, my brothers, I came not to proclaim to you with excellency of speech or wisdom the mystery of God. Rather I determined while among you to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. It was in weakness and in fear and with much trembling that I came to you. My language and my message did not de

Paul's] aim at

Cor

inth

(21-5)

The source

of the

tian's

wisdom

(11-16)

pend on persuasive words of wisdom, but on the demonstration of the Spirit and of its power, that your faith might not rest on any wisdom of men but on the power of God. Who among men knows a man's thoughts, except the spirit of the man within him? So too, no one knows the Chris- thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes from God, that we may know the blessings which come from God. And of these things we speak, not in language taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things in spiritual terms. The unspiritual man does not receive the truths of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he cannot know them, since they must be spiritually appreciated. The spiritual man, on the contrary, can appreciate all things, although he himself is appreciated by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The evidence

lack of

spirit

ual in

the

But I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as spiritual persons. I had to speak to you as worldlings, as babes of the in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not strong enough, and you are not even strong enough sight now; you are still worldly. For with jealousy and quarrelamong ing in your midst, are you not worldly? Are you not actCorin- ing like ordinary men? For whenever any one says, 'I belong to Paul' and 'I to Apollos,' are you not like ordinary men? Who then is Apollos? Who is Paul? They are simply servants through whom, as to each the Lord gave power, you learned to believe. I planted and Apollos watered, but God made the seed grow. So neither the planter nor the waterer is important, but God who maketh the seed grow.

thians

(31-7)

Re

bility

of the teacher

We are fellow workers with God. You are God's field, sponsi- God's building. According to the grace of God which was given me as the wise master-builder, I laid the foundation; (9-11) but another builds on this foundation. Let each be careful how he builds, for no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, namely, Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells within you? If anyone destroys God's tem