Encouragement in the Night
A Discouraging Night.
- Paul left Athens where he had preached brilliantly. The response in Athens was perhaps smaller than he had anticipated.
- Paul came to Corinth. The city of Corinth had been a city state. In 44BC Julius Ceaser rebuilt it and made it a Roman Colony. It was also a military city, with a fortress and two seaports.
- At Corinth, Paul made some friends. (Acts 18:2) Aquila and Pricilla were a married couple who had a home in Rome. Later, the church in Rome would meet at their house. They were in Corinth because the Emperor Claudius had kicked out all the Jews. Specifically, Claudius appears to have expelled messianic Jews (Christians.)
- The historian Suetonius wrote, “Claudius banished from Rome all the Jews, who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus.” Many New Testament scholars believe this is one of the first mentions of Christ by an extrabiblical source. Suetonius misspelled the name “Christ.”
- Paul joined Aquila and Pricilla in the work of tentmaking.
- Acts 18:4, Paul built a long-term relationship with the people at the synagogue.
- Acts 18:5, Silas and Timothy came to Corinth from Philippi. They brought with them a gift from the Philippian church. This generous gift allowed Paull to quit the work of tent making and focus fully on preaching and sharing the Gospel. However, his hard work was met with opposition; the people at the synagogue “reviled” him. (Acts 18:6)
- Acts 18:6-7, Cut to the core, Paul shook out his garments and declared that the Jews blood was on their own head. He now planned to go to the Gentiles. He stayed with Titus Justus, who lived next door to the synagogue. It is an interesting note that Crispus, the synagogue ruler, left with Paul. The internal fight within the synagogue seems to have been intense.
Three reasons Paul may have been discouraged:
1. Disappointing results in Athens.
2. He invested deeply in the synagogue and the Jews, only to be thrown out and treated badly.
3. There was nothing in Corinth to encourage him!
- There had been culture shock in Athens, and now Paul experienced moral shock in Corinth.
- For 500 years the verb korinthiozesthai, “to Corinthianize,” meant to be sexually immoral. Corinth was the Vanity Fair of the ancient world. Every night a thousand prostitutes descended into the city to ply their trade in worship of Aphrodite. One could buy anything in Corinth if he had the money. Homosexuality was rampant. To see a city so deeply lost, may have caused Paul some moments of discouragement.
The Lord spoke in the night: Acts 18:9-10
Look for the promises of God:
1. His (Acts 18:10)
- Sometimes the most encouraging thing you can hear God say is- I’m with you.
- People to whom God told, “I am with you” (Isaac, Gen. 26:24) (Jacob, Gen. 28:15) (Moses. Ex. 3:12) (The Hebrews: Deut. 31:6) (Joshua 1:5) (The Apostles: Matthew 28:20)
- Jesus rose and appeared to the disciples; His last words to them, “Surely I am with you always to the end of age.” Matthew was there, Thomas was there, Peter was there. Paul wasn’t there. Now Jesus tells Paul personally what he did not hear earlier, Jesus is with us.
2. His (Acts 18:10, Acts 18:12-18)
- God promised him unique physical protection.
- When Crispus left the Synagogue to follow Paul, the Jews got a new leader; probably a younger guy named Sosthenes. (Acts 18:12-18)
- The new leaders plan was more hot headed. In fact, you can imagine the complaints, “Crispus was just old and so tolerant of Paul. He gave him too much room. Too much time to talk. We should have dealt with him sooner.” Imagine Sosthenes, maybe younger and more hotheaded, “I’ll deal with him! If nothing else, we can sue him!”
- Acts 18:12-17, The judge, Gallio seems furious with the Jews. They wasted his time. Worse, he may feel they are making a mockery of the Roman legal system.
- Pause there. God had promised Paul no one would attack him. Then, on the other side of that promise, he got sued! What Gallio did is very important! He rendered what in today’s courts would be called a summary judgment. He officially ruled that there was no crime involved but that the issue was merely one of semantics. With the judgment in his favor, Paul suddenly had the protection of Rome to hold meetings!
- The result of the judgment was that Paull stayed “many days longer” (Acts 18:18) Ha! If the Jews had been quiet and waited, he might have left sooner. But since they sued him and he got an official order that he was allowed to preach, oh boy did he use it!
3. His (Acts 18:10, Acts 18:17)
- Jesus promised Paul that He had many in the city. We can imagine thinking that Jesus sees many who are saved that Paul doesn’t know. That may be true. God’s eyes see more. Not just the hidden believers, but the people who have not yet converted – but will.
- Some of the people yet to be saved are totally unexpected! This is funny; furious that they lost the case, the Jews turn on their new leader and beat him. (Acts 18:17) Later, Sosthenes appears again in the Bible; this time it is in 1 Corinthians 1:1 – he’s also joined Paul’s ministry team! When did Sosthenes become a brother? Probably after his church beat him up. He didn’t leave over theological issues. He left because they were cruel.
4. His (Acts 18:10)
Paul made three big decisions in Corinth:
- He took a Nazirite vow. That’s why when he leaves, he has his hair cut. The entire time he was there he let his hair grow as a sign of the unique vow he had taken to seek the Lord. (Acts 18:18)
- He decided to preach Christ crucified. (1 Corinthains 2:1-4. Esp, 1 Corinthians 2:2)
- He decided to write a letter to Christians in Rome. This would be the book of Romans. Some scholars have suggested that much of the “meat” of Romans was originally delivered as sermons at Corinth.