Corinth

A city in Greece situated at the western end of an isthmus (about 4 ml. wide) between the peninsular of Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece. In this position it controlled the trade across the isthmus, which saved traders having to sail around the stormy seas south of the peninsula. For this purpose, Corinth had two ports, Lechaeum, 2.5km to the west and Cenchreae, 14km on the other side of the isthmus (it was from Cenchrea that Paul sailed when he left to return to Antioch, Acts 18:18). Attempts to construct a canal between the two ports were attempted in ancient times but nothing successful was accomplished until the late 19th Century. Only 21½m (70ft) it failed to serve modern needs.

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The Greek city was sacked and razed to the ground by the Roman in 146 BC but was rebuilt by Caesar Augustus in 46 BC, when—resettled by freedmen—it quickly regained its prosperity. When Augustus reorganized the Greek territory he made Corinth the capital of the newly created provice of Achaea, and ruled by its own proconsul.

Paul came to Corinth during his Second Missionary Journey and remained in the city for a year and a half (Acts 18:117). Rejected and opposed by the Jews he "shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, 'Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.'" (v6). Here too he met Aquila and Priscilla for the first time, beginning a life-long friendship and partnership that Paul obviously valued highly (v2). Their ministry was rewarded with the conversion of "Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household" (v8). The church they founded there, however, would become one of the most difficult and a source of grief as Paul's letters to the church show.

Luke reports of Paul appearing before Gallio, the proconsul, on account of a charge brought against him by the Jews (vv12-17). Since Gallio was appointed proconsul in 51/52 AD, Paul's visit to Corinth must have taken place soon after this. The church Paul planted with the help of Aquila and Priscilla among a people living in a harbour city with all the twisted and fractured culture typical of port cities around the world, eventually came to challenge many of the things that Paul had taught them and to whom Paul had to write at least two painful letters (1 & 2 Cor).

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Further Reading & Resources:

☰ Mark Harding, "Church and Gentile Cults at Corinth," Grace Theological Journal 10.2 (Fall 1989): 203-223. pdf

☰ Alistair Begg, "The Church in Corinth." The Gospel Coalition. audio 44.27 mins. (You can read the text specified in the lecture by Click here and you need also to open the map.)