Paul’s Journey to Corinth
~ Pastor Thuamminlian
Bible Verse: Acts 18:1-23
“Our Sunday School today will be about what Paul had taught the gospel at Corinth. Paul reached Corinth from Athens all by himself, leaving behind Timothy and Silus. At Athens he met a Jew couple named Aquila and Priscilla who also reached Athens recently from Itali. Claudia had asked all the Jews to leave Rome so the couple moved to Corinth. During that time, the Jews had admired handicrafts, so each one of them excels a skills in handicrafts. So Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth. Every Sabbath, he tried to persuade the Greek and Jews that Jesus is Christ.
Timothy and Silus reach Corinth from Macedonia and brought offerings from there. Since then, Paul fully devoted his time to preach the gospel and stopped the tent making. The Jews opposed Paul when he preached that Jesus was Christ and those who believe in him will be saved. But the Jews deny it and they became abusive. Then Paul said that he was called to preach amongst them and if they don’t want to believe him then he is clean. From then on, he started to preach the gospel amongst the gentiles. He went to the house of Titus, his whole household believed in the Lord. Many Corinthians also believed in the Lord and got baptized. Paul got the confirmation from the Lord that nobody will hurt him in Corinth, so he continued to preach and stayed there for a year and a half.
The Jews were made to attack Paul and brought him to court while Galileo was the proconsul of Achaia. But Galileo said that this is a religious issue and not political, so he did not do anything about it. Paul had a promise, which is why he cut his hair before he left Corinth. Then he continued his journey to Syria with Aquila and Priscilla. He said his goodbye to Aquila and Priscilla at Syria.
From Syria, Paul continued his journey to Ephesus. The people over there love to have him for longer, but Paul assured them that they will meet again if God is willing. Then he went on to greet the church of Caesarea and headed to Antioch.
Paul throughout his journey strategically chooses a place to spread the gospel. He choose an important place like seaport, so that the gospel could be spread further from there to the smaller towns and cities. His journey was also not funded by anyone but using his profession, which is tent making, he independently sustains himself. Like Paul we can be a fruitful missionary wherever we are. We all shall strive to be a faithful witness of the Lord wherever we are and whatever we are doing."
