Atos 18

Atos 18

Morgan wrote of Corinth “It was proverbial for its debauchery. Men of the time, when desiring to describe utter corruption, said, ‘They live as they do in Corinth.” Tony Merida writes that "While Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthians after this initial visit, his letters still shed light on his early ministry and the Corinthian context. (He wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus near the end of his three-year ministry in Ephesus—see Acts 19:21-22; 20:31—and 2 Corinthians about a year later, probably from Macedonia—see Acts 20:2-3.) (Exalting Jesus in Acts) And so in his First Letter Paul describes how he came to Corinth... And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling (PAUL HAD ALREADY EXPERIENCED STONING, REJECTION BY JEWS, MOCKERY AND APATHY BY INTELLECTUALS. VERSE 3 SUGGESTS HE FELT LIKE HE HAD "BEEN THROUGH THE PROVERBIAL WRINGER!" - WEAKNESS IS A GOOD PLACE TO BE - See 2 Cor 12:9,10+), 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (cf "power" in 2 Cor 12:9+). (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) John Stott wrote "It seems that the only preaching God honors through which His wisdom and power are expressed is the preaching of a man who is willing in himself to be both the weakling and the fool." Charles