It wasn’t his first church plant, but it was a significant one and extremely strategic. I’m talking about Paul when he established a church in Corinth in about AD50-52. He was there for 18 months. The thing I learned last night at Bible school that struck me is the story behind Paul establishing a church in Corinth. At the time, Corinth was a busy city with a population of about 500 000. About 300 000 of the residents of the city were slaves.
It was on a popular trade route and had a large Jewish population, both good reasons for Paul to target as city for outreach. After arriving in the city, he met Aquila and his wife Priscilla (Acts 18) and he stayed and worked with them as tent-makers. On the Sabbath he went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews and Greeks, and so began the church of Corinth.
Every two years Corinth held the Isthmian games – around about this time of the year – springtime. Athletes came from all over Greece to participate in the sports festival. The games were held in specially constructed eventing buildings such as a stadium and hippodrome. Athletes agreed to the rules and if they broke them they were disqualified. There was no fixed accommodation – instead, they stayed in tents, so there was plenty of work for tent-makers and for mixing with the athletes. Whethe
r Paul planned this or it ‘just so happened’ he Paul was in Corinth in time for the games it is not known. I could imagine that when Paul found out the games were about to happen, he decided to stay on for them and to spearhead the first sport outreach ever.
The games included athletic events common to our modern games – discus, javelin, long-jump, wrestling and boxing.
There were also some unexpected ‘events’ at this sports meet eg. poetry reading and singing! Chariot racing was particular popular as well. Of course there were running races both long and short distances.
All the activities of the time must have been memorable for Paul and when he sat down some years later, to write a letter to the Corinthians, the events of his time there must have come to mind.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Amazing how the Bible comes to life when you scratch a little below the surface and quickly see the relevance of what was written then and how applicable it is today.
This life is a marathon. Live life well. The Bible is alive.
- Do nothing to harm others.
- Do nothing to harm yourself.
- Do not let anything master you.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga x 🙂
To read more, visit this page: Bible Archaeology.