12th Sunday after Pentecost  
1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Matthew 19:16-26

For all people who know and study the Christian faith, it is unavoidable and necessary that they become acquainted with the two Epistles (letters) of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. The Corinthian Church was of great importance in the development of Christianity, in the life of the Church of Christ, and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians is an unfailing source of knowledge of God for the entire Church of Christ, for all Christian confessions. In the Epistles to the Corinthians, Apostle Paul passed on the fundamental knowledge, the basic truths of our faith, so the study of those messages is simply a necessity for those who seek to know the God’s will, and do the will of God.

Of the 14 epistles of Apostle Paul, two are written to the Corinthians. In The Acts of the Holy Apostles, in the 18th chapter, verses 1-17, reveal to us in some detail about the founding of the Corinthian Church by the Apostle Paul. However, in order to have a true grasp of the circumstances of the establishment of that Church in that area, it is beneficial for us to become acquainted with the geography and history of the city of Corinth itself. The city of Corinth was founded a very long time ago. (According to legend, it was founded by Sisyphus, who was the king of Corinth, in 1350 BC. And, according to the story, Sisyphus chained death, which the "gods" had sent to earth and, as a result, people did not die. However, when death was released from its chains and Sisyphus died, he was compelled (for punishment) in the other world, the netherworld underground, to constantly roll a large stone up a mountain, which inevitably rolled back down and into the valley).

The city of Corinth was located on the Isthmus of Corinth, which connected the mainland of Greece with the Peloponnese peninsula, between the Ionian and Myrtoan seas. Due to this ideal geographical location, Corinth became a natural trading centre.

Athens, however, had also been a centre of trade for a considerable time. And, for this reason, the struggle and rivalry between Corinth and Athens continued through the ages. As a trade and commercial centre, Corinth could compete with Athens, but Athens continued to be renowned for being a centre of pre-Christian (pagan) culture and education throughout the Greek civilized world.

Corinth, as a trading port at the crossroads of trade routes, was of great importance for many countries of the Mediterranean basin. People of different nationalities and civilizations met in Corinth. They exchanged not only different goods, but also different ideas, mutually getting to know the culture and customs of different peoples.

For these reasons, the foundation of the Church in Corinth was very important, for from this place of meeting of different peoples, the seeds of Christ's faith would spread to the different countries of the three continents of the world: Europe, Asia and Africa. And, thus, it did come to pass.

Apostle Paul, after preaching in the Areopagus of Athens, and in this city generally, "arrived in Corinth" (Acts 18:1). He first searched out and met with the Jew Aquila and his wife Priscilla. Every Sabbath he preached to the Jews "in the synagogue, persuading the Jews and Hellenes (Greeks ).” (Acts 18,4)

However, the majority of the Jews were unwilling to accept the gospel Paul preached about Christ. In The Acts of the Apostles we read the following:

"And when they opposed and reviled him, he [Paul] shook out his garments and said to them: Your blood be upon your heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.' And he left there, and went to the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshipper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue." (Acts 18:6)

However, there was also among the Jews "Crispus, the elder of the synagogue, [who] believed in the Lord with his whole household; and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized." (Acts 18.8)

The Corinthian Jews threatened Paul for his activities, for preaching the Gospel of Christ, and tried to prevent him from doing so, but

"The Lord said to Paul in a vision at night: 'Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent.'... And he remained a year and six months, teaching them the Word of God" (Acts 18: 9,11).

And, thus, despite these obstacles, Paul laid good foundations for the Church of Christ in a rich port and trading centre in Corinth, which, in turn, became both spiritually and materially rich.

We should also be aware of the fact that the Corinthian Jews, who were unable to prevent Paul from preaching the gospel (good news) of Christ among the Greeks, appealed to the representative of the Roman administration - Gallio, who was in that province of Achaia a proconsul (comparable to a governor), and lived in Corinth. (Gallio was the brother of the well-known philosopher Seneca).

The Jews accused Paul before Gallio, and put him on trial. But the proconsul Gallio, although he was a pagan, declared that it was not his competence to make judgements about one’s faith in or acceptance of God. And, as witnessed in The Acts of the Apostles, "he drove them away from the court." (Acts 18,16)

The Corinthian Jews were fanatically intolerant people, for when they failed to harm Paul directly, they "seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the court." (Ibid., 18,17)

We have dwelled longer on the circumstances surrounding the foundation of the Church of Christ in Corinth that we may better understand what obstacles Paul had to overcome in order to sow the saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in human hearts. The story in The Acts of the Apostles is a page from the early history of the Church of Christ.

Having prepared and instructed the elders, Paul left Corinth for Antioch and then for Ephesus. After him, Apollos, a Jew from Alexandria, preached the Gospel. As Paul later said: "I planted, Apollos watered. God has grown." (1 Corinthians 3,6)

After leaving Corinth, Paul continued to follow the development and life of the Church in that city. And when some disappointing news reached him, he wrote a long letter to the Corinthians - a message to convert the Corinthian Christians to confessing the truth.

Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth and the surrounding area that he did not learn the Gospel and the basic truths of the faith that he preached to them from some man, but directly from Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

Paul is worried because news has arrived that some of the Corinthians are misinterpreting the death and resurrection of Christ. He writes and repeats to them that "Christ died for our sins", "that He was buried, and that on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). That is, everything happened as it was predicted by God through the prophets and expressed in the Old Testament.

Paul recounts how the resurrected Christ appeared to the twelve, then to his other followers, "And then he appeared at once to more than five hundred brothers". This is a very important testimony not only for the Corinthians, but also for us, for the entire Church of Christ for all ages. Moreover, Paul claims that of those eyewitnesses, "most of them are still alive" (Ibid., 6).

Atheists have fought with believers for many hundreds of years using empty phrases devoid of meaning, but none of them can deny the testimony by Apostle Paul. Atheists have said, and some still say, that Jesus Christ did not exist, that it is all a myth, a legend. But Christianity, the existence, the life of the Church of Christ throughout the ages is clearly not a legend.

The Apostle Paul and the specific facts presented by him that clearly testify to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ are not a legend. And of apostle Paul, his actions and journeys are confirmed by historical and geographical sources which cannot be denied, just as one cannot deny the foundation and development of the Church of Christ in Corinth.

No one can also deny the historical fact of Apostle Paul’s stay in Rome, where, according to the emperor's judgment, he was beheaded. This occurred in 62 AD.

The indisputable historicity of the Apostle Paul and his recorded and described journeys only confirm that his messages, including the truths expressed and testified by him in The Epistle(s) to the Corinthians, serve us as irrefutable evidence in confessing the basic truths of our faith in Christ.

Amen.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

Read more…