Corinth
167
as it is in Jesus. Clear, plain, and decided was their message—a savor
of life unto life, or of death unto death. And not only in their words,
but in the daily life, was the gospel revealed. Angels co-operated with
them, and the grace and power of God was shown in the conversion of
many. “Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord
with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and
were baptized.”
The hatred with which the Jews had always regarded the apostles
was now intensified. The conversion and baptism of Crispus had the
effect of exasperating instead of convincing these stubborn opposers.
They could not bring arguments to disprove Paul’s preaching, and
for lack of such evidence they resorted to deception and malignant
attack. They blasphemed the gospel and the name of Jesus. In their
blind anger no words were too bitter, no device too low, for them to
use. They could not deny that Christ had worked miracles; but they
declared that He had performed them through the power of Satan; and
they boldly affirmed that the wonderful works wrought by Paul were
accomplished through the same agency.
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Though Paul had a measure of success in Corinth, yet the wicked-
ness that he saw and heard in that corrupt city almost disheartened him.
The depravity that he witnessed among the Gentiles, and the contempt
and insult that he received from the Jews, caused him great anguish of
spirit. He doubted the wisdom of trying to build up a church from the
material that he found there.
As he was planning to leave the city for a more promising field,
and seeking earnestly to understand his duty, the Lord appeared to him
in a vision and said, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have
much people in this city.” Paul understood this to be a command to
remain in Corinth and a guarantee that the Lord would give increase
to the seed sown. Strengthened and encouraged, he continued to labor
there with zeal and perseverance.
The apostle’s efforts were not confined to public speaking; there
were many who could not have been reached in that way. He spent
much time in house-to-house labor, thus availing himself of the familiar
intercourse of the home circle. He visited the sick and the sorrowing,
comforted the afflicted, and lifted up the oppressed. And in all that
he said and did he magnified the name of Jesus. Thus he labored,