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The Acts of the Apostles
seacoast were keen traders. So long had they trained themselves in
sharp business practices, that they had come to believe that gain was
godliness, and that to make money, whether by fair means or foul, was
commendable. Paul was acquainted with their characteristics, and he
would give them no occasion for saying that he preached the gospel in
order to enrich himself. He might justly have claimed support from
his Corinthian hearers; but this right he was willing to forgo, lest his
usefulness and success as a minister should be injured by the unjust
suspicion that he was preaching the gospel for gain. He would seek
to remove all occasion for misrepresentation, that the force of his
message might not be lost.
Soon after his arrival at Corinth, Paul found “a certain Jew named
Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla.”
These were “of the same craft” with himself. Banished by the decree
of Claudius, which commanded all Jews to leave Rome, Aquila and
Priscilla had come to Corinth, where they established a business as
manufacturers of tents. Paul made inquiry concerning them, and learn-
ing that they feared God and were seeking to avoid the contaminating
influences with which they were surrounded, “he abode with them,
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and wrought.... And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and
persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.”
Acts 18:2-4
.
Later, Silas and Timothy joined Paul at Corinth. These brethren
brought with them funds from the churches in Macedonia, for the
support of the work.
In his second letter to the believers in Corinth, written after he
had raised up a strong church there, Paul reviewed his manner of life
among them. “Have I committed an offense,” he asked, “in abasing
myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the
gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them,
to do you service. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was
chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren
which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept
myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting
in the regions of Achaia.”
2 Corinthians 11:7-10
.
Paul tells why he had followed this course in Corinth. It was that
he might give no cause for reproach to “them which desire occasion.”
2 Corinthians 11:12
. While he had worked at tentmaking he had