Today we had a delicious rooftop breakfast at our Athens Hotel,
stopped for lunch in a quaint cafe in the visitor section of Corinth,
and then began to explore the remains of the ancient city of Corinth.
Paul was likely in Corinth for 18 months, from early 51- to late 52 AD. The book of Acts mentions that he was brought before the Roman proconsul Gallio (elected by Roman senate for only one year). There is an inscription 44 miles north of Corinth in Delphi, which says “Gallio came to Corinth” identifying the same time period as indicated in the Bible. Always wonderful to see confirmation of the historical accuracy of the book of Acts and the Word of God. So many of the sites on this trip have served to do that, add credibility to the reliability of Scripture. It’s fascinating that some ancient documents with far less collaborating evidence for authenticity and reliability are so readily accepted, while some still staunchly oppose the reliability of Scripture.
Paul was a faithful Jew, and always started preaching at the Jewish synagogue, seeking to prove from the Old Testament that the Messiah was Jesus. He understood that through the seed of Abraham, God would bless all the earth. While some Jews believed the message, the majority of the Jews stumbled over Jesus being their Messiah. The Jews expected the coming of their Messiah to usher in the real reign of God, throwing all the pagans and their polytheism out of power. They could not and would not accept a Messiah who was impaled on a cross and hung on a cursed tree by the very pagans He was supposed to displace. Everything about the cross looked like defeat. The genuine Messiah would show evidence of God’s power, and to them, the crucifixion of Jesus did not do so. What looked to them as weakness, was actually the power of God. As it says in 1 Corinthians 1: 22-25 (and it is wonderful to read these letters, having been to the site of the city to whom they were written!) 22Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Neither did the Jews understand Isaiah 53. Paul’s message was that through the coming, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God has been established and we are awaiting the day when it will come to completion.
Another reason Paul went first to the synagogue, was that there were a group of God-fearing Gentiles. Ananias prophesied over Paul that he would bring God’s message to the Gentiles. Who were these God-fearing Gentiles, and what did Paul have to do with them? God-fearers were all over the empire, in Antioch, in Syria, in Turkey. They were Gentiles who were disillusioned by the pagan gods and sought to find out how to follow the one true God of the Jews, for the gods the pagans worshipped were morally suspect, murderous, adulterous, and without care for human beings. While curious about Jewish beliefs and lifestyle, they didn’t necessarily want to be circumcised to officially become Jews. While the Jews would not recognize as a true Israelite anyone who had not been circumcised, Paul and the Christian church pointed out that the mark of the people of God was faith in the Messiah and what He has done (the same principle by which Abraham was accepted by God, for Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness). After being rejected by the Jews in a place, Paul would gladly share this message with the Gentiles, and many came to faith in Christ. There was also an audience of semi sympathetic listeners from among the Greeks.
Corinth was a wealthy city from commerce, famous for the bronze work they produced.
The city of Corinth was destroyed in 164 BC, by the Romans under the leadership of General Lucius Thummius. He destroyed the walls of the city, broke down some of the temples (though not completely) and spread sea salt across the land, which once it soaked into the soil through rain, destroyed all potential for fruitfulness. Someone remarked that one of the things they’d seen on this trip was how many cities were built, knocked down, built again, knocked down….and so on.
100 years later, in 44 BC, Julius Caesar ordered that Corinth be refounded as a Roman colony, most likely shortly before his assassination on the Ides of March (the 15th of March) of 44 BC. The original settlers, from inscriptions and records we had, were not so much the veterans from Rome, but the freedman or former slaves who were most likely Greek.
Temple of Asclepius was where citizens went to find healing. In Greek mythology, Asclepius is the son of Apollo, the god of prophecy and the arts. People desperate for healing would bring terracotta models of the part of the body where they wanted healing and offer it ceremonially on the altar, officiated over by the priests, most likely having to provide some form of payment. In the museum near the entrance to the city, there are small clay depictions of ears, breasts, and genitalia, excavated from the temple grounds. Sad to see these people’s desperation and misplaced devotion.
Pastor Al, a faithful shepherd in his late 80’s, gave me some of this background information, and I enjoyed hearing how he and his good friends end their conversations with “ Now remember, KOKD - Keep on kicking the devil!”
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| One of the Greek Orthodox churches near the ruins of Ancient Corinth |
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