After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. (ESV)

So we see once more the by now familiar pattern of Paul seeking to preach the gospel to the Jews, and finding rejection. Yet not entirely, because there was significant ‘fruit’ to be had in Corinth (8).

The vision granted to Paul (9,10), must have greatly strengthened and encouraged him to press on (11). The Lord knows just what we need to hear, and when, and He is able to communicate this to us. He knows just where you are, in your ‘Corinth’ of opportunity and difficulty. and He is able to give you all you need.

Verse 10 points to the wonder of God’s sovereignty in conversion (see John 10:16). Yet people are still involved. We are workers together with God.

Gallio’s indifference to the treatment of Sosthenes serves as a warning to us: our hearts can become hard in the face of the world’s great suffering.

‘Paul tells us, in 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 , that he entered Corinth with fear and trembling and made no effort to attract by human wisdom or eloquence. From the first he preached “Christ and Him crucified.”

Similarity in trade discovered friends who were to be of the utmost assistance; nothing in our life may be attributed to chance…

Constrained in spirit, Acts 18:5 , r.v. The heart of the Apostle yearned with irrepressible desire. He was weary of forbearing. God’s word was as a fire in his bones. The guilty city appealed to him and tugged at his heartstrings. So Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Do we participate in this soul anguish? Are our hands free of the blood of men? Are we prepared to suffer if only we may save others?

Gallio was a typical man of the world, intent upon matters of law and order, philosophical and cultured. But when questions of religion were in debate, he was absolutely indifferent. How vast the contrast between him and Paul!’