a celebrated city, the capital of Achaia, situated on the
isthmus which separates the Peloponnesus from Attica. This city was one
of the best peopled and most wealthy of Greece. Its situation between
two seas drew thither the trade of both the east and west. Its riches
produced pride, ostentation, effeminacy, and all vices, the consequences
of abundance. For its insolence to the Roman legates, it was destroyed
by L. Mummius. In the burning of it, so many statues of different metals
were melted together, that they produced the famous Corinthian brass. It
was afterward restored to its former splendour by Julius Cæsar.
Christianity was first planted at Corinth by St. Paul, who resided here
eighteen months, between the years 51 and 53; during which time he
enjoyed the friendship of Aquila and his wife Priscilla, two Jewish
Christians, who had been expelled from Italy, with other Jews, by an
edict of Claudius. The church consisted both of Jews and of Gentiles;
but St. Paul began, as usual, by preaching in the synagogue, until the
Jews violently opposed him, and blasphemed the name of Christ; when the
Apostle, shaking his garment, and declaring their blood to be upon their
own heads, left them, and made use afterward of a house adjoining the
synagogue, belonging to a man named Justus. The rage of the Jews,
however, did not stop here; but, raising a tumult, they arrested Paul,
and hurrying him before the tribunal of the pro-consul Gallio, the
brother of the famous Seneca, accused him of persuading men to worship
God contrary to the law. But Gallio, who was equally indifferent both to
Judaism and Christianity, and finding that Paul had committed no breach
of morality, or of the public peace, refused to hear their complaint,
and drove them all from the judgment seat. The Jews being thus
disappointed in their malicious designs, St. Paul was at liberty to
remain some time longer at Corinth; and after his departure, Apollos, a
zealous and eloquent Jewish convert of Alexandria, was made a powerful
instrument in confirming the church, and in silencing the opposition of
the Jews, Acts xviii. How much it stood in need of such support, is
evident from the Epistles of St. Paul; who cautions the Corinthians
against divisions and party spirit; fornication, incest, partaking of
meats offered to idols, thereby giving an occasion of scandal, and
encouragement to idolatry; abusing the gifts of the Spirit,
litigiousness, &c. The Corinthians, indeed, were in great danger: they
lived at ease, free from every kind of persecution, and were exposed to
much temptation. The manners of the citizens were particularly corrupt:
they were, indeed, infamous to a proverb. In the centre of the city was
a celebrated temple of Venus, a part of whose worship consisted in
prostitution; for there a thousand priestesses of the goddess ministered
to dissoluteness under the patronage of religion: an example which gave
the Corinthians very lax ideas on the illicit intercourse of the sexes.
Corinth also possessed numerous schools of philosophy and rhetoric; in
which, as at Alexandria, the purity of the faith by an easy and natural
process, became early corrupted.
There occurs a chronological difficulty in the visits of St. Paul to
Corinth. In 2 Cor. xii, 14, and xiii, 1, 2, the Apostle expresses his
design of visiting that city a third time; whereas only one visit before
the date of the Second Epistle is noticed in the Acts, xviii, 1, about
A. D. 51; and the next time that he visited Greece, Acts xx, 2, about A.
D. 57, no mention is made of his going to Corinth. Mr. Horne observes on
this subject, “It has been conjectured by Grotius, and Drs. Hammond and
Paley, that his First Epistle virtually supplied the place of his
presence; and that it is so represented by the Apostle in a
corresponding passage, 1 Cor. v, 3. Admitting this solution to be
probable, it is, however, far-fetched, and is not satisfactory as a
matter of fact. Michaëlis has produced another, more simple and natural;
namely, that Paul, on his return from Crete, visited Corinth a second
time before he went to winter at Nicopolis. This second visit is
unnoticed in the Acts, because the voyage itself is unnoticed. The third
visit, promised in 2 Cor. xii, 14, and xiii, 1, 2, was actually paid on
the Apostle’s second return to Rome, when he took Corinth in his way, 2
Tim. iv, 20. ‘Thus critically,’ says Dr. Hales, ‘does the book of the
Acts harmonize, even in its omissions, with the epistles; and these with
each other, in the minute incidental circumstances of the third visit.’”
About A. D. 268, the Heruli burned Corinth to ashes. In 525, it was
again almost ruined by an earthquake. About 1180, Roger, king of Sicily,
took and plundered it. Since 1458, it was till lately under the power of
the Turks; and is so decayed, that its inhabitants amount to no more
than about fifteen hundred, or two thousand; half Mohammedans, and half
Christians. A late French writer, who visited this country, observes,
“When the Cæsars rebuilt the walls of Corinth, and the temples of the
gods rose from their ruins more magnificent than ever, an obscure
architect was rearing in silence an edifice which still remains standing
amidst the ruins of Greece. This man, unknown to the great, despised by
the multitude, rejected as the offscouring of the world, at first
associated himself with only two companions, Crispus and Gaius, and with
the family of Stephanas. These were the humble architects of an
indestructible temple, and the first believers at Corinth. The traveller
surveys the site of this celebrated city; he discovers not a vestige of
the altars of Paganism, but perceives some Christian chapels rising from
among the cottages of the Greeks. The Apostle might still, from his
celestial abode, give the salutation of peace to his children, and
address them in the words, ‘Paul to the church of God, which is at
Corinth.’”
isthmus which separates the Peloponnesus from Attica. This city was one
of the best peopled and most wealthy of Greece. Its situation between
two seas drew thither the trade of both the east and west. Its riches
produced pride, ostentation, effeminacy, and all vices, the consequences
of abundance. For its insolence to the Roman legates, it was destroyed
by L. Mummius. In the burning of it, so many statues of different metals
were melted together, that they produced the famous Corinthian brass. It
was afterward restored to its former splendour by Julius Cæsar.
Christianity was first planted at Corinth by St. Paul, who resided here
eighteen months, between the years 51 and 53; during which time he
enjoyed the friendship of Aquila and his wife Priscilla, two Jewish
Christians, who had been expelled from Italy, with other Jews, by an
edict of Claudius. The church consisted both of Jews and of Gentiles;
but St. Paul began, as usual, by preaching in the synagogue, until the
Jews violently opposed him, and blasphemed the name of Christ; when the
Apostle, shaking his garment, and declaring their blood to be upon their
own heads, left them, and made use afterward of a house adjoining the
synagogue, belonging to a man named Justus. The rage of the Jews,
however, did not stop here; but, raising a tumult, they arrested Paul,
and hurrying him before the tribunal of the pro-consul Gallio, the
brother of the famous Seneca, accused him of persuading men to worship
God contrary to the law. But Gallio, who was equally indifferent both to
Judaism and Christianity, and finding that Paul had committed no breach
of morality, or of the public peace, refused to hear their complaint,
and drove them all from the judgment seat. The Jews being thus
disappointed in their malicious designs, St. Paul was at liberty to
remain some time longer at Corinth; and after his departure, Apollos, a
zealous and eloquent Jewish convert of Alexandria, was made a powerful
instrument in confirming the church, and in silencing the opposition of
the Jews, Acts xviii. How much it stood in need of such support, is
evident from the Epistles of St. Paul; who cautions the Corinthians
against divisions and party spirit; fornication, incest, partaking of
meats offered to idols, thereby giving an occasion of scandal, and
encouragement to idolatry; abusing the gifts of the Spirit,
litigiousness, &c. The Corinthians, indeed, were in great danger: they
lived at ease, free from every kind of persecution, and were exposed to
much temptation. The manners of the citizens were particularly corrupt:
they were, indeed, infamous to a proverb. In the centre of the city was
a celebrated temple of Venus, a part of whose worship consisted in
prostitution; for there a thousand priestesses of the goddess ministered
to dissoluteness under the patronage of religion: an example which gave
the Corinthians very lax ideas on the illicit intercourse of the sexes.
Corinth also possessed numerous schools of philosophy and rhetoric; in
which, as at Alexandria, the purity of the faith by an easy and natural
process, became early corrupted.
There occurs a chronological difficulty in the visits of St. Paul to
Corinth. In 2 Cor. xii, 14, and xiii, 1, 2, the Apostle expresses his
design of visiting that city a third time; whereas only one visit before
the date of the Second Epistle is noticed in the Acts, xviii, 1, about
A. D. 51; and the next time that he visited Greece, Acts xx, 2, about A.
D. 57, no mention is made of his going to Corinth. Mr. Horne observes on
this subject, “It has been conjectured by Grotius, and Drs. Hammond and
Paley, that his First Epistle virtually supplied the place of his
presence; and that it is so represented by the Apostle in a
corresponding passage, 1 Cor. v, 3. Admitting this solution to be
probable, it is, however, far-fetched, and is not satisfactory as a
matter of fact. Michaëlis has produced another, more simple and natural;
namely, that Paul, on his return from Crete, visited Corinth a second
time before he went to winter at Nicopolis. This second visit is
unnoticed in the Acts, because the voyage itself is unnoticed. The third
visit, promised in 2 Cor. xii, 14, and xiii, 1, 2, was actually paid on
the Apostle’s second return to Rome, when he took Corinth in his way, 2
Tim. iv, 20. ‘Thus critically,’ says Dr. Hales, ‘does the book of the
Acts harmonize, even in its omissions, with the epistles; and these with
each other, in the minute incidental circumstances of the third visit.’”
About A. D. 268, the Heruli burned Corinth to ashes. In 525, it was
again almost ruined by an earthquake. About 1180, Roger, king of Sicily,
took and plundered it. Since 1458, it was till lately under the power of
the Turks; and is so decayed, that its inhabitants amount to no more
than about fifteen hundred, or two thousand; half Mohammedans, and half
Christians. A late French writer, who visited this country, observes,
“When the Cæsars rebuilt the walls of Corinth, and the temples of the
gods rose from their ruins more magnificent than ever, an obscure
architect was rearing in silence an edifice which still remains standing
amidst the ruins of Greece. This man, unknown to the great, despised by
the multitude, rejected as the offscouring of the world, at first
associated himself with only two companions, Crispus and Gaius, and with
the family of Stephanas. These were the humble architects of an
indestructible temple, and the first believers at Corinth. The traveller
surveys the site of this celebrated city; he discovers not a vestige of
the altars of Paganism, but perceives some Christian chapels rising from
among the cottages of the Greeks. The Apostle might still, from his
celestial abode, give the salutation of peace to his children, and
address them in the words, ‘Paul to the church of God, which is at
Corinth.’”