Paul’s Sabbath Meetings at Corinth by C. P. BOLLMAN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 9, 1915

Paul’s Sabbath Meetings at Corinth

By C. P. BOLLMAN

C. P. BOLLMAN

ONE of the mooted questions of the New Testament is the number of Sabbath meetings held by the apostle Paul at Corinth. Of course the apostle kept every Sabbath, whether in Corinth or elsewhere. We cannot imagine his doing otherwise. It is admitted quite generally that this was the uniform practice not only of Jewish believers, but of all Christians during the first three centuries, and it is certain that the great apostle to the Gentiles did not depart from this practice. Wherever he was on the Sabbath, we find him resorting to some place of worship, whether to a Jewish synagogue or to some quiet spot by the riverside “where prayer was wont to be made.”

In Corinth, Paul found a home and employment with Aquila and Priscilla his wife. They were Jews, as was Paul himself, and of the same occupation, for they were tent makers.

“And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” Acts 18:4.

How long this continued we do not know, but we do know that for a time “every Sabbath” found the apostle at the synagogue reasoning with and persuading both Jews and Greeks. But by and by Silas and Timotheus reached Corinth, coming from Macedonia. This evidently brought on a crisis; for with the arrival of these brethren Paul seems to have become more bold, more aggressive, for he “was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.” Verse 5.

One result of this plain preaching, as we learn from verses 6 and 7, was that he was driven from the synagogue and compelled to hold his meetings thereafter in the house of Justus, which “joined hard to the synagogue.” Here, as before, the apostle’s labors were not without fruit. “And 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.” Acts 18:8.

Indeed so great was the interest in Corinth that Paul “continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” Verse 11. Some think, however, that not all this time was spent in the city of Corinth. “It is recorded,” says one writer, “that Paul labored a year and six months in Corinth. His efforts, however, were not exclusively confined to that city, but he availed himself of the easy communication by land and water with adjacent cities, and labored among them both by letter and by personal effort. He made Corinth his headquarters, and his long tarry and successful ministry there gave him influence abroad as well as at home. Several churches were thus raised up under the efforts of the apostle and his colaborers.”—“Sketches From the Life of Paul,” page 109.

This is all so reasonable that on reading it we wonder why we never thought of it before. When we stop to think, it is quite out of the question to imagine the apostle Paul settling down in a single spot for eighteen months, to preach only to a single congregation in a single quarter of a great city. Evidently his activity carried him far afield from the synagogue in which he first preached in Corinth, and from the house of Justus, to which those who desired to hear him were permitted to resort after the synagogue was closed against the apostle and his message.

Of course this view of Paul’s ministry at Corinth makes it impossible for us to “prove” that “the apostle held seventy-eight Sabbath meetings at Corinth.” He doubtless did hold that number of Sabbath meetings in either Corinth or its environs during his labors there, but we must remember that verse 4 speaks only of the comparatively short time during which Paul was permitted to teach in the synagogue. What he did thereafter as touching the Sabbath must be inferred from what we learn from other scriptures was his custom or manner. Our conclusion, therefore, must be that the exact number of Sabbath meetings held by the apostle in Corinth is not deducible from Acts 18:4, 11. Nothing is gained for truth by claiming for any text more than is clearly expressed or necessarily implied in it.