DURING the Apostle’s stay at Ephesus disastrous intelligence arrived from Corinth. The Church established there combined two distinct elements, Jews or proselytes and Gentiles, of whom the latter were the most numerous. The natural jealousy between these two bodies repressed during the Apostle’s presence, had burst out on his departure, and divided the Church into various parties. Some affected fidelity solely and exclusively to St Paul himself (1 Cor. iii. 4); others, probably the Jewish section, to Peter and the brethren of the Lord (1 Cor. i. 12, ix. 5); a third, fascinated by the eloquence and learning of the Alexandrian Apollos (1 Cor. i. 12), had attached themselves to him, and probably “hung halfway between the extreme Jewish and the extreme Gentile party;” while a fourth abjured all devotion to any human teachers, and styled themselves the “Christ” party (1 Cor. i. 12).
In addition to these evils the Gentile faction pushed their views of Christian freedom beyond all due bounds. The profligacy that disgraced the inhabitants of Corinth and made their name a byword was openly avowed and gloried in (1 Cor. v. 1). To such a pitch, moreover, did they carry their disputes that lawsuits were brought into Roman and Greek courts of Justice (1 Cor. vi. 1–8), and instead of shrinking from the contaminating influence of sensuality at the sacrificial feasts, they freely frequented them even in the colonnades of the temples (1 Cor. viii. 10): the women threw off the head-dress which the customs of Greece and of the East required (1 Cor. xi. 2–16); the most solemn ordinance of the Church was profaned by disorderly and reckless festivity (1 Cor. xi. 17–34); the most showy “gifts” were desired to the disparagement of those which tended only to instruct and improve (1 Cor. xii. 1, xiv. 1–4); mixed marriages were freely contracted (1 Cor. vii. 10–17); and the doctrine of the Resurrection was either denied or emptied of all meaning (1 Cor. xv. 12).
Rumours of these disorders had reached the Apostle from time to time, and he had already sent Timothy[1033] and Erastus (Acts xix. 22) from Ephesus to Macedonia, desiring the former if possible to continue his journey to Corinth, and recall to the Church there the image of his own teaching and life. But after their departure members of the household of Chloe arrived informing him that the factions had reached a still more formidable height (1 Cor. i. 11), and that an incestuous marriage, scandalous even to the heathen, of a man with his father’s wife, had been allowed to be contracted without rebuke (1 Cor. v. 1). This determined the Apostle to write the first of his extant letters[1034] to the Corinthians and other Christian communities in the province of Achaia (comp. 1 Cor. i. 2), in which he treated of all these points, directed that the incestuous offender should be expelled from the Christian community, and replied to various questions, which three members of the Corinthian Church, Fortunatus, Stephanas, and Achaicus (1 Cor. xvi. 17), themselves the bearers of the Epistle, had brought for his solution relating to the controversies respecting sacrificial feasts, meat offered to idols, the right of divorce, and the exercise of spiritual gifts in the public ministrations of the Church.
At the time he dispatched this letter, it was the Apostle’s intention to proceed through Macedonia to Corinth, and after spending the winter there (1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6; Acts xix. 21) to proceed to Jerusalem, whence he contemplated a journey to Rome itself (Acts xix. 21). Till Pentecost, however, he resolved to stay at Ephesus (1 Cor. xvi. 8), for there a great door was opened to him, and there were many adversaries against whom he had yet to contend. But these designs were destined to be rudely interrupted.
It was now about the month Artemisius, or the month of Artemis[1035], when the annual festival of the goddess was observed throughout Greece and Asia, and a vast concourse of people from all quarters would be brought together. The preaching of the Apostle had by this time produced a great effect both in Ephesus and throughout proconsular Asia, and a great multitude had avowed themselves believers (Acts xix. 26). Consequently the sellers of portable shrines[1036] of Diana found their trade sensibly diminished, and no small tumult arose about the Way. Prominent among the malcontents was a certain Demetrius, a master-manufacturer of these silver shrines, who found employment for a large body of workmen. These he now called together, and others similarly employed, and set forth the damage which their trade had sustained, and the danger lest the temple of the great goddess Diana, which not only Asia but all the civilized world held sacred, should fall into disrepute. His words found eager listeners, and an excited cry arose, Great is Diana of the Ephesians (Acts xix. 28). The commotion thus aroused quickly spread, and the thousands of citizens and strangers, whom the games had attracted to Ephesus, made a general rush towards the theatre. Failing on the way in their attempt to seize St Paul[1037], they dragged thither two of his companions, Gaius and Aristarchus of Macedonia. News of the danger of his friends would have urged the Apostle to venture thither himself, but the disciples, aided by the Asiarchs[1038], who exercised high authority during the games, induced him to remain in privacy, and not venture to incur inevitable risk. Meanwhile the crowded seats of the theatre presented a scene of the utmost confusion, some crying one thing and some another, and the majority not knowing why they were come together (Acts xix. 29–32). At length the Jews, not unwilling to injure the Apostle’s cause, and anxious to clear themselves, put forward one Alexander, who may possibly have been the coppersmith mentioned in 2 Tim. iv. 14, and being connected in trade with Demetrius might have been expected to have some influence with the people. So he stood forth and beckoned with his hand for silence. But he was soon recognised as a Jew, and one unanimous cry which lasted upwards of two hours arose from the tumultuous throng, Great is Diana of the Ephesians (Acts xix. 34).
When this had partially subsided, another effort was made to calm the storm. The Town-clerk[1039] or Recorder, who was the lawful president of the assembly, stood forward and reminded his hearers that the city of Ephesus was beyond all question the devoted “warden[1040]” of the great goddess Diana and the image that came down from the sky. The statements of a few unknown foreigners could not contradict a fact so patent to all the world. Let them, therefore, avoid doing anything rash or inconsiderate, especially as St Paul and his companions had neither profaned their temple nor uttered calumnious words against the goddess. If Demetrius and his friends had any just cause of complaint, it could be decided in the assize-courts[1041], then open, or by an appeal to the proconsul, or, if necessary, in the regular assembly. Above every thing, let the present tumultuous proceedings be discontinued, which could only bring down upon them the displeasure of the Romans, who could not be expected to tolerate such causeless and disorderly doings, however willing to indulge an ancient and loyal city (Acts xix. 35–40).
With these arguments the cautious man of authority tranquillized the assembly, and the crowd dispersed to their own homes. Thus by the intrepidity of his friends[1042] Aquila and Priscilla, and the interposition of a Greek magistrate, the Apostle’s life was saved; and having assembled the disciples and given them his last farewell, set out towards Macedonia (Acts xx. 1), and accompanied, it is not improbable, by Tychicus and Trophimus, reached Alexandria Troas[1043]. (Acts xx. 4, 5.)
CHAPTER III.
TROAS—SECOND JOURNEY TO GREECE.
A.D. 57, 58.
ON the occasion of his former visit to Troas[1044] the Apostle had been able to stay but a very short time. Now, however, though disturbed in mind by the late outbreak, he occupied himself for some time in preaching the Word (2 Cor. ii. 12). But a cause of still deeper anxiety harassed him. He had sent Titus to Corinth, either with or soon after the first Epistle, to superintend the great collection now being made for the poorer Christians at Jerusalem, to enforce the instructions contained in his Epistle, and to report the state of the Corinthian church; and he had directed him to return through Macedonia and rejoin him probably at Troas[1045], where he hoped to have arrived shortly after Pentecost. But the late tumult had driven him sooner than he had intended from Ephesus, and he waited for Titus at Troas with a heart full of anxiety respecting the Church at Corinth. Day after day passed, and still Titus came not. At length the suspense became unbearable, his spirit had no rest (2 Cor. ii. 13) in the prolonged absence of his brother, and though at Troas a door was opened to him of the Lord, and he was enabled to lay the foundation of a flourishing church, he resolved to sail to Macedonia, hoping the sooner to meet Titus on his return.