Among the Gentiles Paul’s success was very great, and converts were rapidly multiplied. The rage of the Jews was such, that it was feared that Paul would encounter personal violence; but the Lord appeared to Paul in the night in a vision, and said to him,—
“Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city.”
For a year and six months Paul continued in Corinth, preaching the gospel. It was from that city that he wrote his two impressive and affectionate letters to the converts in Thessalonica. An easy, good-natured man, by the name of Gallio, was at that time governor of the province of Achaia, which included the whole of Southern Greece. Probably the conversion and baptism of Crispus exasperated the Jews to the highest degree. They stirred up an insurrection in the streets; seized Paul, and with clamor and tumult dragged him before the judgment-seat of Gallio. But the charges which they brought against Paul were so frivolous, that Gallio drove them from his presence, declaring that he would be no judge of such matters.
The Greeks hated the Jews. And here, for the first time, we have the remarkable exhibition of the populace proceeding to acts of violence against the enemies of Paul. According to the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles, the Greek populace rushed upon Sosthenes, the ruler of the Jewish synagogue, and severely beat him. It was far more important to Gallio that he should be popular among the Greeks than among the Jews: he therefore, with characteristic indifference, left Sosthenes tohis fate. After this, the Jews no longer attempted to molest Paul.
He remained in Corinth “yet a good while;” but we have no record of the amount or success of his labors. He then bade farewell to the numerous converts whom he had gathered in Corinth, and, accompanied by Aquila and Priscilla, embarked at Cenchrea, and, leaving the shores of Greece behind him, crossed the Ægean Sea, a distance of about two hundred miles, and landed at the renowned city of Ephesus, in Asia Minor. In the record of this event it is written,—
“He then took leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.”[143]
The structure of the sentence does not determine whether it was Paul or Aquila who had a vow; neither are we informed why the vow was taken. Paul apparently entered the synagogue at Ephesus but once, when he reasoned with the Jews, endeavoring to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah; and, though entreated to tarry longer with them, he declined, saying,“I must by all means keep this feast[144] that cometh in Jerusalem; but I will return again unto you.”
Sailing from Ephesus, leaving Aquila and Priscilla behind him, he landed at Cæsarea in Syria, and immediately hastened up to Jerusalem to report to the church there his adventures in the long and momentous excursion he had made,—an excursion which occupied a little over two years. He then returned to Antioch.