Moving on from Athens, Paul comes to Corinth, which today features fabulous ruins from ancient times. Near the theater we notice a grey limestone pavement slab with an inscription: “Erastus in return for his aedileship laid this at his own expense.” We believe this to be the same Erastus mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:23 – meaning a high public official (an “aedile”) with sufficient wealth to pave a major street was part of the fledgling church composed mostly of the poor in Corinth.
The “church” in Corinth met in homes, maybe in the home of somebody like Erastus – with more room! We might envision a lovely villa with an atrium of perhaps 50 square meters, and a dining room of maybe 35 square meters. Capacity for a meal? Maybe 50. Read 1 Corinthians 11: Paul scolds those who met in such a home for a situation society would treat as normal but was unacceptable for the people of God. The well-heeled were accustomed to inviting their fellow well-heeled friends into the dining room… The affluent would arrive first, having leisure time to go where and when they wished, while poorer manual laborers couldn’t get off work until late. So by the time they arrived, the good food was all gone, when the inner room was full. They got scraps, or nothing, and couldn’t feel part of things. I wonder after reading Paul’s hard criticism if they revised how they gathered in the house church!
Acts 18 is keenly interested in what Willie Jennings calls “a new kind of couple” – in Corinth and in the world! Unlike Ananias and Sapphira, who were consumed with consuming (Acts chapter 5), Priscilla and Aquila shared in the communal life of a community way more obsessed with Jesus and the good news than what they possessed. Their life was about Jesus. They didn’t think of Jesus as a boost to their marriage or their prosperity. All that was theirs was focused on Jesus, and Jesus’ people.
It is no mistake or chance that Priscilla is mentioned before Aquila, wife before husband – highly unusual in the ancient world! The earliest bulletins and newsletters of our own church, just 100 years ago, list couples as Mr. & Mrs. John Doe. Luke/Acts in effect calls this couple Mrs. &And Mr., Priscilla and Aquila. Was she more noticeable? A more effective speaker? Or is there a subtle hint that Luke the author is once again elevating women in a world that always kept them suppressed?
Acts 18 reveals that Paul is developing, quite intentionally and strategically, a network of churches and leaders in the major cities of Corinth, Ephesus, Caesarea, and Antioch. Churches were planted and thriving in scattered places. Paul was the connecting point – maybe like those early “circuit riders,” the preachers in early Methodism in America who rode on horseback from place to place, pastoring small gatherings and tiny churches in little communities all over the place.
That Paul stayed a year and a half moves me. He must have built significant friendships, and so it’s no surprise we have not one but two letters to them in our New Testament. The season wasn’t trouble-free. Paul got hauled before the authorities and put on trial, but managed to get off (again). And from Paul’s two letters to the Corinthians, we get glimpses of conflicts within the Christian community. No surprise. Nothing but people here! It’s a family, and families have their issues, don’t they?