Corinth
Seat of the Roman governor of Achaia, on the isthmus that joins the Peloponnese to mainland Greece. Paul spent eighteen months here, was brought before the proconsul Gallio, and later wrote the church at least two long letters.
Corinth stood beside the isthmus, with a harbour on each sea; Acts names the eastern one, Cenchreae (Acts 18:18). It was the seat of the proconsul of Achaia (Acts 18:12). Paul came there from Athens, worked as a tentmaker with Aquila and Priscilla, and stayed a year and a half. The ruler of the synagogue, Crispus, was among those who believed. When Paul was accused before the proconsul Gallio, the case was dismissed (Acts 18:1–17). See Paul Carries the Gospel into Europe.
Paul’s two surviving letters to “the assembly of God which is at Corinth” deal with divisions, conduct and worship in the church and with his own strained relations with it; he speaks of coming to it a third time (1 Corinthians 1:2, 11) (2 Corinthians 13:1). The letter to the Romans commends Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae (Romans 16:1). About AD 96 the church of Rome wrote to the Corinthians about a new quarrel and reminded them of Paul’s letter (1 Clement 47); see the Roman Church Writes to Corinth (1 Clement).
What happened here
- about AD 49 to AD 52, estimated datePaul Carries the Gospel into Europe
With Silas and Timothy, Paul crosses from Asia Minor to Macedonia and founds churches at Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth. Acts brings him before the proconsul Gallio at Corinth, whose year of office an inscription at Delphi puts at about AD 51–52.
- about AD 50 to AD 60, estimated dateThe Letters of Paul
In the course of his missions Paul writes letters to the churches he has founded and to others. On the usual dating they are older than the Gospels. They came to be collected and read alongside the Scriptures.
- about AD 53 to AD 57, estimated datePaul in Ephesus and the Collection for Jerusalem
Paul works for some three years at Ephesus, then travels through Macedonia and Greece gathering money from his Gentile churches for the poor of Jerusalem, and sets out to deliver it in spite of warnings.
- about AD 96, estimated dateThe Roman Church Writes to Corinth (1 Clement)
The church of Rome sends a long letter to the church of Corinth, where presbyters have been removed from office, and tells those responsible to submit to them. It appeals to an order handed down from the apostles and is linked from the second century with the name of Clement.