The Green Forest tribune., 1916-07-21
LESSON FOR JULY 23
PAUL AT CORINTH.

AlSIIIle Ntlc hOI OiiIN ICiiOW Siil iS
 tians but fellow craftsmen (v. 3. Pau
 supported himself, as Jesus did fol
 30 years, as carpenter. This gave opportunity to reach the people natu
 rally as one of them. At the same time he set them the example of do ing good q Cor. 10 :31; I Cor. 9 :6-12
 II Thess. 2-9). Paul did not think il 1 lack of faith to do manual labor or secular work for his own support be. cause God had called him to preach In the midst of his labors (v. 5 Silas and Timothy came to him from Philippi and Berea. The Philippians had sent him aid and brought news of the abundant harvest of faith and love in that church. Paul was weak and sick and dejected in spirit (11 Cor. 2:3), probably bodily sickness. He was also in want (II Cor. II :9). AS he meditated on the word, it had so got hold on him that he could not keep still. It overpowered him with the thought that Jesus was the Christ and that he must tell it out, but the Jews were not willing to receive his testimony. "They opposed them selves and blasphemed," (v. @. The good news these helpers brought en- couraged him in his conflict (v. 6).
 IT. PauPs CompuIson. (vv. 7-1D. The opposition of the Jews did not prove his testimony to be untrue or that it had been unwisely presented, h11f rnunolnI hn mi nf the hearts of the men who were the religious leaders To their faces Paul could eXclaim, II am clean" (v. 6). It is a great thing for any man to be able to say this, and it is the priv ilege of every believer (Acts 20 :26). Then we can say with Paul: "I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God" (R. V.) If we do not declare unto men the way of life, then their blood is upon us Ezekiel 33:4, 8, 9. but are we indeed clean of the blood of all in our own homes, in our churches, in our Sunday school classes, in talr communities and in the lands beyond the sea? This compul- sion disconnected Paul from the false religionists of hiS day. Prom hence forth will go unf b the Gentiles. '--- advantage of th se.
 ta} that tSss tSsssssa1, sss@ was psetprn- I'd %G, @ fes Jew, vsn.o so, The 60 plaSsR tSs preaching would be standing invita- ton to the Jews, and (c) Justus was evidently a Roman citizen, and Paul would gain access through him to the more educated people of the city. Moreover he would have greater ad- vantage of the Romans than of the Jews for protection of the Christian converts. We do not infer that he left his lodgings in the home of Aquila and Priscilla nor ceased his work of tent making. At this critical time there came to Paul another one of those visions which mark the course of his development (v. 9, in which God spake to him words of encouragement and exhOrtation not to hold his peace (v. 19). God is ready to speak to us, but we do not need visions as Paul did for we have the revealed word which we can carry around in the vest pocket, and have him speak to us whenever we will. Quite likely Paul was dis couraged at the seeming impossibility of making an impression upon this great city of 100000 inhabitants. He realized the magnitude of the struggle (Eph. 6:12). We wrestle not against flesh" Nowhere had the Gospel been brought face to face with such world Illness nor had assigned to 1t a more difficult task than in this city.
 Perhaps Pau's seant success in Ath- ems was to prepare him for this task, because our disappointments and ap- parent failures are sometimes the very experiences by which we are enabled both to glorify God and to bless hu- manity.
 PauPs testimony after Athens was based only on the cross q Cor. 2 i, 9 and it was that which turned impure, sinful souls into pure brides whom he conducted to Christ" (See l Cor. 6 O. ID. This vision kept Paul in the city where he founded one of his strongest classes (vv. II. 18).
 Ill. PauI's Contest, (vv. 12-1O. Gallio, the brother of Seneca, listened to the charges, but threw the accusa- tions out of court (vv. If, 15). Sir William Ramsey calls this decision the charter of Christian freedom" Free dom of religious speech was granted over the entire Roman empire so far as Roman authorities were concerned, and the door was open for Paul to make his way throughout the civilized world. Thus we have further evidence that all of COrinth was no match for Christ. The Lord had people there who must be called by the spoken word, and Paul was the one to speak the word. The Lord only allows us to be hurt when both we and the work can be helped thereby. He never really allows us to be hurt (Rom. 8:13; Isaiah 54 I'D. Christian workers in this land are confronting the same Corinthian evils in every great city; intemperance, crime graft. dishonesty, white slavery, oppression of the poor and other works of the flesh.
 It Is the business of every preacher and Christian to pray and teach and work and live to save men from these evils and to convert them to right eOuSneSs.
 There are also Corinthian evils in the heart, and in order to overcome them we must put on the whole ar nor of God, and he filed with the