Evening star., 1921-10-01
Sunday School Lesson


the same vigor and fire in the early
days of his ministry in Corinth as
he did after the arrival of Silas and
Timothy. The news that they brought
Of the progress Of the Thessalonian
Church filled Paul with such graft
tude that he penned amid his tent
work the letter to the Thessalonians,
which was the beginning of the New
Testament Scriptures. The dominant
thought of these earliest documents
of the Christian literature. that have
come down to us In our Bible. is
that the gospel is a great message
of deliverance from the sinful life Of
sensuality. self-indulgence and self
seeking into the life Of spiritual
mindedness. self-denial and charity.
through the personal relationship Of
the disciple to Jesus Christ" The evil
dence of the gospels power to trans
form the character of man. which
Silas and Timothy gave Paul, pro-
duced a remarkable change in his
ministry. He commenced to preach
with such courage and convincing
power that he was shut out of the
across the street from his old preach
ing place.
Corinthian Christinns' Victory.
Paul had already secured follow
ing when the break with the syna-
gogue took place, for Justus, who
was a proselyte, opened his home for
the services of his Christian breth-
rem. The starting of the mission and
the organization of a church within
veloped bitter antagOnism to Paul.
This was increased when Crispus
who had been ruler of the syna-
gogue, united with the Christians and
was baptized by the apostle person
ally This served to attract many
Gentiles of the city. who attended
the services in large numbers, many
of whom were converted and united
with the church. Paul did not fol-
low his custom of packing up and
moving on to another field Of labor
because the Lord appeared to him in
vision with the assurance of vic
tory. He had confidence in the lead
ership Of the Christ His presence
meant protection and unlimited pow
or for the apostle. The assurance Of
tho faith of Paul and summoned him
The Jews tried to silence the
apostle by bringing him before the
new governor. Gallo. who was a
that had won a high place in Roman
life and literature. His father was
celebrated rhetorician. and his
brother was Seneca, the Stole, and
teacher of Nero. Lucan. the poet.
was his nephew. The leaders of the
synagogue. who hated Paul. thought
they could easily persuade Gallo.
whose reputation of being sweet
spirited had preceded him, to sane
ton their plans to punish the apostle
by bringing him before the governor
upon a framed-up charge. Gallfo's
high character and his love for the
law served to protect Paul. whom he
dismissed without hearing his plea
or defense as a Roman citizen. When
the governor drove the Jews from
the court and freed Paul he gave
Christianity legal standing as a re-
ligious faith that it had not previous
ly possessed.
When the common people under
stood that the attack was made upon
Paul because he was a friend of sin
ners and the masses OF humanity they
revealed their antagonism against
Jewish forces. had tried to persuade
Gallo to punish Paul. For the first
time In the history of Christianity
the Gentiles turned upon Sosthenes
and beat him up. with the evident
approval of the governor. who did not
commencement of "the dreadful tale
Of Hebrew persecution. Of tortures,. Of
massacres. Of pogroms.' which has
continued to darken the pages of his
tory until today. SoStheneS later be-
came a disciple Of the Lord Jesus and
a faithful helper Of the apostle in the
Masters work.
The secret Of Pauls success in
Corinth was in what the Christian re-
ligion did for men, and not in what 1t
promised. It was not what it did in
health and external prosperity. but
what 1t did within the realm Of a
mans soul that gave it power. Men
have not changed. They will not to-
day continue to observe ceremonials
or practice ritualistic forms because
OF tradition or superstition. They will
love and sacrifice for a religion, and
If need be die for a faith that does
something for them. Many of Paul's
converts were gathered from the lewd
sinners of the city, who had a tre-
mendous battle to fight to live as
Christians ought to live for the glory
of their Lord. 1t was at Corinth, un-
der Paurs leadership. that there was
started that age-long battle by the
followers of Christ against immoral
ity and intemperance. the struggle of
light against darkness. the desperate
endeavor to establish right living
amid wrong environment" 1t was to
encourage the Corinthians to win
their battles, that Paul later penned
his letters to the church in Corinth
that are recognized today as the basic
guide all future ages in their social
movements by the religious prin-
ciples which they teach. The tre-
today is in its abiding secret spiritual
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