Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.
Here God tells Paul not to worry for his personal safety. He will not be harmed in Corinth. What a relief this must have been to Paul.
He has been stoned and left for dead in Lystra and beaten and imprisoned in Philippi! Numerous death threats and often chased from town to town. Yet still managing to establish churches on the run.
Now Paul will have a time of relative peace and great success. God tells him many in this city will turn to Jesus. For a year and a half, Paul will teach the message of Jesus to the people of Corinth.
As with any new church planting, the fellowship in Corinth will experience growing pains. But Paul will lay a firm foundation of faith before he leaves the city. Later, he will write two letters of the New Testament addressing some of the problems that will develop in the church.
Paul attached himself to Aquila and Priscilla. He lived with this couple and worked side by side with them in the business of tent making. For the most part, Paul worked with his own hands to support his mission work.
At first, as his custom was, Paul reasoned with the Jews and Greeks in the synagogue. When forces of opposition grew, he devoted himself to teaching the Gentile population of Corinth exclusively.
The arrival of Silas and Timothy freed Paul from the demands of tent making and he devoted himself exclusively to preaching with great success.
And many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
This is the same pattern of responding to the message of Jesus that we have observed in each case of conversion recorded in the Book of Acts.
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