After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;
Paul, Arriving at Corinth, Takes UP his Abode with Aquila, (18:1-3)
After these things Paul - or 'And he' (the authorities for both are about equal) Departed from Athens, and came to Corinth. This city, celebrated alike in classic and in the earliest Church history, was of the highest antiquity, reaching back to the earliest authentic Grecian history. It was situated on the isthmus between the AEgean and Ionian Seas, having right in front of it (on the south side) a natural citadel of rock rising 2,000 feet sheer up above the level of the sea, called the Acrocorinthus. It was a place of great military strength until, in its struggles with Rome, it was so ruined that it became as proverbial for its poverty as before for its wealth and magnificence. Julius Caesar, however, appreciating its great natural strength in a military point of view, and its advantages as an emporium of commerce, made it a Roman colony; and by the encouragement given to population, commerce, and art, it soon rose to even more than its former splendour. It became the capital of the Roman province of Achaia, and was the residence of the proconsul. It was this re-built Corinth that Paul now came to-the center of commerce alike for east and west, having a considerable Jewish population, and larger probably at this time than usual, owing to the banishment of the Jews from Rome by Claudius Caesar (Acts 18:2). Such a city was a noble field for the Gospel, which, once established there, would naturally diffuse itself far and wide. Yet Christianity had formidable enemies to overcome before it could secure for itself a footing in Corinth. It had to struggle equally against the speculative tendencies of the more intellectual class and the refined sensuality for which Corinth became a proverb even in Greece-a sensuality which was even clothed with a sacred character and employed in the services of religion.