Two synagogue leaders are not seeing eye to eye, especially as Paul in Corinth has shared a risen Messiah to an audience that has already rejected the idea.
Acts 18:1-5; Isaiah 45:23-25; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 1 Corinthians 2:12-16
With every fiber of his physical being constricting, every muscle tightening and joint throbbing, Sosthanes waves over to his old friend and says, “Okay… I’ve had enough of this room. Let’s get back to the heat.”
The two men quickly walk out from the frigidarium and back into the caldarium for the fourth time.
“This never gets old.” Crispus says looking over at his fellow Jewish friend. “How much longer can you last?”
Sosthanes laughs and asks. “Are you challenging me?”
Crispus smiles and responds, “Not at all. I don’t think I could keep up. I might have one or two more times left in me.”
Breathing out a heavy sigh of relief, Sosthanes confesses. “Thank you… me too. So…” He says to broach another subject. “You met with him?”
Crispus wipes the sweat from his brow and looks back at his fellow synagogue leader. “Met with whom?” He asks.
“The traveling teacher.” Sosthanes replies. “You know who I’m talking about.”
Crispus slowly nods and takes his time to process his thoughts. Finally, he affirms and says, “I did.”
“And…” Sosthanes asks impatiently. “What became of your conversation?”
“And…” Crispus slowly continues. “He… makes a compelling case.”
Sosthanes lowers and shakes his head. “You can’t be serious.” He replies.
“I am.” Crispus says as he straightens up. “He’s quite proficient in the Law and the prophets. Well… the entire Tenakh is his playground. To be honest, he danced circles around me with his understanding of the Scriptures. I was somewhat ashamed of myself, so this past week I have had to personally review several passages he addressed with me.”
“Go on…” Sosthanes flares. “What did you find?”
Crispus says. “I think I’ve had enough.” He grabs a linen to wipe off his face.
“You’re kidding me.” Sosthanes replies. “You’re done talking about this?”
“With the bath.” Crispus replies. “I’m done with the bath. I’m tapping out. Wanna get something to eat? There’s a vendor just outside that sells lamb skewers.”
“Fine.” Sosthanes grumbles. “But this isn’t over.”
“Not at all.” Crispus says with confidence. “Not at all.”
…
“Hey hey, you two!” Paul exclaims upon seeing his long lost friends. The three hug for a moment when Paul turns to make introductions. “Aquila… Pricilla… these are my long trusted friends and ministry partners. Timothy and Silas.” Paul beams and then says. “This is reason for celebration. Let’s all grab some food and catch up.”
“Good.” Timothy replies. “It’s cold out there.”
Seated in the corner area inside Aquila and Priscilla’s apartment, The five wrap themselves to keep warm and nibble away at the array of bread and olives in front of them. Paul looks affectionately over at Timothy which causes him to awkwardly look in another direction.
Feeling the weird glances from the others, Paul asks: “Can I not look at my son?” He then pats Timothy on the knee and says, “I’m just so glad you’re alive and well, my friends. I can’t tell you how concerned I was for you.”
“Silas!” Paul goes on. “What of Athens?”
Finishing his bite of bread, Silas wipes his mouth and shrugs. “Well… it’s Athens.”
Paul nods understandingly.
“I kept meeting with both Dionysius and Damaris to train them as best as I could.” Silas continues.
Paul smiles upon hearing both of their names and shares his previous interactions for the others’ benefit, “Dionysius is a judge over Athens who often held court on the rock. Almost every day, he would nod when he passed by me in front of the stoa, and he finally came to listen in when the Epicureans threw me in front of the wolves… Good man.”
“Yeah, he’s steady as a rock.” Silas agrees and continues. “Anyway, we did our best to meet regularly, and we tried to find a home to open up for the Jesus followers there in Athens. But, stuff happened, and we would have to change out places to meet for one reason or another.”
“So, are Dionysius and Demaris leading others over there?” Paul asks.
“They both appear to be pretty faithful.” Silas says.
Paul nods in agreement and replies, “The wisdom of the world.”
“Come again?” Aquila asks after listening quietly for a time.
Paul turns to his host and says, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, but wisdom apart from God isn’t wisdom at all. In their wisdom,” he quotes. “They grope around looking for God, yet they never find him. Isn’t that the point of wisdom? That one may know his creator? So many in Athens are well educated and highly intelligent, yet they cringe at the idea that God would offer himself, in all of his perfection, his complete righteousness, for the benefit of lowly man. To the Greeks, or even the Romans, man is just a pawn in a celestial war game and used as such between the capricious and self-serving gods. But to the true God, man is the apex of his creative work and worth every effort to rescue. To the Athenians, the way of the cross is a sign of weakness, as if God isn’t strong or authoritative enough and has given in. So, they dismiss it and look for other ways to know God.”
Timothy blurts out, “But there is no other way to know God. To look for another way is to brush aside the lengths that God went to by placing Jesus on the cross.”
Paul smiles at his young protege. “Those who have dismissed the cross have dismissed the God who has orchestrated a way for their deliverance.
…
Seated on a bench on the outskirts of the agora, Crispus stares out at the columned rows of the Temple of Apollo in front of them. He nibbles from a skewer of lamb and various vegetables, and makes conversation with Sosthanes who sits next to him.
“Did you watch any of the games?” He asks.
“Not a chance!” Sosthanes replies in disgust. “Thousands of drunk people flooding the streets to watch a few naked guys compete for a bunch of pine needles? No thanks.” He waves dismissively. “We locked the doors and avoided the events at all costs.”
“You know the games are held in Isthmos, right?” Crispus chides.
Growing agitated, Sosthanes replies, “Yes, but the riff raff stays and carouses here.”
Crispus laughs and replies, “Okay, okay. No games.” He looks up to see two men exit from a meat market across the street. He then looks down at his skewer and asks. “I wonder if that vendor over there gets his meat from this market?”
“I certainly hope not.” Sosthanes says as he uses his elbow to point over at the temple across the street. “I shudder to think we’re eating leftovers from the sacrifices that go on in there.”
Crispus smirks and replies, “Maybe we need to stick with the fish.”
Sosthanes looks over at Crispus and finally asks: “I want to get back to our conversation about this… traveling teacher. We’ve been warned about such Jewish men coming from Syria. You know this. You know that several Jewish communities have been turned upside down because of these rogues who have destroyed our synagogues. They are largely responsible for causing such commotions that the Romans, thinking they’re part of us, have thrown us out of our homes and our cities. Our businesses have been shut down, our families have been scattered on account of them. We’ve been told to avoid them at all costs. Yet, you dabble with them, like a moth to a flame.”
“I take issue with how you just painted this scenario, Sosthanes.” Crispus replies. “I agree, they proclaim something we don’t wish to hear, but we are by no means innocent in the way we have responded. In the case of the Romans expelling the Jews out of Rome, you seem to forget that the Jews there formed a mob to get rid of these Syrian Jews and escalated the problem so much that the civic authorities had to get involved.” Crispus shakes his head. “We risk doing the same thing here if we’re not careful.”
“What do you mean?” Sosthanes asks.
“I mean, we’ve already seen some younger men pick a fight with this guy.” Crispus replies. “Right after he spoke in our service, we walked together…”
“You’re all sorts of chummy with him, aren’t you?” Sosthanes accuses.
“I want to understand where he’s coming from.” Crispus counters. “And getting violent with him isn’t going to accomplish anything. In fact, it only degrades us as God’s people. If he’s a heretic, fine we’ll remove him from speaking in our synagogue. But, he’s a human being and a very well trained Jew. If nothing else, we owe him an opportunity to speak to us–at least to us as leaders.”
Sosthanes stands and brushes some crumbs off of his garment.
“Wait…” Crispus says. “That’s it? You want to know more about what he teaches, and yet you’re done with me?”
“I already know where this is headed.” Sosthanes sorrowfully replies. “This man proclaims a dead Davidic King, and if you want to follow him, fine! But, as for us… Well, I cannot follow you in this direction, and I will seek to remove you from leadership.”
Not fully knowing how to respond, Crispus finally says as Sosthanes begins to walk away. “You look for signs, signs of God’s hand at work.”
Sosthanes turns around while walking backwards. “What about it? The pillar, our deliverance, our history… The Lord has always shown up this way.”
“Yet…” Crispus replies. “The sign you should be looking for is the sign of Jonah.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sosthanes impatiently replies. He turns back around and walks away.
“Don’t be surprised if the pagans repent at the Lord’s doing.” Crispus yells out.
…
“What is this?” Paul asks, as Timothy sets a bag in front of him.
“This is a gift.” Timothy replies. “From our friends in Thessalonica.”
Paul looks up at the others seated around the table. He then peers into the bag to feel the numerous coins inside. He looks back at Timothy in surprise.
“I know you sent me to fan any of the embers that might still be there back into a flame. Of course, I wasn’t excited about walking all the way back there, but I’m glad I did. But to my surprise, when I arrived they brought me right in and asked me to train them as best as I knew how. By the way, they had a bunch of questions for me to ask you. Paul, don’t you see, they have been forever changed by your being with them.” Timothy says with a smile.
“Even the ones who were roughed up?” Paul asks. “What about Jason? Aeneus? Dmitri? What happened to Dmitri?”
“Jason has stepped up to lead, as has Aeneus.” Timothy responds. “They’re actually friends now.” He laughs at the irony of this. They’re both good guys whose faith has become very apparent in light of their receiving such maltreatment.” Timothy’s smile vanishes as he continues. “Dmitri… well, Dmitri got pretty bruised up at his kiosk a few times. Jaden and his henchmen kept showing up when he would close up his shop and did a number on him.”
Aquila and Priscilla exchange glances, and Aquila finally speaks up. “So… what kind of business was Dmitri in?”
Timothy quickly turns his head to Aquila and says, “Oh, he was a tentmaker.”
Startled at hearing this, Aquila asks. “So… what happened to Dmitri.”
Timothy becomes somber once again and looks back at Paul. “Dmitri… well, he’s gone. He just couldn’t recover from the beatings.”
Paul breathes out a heavy sigh and places his head into his hands. “I don’t know what to say… I blame myself for what happened there. And, here they give me a gift for it.”
Silas shakes his head. “No, they gave you a gift to continue what you started with them. You have given them life and hope. It was Jaden and that thug, Marcus, who did this to Dmitri. Not you.”
“Why do I feel like this is blood money?” Paul asks.
Timothy replies. “Not at all! This is to empower you to engage in ministry without having to support yourself.”
“Does this mean you will no longer be working with us?” Aquila asks. “Whew!” He says. “For a second there, I was wondering if we needed to flee town ourselves.”
“Again.” Priscilla chimes in.
Paul chuckles and then sighs at the implications. “It’s the last thing I want to happen to you. Please know this.”
Timothy looks over at Aquila and says, “Hey, they don’t know us.”
Silas perks up at this. “He’s right. They don’t know us here, and this guy has taught us everything we need to know about tent making.”
“Well that’s a relief.” Priscilla teases to break the tension. “This guy can barely tie a knot.”
Paul shrugs and replies. “The students have become the masters then. You will see that they can earn their keep.” He then looks over at Timothy and says. “I need to write to these people and say, “thank you.” With this gift, they will have opened a whole new door of ministry for us. You said they had some questions too? What were they?”
…
We’re going to stop here for today.
Paul receives a sizable gift from the weathered fledgling church in Thessalonica. While in Athens Paul sent Timothy back to the church some 350 miles north after fearing that his labor there had gone without bearing any fruit. To Paul’s surprise, Timothy comes back with a glowing report of how the church has begun to thrive, even in the midst of some violent pushback. He also comes back with a sizable collective gift from the church to fund Paul into full-time ministry. In response, with the help of Silas and Timothy, Paul in Corinth writes a letter to thank them and to address the issues they raised with Timothy. You may know this letter as 1 Thessalonians. While we’re not entirely sure if this letter or a letter to the Galatians came first, we do know this full time opportunity afforded Paul the time to write these churches and regions with which he had the greatest impact.
Meanwhile, current leaders within the local Corinthian synagogue, Crispus and Sosthanes part ways, as Crispus warms up to Paul’s teaching. Sosthanes will partake in the escalation of the hostilities and bring the matter before the Roman officials. He later receives a thrashing from his own people after Gallio refuses to hear the issue. Curiously, Paul greets us and mentions a Sosthanes as a brother at the beginning of 1 Corinthians (1:1). Could this be the same Sosthanes? Could the turn of events that resulted in Sosthanes public beatings right there in court (Acts 18:17) be the cause for him to take another look at the Gospel? Maybe!
You must be insane to believe the Gospel! This is a common reaction that many have today. It was a common response held by many 2,000 years ago too. To the Greco-Roman, the Gospel–the idea that God would send his son to sacrificially die in our place… so that we may yield to him and receive His righteous position before God as our own–was regarded as lunacy. The prevailing wisdom of the day, which was based on several presumptions of how the world worked at the time, discarded the crazy idea that God loved humanity. Consequently, most rejected the idea… at first. To be fair, it wasn’t just the Greeks who struggled with the Gospel. Even Israel and Judah some 700 years earlier struggled with the notion.
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob and in Israel He shows forth His glory. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone, causing the omens of boasters to fail, making fools out of diviners, causing wise men to draw back and turning their knowledge into foolishness.
— Isaiah 45:23-25
Regardless of the era and the prevailing winds of thinking at any given time in history, the idea of God loving humanity enough to save it from its own self-destructive tendencies was just plain absurd.
In this way, things haven’t changed much. Even with present wisdom as seen today, God still continues to confound such wisdom and reaches people. For those who accept the idea of a loving God who has sought to redeem humanity, they are the ones who see God at work on a regular basis. They see the power of God, and they continue to move forward in faith. In first Corinthians 1, Paul contrasts the foolishness found in common wisdom with the wisdom found for those who seek after God.
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
— 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
The power of God is often identified by those who have the mind of Christ. While the supernatural power of God may show up for any and all to witness, the transformational power of God is seen by those who wish to look for His fingerprints. As a deposit for God’s Kingdom of Heaven which is yet to come (Eph 1:14), the Spirit of God has been made available to those who routinely yield to Him, ever imparting to them the mind of Christ. When we take on the mind of Christ, we see God’s goodness at work in the lives of others.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them–because the things of God are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 2:12-16
So… what kind of wisdom comes with the mind of Christ? There are a number of examples that we might point to pertaining to this idea. It often shows up in what we value as Christ followers. Instead of valuing what we want to value, a Christ follower trusts that what God wants for her is better than what she can want for herself. This trust stems from her understanding about the nature and character of God. “If God is good and wants good things for others,” She might reason, “then I will follow his counsel in all things.”
Ideals such as… What does God want for us? How do we view ourselves as Jesus followers? How does God regard us as his creation? Why are we here? How do we treat one another? Why are the fruits of the Spirit so important? How do we regard relationships with others? Why are marriage and family so important? Why should we not worry so much about building wealth? How do we respond when things become difficult? How does God fight our battles? Etc… those sorts of things.
There’s much more to discover here, but I think we’ll need to wrap it up. Though the wisdom of God may seem like foolishness to many, to those who choose to follow, they will experience the goodness of living the way God intended.
May you choose to live as God desires, even when it doesn’t make sense at the time. By doing this, you’ll see that your acts of faith will engage the Power of God in your life and in others around you. With that, let’s move forward… together.