In these chapters Paul does a lot of preaching and teaching over a period of more than 4 years, but within this time "all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province f Asia heard the word of the Lord" (v19:10) and that was only mentioned because of his two year stay in Ephesus in the hall of Tyrannus.
Anyways, as usual he starts in the synagogues. In Corinth "the Jews opposed [him] and became abusive" (v.18:6), but after he did something "the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord" (v. 18:7).
What did he do?
"Paul left the synagogue and went next door" after "he shook out his clothes in protest and said [quite directly] "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsability. From now I will go to the Gentiles." (v. 18:6-7)
He had devoted himself to preaching and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ, but there was nothing left he could do, so he had to leave. God had used that time, and even those last words and actions to bring the ruler of the synagogue to faith in Christ.
This raises the question, when is it right for you to move on and stop preaching the gospel? I don't think my friends are abusive. Does that mean I don't leave?
No comments:
Post a Comment