Tomorrow we will be starting the letter of 2 Corinthians. Today we’ll set the context by reading the passage in Acts where Paul first brought the gospel to Corinth.

1 After this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them, 3 and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade). 4 He addressed both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade them.

5 Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!” 7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized. 9 The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent 10 because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you because I have many people in this city.” 11 So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Trung Nguyen

What stood out to me in this passage was verses 9 to 11. I’m continually amazed that Jesus knew what was happening in Paul’s life and cared for him.

In a time when Paul may have been feeling worried he might get beaten up and deflated after his own people, the Jews, rejected him, Jesus was there to comfort and encourage Paul. The Lord Jesus spoke to Paul in verse 9 and 10 in a vision and encouraged him to not be afraid and to keep speaking the truth. Jesus continued to comfort Paul by telling him of the same words he told his disciples before he ascended into heaven: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

I’m often pumped up to share the gospel when I read the accounts in Acts when Paul is so “gung-ho” with sharing the gospel and seeing his zeal and passion for the lost to repent and trust in Jesus. Part of me also feels like I can’t do what Paul does. But this passage in Acts reminds me that Paul can do all these things because Jesus is with him, just as Jesus is with us. Jesus will be with us always, to the very end of the age. It is Jesus’ mission to the world that we are invited to be a part of, and it is Jesus who will carry us through to not be afraid and to keep on speaking.

The next time we have an opportunity to speak to someone about Jesus, let’s remember that Jesus is with us, empowering us with the words to speak and encouraging us to not be afraid.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Trung is a ministry apprentice with our Fairfield morning and evening congregations.