^a Corinth was at this time the capital city of the Roman province of Achaia. The population was probably over 200,000, made up of local Greeks, freedmen from Italy, Roman army veterans, businessmen and government officials, and Orientals including a large number of Jews. Thanks to its commercial advantages, the city greatly prospered. But along with its wealth and luxury, there was immorality of every kind. Beginning with the fifth century B.C., the verb ‘to corinthianise’ meant to be sexually immoral. Corinth was also the centre for the worship of the goddess Aphrodite, whose temple at one time boasted of a thousand sacred prostitutes. Many other pagan shrines, such as those built to the god of sailors, the god of healing, etc., were also located there.

^b Pontus was a region in northern Asia Minor on the south shore of the Black Sea.

^c It is likely that Aquila and Priscilla were already Christians before they met up with Paul. Priscilla is later named more frequently before her husband which suggests that she was the more important figure from a Christian point of view.

^d It was recorded by a Roman historian of that time that Claudius, the Emperor of Rome (A.D. 41-54), ordered all the Jews to leave Rome because of their frequent riots caused by a person called ‘Chrestus’. Many take this to be a reference to Christ, where the dispute in the Jewish community was between those who accepted his messiahship and those who did not.

^e Rome was the capital and the largest city of the Roman empire with a population approaching a million by the end of the first century A.D. The origins of Christianity in Rome, like that of Judaism, cannot be determined with certainty. Roman Jews were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (2:10) and they might have returned to Rome and founded a church there.

^f Paul would have been taught this trade as a youth. It was the Jewish custom to provide manual training for sons, whether rich or poor. Since rabbis were expected to perform their religious functions without demanding income, it was necessary for them to have some other source of income.

^g This was an act symbolising his rejection of the Jews’ opposition, and exempting himself from further responsibility for them (see chap 13, note e’). It was also a protest against what he considered the Jews’ ‘blasphemy’.

^h One of the first to accept Paul’s message at Corinth was Crispus, the leader of the synagogue. He was certainly one of the most prominent believers, and his conversion must have made a great impact and led to other conversions. Paul listed him first in 1 Co 1:14-16 among the few that he had baptised.

ⁱ The tense of the Greek verbs suggests that this was a process that was going on daily.

^j Luke does not indicate any reason for the heavenly vision which Paul received at this time to encourage and strengthen him for his continuing work in Corinth. It could be that Paul expected that as usual he would face tremendous opposition as people turned to Christ. In his letter to the Corinthian church (1 Co 2:3), Paul wrote that on his arrival in Corinth, he was ‘weak and trembling all over with fear’ and thus the Lord saw that he needed encouragement.

^k During this time, Paul may have taken the gospel to the neighbouring districts of Achaia.

^l Gallio was admired as a man of exceptional fairness and calmness. He was governor or proconsul of Achaia in A.D. 51-52. This enables scholars to date Paul’s visit to Corinth as well as his writing of the Thessalonian letters at around A.D. 51-52.

^m In NT times, Achaia was a Roman province of which Corinth was the capital. Used together, ‘Macedonia and Achaia’ generally mean all of Greece.

ⁿ The Jews were claiming that Paul was advocating a religion not recognised by Roman law as Judaism was. As it was, Gallio’s refusal to act in the matter was equivalent to the recognition of Christianity as a legal religion and the decision of such an important Roman governor would carry weight wherever the issue arose again. Thus for the coming decade, the Christian message could be proclaimed in the provinces of the empire without fear of coming into conflict with Roman law.

^o It is not clear why Sosthenes was beaten up. It could be that the Greek crowd took advantage of Gallio’s unwillingness to interfere and beat up Sosthenes because of their anti-Jewish feelings. Another suggestion was that Sosthenes could have been sympathetic to the Christians and the Jews themselves beat him up.