Paul in Corinth

1 After this Paul¹ left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named ^sAquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and ^tworked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the ^usynagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5 ^vWhen Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the ^wChrist was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his ^xgarments and said to them, ^y“Your ^zblood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will ^ago to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 ^bCrispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul ^cbelieved and were ^dbaptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one ^enight in a vision, ^f“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews² made a united attack on Paul and brought him ^gbefore the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But since it is a matter of ^hquestions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

15 For though you have countless¹ guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. ^lFor I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Ministers of the New Covenant

1 ^vAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, ^wletters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 ^xYou yourselves ^yare our letter of recommendation, written on our¹ hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on ^ztablets of stone but on ^atablets of ^bhuman hearts.²

13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only ^kwith regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For ^lwe were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ.