Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 3:18

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

If ever the Apostle Paul was tempted to compromise the gospel it was when he first came to Corinth. The Corinthians were Greeks. The Greeks boasted of the wise men of their past: of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These wise men had searched the universe out for the bottom of reality. Some of them said that man is related to the gods; others said he is not. All of them were uncertain. A general agnosticism prevailed.

This agnosticism produced a great “tolerance” on religious matters. After all no one could know for certain what was true. The opinion of one would be as good as the opinion of another, but not necessarily better.

Wouldn’t Paul do well, under these circumstances, to offer the gospel as a new hypothesis for the explanation of religious experience? How else could he get a hearing with these “scientifically minded” people? Would they even listen to him if he claimed to know the truth. Wouldn’t he be ignored as a fanatic? Would he gain any converts if he spoke to them in straight-forward fashion of the living God manifest in the world and of Christ the redeemer of men?

However, Paul wouldn’t compromise the gospel. For months he labored with the Corinthians. The Jews blasphemed; the Greeks turned aside. Very few converts were made. “Paul, perhaps you are wrong after all. Your gospel antagonizes men. Sugar coat it just a little. That will find you an entrance.”

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 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” (Acts 18:9-10).

Encouraged by this heavenly vision, Paul challenged the wisdom of the Greeks. In his first epistle to the Corinthians he writes:

“Where is the one who is wise? 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 did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:20-21).

To Be Continued

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