Acts 18:10

διότι ἐγώ : fundamentum fiduciæ, Bengel. ἐπιθ.: only here in this sense, but so in LXX, aggrediri, cf. Genesis 43:18; Exodus 21:14; 2 Chronicles 23:13; Judges 16:7. τοῦ κακῶσαι : infinitive with τοῦ, probably to express conceived or intended result, Burton, p. 157 and also p. 148, i.e., an event indicated by the context not to have actually taken place. λαός : “qui mei sunt et mei fient”: Bengel even in Corinth, proverbial for its vice, Christ has His “chosen people,” and in Cenchreae, where all the vices of a seafaring population found a home, “Christianity wrought its miracle,” so Renan, Saint Paul, p. 219, cf. the Apostle's own description, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 : “in Corinth the Gospel had been put to a supreme test, and nowhere had it triumphed more gloriously”. No wonder that in facing this stronghold of the powers of darkness St. Paul needed an assurance similar to that which cheered the heart of an Elijah, 1 Kings 19:18. But whilst the new faith thus gained adherents chiefly from the lowest social grade, cf. also 1 Corinthians 1:26, which indicates that there were some in the higher social ranks and some versed in the learning of the schools who welcomed the Gospel; to a Crispus, a Gaius, a Stephanas, we may add Erastus, the public treasurer of the city, Romans 16:23, an office which in a place like Corinth carried with it considerable influence and position (as even Renan admits, although he regards him as the only adherent won from the upper classes), and the readiness with which the Corinthian Church responded to St. Paul's appeal for the poor saints indicates that many of its members had some means at their disposal (cf. the striking account of Paul's work at Corinth by McGiffert, p. 267, and Orr, Some Neglected Factors in Early Christianity, p. 108).