From Athens to Corinth

Paul arrives in Corinth on his missionary journey. He gets a job with a couple of fellow tentmakers/leatherworkers. His occasional practice of getting a job alongside the ministry has various reasons, but this bi-vocational ministry is never ideal; pastors should be free to devote themselves to prayer and the word. Paul makes a dramatic announcement whereby his ministry to the Jews is over. We infer from the voice of God to Paul which followed that he had been minded to move on from Corinth, but God would have him stay which he did for over a year and a half. The reason was that the Lord had many people there. This shows us that the Lord had his elect hidden among the populus, and he would have Paul and others preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified so that these elect ones would be drawn in. What the Lord's message does not imply is that there are many people in every place. We cannot know, and so it is that we preach widely and indiscriminately.