1 Corinthians 2:1

1 Corinthians 2:1

And I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

1.”And I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or wisdom…”

a. When Paul first came to Corinth in Acts 18 he had just come from Athens.

1). Acts 18:1 “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;”

b. Athens at this time was the world capital of philosophy. It was in Athens that Paul was forced to appear before the philosophers on Mars Hill.

c. Some Bible scholars believe that Paul was disappointed with the results in Athens.

1). Saint Paul, the Traveler and Roman Citizen, William M. Ramsay. Reprinted 1925 Edition, 1982, Baker Book House, Second printing 1985. P252. “It would appear that Paul was disappointed and perhaps disillusioned by his experience in Athens. He felt that he had gone at least as far as was right in the way of presenting his doctrine in a from suited to the current philosophy; and the result had been little more than naught. When he went on from Athens to Corinth, he no longer spoke in the philosophic style. In replying afterwards to the unfavorable comparison between his preaching and the more philosophical style of Apollos, he told the Corinthians that, when he came among them, he “determined not to know anything save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor.11:2); and nowhere throughout his writings is he so hard on the wise, the philosophers, and the dialecticians, as when he defends the way in which he had presented Christianity at Corinth.

d. Whether or not that is true it is a fact that Paul left a body of believers in Athens.

1). Acts 17:34 “Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

2). Paul later wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:15 of the household of Stephanas as being the firstfruits of Achaia; Athens was in Achaia not in Macedonia as was Thessalonica and Berea.