Paul never enjoyed speaking about his own experiences. Throughout his ministry he consistently pointed people to Christ rather than to himself. Yet circumstances in Corinth forced him to defend both his apostleship and the gospel he preached. False teachers had arrived boasting of their credentials, visions, eloquence, and spiritual superiority. Some in the church were beginning to believe them.

Key Verse:“I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”— Acts 21:13 Acts 21 is a turning point in the Book of Acts. It carries us from Paul’s missionary freedom into his years of imprisonment — years in which the Gospel will reach kings, governors, and even Caesar’s household.

Corinth was a bustling, wealthy, immoral port city — a crossroads of the Roman world. If Athens was the city of ideas, Corinth was the city of indulgence.