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Success in preaching to the Gentiles:
v. 7. And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house named Justus, one that worshiped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
v. 8. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
v. 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace;
v. 10. for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city.
v. 11. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them.
Having gone out from there, from the synagogue, having departed, removed himself, from the midst of the blaspheming Jews, Paul was not long at a loss for a suitable meeting-place. He entered at once into the house of one Titus Justus, a God-fearing man, a proselyte, evidently a Roman citizen of some influence and means, through whom Paul could gain access to the educated classes of the city. The action of the Jews, therefore, instead of harming the apostle, redounded to the benefit of the Gospel, as often happens. The location of the house of Justus was also favorable, since it adjoined the synagogue, and was thus convenient of access to both Jews and Greeks. And that not all the Jews joined in blaspheming the Gospel-message is apparent from the fact that the ruler of the Corinthian synagogue, Crispus, in this crisis came forward boldly for the cause of the Lord; he believed on the Lord with his entire house, with all the members of his family and his household, his children and his servants, 1Co_1:14. And the movement gained in force, for many of the Corinthians, Gentiles, when they heard the Word, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were baptized. The spread of the new faith was gradual, but continuous. The decisive action of Paul in confessing his Lord had not hindered, but furthered the course of the Word. And he was now strengthened in his aggressive labor by a vision by night in which the Lord told him not to be afraid of the continued malicious opposition of the Jews nor of any other danger, but to continue speaking and testifying, and by no means to hold his peace, never to stop. And this command the Lord reinforced by the encouraging promise that He Himself, the almighty God, was with him, and that no one would lay hands upon him to do him harm. Anyone under the protection of the Lord is more secure than if all the armies of the world were summoned and arrayed in his defense. And in Corinth, as the Lord said, He had a great many people who were yet to be gained by the preaching of the Gospel. God knew that His merciful will in their case would be carried out, that they would learn to believe in their Savior Jesus Christ. Thus the Lord, in the midst of the Corinthian people, whose moral plane was as low as that of any city in the empire, had chosen a congregation to be sanctified through the blood of Christ, by faith in His salvation. Christianity here wrought its miracle, as one commentator has it, for in Corinth the Gospel was put to a supreme test, and nowhere did it triumph more gloriously. And though God chiefly chose the lowly among the people, 1Co_1:26-27, His call included also men of high station, a Crispus, a Gaius, a Stephanas, and an Erastus, the public treasurer of the city, Rom_16:23. With such splendid success attending his labors, Paul dwelt, settled, in Corinth for the time being; he carried on a quiet and settled work of establishing the congregation and seeing it grow in faith and sanctity, his entire stay consuming a year and six months. The Word of the Lord he preached, no foolish fancies of his own imagination or of man's philosophy; for the latter will never build the Church of Christ, no matter how attractively it may be presented.