Daily Lesson for Friday 3rd of July 2026
Further Thought:

Read Ellen G. White, “Corinth,” Pages 243–254, in The Acts of the Apostles.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“In preaching the gospel in Corinth, the apostle followed a course different from that which had marked his labors at Athens. . . . He determined to avoid elaborate arguments and discussions, and ‘not to know anything’ among the Corinthians ‘save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.’ ”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 244.

“Paul had a measure of success,” but he “doubted the wisdom of building up a church from the material he found there. He considered Corinth a very questionable field of labor, and determined to leave it. . . .

“As he was contemplating leaving the city for a more promising field, . . . the Lord appeared to him in a vision of the night, and said, ‘Be not afraid, but speak, . . . for I have much people in this city.’ Paul understood this to be a command to remain in Corinth, and a guarantee that the Lord would give increase to the seed sown. . . . A large church was enrolled under the banner of Jesus Christ.”—Ellen G. White, Sketches From the Life of Paul, Pages 106, 107.

“It is recorded that Paul labored a year and six months in Corinth. His efforts, however, were not exclusively confined to that city. . . . He made Corinth his headquarters. . . . Several churches were thus raised up. . . . The absence of Paul from the churches of his care was partially supplied by communications weighty and powerful, which were received generally as the word of God. . . . These epistles were read in the churches.”—Ellen G. White, Sketches From the Life of Paul, p. 109.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26c-01-further-thought-pauls-ministry-in-corinth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26c-01-further-thought-pauls-ministry-in-corinth

View an in-depth discussion of Paul’s Mininstry in Corinth in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
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With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

Daily Lesson for Thursday 2nd of July 2026

Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote 1 Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:5-9). The family of Chloe went to him with the report that things were not going too well back in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:11). In 1 Corinthians 1:1-31; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; 1 Corinthians 3:1-23; 1 Corinthians 4:1-21; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20, Paul addresses the issues brought by Chloe’s household. The problems include factionalism, sexual immorality, lawsuits, and prostitution. Paul also received a letter with specific questions (1 Corinthians 7:1). His response fills the space from chapter 7 onward. The questions were related to marriage, divorce, celibacy, food sacrificed to idols, conduct in worship, the use of spiritual gifts, and incorrect understanding of the resurrection. The church of Corinth was very problematic and immature. Perhaps your local church has many problems. Yet the church at Corinth was probably worse.

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Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is very relevant to our time, as well. After all, don’t we, to some degree, face some of the same issues in many of our churches today? This letter has much to say to us. It is “one of the richest, most instructive, most powerful of all his letters.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 301.

Paul may have written three or four letters to the Corinthians (compare with 2 Corinthians 10:9). He wrote an initial letter before 1 Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:9), but it is lost. Before 2 Corinthians, he wrote a letter referred to by scholars as the “severe letter” (2 Corinthians 2:3-4,9; 2 Corinthians 7:8), but it is lost, too. Some think he is referring to 1 Corinthians, or that this letter is partly preserved in 2 Corinthians.

From 2 Corinthians, we realize that the members of Corinth were influenced by the surrounding culture. They valued such things as competition, power, and wealth, all things that can challenge our church today, as well. Conversely, Paul sought to create a Christ-focused culture, a way of seeing the world through the lens of the gospel. How crucial that we, too, see our present world through the lens of the gospel.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26c-01-pauls-letters-to-the-corinthians/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26c-01-pauls-letters-to-the-corinthians

How do we distinguish God’s call from our own desires? Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 1 – Paul’s Ministry in Corinth. It’s the fastest hour of the week! Get this week’s keyword workbook HERE

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/pauls-ministry-in-corinth-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pauls-ministry-in-corinth-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school

This week’s lesson introduces us to Paul’s arrival at the cities of Athens and Corinth, and his attempts at evangelization.

1. Paul says that when he arrived in Corinth, “I came to you in weakness, with great fear and trembling” (1 Cor 2:3). He had already suffered abuse in other Greco-Roman cities, and now he was entering Corinth—a wealthy, port city infamous for its paganism and immorality. Today, where might you most “hesitate” to speak of Christ? Why?
2. When Paul preached in Athens, he commended the Athenians for their reflections on “natural religion” (the evidence for God available to all people). Ellen White praised Paul for his respectful engagement, writing “With a tact born of divine love, he carefully drew their minds away from heathen deities, by revealing to them the true God, who was to them unknown.” (Acts of the Apostles, p 241). Yet she also noted that, by the time Paul left for Corinth, he had learned that he must put Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, at the center of his preaching (Acts of the Apostles, p. 244).
   1. What problems and errors arise from a mindset that “God can only work within the confines of my church– and everything outside of it is damned?”
   2. What problems and errors arise from a mindset that “All religions are basically the same, so it doesn’t matter which one you follow?”
   3. Why do you think Paul had more success preaching the person of Jesus vs. the idea of God? What might this say about the uniqueness of Christianity?
3. In your 1:1 witnessing, how do you balance showing genuine respect for the journey a person has already walked with the God who created and loves them, while also sharing greater light?
4. Paul almost gave up on Corinth, but then the Lord appeared to him in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking… because I have many people in this city.” Acts 18:10. The “many people” God had in this city could not have all been formal Christians already, since Paul essentially founded the Corinthian church.
   1. What might this tell us about how God looks at who “His” people are?
   2. Who do we assume are good candidates for our witnessing? Why?
   3. Who do we assume are poor candidates for our witnessing? Why?
   4. Have you ever been surprised by someone’s openness to the gospel– because you did not think they were a good “candidate?”

5. Ellen White says that, upon arrival in Athens, “Paul was not deceived by the grandeur and beauty of that which his eyes rested upon, nor by the material wisdom and philosophy, which encountered him in the great city of learning. He perceived that human art had done its best to deify vice and make falsehood attractive by glorifying the memory of those whose whole lives have been devoted to leading men to deny God” (Sketches from the Life of Paul,90). What kind of people does our current culture “glorify?” In general, do these models lead people closer to God, or farther away? How so?
6. Paul felt trepidation upon entering the wealthy, cosmopolitan, urban environment of Corinth.
   1. What has been your experience of the challenges of growing a vibrant church in a cosmopolitan, big-city environment today?
   2. What has been your experience of the challenges of growing a vibrant church in a small-town, rural environment today?
   3. Which is harder? What are some advantages that God can help you to leverage in each of those environments?

7. Our Quarterly author invites us to consider how much Paul’s identity and calling fueled his mission activity.
   1. What are some common elements of discipleship that every follower of Jesus is called to do?
   2. What unique “callings” do you believe Jesus is addressing specifically to you, in light of in your current life situation and talents? How do you know?

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/discussion-starters-pauls-ministry-to-corinth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=discussion-starters-pauls-ministry-to-corinth