Conflict in Corinth

Walter J Hollenweger ¹

I am a secretary-slave at the great Corinthian Bank of Trade and Commerce. We have branches in Patrae and Athens and also in Rome, Alexandria and Marseilles.² Our bank was founded about fifty years ago when the famous Isthmic Games were reintroduced.³ We have a foreign exchange department for the many visitors who come to the great sports events and we also arrange credit for the heavy metal industry and occasionally for the provincial administration of Achaia.

One of my acquaintances is a secretary-slave with the provincial administration. His name is Tertius.⁴ We met at the classes where we went to learn the Greek and Roman trade and commercial terms. For our work we both have to know not only the Greek but also the Roman trade language.

It was Tertius who invited me to a religious service held by a sect called the Christians. I was interested in this sect which I knew only from hearsay, and I therefore took advantage of the opportunity of going with him. I would not have had the courage to go on my own.

One afternoon after the offices had closed, Tertius called for me at the bank. The last client had just left the building. I filed away the coins, letters of credit and books under the supervision of the head slave, and then Tertius and I set out together. "Today," he said, "we are having a particularly important meeting. The Corinthian Christians sent a letter to the founder of our congregation, a man by the name of Paul, and today we intend to read and discuss part of his reply."

The sect of the Christians

On this particular evening the meeting of the Christians took place in the house of the well-known Gaius.⁵ He was a friend of Erastus,⁶ the Chairman of the Department of Public Works in Corinth.⁷ Tertius worked under him, and I knew him as he was also a member of the board of directors of my bank. I also knew that the former chairman of the synagogue, Crispus,⁸ another client of our bank (of course I am not at liberty to say anything on the nature of his dealing with our bank) was an important member of the Christian sect.

As we walked and talked I was surprised to hear Tertius always refer to the Christians as "the citizens' meeting of God". I had never before heard anybody use this old-fashioned expression (which I had only come across in history books) for a religious society. I asked him why they used such a strange expression as a name for their society. He did not know. "That is how we are called," he said, and added that he was quite sure that they were not just another religious society among the many in Corinth, but the new people of God, the latter-day saints, the citizenry of God. Well, well, I thought, like everybody else they do their best to sell themselves.

When we arrived at the house of Gaius there were already about twenty to thirty people there, mostly well-off people from Corinth, either secretary-slaves or house upper-middle-management positions like me or free upper-middle-class civil servants, and artisans. Of course Crispus, the former chairman of the synagogue, was there too, and Erastus. The latter greeted me with special attention which, I have to admit, flattered me. He said that he was happy to see me there and offered me some wine, grapes and nuts. On the whole there was a very relaxed atmosphere, very different from official receptions in Corinth. Each new arrival brought some fruit, bread, cheese, olives or flowers. Everything was put on a big table. I was a little embarrassed because I had not brought anything.

More and more people gathered in the courtyard. After dusk some dock workers also came along. I knew that they had arrived even before I saw them because of the typical smell of fish and salt water. After eight o'clock a clique of unskilled workers arrived - all of them slaves, as was obvious from their behaviour - some of them from Upper Egypt and other distant parts of the Roman Empire. They did not speak Greek or Latin among themselves but some barbaric dialect. Erastus greeted them too and poured wine for them, just as he had for everybody else. But there was not sufficient wine to go around. They were obviously very thirsty!

Crispus and Gaius now stood behind a table on which there were a number of flat breads and a large cup. Opposite me, on the other side of the courtyard among the slaves and foreign workers, a somewhat exotic woman had attracted my attention. She had short dark hair and wore a purple gown. As far as I could see in the dim light of the torches which had now been lit, she played on a small hand drum, a kind of tambourine. The dock workers rose and beat time with their feet. They repeated one word over and over again in strong, syncopated rhythms, mixed with simple archaic harmonies. The word was "Marana-tha". They emphasized the last two syllables: "Marana-tha".⁹ When they stopped singing and shouting, Crispus took one of the flat breads, held it up, and, after giving thanks to God, broke it and said: "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." I nudged Tertius because I thought that this was rather a bad joke. But to my astonishment his eyes were closed. He was praying and was unaware of what was happening around him.

The bread was broken into pieces and handed around. After a short while Crispus held up the cup and said: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. When you drink it, do it in remembrance of me. For each time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes."¹⁰

Red Chloe prophesies

The cup was passed around and the woman in the purple gown - I now learned that her name was Chloe¹¹ - played the hand drum, and led by the foreign workers the Christians sang "Marana-tha, Marana-tha".

Chloe stood up and spoke violently and with closed eyes. She had covered her hair with a veil which glowed red in the light of the torches. She looked to me like an oracle priestess of ancient Greece. I did not understand what she was saying. It sounded to me as if she were speaking in a foreign tongue for the foreign workers.

But when she had stopped speaking, one of the foreigners spoke in broken, but clearly understandable, Greek. It was obvious that he was interpreting Chloe. As far as I can remember he said, "Before me, all are equal, Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, man and woman. Honour him or her as a saint of God. In God's people there are only saints; nobody is more saintly than anybody else! Thus speaks the Lord."

As soon as the interpretation was over a general discussion broke out. The foreigners and slaves who were gathered on the opposite side of the court gesticulated and sometimes shouted something over to our side, but I could not make out what they were saying. I could only understand those who were standing next to me. These were a group of more affluent Christians. They said, "We wonder how long Crispus and Gaius will put up with the noise of Chloe's people. Do we have to listen Sunday after Sunday to this hoi polloi? Not to speak of the fact that their understanding of the Christian faith is a bit too rudimentary. It is true they do not expect that the Christians will deliver them from slavery in society, but they want to be treated as equals in the worship service - that seems pretty clear from their behaviour. Sometimes one gets the impression that they are even proud of their spiritual and material misery."

I watched Erastus leave the court of the villa and saw him return carrying a scroll under his arm. As he had greeted me so warmly at the beginning of the meeting, I was encouraged to ask him what this was all about. "Well, you see," he said, "Christians are basically different from other religious societies in Corinth. The Christians do not hold separate religious services for slaves and freemen, which would make it awkward for the better educated slaves who would not know to which group they really belonged." He mentioned this on purpose as he knew that I was one of these. I asked, "But does this mixture of cultures and social status not create a number of financial and psychological problems?" "It certainly does," he replied, "as you can see for yourself in this meeting. And what you have heard is not the only controversy in the Christian community. You surely know that I as Chairman of the Department of Public Works in Corinth have to attend many banquets and receptions, festivities where the meat which is served comes from the temples here in Corinth, and which has been offered ceremonially to idols.¹² You are certainly aware that I would have to resign from my job if I did not take part in these banquets. However, I am of the opinion that for a Christian everything is allowed, including attending business banquets where political compromises are made."

Tertius interrupted Erastus. "It is not only the meat which has been offered to the idols that Chloe protests about. She says she knows that the Corinthian courtesans go to these banquets - business and political courtesans."

"Prostitutes who are used to win certain contracts you mean?" I asked. From my work in the bank I knew that such things went on.

"No comment," Erastus said. He added, "One is expected to drink a toast with these courtesans but otherwise one has no further obligations." The topic was obviously embarrassing for him, but he mentioned in passing, "You must not take too seriously the criticisms which Chloe throws at us. This somewhat exalted women's lib apostle has no family to help her feel important and wanted, only her followers, the foreign dock workers and slaves, to boost her ego."

This was obviously a sign to end the conversation. Erastus now went forward with the scroll and rolled it out. A Christian stood on either side of him holding a torch. Gaius introduced him. "Just as Paul wrote a letter to the Romans while he was here in Corinth - you surely remember how he worked day and night - so he has written a long reply to us from Ephesus. For many Sundays we have already read parts of this reply, and we come today, so it seems to me, to one of the most important and instructive passages. Please read, Erastus."

The meeting of God's citizens

The two torchbearers drew nearer to Erastus and there was absolute silence in the courtyard. Erastus began, "For Christ is like a single body with its many limbs and organs, which, many as they are, together make up one body. For indeed we were all brought into the one body by baptism in the one Spirit, whether we are Jews" - and here he looked at Crispus - "or Greeks" - he stopped as if he wanted to say, "as I am" - "whether slaves" - and when he uttered this word Chloe's people and the dock workers threw their hands in the air and shouted in a mighty chorus, "Hallelujah, Kyrios Jesous!" Then the shout took the form of a fugue or a hymn. "Halle-, halle-hallelujah! Jesus is Lord! Halle-, halle-, hallelujah! Jesus is Lord!" And finally everybody, not only the slaves, joined in the shout, "Jesus is Lord!"

"You are right," Erastus continued, "but listen to how he goes on: whether slaves or free men" - and now there was a hush, for the Christians born as free men or those who had been given freedom by their slavemasters stood in superior silence - "we have been immersed into one Holy Spirit."¹³ "Amen, hallelujah," the meeting responded.

But now Chloe stood up again. "And the women - has he forgotten the women?"

Erastus looked at his manuscript. "I do not find that he mentions the women."

Another woman, Phoebe from the port of Cenchreae,¹⁴ rose to her feet. She spoke softly and slowly. "It is not necessary to mention women. We are here. We take part in the service. We are immersed into one Holy Spirit. Nobody can deny that." Some of the men around me sighed deeply. But they did not speak.

Erastus continued, "A body is not one single organ, but many. Suppose the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body', it belongs to the body nonetheless. Suppose the ear were to say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body', it still belongs to the body. If the body were all eye, how could it hear? If the body were all ear, how could it smell? But, in fact, God appointed each limb and organ to its own place in the body as he chose. If each organ had the same function, how could the body function as a whole? That is why there are many different organs, but one body."¹⁵

During these somewhat difficult sentences I noticed that the dock workers and the slaves on the left-hand side of the court had let their attention wander. I wondered whether they knew enough Greek to follow this reading. Some of them began to walk around and to look on the tables for something to eat. They found a few grapes and were content to sit in a corner and eat them.

On the other side of the court attention grew. Some nodded their heads in agreement or murmured softly, "Yes, that's right!" Titus Justus, whom I recognized by his Jewish prayer bands, whispered something. He said, "Too many philosophical quotations, Livius and Plato."¹⁶

"Well, do not forget, he also quotes Josephus, the Jewish writer," his neighbour whispered in reply.

Erastus continued, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I do not need you', nor the head to the feet, 'I do not need you'. Quite the contrary: those organs of the body which seem to be weaker than others are indispensable" - and here I noted how one of the dock workers stopped chewing and spat out the grape which he had just put into his mouth - "and those which we regard as less honourable are treated with special honour. To our unseemly parts is given a more than ordinary respect. The respectable parts do not need it."¹⁷

"Amen," shouted the slave who had just spat out the grape. "If that be true then Erastus had better give the money he donated towards the paving of the main street in Corinth¹⁸ to us, the slaves, for the respectable ones do not need it, but we, the weaker ones, we could make good use of it."

Erastus stopped. It hurt him that his political life, in which, as he had told me, compromises were necessary, was discussed in church. He did not defend himself, but asked Gaius to take over the chairmanship of the meeting. "No, not Gaius," the same slave shouted. "Why could it not be one of us for a change?"

"Very well," Gaius replied. "Which of you can read, for we want to continue our reading of Paul's letter?" It turned out that none of the dock workers or slaves could read. Only Phoebe from Cenchreae, in whom they obviously had confidence, and we the better-educated slaves could read. That is how my friend Tertius came to be asked to continue the reading. I could see that he trembled nervously when they chose him. But he went forward, and when he took the scroll from Gaius' hands everyone applauded.

He asked to be shown the passage where the reading should continue. At first he read with hesitation, but the more he read the clearer and more distinct his voice became. His face shone in the awareness that he could communicate something important and helpful. He read, "But God" - and he emphasized the word "God" - "but God has put the various parts of the body together, giving special honour to the humbler parts, so that there might be no split in the body and that the parts might care for each other."¹⁹

When he said this, Erastus went to the slave who had interrupted him, sat next to him on the floor and engaged in a long conversation which of course I could not hear.

Tertius continued, "If one organ suffers, they all suffer together. If one flourishes, they all rejoice together. Now you are Christ's body and each of you a limb or organ of it."²⁰

Tertius rolled up the scroll. The community sang a Jewish psalm, in Greek translation of course. They stood together for a while and talked. I asked Tertius for permission to copy the passage which had been read to us. While I was writing I felt somebody's eyes on me. When I turned around I discovered Chloe.

"You are right to copy this passage of our apostle Paul. His letters are tremendous. When he was with us he was not much of a public speaker. But his letters, they get right under the skin."²¹ I realized that she could read, for she followed my writing with her eyes. "You are astonished," she continued, "that a woman who is generally seen in the company of slaves and dock workers can read. I would have liked to read publicly when Tertius was asked to continue the reading. But that would have stirred up even more hostility against what some call the 'women's regiment'. That is why I kept quiet."

I stood up and looked at the woman. Something about her appeared to me to be both familiar and strange. Where had I met that perfume, that hair style, that eye shadow? I asked myself. Then it dawned on me. Her appearance bore a striking resemblance to the courtesans who enhanced the symposia of the directors of the bank. I did not want to mention this, for a courtesan at a Christian religious meeting - that was a little out of place, it seemed to me.

She seemed to guess my thoughts and said, "Yes, sir, I was a courtesan, or, if you prefer, a well-educated and well-paid prostitute, whom the businessmen of Corinth used to influence their clients. That is what I was. Then I became a Christian and gave up my 'profession'. This body of prostitution has become a temple of the Holy Spirit."

"How then do you now earn your living?" I asked, somewhat too curiously perhaps.

"I keep a local inn for dock workers and slaves. That way I can just make a living."

I did not want to ask further questions and so I took my leave.

Living with conflicts

I arrived late at Gaius' house the following Sunday. Because of the riots in the port and the risk that some of the ships might be set on fire, we had to complete some urgent insurance transactions. I could not leave the bank at the usual time and arrived only about half past seven.

When I entered his villa, I heard strange singing. It seemed as if the whole citizens' meeting of the Christians was singing in ten or twenty parts. I could not understand the words, but I soon realized that this must be the singing in tongues which I had heard mentioned several times in Paul's writings. Although everyone sang his own melody so to speak, the harmonies fitted together. It was as if the Christians were building a temple of sounds, a social acoustic sanctuary under whose roof they could feel at home.

The distribution of wine and bread followed the pattern of the previous Sundays. I do not need to repeat this. But when Erastus, the Chairman of the Department of Public Works in Corinth, went forward with the scroll from which he intended to read and when the two torchbearers took their positions at either side of him, Chloe - who else? - rose to her feet and protested.

"With respect, brothers and sisters," she said, "how can you just carry on with the reading from the learned texts of our brother Paul after all that has happened in our city during this week? Do you not know that Jason,²² whom we baptized last Sunday in the name of Jesus, and who was baptized with us together into one body, as Paul says - this same Jason is in prison? Does Paul not say that if one organ or limb suffers, all suffer? And Jason suffers. Do we not suffer with him? Do you know that he has been unjustly accused of rioting? It is surely clear to the gentlemen and brothers from the city administration here present" - and she looked at Gaius and Erastus, but glanced also briefly at Tertius - "that if the accusation can be upheld in court, his crucifixion is inevitable. A week ago Tertius read from Paul's letter, 'God has put the various parts of the body together, giving special honour to the humbler parts, so that there might be no split in the body and that all the parts might care for each other.'²³ Jason is in serious trouble. Do we not care about him?"

Chloe sat down. Meanwhile Gaius had listened with great attention. "Chloe is right," he said. "We must send a delegation to the proconsul. And it seems to me that you, Erastus, should lead that delegation. We have to inform the proconsul that we consider that to convict Christians of rioting is politically unwise and unjust and that we would not hesitate to appeal to Rome against the ruling of the courts in Corinth in order to stop what we consider this miscarriage of justice. True, 'love endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things',²⁴ but that does not mean that we accept without comment criminal breach of justice. Paul also says that love does not enjoy injustice but rejoices with truth."²⁵

I thought to myself: But suppose Christians were accused of undermining society because the very form of their worship service questions existing law and order? Would it not be a just accusation, because in their services foreigners, slaves and women are considered equal - or almost equal. This could be seen as a kind of spiritual revolution. Their belief in a coming kingdom of God which will be inaugurated by the last trumpet surely relativizes and questions the existing holy Roman Empire. Nobody in his right mind can question these facts. It is possible that Jason is justly accused according to Roman law. And if he is crucified according to the law, what will Erastus, Gaius and Chloe do then? I could not answer my question.

In the meantime the excitement had died down. Red Chloe and her people seemed to agree to Gaius' proposal. The torchbearers approached Erastus and he began to read again: "If I pray in tongues, my spirit prays but my mind remains barren. What then? I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind."

"To sing with the spirit," Erastus looked up from his manuscript and added, "refers to that which we did at the beginning of our meeting when all sang together in tongues in many harmonies. To sing with the mind refers to that which we did last Sunday, when we sang the hymn which we all know, 'And yet abideth...' According to Paul both have their place in the service."

" I continue: If you sing with the Spirit how shall the one who is sitting on the seat of the idiot, the uninitiated" - and all looked over to me - "how shall he understand what you pray? You may go through a wonderful religious experience but it is of no help to the other man."²⁶

"We do not sing and pray for the others," said Quartus, one of the two slaves who had been baptized the previous Sunday. He had been taken into custody on a charge of alleged rioting and he had been scourged, but then released with a warning to mend his ways. "We sing and pray for us," he said. "There are certain things which we have to do for our own benefit as almost everything that we do is for others - for instance, being punished and scourged for others." His hand touched his back and his face looked half-comical, half-sad. "Always carrying bags for the rich people, always working for others. At least in the worship service we would like to do something for ourselves. There we sing for us, and speak in tongues for us."

"Amen, amen," shouted the slaves on the left-hand side of the gathering.

Erastus continued, "Paul is not against speaking in tongues. The next sentence shows this very clearly. He writes: Thank God, I speak more in tongues than all of you, but in the congregation I would rather speak five intelligible words for the benefit of others as well as myself, than thousands of words in tongues. Do not be childish, my friends. Be as innocent of evil as babes, but at least be grown up in your thinking."²⁷

"Paul is unjust and he does not understand us," Quartus interrupted again. "Certainly, we should be grown up in our thinking. But we do not think as the scribes like Erastus, Gaius, Tertius and Paul think. We are Christians without books. You think with a pen in your hand. You think in sentences and arguments. We think in images and visions.²⁸ We think with the whole body, not just with the head. Do you really think that my back does not think when the whip is dancing on it, or when I carry the heavy bags on the docks? Because we think with the whole of our bodies, speaking in tongues helps us to grow up in thinking. Why can't you ever understand this? We can't afford the luxury of limiting thinking to reading and writing. It is bad enough that for ten weeks already we have had to listen to Paul's letter."

"Do you not want to hear the rest of the letter?" Erastus asked.

"Sure we want to hear it," Quartus replied. "We want to know what Paul has to say. But we shall always protest when we disagree."

"That is right," Erastus said. "That is part of the body, part of thinking in the body, as you say, that conflicts are not suppressed. However, Paul is concerned not only with Christians but with the world as a whole. He thinks that our service must make a newcomer so understand his own innermost being that he will fall on his face, worship God and recognize that God is in fact in our midst."²⁹

I found this argument a little strange. I had never felt like falling on my face and declaring that God was in our midst. This did not bother me, but I still found it strange that they believed that their crucified Jesus was both in their midst and that he would come again. To my way of understanding, these were two very obvious contradictions. On the other hand I was not disturbed by the singing in tongues and the emotional outbreaks from Chloe. On the contrary, the human, sometimes almost primitive spontaneity of the Christian worship, and their direct way of dealing with each other, impressed me.

Shall I become a Christian?

We said goodbye and I returned alone through the night streets of Corinth. I live in a small room in a villa belonging to one of the directors of the bank where I am employed. There I keep the few things which belong to me - a second tunic, sandals, parchment, a bed and a lamp. Every day I go to the office in the bank. I am responsible for checking transactions and general bookkeeping, and I have to make sure that letters of credit and coins are always correctly filed and put away, especially in the evening when the bank is closed. In uncertain times, as has been the case this week, I have to work overtime. Once or twice a year on the great public holidays we close the bank for a whole day. The Corinthians drink so much that it is advisable to close and see that the bank is securely locked up.

I am a slave and my master is a director of the Corinthian Bank of Trade and Commerce. He treats me well. I have enough to eat and a small room. When I need anything I can go to him. Only I do not know where I belong. I do not belong to the free businessmen, the officers, the scientists, and the bankers, nor do I belong to the slaves and the dock workers who - so they say - think not merely with the head but with the whole body. Perhaps, if I am lucky, I will be given my freedom one day. It happens sometimes, but it depends on the good will of one's master.

And so I ask myself whether or not the citizens' meeting of the Christians is the right place for me.

I cannot be a whole human being all on my own. I need Chloe's people and also Erastus and Gaius and my friend Tertius. But being a Christian has great disadvantages. Christians run the risk of being regarded as nonconformist or even hostile to the state. That is because so many of the Christians are slaves. Numerically slaves are in the majority. But they do not have as much influence as the minority of free and affluent Christians. Membership in the body of the Christians means a tremendous increase in prestige for the slaves. But as I have already said, to be a Christian has disadvantages. One could easily be identified with Chloe's people, and if one is arrested and convicted of conspiracy it does not really matter whether one is guilty or not. A just conviction or a miscarriage of justice produces the same result. One is dead.

• What shall I do?
• Is there any good reason for becoming a Christian?
• Do I need any reason for becoming a Christian?

Prof. Dr Walter J Hollenweger is emeritus professor of mission at Birmingham University in England and a world-renowned scholar on Pentecostalism; he is currently a pastor of the Swiss Reformed church.

Notes