This extraordinary bonfire, which surely continued for a considerable time, was a striking rebuke to the prevailing credulity. It was undoubtedly one of the circumstances that gave the preaching of the Apostle Paul such wide renown throughout Asia.
During his two-year stay in Ephesus, the apostle preached not only orally but also in writing. Through his fellow workers he kept constant relations with various churches. For the edification of two of them, namely the Corinthian and the Galatian, he wrote two epistles known as the Epistle to the Galatians and the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
The first of these was occasioned by the sad report that the Galatians had gladly received the faith from the Apostle Paul, yet through their usual fickleness had been carried away by other preachers. These were the apostle's Judaizing opponents.
In order to destroy the work of the apostle whom they hated, they portrayed the advantages of the sons of Abraham to the Galatians so attractively that they even desired “to be under the law” (Gal. 4:21). At the same time, the very authority of the Apostle Paul was undermined in their souls.
To warn them against this dangerous error, the apostle wrote them an epistle. In it he sets forth with astonishing clarity the superiority of the new covenant over the old. He says that the sons of Abraham are not those who trace bodily descent from him, but precisely those who believe in Christ (Gal. 3:7, 29).
In defense of his apostleship, he reminded them of his extraordinary conversion. He added that the Gospel preached by him is not human, for he “received it and learned it not from man, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11-12).
The Epistle to the Corinthians was occasioned by entirely different circumstances. A sad report reached the apostle that the Corinthian Christians had broken brotherly unity and divided into several parties.
Like the Greek schools that bore the name of one sophist or another, some considered themselves followers of Paul, others of Apollos, others of Cephas, and some of Christ. Some of the brethren fell into such error that they began to deny the resurrection of the dead.
Moral dissoluteness, for which Corinth was generally known, also invaded the Church. The community tolerated in its midst one vile sinner from whom even pagans turned away in disgust.
All these disorders compelled the apostle to address the Corinthians with an extensive epistle. In it he exhorted them with apostolic authority to abandon their divisions, since one and the same Christ was crucified for them all.
All the other preachers are only simple ministers of the word. They plant and water, but God gives the growth. “Therefore neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives the growth.”
The source of these divisions was the intellectual pride of the Corinthians. The apostle reminded them that, as Christians, earthly wisdom must now stand in the background for them, “because the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).
Then he refuted the error of those who denied the resurrection of the dead and commanded that the grave sinner be strictly punished. After this the apostle gives a whole series of instructions on various questions of ecclesial and social life.
He concluded in his own hand with a greeting full of love: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.”
THEOSIS