The planting of the churches also spread to the province of Achaia. Achaia was south of Macedonia and was a province of the Roman Empire, a great part of today’s Greece, in which is the city of Corinth.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul addresses “the church of God which is in Corinth.” The expression “the church of God” is marvelous. It indicates that the church in Corinth was not the church of Cephas, of Apollos, of Paul, nor of any practice or doctrine, but of God. The church was constituted of the universal God, but it existed in Corinth, a definite locality on earth. In nature the church is universal in God, but in practice the church is local in a definite place.
Another church in the province of Achaia was the church in Cenchrea. In Romans 16:1 Paul says, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deaconess of the church which is at Cenchrea.” Phoebe was a deaconess, that is, a serving one. Paul held her in such high esteem that in the following verse he said that “she has been a patroness of many and of myself as well.” The word “patroness” in Greek is a word of dignity, denoting one who helps, sustains, and supplies. Phoebe was a sister who served others at any price and at any cost. If we mean business with the Lord in the church life, we also need to serve the church and care for it regardless of the cost. The first requirement for the practice of the church life is that we serve the church.
Eventually, the establishing of the churches spread to Italy, and a church was raised up in Rome-the church in Rome. The fact that there was a church in Rome is indicated by Paul’s words in Romans 1:7: “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.”
The church in Rome met in the house of Prisca and Aquila. In Romans 16:3-5a Paul says, “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the nations; and greet the church in their house.” The church in their house was the church in Rome. There were not two churches in Rome, one called the church in Rome and another which met in the house of Aquila and Prisca. The church in Rome simply met in the house of this couple, so there was a church in their house.
On the one hand, this couple was for all the churches; on the other hand, they were for their local church in particular. When they were living in Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19), the church in Ephesus was in their house (1 Cor. 16:19). When they were in Rome, the church in Rome met in their house. Therefore, the church in Rome could be called the church in their house.
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