Acts 18:10

I am with thee. In the original, “I” is emphatic. The command that Jesus had just given was followed by a promise that met Paul’s need at the moment. Though men were against him Christ was with him. The promise once given to the church at large, “Lo, I am with you alway” (Matt. 28:20), was here repeated personally to Paul — “I am with thee.” Though it meant a life of suffering to obey this further command, there was with it the assurance that the evil designs of men would be restrained, and that Paul’s work would not permanently be hindered. To hurt thee. Or, “to harm you,” “to maltreat you.” Christ did not promise Paul freedom from attack. But the enemy would not be allowed to do him violence. This assurance meant to the apostle what Elisha had learned and proclaimed centuries before, “They that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Much people. The words are reminiscent of those spoken to Elijah in his moment of weakness, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel” (1 Kings 19:18). Even among those most deeply entangled in the vices of Corinth (1 Cor. 5:10, 11) there were honest souls yearning for deliverance and waiting for the call to repentance. This call Paul and his followers must give. Since Corinth was one of the important centers of commercial activity at this period, it was, humanly speaking, vital that from the first the church make good its standing. The importance and extensiveness of the Christian community at Corinth can be seen from the epistles that Paul wrote afterward to the church there. By a vision the Lord gave Paul merciful assurance that his preaching would be abundantly blessed. He rose up comforted, ready for any task.