Achaia

Achaia was originally a narrow coastal district in the northwest of the Peloponnesus, but by New Testament times the name designated the entire southern half of Greece—the Roman province administered from Corinth, with Macedonia as its northern counterpart. Paul first visited it on his second missionary journey, preaching in Athens and establishing a congregation in Corinth, where he remained eighteen months and before whose proconsul Gallio he was arraigned (Acts 18:12).

Achaia figures prominently in Paul's letters: he commends the churches of Macedonia and Achaia for their generosity toward Jerusalem (Romans 15:26), reports on the first converts of the region (1 Corinthians 16:15), and in 2 Corinthians praises their participation in the collection. Apollos strengthened the disciples there after Priscilla and Aquila had instructed him (Acts 18:27).

Achaia was the heartland of Greek wisdom, and there the gospel met the philosophers head-on. At Athens Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and proclaimed the unknown God who made the world and now commands all people to repent, for he has fixed a day of judgment by the Man he raised from the dead (Acts 17:22; Acts 17:31). At Corinth, where he might have despaired, the Lord said in a vision, “Do not be afraid… for I have many in this city who are my people,” and Paul stayed a year and a half (Acts 18:9–11). To that church, dazzled by eloquence, he wrote that while “Greeks seek wisdom… we preach Christ crucified… the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:22–24). The household of Stephanas, “the firstfruits of Achaia,” showed the harvest the cross would reap (1 Corinthians 16:15). So in the home of human wisdom the gospel planted churches that rest not on the cleverness of words but on the crucified and risen Lord.