Corinth was located between two major sea ports. The ancient Greek poet Pindar referred to Corinth as “the bridge of the sea.”[] Instead of sailing hundreds of miles out of their way, sailors simply dragged their boats across the narrow Isthmus of Corinth (which was about 3 or 4 miles wide). Craig Blomberg writes, “Tucked between the two port towns of Cenchrea and Lechaeum, [Corinth] formed a major center of trade. The narrow isthmus on which Corinth was located, contained a path, the diolkos [literally “haul-across”], across which mariners would drag their unloaded boats, between the Adriatic and Aegean Sea, rather than sail over a hundred miles out of their way around the southern tip of Achaia.”[] Today, a canal cuts through the Isthmus, but this wasn’t created until 1893.[]
Pindar Nem VI. 40. Cited in W. Harold Mare, 1 Corinthians: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), 175.
Craig Blomberg, From Pentecost to Patmos: an Introduction to Acts through Revelation (Nashville, TN: B & H Academic, 2006), 163.
See footnote. Mark Taylor, 1 Corinthians, ed. E. Ray Clendenen, vol. 28, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2014), 17.
James is an elder at Dwell Community Church, where he teaches classes in theology, apologetics, and weekly Bible studies.
