Acts 18:10

"for. am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for. have much people in this city"For. am with thee" This is the greatest protection that one could ever have. Sadly, even some professed Christians have very little confidence in God. They feel secure when surrounded by financial stability, good health, friends,. steady job, deadbolt locks, and. home security system, but they cannot allow themselves to place their trust in God. Yet such people have everything mixed up. Physical things are very limited in the real protection that they provide, and they never can provide protection for our souls (Matthew 10:28). "No man shall set on thee to harm thee" This may have been the thought preoccupying Paul's mind, that is, when will persecution hit next? "The resistance by the Jews might at any hour burst into furious violence or deliberate plots (as it had in other cities). Some might form plans to harm him, and might even try, but they would not succeed" (Reese pp. 645-646). "For. have much people in this city" "There were many people in the sinful streets of Corinth who would obey the Gospel if they had opportunity" (Reese p. 646).

On the surface it would have appeared that very few people, if any, in Corinth would have been interested in the gospel message, but we need to be careful about jumping to conclusions. Remember, God calls people outside of Christ "lost". Some people end up in addictive lifestyles simply because that is where their aimless wandering for happiness has led them. Please note that this verse also infers (considering the immoral nature of Corinth), that all living in the fast lane are not really enjoying themselves, and given the chance to change, they will.

From the above statement, Calvin argued that this verse was teaching "predestination". In addition to the fact that such. view does not harmonize with the rest of Scripture, neither does it make sense in the above verses, for according to Calvinism, the gospel message isn't sufficient to convict the heart of the sinner, and yet God is telling Paul to speak out. Obviously God does not believe that the salvation of the potential converts in Corinth is already locked in. The verse infers that such people will not be saved unless they hear the gospel and obey it (Romans 1:16; Hebrews 5:9).