You have your five Cs. And we have ours: Clout, Cash, Comfort, Chian wine and Corinthian girl. That last C is a euphemism for a prostitute. Not for every man the journey to Corinth, says an old proverb. Meaning you might squander all your money in the red light district. Aphrodite, the goddess of free love and patroness of prostitutes, has her temple on a hilltop 500 metres above our city.

We are Corinth. This is how Paul found us in AD50.

At first he joined our workforce, making tents and addressing our synagogue once a week. But when his friends arrived with gifts from Macedonia, Paul quit work and went to preaching non-stop about Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 11:9).

His message was both simple and reasonable. Not in lofty language, but with strong conviction and signs and wonders. Many of us believed, knowing deep inside that faith in Jesus is not based on human wisdom, but on the power of God.

Paul was proud of us. We were his most charismatic church. We excelled in all the gifts of the Spirit. But we lacked spiritual discipline.

After Paul left, we quarrelled. We sued each other in court. We formed cliques around foreign speakers. Some of us went back to temples and ate food offered to idols. One of our members slept with his stepmother. Others visited Corinthian girls.

When Paul heard about all this, he tore into us with a series of letters. It took a long time, but we eventually got our act together, more or less.

We really do have a lot in common, Singapore.

And by the way, we hear that you aspire to be an Antioch for Asia. That resonates with us. Paul came to us from Antioch of Syria. We really hope you make it. But please, read Paul’s letters to us. Just make sure you don’t become the Corinth of Asia. 

With faith, hope, and love: Corinth

A letter from Singapore

Dear Corinth,

Thank you for the timely reminder. The close match between your demographics and ours is quite striking. We are virtually twin cities. We share a common set of temptations and vices, as you so diplomatically pointed out in your letter. Your word of warning was not lost on us.

As for the Antioch of Asia, yes, that is our big dream. But not all of us agree.

Forty years ago, we, too, were visited by a great evangelist who changed the spiritual landscape of our city, as Paul did yours. His name is Graham. Billy Graham.

While he was here, some of our leaders felt an inner witness that Singapore is to be an Antioch of Asia.

Some say that Graham actually challenged the Singapore Church to be a missionary-sending Church, and prophesied that Singapore would be like Antioch in the New Testament, sending missionaries to all of Asia (Selah Magazine).

Others, however, who were with Graham during all his meetings, insist that he said no such thing, and that the claim has no basis in history.

On hearing this, some of us who have been waving the Antioch flag over Singapore were humbled into silence. Have we been living a lie? Dreaming a pipe dream? 

Well, even if Mr Graham didn’t say it, somehow, the conviction that Singapore is an Antioch for Asia has taken root in the hearts of many, especially our young. There seems to be a prophetic witness that our nation is destined by God to play a crucial role in world evangelisation – as Antioch did in the first few centuries of Christian history.

Is there anything wrong with that? Are we being proud and triumphalistic like the Corinthians? I mean … Oops. Sorry, a slip of the pen.

Dear Corinth, please pray for us.

With faith, hope, and love: Singapore 

Fast and Pray:

Pray for Singapore. May we not become the modern-day version of Corinth, but instead be a Church that Paul would have been proud of. 

Read the devotional from Day 20: Footprints of God here.