How did Paul call out a people for the name of Christ among the Gentile cities?
Paul called out a people for the name of Christ among the Gentile cities by preaching the gospel. As he traveled through those cities, his preaching gathered a people for Christ’s name. This ministry provoked opposition from Jews and Judaizers, who challenged his apostleship and insisted converts also practice Judaism.
Les explains that as Paul went out among these Gentile cities, he was calling out by virtue of preaching the gospel a people for the name of Christ. The Jews, whether part of the believing element or still totally in Judaism, constantly came back to the fact that Paul never walked with Jesus like Peter did. They dismissed him as an upstart bringing all this on his own. Under those attacks, Paul had to defend his apostleship, repeatedly referring to his suffering so that the Gentiles could get the message of grace. This is basically the theme of the first six chapters: he is again defending his apostleship, showing the Corinthians all he had to go through for the sake of the gospel. Les notes that Judaizers—believers that Jesus was the Christ, saved under the kingdom gospel, but not comprehending the grace of God and that the law had been satisfied and set aside—constantly followed Paul, telling his converts they could not be saved on Paul’s gospel alone but still had to practice Judaism, be circumcised, keep the law. It just about drove the apostle up the wall, and he suffered because of that.