Acts 18

Acts 18:1

18:1 Some believe Paul departed from Athens because of the meager results of his preaching there. We prefer to believe that he was led by the Holy Spirit to journey westward to CORINTH, the capital of ACHAIA. Here, in this city noted for immorality, the gospel must be preached and a church established. 18:2, 3 At Corinth, Paul formed a friendship with a couple named Aquila and Priscilla which was to continue through his life. Aquila was a Jew from Pontus, the northeastern province of Asia Minor. He and his wife had been living in Rome, but they had been driven out by an anti-semitic decree of Claudius Caesar. Since Corinth was located on the main route from Rome to the East, they had stopped here and set up shop as tentmakers. Paul was also a tentmaker by trade, and he became acquainted with them. Life’s best revelations flash upon us while we abide in the fields of duty. Keep to your daily breadwinning and amid your toils you shall receive great benedictions and see glad visions. … The shop or office or warehouse may become as the house of God. Do thy work and do it diligently: In it, thou mayest find rare soul fellowships, as did Aquila and Priscilla. It is not clear from the narrative whether Aquila and Priscilla were already Christians when Paul met them, or whether they were saved through his ministry. Perhaps the burden of evidence is on the side of their being believers when they came to Corinth. 18:4 Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Gentile proselytes that Jesus was indeed the Christ of God. 18:5 Paul had left Silas and Timothy in Berea when he moved on to Athens. At Athens he had sent word for them to join him. They caught up with him in Corinth. After their arrival, Paul was compelled by the Spirit. This may mean that the burden of the Lord was upon him to preach the message with great diligence, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. There might be a suggestion that the apostle no longer spent time making tents here, but gave himself entirely to preaching the gospel. It was at approximately this time in his history that Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians (about a.d. 52). 18:6 The unbelieving Jews opposed Paul and blasphemed or railed. To reject the gospel is ultimately to oppose oneself. The unbeliever harms no one so much as himself. Paul shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles. The shaking of his clothing was an expressive act, signifying his dissociation from them. However, this did not prevent his going to the synagogue in another city, namely, Ephesus (Act_19:8). The apostle’s words are a solemn reminder to every believer that there is such a thing as blood-guiltiness. The Christian is a debtor to all men. If he fails to discharge that debt by proclaiming the gospel, God will hold him responsible. If, on the other hand, he faithfully witnesses for Christ and meets with stubborn refusal, then he himself is free from guilt, and the responsibility rests with the Christ-rejecter. This verse represents another step in the setting aside of the nation of Israel, and the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles. God had decreed that the good news should go to the Jews first, but throughout Acts, as the nation of Israel rejects the message, the Spirit of God sorrowfully turns aside from that people. 18:7, 8 Following the outburst of the Jews, the apostle went to the home of Justus, a Gentile convert to Judaism who lived next door to the synagogue. As he carried on his ministry from this base, the Apostle Paul had the joy of seeing Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, … with all his household come to the Lord. Many other Corinthians trusted in the Savior and were baptized. Paul baptized Crispus and a few others (1Co_1:14-16), but his usual practice was to have some other believer do the baptizing. Paul feared that people would form a party around himself, instead of being undistracted in their love and loyalty to the Lord Jesus. 18:9, 10 The Lord graciously spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, assuring him that there was nothing to be afraid of. The apostle should continue to preach the word, assured of God’s presence and protection. There were many people in the city who belonged to the Lord in the sense that He was working in their lives and they would ultimately be saved. 18:11 Paul stayed in Corinth eighteen months, teaching the word of God. Valuable background material concerning this period is found in 1 and 2 Corinthians. 18:12-16 It was probably toward the end of Paul’s stay in Corinth that Gallio was appointed proconsul of Achaia (approximately a.d. 51). Thinking the new proconsul would be friendly to them, the Jews brought Paul before him at the judgment seat (bema) in the marketplace at Corinth. The accusation was that Paul was persuading them to worship God contrary to the Jewish law. Before the apostle had an opportunity to testify, Gallio dismissed the matter with utter contempt. He told the Jews that this was strictly a matter of their own law and not one that came under his jurisdiction. If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, then it would be reasonable for Gallio to bear patiently with the Jews, but actually it was only a question of words and names and the Jewish law. The proconsul had no intention of becoming a judge of such matters, so he dismissed the case. 18:17 Some think that the Greeks punished Sosthenes for bringing Paul before Gallio on such an empty charge. When it says that Gallio took no notice of these things, it does not mean he was uninterested in the gospel, although that was probably true. He evidently did not want to become involved in Jewish laws and customs. 18:18 After these incidents, Paul remained in Corinth a good while. Perhaps it was during this time that he wrote 2 Thessalonians. When he finally took leave of Corinth with Priscilla and Aquila, he sailed for Syria, his object being to return to Antioch. Commentators are divided as to whether it was Paul or Aquila who had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, the eastern harbor of Corinth. Some feel that the manner of the vow was strongly Jewish, and not fitting for a man of Paul’s spiritual maturity. There is probably no way to decide the matter finally. 18:19, 20 When the ship landed at EPHESUS, Priscilla and Aquila disembarked with the intention of staying there. Paul took advantage of the vessel’s brief stay to go to the synagogue and reason with the Jews. Surprisingly enough, they wanted him to remain longer, but he could not do so. 18:21 The ship was leaving. But he promised to return to Ephesus, God willing, after keeping the coming feast in Jerusalem.18:22 The ship’s next stop was CAESAREA. From there, the apostle went up and greeted the church in Jerusalem. Then he went down to ANTIOCH for what was to be his final visit. Thus ends Paul’s Second Missionary Journey.

Acts 18:23

G. Paul’s Third Missionary Journey: Asia Minor and Greece (18:23-21:26) 18:23 After a fairly lengthy visit at Antioch, Paul was ready to set out on another extended missionary itinerary. The record of this journey extends from verse 23 through 21:16. The first regions to be visited were GALATIA and PHRYGIA. The apostle went to the churches there, one by one, strengthening all the disciples.18:24-26 The scene now shifts back to Ephesus where we left Aquila and Priscilla. An eloquent preacher named Apollos arrived there, one who was mighty in the OT Scriptures. He was a Jew by birth, and came from Alexandria, the capital of northern Egypt. Although his preaching was accompanied by much power, and although he was very zealous, yet he was somewhat deficient in his knowledge of the Christian faith. He had apparently been well schooled in the ministry of John the Baptist, and knew how John had called the nation of Israel to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

Apparently he did not know about Christian baptism or some other matters of Christian doctrine. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him speak … in the synagogue, they recognized that he needed further instruction, so they lovingly took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. It is to the credit of this eloquent preacher that he was willing to be taught by a tentmaker and his wife. 18:27, 28 As a result of his teachable spirit, the brethren at Ephesus encouraged him in his desire to go to Corinth in order to preach the word. In fact they wrote a letter of commendation for him. As a result he was a great help to the believers in Corinth and vigorously refuted the Jews there publicly, showing that Jesus is indeed the Christ of God.