Acts 18

Epicureans among the Greeks. On the other, the pride of reason and of self-righteousness, exemplified by the Pharisees and the Stoics. Behind these two hindering states of mind and helping to produce them, were the two leading heresies of ancient and modern times: one—the doctrine of the Stoics—that confounds God with his entire creation, or pantheism; the other—that of the Epicureans—which denies a God in creation, or materialism. B.

God can dwell only in himself, where he was before he made the world. He is Himself his temple. Nevertheless, he has built as many temples for himself as there are living hearts that love him; in these he desires to dwell, to be known, and to be adored. Aug.

In every age, those who in any measure realize the force of truth are to be classified as were Paul’s hearers in Athens: those who dare deride it; those who hesitate and put off obedience to its demands; and those who take it to their hearts. B.

1. AFTER these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a cer-

2 tain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.

3. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their

4 occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and

5 persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

6. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

7. And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that

8 worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians

9 hearing believed, and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision,

10. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set

11 on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12. And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord

13 against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to

14 worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews,

15 reason would that I should bear with you: but if it be a question of words and names, and

16 of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them

17 from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.

18. And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head

19 in Cenchrea: for he had a vow. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he

20 himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him

21 to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if

22. God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.

PAUL does not forget, even when he is living for the higher aim, the care meanwhile necessary for the things of this world. Faith in the earthly task, not less than in the heavenly calling, is here shown in its true nature and in its high significance. The preacher of the gospel and the tent-maker are not two distinct persons, but one and the same; in a higher and lower sphere, animated by the same principle, and with the question on his lips: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” He shuns not to declare the whole counsel of God; but there is in Corinth no more faithful, honest, conscientious artisan than he. Van O.—The having a trade, besides enabling him to present an example of quiet industry to his converts, gave him scope for the exercise of self-denial and almsgiving. The extra work and weariness which the trade entailed was a means of keeping under his body and bringing it into subjection; while the money which it brought in to him was employed in relieving the wants of others as well as his own; for he says to the elders of Ephesus: “Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak.” E. M. G.

Let none be ashamed who follow a trade; but only let those be ashamed who live to no purpose, and are idle. The souls of those who are always at work are purer and stronger; for the idler speaks and does many vain things. But he who labors aright does not easily allow anything useless, either in work, word, or thought, for his soul is always directed to a life of labor. For we are the disciples of the fishermen, of the publicans, of the tent-makers, of Him who was brought up in the carpenter’s house. Chrys.

1. Paul finally withdraws from Athens and goes to Corinth.—After his brief work and its scanty results, he goes from intellectual but idle Athens, with nothing living but its memories of past eminence, to busy, bustling, crowded Corinth. Forty-five miles apart, both cities were in Greece, or the Roman province of Achaia. This province comprised the mainland south of Macedonia, and the peninsula called Peloponnesus, or island of Pelops.

A neck of land, itself a barren plain, about four miles across at the narrowest part, joined the peninsula with the mainland. Called the Isthmus (afterward giving a name to similar strips of connecting land), it was washed on the western side by the

Greece Proper and Peloponnesus. (Note the positions of Athens and Corinth; the Saronic Gulf, between the two cities; the Gulf of Corinth, west and north of Corinth; and the Isthmus, between the two Gulfs.)

Gulf of Corinth, flowing in from the Adriatic Sea; and on the eastern by the Saronic Gulf, a great inlet of the Ægean Sea. Across the northern end of the Isthmus ran a mountain ridge, having only three defiles, or passes. The southern end was also protected by a ridge (on the east and middle), and by a lofty rock-citadel rising abruptly to a height of two thousand feet, called the Acrocorinthus. Between the ridge and the rocky height was a ravine, and on either gulf side a level place. At the base of the northern slope of the Acrocorinthus, “just within the Isthmus, on a table-land descending in terraces to the low plain,” lay the city of Corinth. By two seaports—Lechaeum on the Western Sea, and Cenchrea on the Eastern—it could send forth its ships westward and eastward into all waters, and to all the ports of the known then world. And to save time and avoid peril, vessels from either port were borne over the narrow Isthmus, thus affording larger opportunity for interchange of commodities in the transit and tarry.

The ancient city, i. e., the Grecian Corinth, had had a memorable history. It had colonized the shores of the Ionian and Ægean Seas with noted cities. It had established an early historic fame for success in arts and arms, and in manufacture, as well as for commercial greatness and prosperity. But the Greek Corinth lasted only until B. C. 146. B.—In that year, by an insult to the ambassadors of Rome, it drew down that terrible destruction which Cicero describes as the extinction of the “light of Greece.” Excepting the temples and the buildings on the Acrocorinthus, the city lay in ruins for a century, till it was rebuilt by Julius Cesar in B. C. 46, and the new Colonia Julia Corinthus was made the capital of the Roman province of Achaia.

Corinth and the Acrocorinthus.

and the residence of the proconsul. Rapidly recovering its ancient wealth, as a place of great commercial and manufacturing enterprise, it regained also its infamous celebrity as the most dissolute of Greek cities, and a chief seat of the worship of Aphrodite; while at the same time it was second only to Athens in intellectual activity. S.—It is now an inconsiderable town of two thousand inhabitants with few remnants of the splendid buildings which gave name to the Corinthian order of architecture J. A. A.

Not only by its intense activity and its world-extended commerce was Corinth fitted to be a Christian center, but its people comprised the three main elements upon whom the apostle sought to impress the truths of the gospel. There were in largest numbers the native Greeks of every class and degree of culture. As a Roman colony, there were also a great number of Romans, as is intimated by the Latin names in Rom. 16, that epistle being written from Corinth during Paul’s second visit. And that a chief settlement of Jews was at Corinth, we know from its commercial distinction, and their universal prominence as world-traders, and from Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians. And at this time many had been banished from Rome by Claudius. For these reasons, Paul was guided in the selection of Corinth as the first great center of European Christianity. B.—Corinth claims a conspicuous distinction as the residence of the apostle during his most critical contests, both with Jews and Greeks, in defense of the very essence of the gospel; as the place whence he wrote his first apostolic letters—the two Epistles to the Thessalonians; as the Church to which he addressed those other two epistles, which not only contain the fullest directions on matters of Christian faith and practice, but which reiterate, in terms unequaled in human language for simplicity and force, the one great central truth of the whole gospel—Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. S.—From Corinth also, upon his second visit (and third journey), he wrote his most elaborate and instructive Epistle to the Romans.

2,3. Takes up his Abode with Aquila and Priscilla.—Though natives of Pontus in Northeastern Asia Minor, these Jews had resided in Rome, until recently expelled thence with others by Claudius, the fourth Roman emperor. But we find a kind Providence in that edict of Claudius that drove these childless, well-to-do tent-makers with their sympathetic, refined natures from Rome to Corinth. This was God’s care of Paul’s personal comfort, and his arrangement for the missionary’s self-supporting toil. Thus, during the most effective and trying period of his whole career, with the “open door” for the gospel and the “many adversaries,” Paul had a home, congenial fellowship, and what he also greatly needed then, a means of invigorating, physical toil and of independent subsistence.

Tent-making he had been taught as a trade in early life, in accordance with universal Jewish usage. This was based upon the idea that without some means of honest livelihood the temptation might arise to knavery or theft. “Teach thy son the law, and teach him a trade!” was the Talmudic instruction to fathers. The latter custom still obtains in the East, and to some extent in Germany and Russia. We may add that the use of tents was and still is very great in those regions; and tent-making has always been a large and important business. The material—still largely used—was a cloth of goat’s hair, which was obtained chiefly from Paul’s native province of Cilicia. From the fact that Aquila had a house in Corinth, and afterward another in Ephesus (1 Cor. 16 : 19), and one also in Rome (Rom. 16 : 3-5), it would seem that he conducted an extended and prosperous business, at the same time laboring with his own hands. So that his example, as well as that of Paul, affords a signal illustration of the precept: Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord! They showed that daily labor, hand-toil or brain-toil (both equally honorable), consists perfectly with and helps to promote spirituality of mind and consecration of heart.

It is further to be noted that Paul had other and special reasons in laboring for his own support among the Greeks of Corinth and Achaia. It was not a pride of personal independence that led him to forego in his own behalf the Christian law of ministerial support upon which he so earnestly insists in writing to these very Corinthians (1 Cor. 9 : 7-14). But he “would not be burdensome to them”; nor would he give opportunity to selfish, sharp-eyed Greeks, in or out of the Church, to charge him with seeking theirs and not them. Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ, summed up his assigned reasons for declining support from the feeble, partially instructed Corinthian Church.

4-6. His Brief Ministry in the Synagogue, and how brought to a Close.—Until the arrival of Silas and Timothy—probably for some weeks—he wrought daily through the week, and on the Sabbath earnestly preached in the synagogue to Jews and Greeks. During this period, until after the encouraging vision and words of Christ (vs. 9, 10), Paul seems to have passed through something like Elijah’s one experience of excited depression, though without any corresponding act of defection. Speaking of this period, he tells the Corinthians that he was with them in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling; while the tone of both Epistles implies his intensely moved yet depressed frame of mind at this time. And the occurrence in the synagogue, with the special manifestation of Christ immediately following, confirms an impression derived from these Epistles, that the whole of this first Corinthian visit was a time of ordeal and crisis, a period the most active, trying, and decisive in his entire apostolic career.

Yet this depressed state of mind did not arise from personal timidity, for of this, like Elijah, he had none. But his utter failure in Athens, the vastness of that brilliant but most flagrant corruption in the midst of which he stood alone for God, his deep sense of impotence to cope with such tremendous forces of evil, the hardened perversity of the Jews against the truth and their virulent hatred against himself, and his own felt desolation and utter loneliness although naturally so self-reliant—these combined causes stirred all his soul within him. In this excited yet depressed condition Silas and Timothy found him; and, while relieving his loneliness with their human sympathy and spiritual fellowship, they stimulated his spirit the more by their encouraging news from the Churches of Thessalonica and Berea.

As Christ was straitened till his baptism of suffering was accomplished, so Paul, under this state of unworldly excitation, was straitened in his work of testimony for Christ. And this intense pressure of spirit wrought itself out in direct fervent appeals to the Jews—to God’s own people, who ought to have heeded. But almost as one man, with only a single known exception, they opposed Paul and blasphemed their own Messiah, Jesus. And, under the same intense sense of crisis, the apostle symbolically protests, as their prophets were wont to do, by shaking his raiment; emphatically asserts his own clearance from the guilt of their destruction; and, with warning solemnity, places that guilt upon themselves.

7, 8. Forsakes the Synagogue, and preaches in the Court of Justus’s House.—As before, at Antioch of Pisidia, Paul departs from the Jewish house of worship. But he goes not far, and with him goes the synagogue’s chief ruler as a Christian disciple. In an adjoining house, gladly opened to him by another convert to Christ—a Roman proselyte named Justus—he resumes his fervent faithful ministry. In this new preaching-place, accessible to all of every race and creed and station, many Corinthians were drawn in to hear the truth; and many, besides Crispus and Justus, believed, and confessed Christ in their baptism. B.—From this, as well as several other passages, we find that, when the parents, or heads of households, became Christian believers, so did their children. All were baptized together. So, in one place, we read of “the church which is in the house of Nymphas”; showing that such a group of believers, comprising parents and their children, might constitute a church of itself. How much beauty and sanctity there would be in such a spectacle—a church in each house—and how mightily the world would gain in Christian order, purity, and power, if it were generally realized! F. D. H.

9, 10. The Manifestation and Encouraging Charge of Christ.—This vision and the subsequent prosecution before Gallio seem to have occurred very soon after Paul’s departure from the synagogue; and while he was still “in weakness and fear and much trembling.” Discerning this state of His apostle’s heart and the sense of insufficiency that was enfeebling his faith, and foreknowing the greatness of his labor and conflict in the protracted ministry before him, Christ, by this miraculous appearance and word, forearms while forewarning Paul. B.—“I have much people in this city”—serving now at heathen altars, slaves now of the grossest vices, nevertheless they are my people; and here you are to abide, from these vile dust-heaps to gather out my jewels—they have not chosen me, but I have chosen them; not for their merits, but out of my mercy chosen them before the foundation of Corinth, or of the world itself. If God’s ways are equal, unless there was one rule for the sinners of Corinth and another for us, none are chosen from regard to their merits, or saved through their own ability—salvation being all of grace, pure and undeserved. T. G.

Enough for this single-hearted worker and trustful disciple were the two simple clear declarations of his Master: I am with thee, and I have much peo-

ple in this city! No longer could he fear, or would he hold his peace. We believe and therefore speak! were among his after words to this very people (2 Cor. 4 : 7-13), verified beforehand in his present large and blessed experience among them. And his Lord’s assurance of abundant success was with him only a stronger stimulus to persistent exertion.

11. Summary of Eighteen Months’ Ministry in Corinth.—His labor was great, his encouragements and discouragements were many and signal. A large church was formed in Corinth, and smaller ones in Cenchrea and at other points in Achaia; for here, as everywhere, his ministry reached to many of the places accessible from the capital. Meanwhile Paul failed not to keep up communication with the infant churches of Macedonia. During this period, too, were written the Two Epistles to THE THESSALONLANS. These were the first written Epistles; and the first of Paul’s nine Letters to Churches, though the last in the order of our New Testament. Of these two Epistles, the first was prepared and sent soon after Timothy’s arrival at Corinth with encouraging intelligence from the church at Thessalonica. Some months later, after receiving further information, the apostle sent the Second Letter to emphasize and confirm the instructions of the First. These Epistles furnish hints of his state of mind: his zealous absorption and success in his labors, his determination of self-support, and his keen sensitiveness to the hostile spirit of the Jews. B.—It is notorious that the order of the Epistles in the New Testament is not their real or chronological order. The mere placing of them in their true sequence throws considerable light upon the history; and, happily, the time of the composition of the more important Epistles can be stated with sufficient certainty. S.

12-17. Prosecution of Paul before Gallio.—This immediately followed the night-vision and promise of Christ; and in the result that promise was verified. The Jews were the persecutors. They assaulted Paul and brought him to the judgment seat of the proconsul Gallio. The accusation was the same for which Paul and Silas had been illegally scourged and imprisoned at Philippi. But Gallio (the brother of Seneca) had intelligence to discern the truth of the case, and courage to declare an independent judgment upon it. Like Lysias and Festus afterward, he refused to adjudicate upon religious questions outside of their bearing upon Roman law. In his decision, he ruled out the charge which the Jews had made. Not only this, but Paul’s accusers were disgracefully driven from the judgment-seat. Even further than this, when the Greeks present immediately turned upon these accusing Jews and beat their leader Sosthenes, the new ruler of the synagogue, Gallio suffered it to be done in his presence.

And so, as Christ had said, “no man set on Paul to hurt him.” His work went on not only without hindrance, but the influence of Greeks and Romans thus indirectly favored the Church and its teacher.

18-22. Conclusion of the Second Missionary Journey.**—His work in Corinth for the time was done. Having entered the city alone, after eighteen months of bold, fervent toil, he left it with many converts and an organized church. Another organization in Cenchrea, and congregations of disciples at other points in Achaia, were additional fruits of his labor. B.

Much importance should not be attached to the fact, incidentally mentioned here, that he had his head shorn in Cenchrea, before embarking, on account of a vow. Paul’s idea of liberty under the gospel did not go the length of forbidding liberty. He bore witness that those who made any of these observances their righteousness before God, shut themselves out from Christ; but, when any one was justified through faith in the Redeemer, Paul and his fellow-apostles allowed the convert unlimited liberty to observe or not observe the Jewish ceremonial. Arnot.—With the Greeks it was usual only for slaves to wear the hair cut short; and to have appeared with it cut short at Corinth among the Greek Christians might have exposed him to ridicule and his preaching to contempt. He acted with prudence, therefore, in not cutting off his hair till he was on the point of quitting Greece. W.

From the eastern harbor of Corinth, by the great route of commerce, he crossed over the Ægean to Ephesus, the emporium of the Asian coast. Here a few days’ preaching proved so acceptable to the Jews that they prayed him to tarry. But he promised to return to them; and, leaving Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, sailed to Cesarea. After a brief visit to Jerusalem, a greeting and report to the apostles and the Church, Paul returned for the last time to Antioch. About three years, from A. D. 51 to 54, this Second Journey had extended. B.

23. And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over ail the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in 25 the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing 26 only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way 27 of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which 28 had believed through grace: for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shew- ing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ.1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the 2 upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much 3 as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were 4 ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him 5 which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were 6 baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, 7 the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the 8 men were about twelve. And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space 9 of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multi- tude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of 10 one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were 12 brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and

13 the evil spirits went out of them. Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We 14 adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Seeva, a Jew, 15 and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, 16 and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house 17 naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephes- 18 sus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many 19 that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted 20 the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

THE surface of our reading has immensely enlarged, but not the limits of human life. Our morning newspaper must be scanned; we must sweep the whole horizon, and be posted in the world’s news. And then the race is working out great problems; thinkers are flinging their thoughts to the winds for the revolving arms of the printing press, and we must keep pace with the march of advanced thought. Many of the books are professedly religious, and so commend themselves to our consciences, and so piquant and palatable as to commend themselves to our taste. Thus, all unwittingly, while we believe in the Bible, praise it, we only read it by snatches. We fail to feed upon it with the keenness of relish and thoroughness of digestion essential to our highest profit. Hence arises a generation eloquent about the Scriptures, but not mighty in them. An.

The great question which we should be anxious to be able to answer in the affirmative is this, “Are we receiving the Holy Ghost since we believed?” Have we been ever since, and are we still, receiving the Holy Ghost? O blessed above all blessedness, if we can say that this is true of us! O blessed with a blessedness most complete, if we only do not too entirely abandon ourselves to enjoy it! Elect of God; holy and beloved; justified and sanctified; there is nothing in all the world that could impair or destroy such happiness, except we ourselves, in evil hour, believed it to be out of the reach of danger. T. A.

23. Commencement of Paul’s Third Missionary Journey.—Recall the chief periods of Paul’s apostolic career thus far: The First Journey of two years or more in Asia Minor; an interval of more than two years in Antioch and Syria; the Second Journey of three years or more through Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia; and an interval of a few months at Antioch. Now he undertakes his Third and last Missionary Journey; again through Asia Minor, tarrying only among the churches in Phrygia and Galatia, abiding in Ephesus, and then visiting Macedonia and Achaia. The period of this final circuit (recorded Acts 18: 23 to 21: 17) covered about four years, from the summer or fall of A. D. 54 onward. During this period Paul wrote the Epistles to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, and to the Romans.

24-28. An Episode concerning Apollos.—With a few glimpses, Luke here introduces a remarkably fine natural and Christian character, and a history though brief yet rich in instructive suggestions. Apollos, like Paul, was chosen by Christ for his great and special work. He was taken out of the very region where, and from the class by whom, the Old Testament Scriptures had been translated three centuries before into the now world-language. Taught all the learning and trained in the culture of the schools of Alexandria, he had applied all his acquired resources with his great natural gifts to the study of his own Scriptures. Through some undisclosed teacher, the testimony of the Baptist to Christ and some of the leading facts of Christ’s life and ministry had been brought to his knowledge. Enough he had heard to trace the correspondences of that Life with the Old Testament prophecy and promise; and to produce a conviction that Jesus of Nazareth was the expected Messiah. Though uninformed of the eventful issue of that Life, and of the marvels of Pentecost that followed the Ascension, his faith yet fastened itself, like Abraham’s, to a dimly revealed Deliverer. To this Redeemer he consecrated himself and all his culture. Under divine prompting, he became a self-appointed evangelist of the Messiah; telling in fervent words all the gospel he knew, the gospel of the Prophets as fulfilled.

While Paul is traversing the provinces of Phrygia and Galatia, Apollos is led by the same Spirit to Ephesus, where Aquila and Priscilla had been some time abiding. No wonder that these tent-makers were intensely stirred when this man of bright intellect and burning zeal suddenly appeared in the synagogue at Ephesus; and, like another John, seemed by his eloquence and might of Scriptural truth to be preparing the way of the Lord. For, partially taught as he was, note Luke’s description (vs. 24, 25) of his qualifications and his spirit. An eloquent man—one who could understand his subject and his occasion; who could grasp and use his points of argument and appeal with clearness, force, and fervor; mighty in the Scriptures, in the substance and spirit, not in the letter, of the truth of God; instructed in the way of the Lord, so instructed only by the Lord’s own Spirit; fervent in the spirit, with a soul kindled and ever aglow with a Godlike love for God and man; he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord—in private and public, without weariness or ceasing, unfolding and impressing the Scriptures of truth, those Old Testament Scriptures which Paul afterward affirmed, “are able to make wise unto salvation.” These particulars may well be pondered, if we would learn the true secret of an evangelist’s success. Quick to discern these divine gifts and the missionary spirit of Apollos, yet perceiving how defective was his knowledge of the gospel, the tent-makers sought to instruct him in the fullness of the truth which they had received from Paul. They recognized as their vocation, if not to preach, to teach more perfectly this divinely called preacher.

Again, by this teaching, as often before in this apostolic age, God honors the common priesthood of believers. While the apostles, and after them other appointed ministers, had due honor and a definite vocation, yet, in emergencies and for special purposes, unordained disciples ministered the Word and the ordinances. So, after Stephen’s martyrdom, the scattered members of the infant Church went everywhere preaching the Word. So an obscure believer was Christ’s messenger to Saul, to declare the truth and admit to the Christian fellowship. And in this case of Apollos, two simple disciples, and one a wo-

God as magnified in his thorough and beautiful Christian spirit. And if we trace through his subsequent history, and read all that Paul wrote concerning him, we find an absence of self-assertion, a retiring modesty, a spirit of humble, earnest helpfulness, blended with boldness and intense fervor. Watering that which Paul had planted, building upon Paul’s foundation in Corinth, yet, when a party would form itself around himself as a Christian leader distinct from Paul, he withdraws to Ephesus, and toils thenceforth under the counsel and guidance of the veteran apostle.

Simply but clearly are the two chief functions of the gospel preacher intimated in connection with the work of Apollos at Corinth (vs. 27, 28). He helped them much which had believed through grace; and he mightily convinced those that were unbelieving.

1. At the End of a Considerable Journey, Paul settles down in Ephesus.—Timothy seems to have accompanied Paul throughout this Third Circuit; Titus in the earlier, and Luke in the later part. The route from Antioch was, as in the previous journey, over the Cilician plain, through the “Gates,” the noted pass of the Taurus Range, into the high table-land of Lycaonia; thence through Cappadocia into Galatia, and then through Phrygia to the Ægean coast. Besides confirming and strengthening the churches everywhere throughout this journey, as specially charged by the apostles and brethren in Jerusalem he took order for future collections in behalf of the poorer Christians in Judea. Paul declares that he was “forward to do” this, that the helpfulness of Gentile to Jewish Christians might promote a closer spiritual unity and fellowship between them.

To Ephesus Paul now comes, in accordance with his previous promise (18 : 21). And Ephesus proved to be his working-center during the greater portion of this Third missionary tour, as Corinth had been during the larger half of the Second. For Ephesus, like Corinth, was a great world-center of commerce, population, and influence. These two cities shared

Site of Ephesus.

man, were guided to this needed ministry of instruction by the Spirit of Christ.

The manner in which their joint ministry of help and guidance was accepted and acted upon by Apollos furnishes yet further evidence of the grace of the highest position of prominence and power with Rome and Antioch. And in all these world-centers Paul planted an effective and aggressive Christianity. B.

From the frontier of Phrygia a tract of country extends to the Ægean, which is watered by two of the long western rivers, the Hermus and the Meander, and which is celebrated through an extended period of classical history, and is sacred to us as the scene of the churches of the Apocalypse. Laodicea is in the basin of the Meander; Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia are in that of the Hermus; Pergamus is further to the north, on the Caicus. Between the Hermus and the Meander is a smaller river, named the Cayster. And here, in the level valley of the Cayster, in a situation preëminent among the excellent positions which the Ionians chose for their cities, Ephesus was built, on some hills near the sea. H. (See map, p. 94.)

Originally the royal city of the kings of Ionia, it passed successively under the control of Persia and Lydia, until B. C. 129, when under the Roman rule it was made the capital of the province of Asia. Upon the great line of commerce east and west, the meeting place of vessels from all points of the Mediterranean, connected by great roads with the interior markets of the East, the most central point between east and west, it naturally drew together Jew and Greek, Roman and Oriental. It was, moreover, a free city, though the mass of its population was Oriental in origin and in worship. Reason enough we discern why Paul should tarry so long and toil so arduously here!

2-7. The Holy Ghost falls upon Twelve Disciples of John the Baptist.**—Christian disciples they were, for the word is only used of such, and because Paul recognizes them as believers. Like Apollos, these men had not heard of the descent of the Holy Ghost. To Paul’s question, “Did ye receive the Holy Ghost?” (referring not to the regenerating power, but to the extraordinary gifts which then so frequently followed conversion), they replied: “We did not even hear whether the Holy Ghost is,” i. e., is given; whether these miraculous gifts have appeared. They had understood and practiced repentance toward God, and some vague yet real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; but they had not heard Christ’s disclosures about “another Comforter, the Holy Ghost,” nor had they experienced his special Pentecostal gifts. John had taught Christ’s true Messiahship. This was his central truth: Behold the Lamb of God! So much these men knew, when they were initiated by baptism into the religion which John taught. That religion included as its two main doctrines repentance or reformation of heart and life, and trust in that Lamb of God of whom John was the forerunner and herald.

After brief colloquy with these believers in the Messiah, Paul made clear what was vague, and fully unfolded Christ’s career to His Ascension, and the sending of the Holy Ghost ten days thereafter. And now, with vastly enlarged vision of spiritual truth, and with deepened faith, “they were baptized into” (as better representing the chief idea of incorporation) “the name of the Lord Jesus.” Again, as before, the laying on of the apostle’s hands was followed with the miraculous gifts (the speaking with other tongues, and by special inspiration, i. e., “prophesying”) of the Holy Ghost. And upon these twelve disciples Paul laid the foundation of the great Church of the Ephesians.

This singular incident (we note in passing), as well as the similar history of Apollos, shows how slowly the knowledge of the essential facts of Christianity was spread abroad. It further indicates the depth and force of the impression made upon the whole Jewish people by the brief yet powerful ministry of the Baptist. Nearly thirty years had now elapsed since his beheading by Herod, yet at two widely separated points we find so rich and precious fruit of his faithful testimony. B.—The incident is also important as showing that those who are in a truly believing state of mind believe more or less of Christian truth according to their opportunities of knowledge. Abraham’s faith was probably as strong as that of Paul, but not so extensive. This gives us great hope for those who are ignorant, but not for those who reject the truth when made known. If one has “faith” he will hold “the faith” as soon as he can properly discover it; without “faith,” holding “the faith” is a dead orthodoxy. Riddle.

8-10. Three Months in the Synagogue on the Sabbath, then Two Years in the School of Tyrannus daily, Paul preaches the Word of the Lord Jesus.**—Though Aquila and Priscilla are not mentioned here, we have seen them so lately instructing Apollos, and we find them so soon again sending salutations to Corinth in the apostle’s letter from Ephesus (1 Cor. 16), that we can not but believe he met his old associates. It is even probable that he again worked with them at the same trade: for in the address to the Ephesian elders (20 : 34) he stated that “his own hands had ministered to his necessities”; and in writing to the Corinthians he says (1 Cor. 4 : 11, 12) that such toil had continued even “to that hour.” H.

First, three months in the synagogue he spake boldly. His theme, as at Thessalonica, was that of the Baptist. It was that doctrine of the kingdom of God which was the key to Christ’s whole ministry. To the Jews, who were still looking for a visible world-empire, he faithfully declared and pressed home the truth respecting “the kingdom of God within them,” as the condition of entrance into the final glory of the everlasting kingdom. But his bold fidelity was offensive because his truth was unwelcome. They hardened themselves against his appeals by willfully refusing to believe. Nay, further, they dared publicly revile the truth of God and to belie the Christian way of believing and living.

Thereupon, as at Corinth, Paul withdrew his disciples from among them. As the house of Justus at Corinth, so here the school of Tyrannus became—and for two years continued—the daily meeting-place of the Christians and the chief preaching-place of Paul. (From the lack of any note of the man, it would seem that this was a hired room where previously a Greek philosopher of that name had been wont to teach.) And for yet nine months longer, making three full years (20 : 31), in this great central city Paul maintained his sublime work of publishing the Christian truths. Doubtless he made many brief tours into the interior, and possibly crossed the Ægean to Corinth; for of such movements we find some indications. So it was that all the inhabitants of pro-consular Asia “heard the word of the Lord Jesus”; a fact confirmed even by heathen writers. And during this period most, if not all, of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse may have been planted. Of four congregations in that province, those of Ephesus, Colosse, Laodicea, and Hierapolis, Paul speaks definitely in Col. 1 and 4.

11, 12. Paul’s Work for God attested by Specially Adapted Miracles.—For a second time, and the last, in Paul’s history we read of many miracles wrought in connection with his ministry. The occasion—always the same—is some specially demanded attestation of God’s presence, speaking and working through him. As in the case of Moses before Pharaoh, and as in Paul’s own previous experience before the deputy in Cyprus, an issue was raised here between the antagonistic powers of light and darkness. On the one side were numerous sorcerers, pretended exorcists, and magic-workers, apostles of falsehood and impurity with whom Ephesus was teeming, from all lands; and on the other, Christ’s apostle of truth and purity. To give sharpness and force to the decision of this issue, an unquestioned and signal manifestation of Divine power was essential at this juncture in this infested city. Hence, besides the miracles wrought by the hands of Paul, God wrought special wonders in connection with him, yet without his direct intervention. Not the relics of a dead saint, but aprons and handkerchiefs used by a living one in his honest, hallowed, daily toil, were made means of imparting a healing power, like that of Christ’s garment-hem to the suffering woman’s touch. Those who sought them for this purpose had faith in the application, and God condescended to meet and reward the faith. But only for the time and occasion. There was no second-hand use, for there was no second-hand faith of superstition.

The unusual form of these miracles—therefore called special—was adapted to meet the leading superstition of Ephesus. These very supernatural effects, so publicly wrought and so conclusively real, were designed to confute and triumphantly confuted all professed magical or talismanic claims. Especially did they challenge comparison in their effects with the charms and amulets constituted by the utterance or transcription of the famous mystic symbols or sentences known as the Ephesian Letters, thrice graven upon Diana’s image. In connection with these admirably adapted miracles—which have no parallel in apostolic or other subsequent times—Luke is careful to note (17) that it was the name of the Lord Jesus, not that of Paul, that was magnified. B.—Eustathius says that the mysterious symbols called “Ephesian Letters” were engraved on the crown, the girdle, and the feet of the goddess. When pronounced, they were regarded as a charm; and were directed to be used, especially by those who were in the power of evil spirits. When written, they were carried about as amulets. The study of these symbols was an elaborate science: and books, both numerous and costly, were compiled by its professors. H.

13-16. So conclusively real and certainly Divine were the “special miracles” wrought in connection with Paul’s preaching, that “certain wandering Jewish exorcists undertook to name over them who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preacheth.” This blasphemous appeal was not only damaging as its utter failure showed them to be counterfeits and pretenders; it involved the absurdity of a feebler evil agent, with a means confessedly not understood, much less controlled, attempting to dispossess a stronger. In these words, too, the sons of Sceva practically confessed that they had no faith in and stood in no personal relation to Christ; that they were not warranted therefore in such a use of His name; that their own claim to supernatural power was false; that, unlike them and all other sorcerers, Paul was a true man, successfully engaged in a work helpful to man and so honoring to God; and that in this work he was in living alliance with Divine power. Furthermore, this wicked, absurd, and humiliating appeal brought out another demoniac attestation to the truth of Paul’s mission and the conquering might of Christ. “Jesus I acknowledge,” as Ruler over the world of evil and good, “and Paul I know,” as His minister, “but who are ye?” promptly answered back the kindred spirit whom they could not exorcise. And assaulting two of the seven brothers, he rent off their clothes and drove them wounded from the house.

17-20. Effect of the Word and its Accompanying Miracles, and of the Overthrow of the Jewish Exorcists, upon Believers in Magic and Dealers in