Acts 18King James Version (KJV)
18 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;
2 And found a certain 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 occupation they were tentmakers.
4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
5 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 worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
11 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 against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,
13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.
14 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, reason would that I should bear with you:
15 But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.
16 And he drave them from the judgment seat.
17 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 in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
20 When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;
21 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 God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
22 And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.
23 And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all 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 the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
25 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 only the baptism of John.
26 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 of God more perfectly.
27 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 had believed through grace:
28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Commentary
Across to Corinth (18:1-4)
Corinth was a strategic commercial centre situated on a well used Roman road. It was also an important port, and like many ports it was full of all sorts of vice. Its reputation was so bad that people referred to a person of loose morals as one who ‘behaved like a Corinthian’. Yet Paul planted a church there and, not surprisingly, it became one of the most colourful and unorthodox churches of all.
As he often did on his travels, Paul earned his living in Corinth by working for a time at his trade of tentmaking (cf. 1 Thess 2:9; 2 Thess 3:8). In so doing he met a Jewish married couple, Aquila and Priscilla, who were also tentmakers and who were to become his lifelong friends. They, along with other Jews, had recently been forced to leave Rome by command of the Emperor (18:1-3). No doubt they went with Paul to the synagogue, where he preached the gospel (4).
Paul writes to the Thessalonians
At that time Silas and Timothy returned from Macedonia, bringing with them gifts of money for Paul from the Macedonian churches. This provision released Paul from his tentmaking and enabled him to spend all his time preaching (see 18:5; cf. 2 Cor 11:8-9; Phil 4:15). Paul was so pleased with the good news that Timothy brought from Thessalonica that he wrote and sent off a letter which we know as First Thessalonians (1 Thess 3:6).
Paul was particularly pleased to hear that his hasty departure from Thessalonica had not hindered the progress of God’s work there. Despite constant persecution, the church continued to grow, and within a short time had spread the gospel throughout the surrounding districts (1 Thess 1:6-8; 2:13-14). Sadly, some criticized Paul for leaving the new converts in Thessalonica to face the anti-Christian trouble that initially had been stirred up through him. Paul defended himself against these accusations and at the same time encouraged the Christians to stand firm amid the opposition (1 Thess 2:1-8,17-18; 3:3-5). He also gave instruction concerning certain aspects of Christian behaviour and cleared up some misunderstandings concerning the return of Jesus Christ (1 Thess 4:1,9,13; 5:1-2).
Within a short time, perhaps only a few weeks, Paul heard that some of the Thessalonians had misunderstood parts of his letter, particularly those parts dealing with Christ’s return. He therefore sent off a second letter, which is known to us as Second Thessalonians.
Some mistakenly thought that when Paul said Jesus Christ would return ‘suddenly’ he meant ‘immediately’. There were even those who thought that if Christ was about to return, there was no purpose in working any longer. As a result they became idle and a burden to others. Paul corrected the misunderstandings (2 Thess 2:1-3), rebuked the idle (2 Thess 3:6-12), gave further encouragement to the persecuted (2 Thess 1:4-5) and urged all to stand firm in the truth (2 Thess 2:15).
Eighteen months in Corinth (18:5-17)
Meanwhile in Corinth, Paul was having the usual trouble with the Jews. They forced him out of the synagogue, so he went and preached in the house of Titius Justus, a Gentile God-fearer who lived next door (5-7). Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, himself believed (8; cf. 1 Cor 1:14), and possibly the new ruler of the synagogue, Sosthenes, later believed also (see v. 17; cf. 1 Cor 1:1).
In spite of the constant opposition, Paul kept preaching, and during the year and a half that he stayed in Corinth the church grew (9-11). On one occasion when the Jews tried to lay a charge against Paul, the governor refused to hear them. He looked upon Paul’s party as a group within Judaism, and saw the dispute as a religious matter that the Jews would have to settle themselves (12-16). The local people,
seeing that the governor was unsympathetic to the Jews, took the opportunity to express their anti-Jewish feelings by beating up one of the Jewish leaders (17).
Return to Antioch (18:18-22)
Paul then prepared to return home. At Cenchreae, from where the ship sailed, he fulfilled a vow (probably a Nazirite vow; see Num 6:1-21) which for some reason he had taken upon himself (18). He sailed across to Ephesus where he stayed a short while. His preaching created much interest and probably resulted in the start of a church in that city. Then, leaving Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, he sailed for his home church in Antioch, though he hoped to return to Ephesus soon (19-22).
18:23-21:16 BACK TO ASIA MINOR AND EUROPE (THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY)
Through Galatia to Ephesus (18:23-19:7)
On his third great journey to the west, Paul set out by visiting the churches of Galatia once again. This was the fourth time he had visited these churches and he had also written them a letter (23; cf. 13:14,51; 14:21; 16:2-6).
In the meantime a learned Jew named Apollos had come to Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. Like many of the Jewish teachers in Alexandria, he had a detailed knowledge of Old Testament references to the Messiah and was able to teach impressively. However, he lacked knowledge of certain Christian teachings until Aquila and Priscilla explained them to him (24-26). Later, when he moved across to Corinth, he was of great help to the church there and added considerably to the good work Paul had done previously (27-28; 1 Cor 3:6). Unfortunately, the Corinthian church divided into factions, because people made favourites of various teachers. This was a problem that Paul soon had to deal with (1 Cor 1:12; 3:4).
On arriving in Ephesus, Paul met a group of twelve people who had repented and been baptized as taught by John the Baptist. But they did not know that since the death and resurrection of Jesus, the form of baptism that John proclaimed was no longer in use. The one whom John announced had come, and the baptism with the Spirit that John promised had been given (on the Day of Pentecost; cf. Matt 3:11; Acts 1:4-5; 2:16-17,33). When they understood this they were baptized in water as disciples of Jesus Christ, and received the Holy Spirit as the original disciples had at Pentecost (19:1-7).