CHAPTER 18

(A.D. 54)

CORINTH

¹After these things Paul departed from Athens (seems to imply that he departed alone, with Silas and Timothy joining him later at Corinth), and came to Corinth (one of the great cities of the Roman Empire);

²And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla (pertains to a husband and wife who became very close friends to Paul); (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) (believed to have occurred in about A.D. 49 or 50) and came unto them (Paul came to them).

³And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought (evidently means that Paul had inquired concerning those involved in this occupation): for by their occupation they were tentmakers (tentmakers wove the black cloth of goat or camels hair with which tents were made).

⁴And he reasoned in the Synagogue every Sabbath (preached Christ from the Old Testament), and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks (his argument was ironclad).

SILAS AND TIMOTHY

⁵And when Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia (probably means that Silas had come from Berea, with Timothy coming from Thessalonica; Macedonia was a Province which included both places), Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ (the Holy Spirit told him to bear down even harder!).

⁶And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed (proclaims the response of some of these Jews to Pauls claim that Christ was the Messiah), he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean (in other words, he had delivered his soul): from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles (does not mean that he would no longer minister to Jews if given the opportunity, which he did do at Ephesus [Acts 19:8], but that the thrust would be toward the Gentiles).

THE HOUSE

⁷And he departed thence (out of the Synagogue), and entered into a certain mans house (a meeting place for Church), named Justus, one who worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the Synagogue (evidently points to Justus in the recent past as having accepted Christ under Pauls Ministry).

⁸And Crispus, the Chief Ruler of the Synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house (this must have been galling to the Jews to have their Chief Ruler of the Synagogue converted to Christ); and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized (speaks of many Gentiles now being saved).

⁹Then spoke the Lord to Paul in the night by a Vision (does not clarify whether Paul saw the Lord, or only heard Him speak? it being a Vision implies that he was awake), Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your peace (there evidently was fear in Pauls heart regarding the tremendous opposition against him; he was told by the Lord to speak with boldness):

¹⁰For I am with you, and no man shall set on you to hurt you (speaks to the idea that Paul had threats on his life, threats which were not empty, but rather deadly serious): for I have much people in this city (concerns the great Church which will be raised up at Corinth).

¹¹And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them (records the longest time that Paul spent in any place other than Ephesus, where he spent some three years).

¹²And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia (it is believed that he was Proconsul in A.D. 52-53), the Jews made insurrection with one ac cord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat (Jews had no power to punish any person in a Roman Province, so they were obliged to bring Paul before the Roman Governor),

¹³Saying, This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the Law (does not pertain to Roman Law as some claim, but rather the Law of Moses).

¹⁴And when Paul was now about to open his mouth (refers to him waiting for his accusers to cease their tirade against him), Gallio said unto the Jews (proclaims the Proconsul interrupting Paul), If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O you Jews, reason would that I should bear with you (proclaims the Governor putting everything in its proper perspective immediately!):

¹⁵But if it be a question of words and names, and of your Law, look ye to it (in effect, tells them to settle this thing themselves because it had no place in a Roman Court); for I will be no judge of such matters (in essence says, you will not use a Roman Court to carry forth your personal schemes!).

¹⁶And he drove them from the judgment seat (implies the humiliating dismissal of the case, without even being tried or further heard).

¹⁷Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the Chief Ruler of the Synagogue (presents the man who took the place of Crispus, with the latter having given his heart to the Lord), and beat him before the judgment seat (gives us little clue as to why this was done, unless they had refused to dissemble). And Gallio cared for none of those things (means that he considered the whole matter outside his jurisdiction).

EPHESUS

¹⁸And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while (could have referred to several months), and then took his leave of the Brethren (was done strictly according to the timing of the Lord), and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila (they had now become fast friends of Paul); having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow (Cenchrea was the Port of Corinth; there was a Church there as well; we arent told what this vow was).

¹⁹And he came to Ephesus (Ephesus was the most important city in the Roman Province of Asia), and left them there (has to do with Priscilla and Acquila remaining in Ephesus when Paul left some days later): but he himself entered into the Synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews (has no reference to the previous phrase; no doubt, Priscilla and Acquila were with him during this meeting).

²⁰When they (the Jews in the Synagogue) desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not (Paul left, but Priscilla and Acquila remained and, no doubt, continued teaching these Jews about Christ);

ANTIOCH

²¹But bade them farewell (speaks of Priscilla and Acquila, and possibly some few Jews who had accepted Christ), saying, I must by all means keep this Feast that comes in Jerusalem (probably was the Passover): but I will return again unto you, if God will (portrays the manner in which all Believers should conduct everything). And he sailed from Ephesus (places him on his way to Jerusalem).

²²And when he had landed at Caesarea (puts him about sixty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem), and gone up, and saluted the Church (refers to the Mother Church at Jerusalem), he went down to Antioch (refers to Antioch, Syria).

THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY

²³And after he had spent some time there, he departed (portrays the beginning of his Third Missionary Journey), and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the Disciples (probably lasted about six months; it is believed that Timothy, Erastus, Gaius, and Aristarchus may have been traveling with Paul at this time; Titus may have been included as well).

APOLLOS

²⁴And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus (introduces a man whom Paul came to hold in high esteem).

²⁵This man was instructed in the Way of the Lord (however, his knowledge was greatly limited respecting Grace and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit); and being fervent in the spirit (spoke of his own spirit and not the Holy Spirit), he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the Baptism of John (speaks of Repentance and Water Baptism).

²⁶And he began to speak boldly in the Synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard (presents that which was all in the providence of God), they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the Way of God more perfectly (no doubt pertained to the full complement of Salvation by the Grace of God exclusively, correct Water Baptism, and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other Tongues).

²⁷And when he (Apollos) was disposed to pass into Achaia (refers to Greece, across the Aegean Sea, and Corinth in particular), the Brethren wrote, exhorting the Disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through Grace (he is now proficient in this most excellent Message of the Grace of God that comes through the Cross):

²⁸For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ (had reference more than likely to ministering in their Synagogue).