Bible Study Lesson for Acts 18:1-17: Paul in Corinth

Verses 1-17 describes Paul's time in Corinth and how he was brought before proconsul Gallio.
Verses 18-23 describes Paul's first visit to Ephesus, the conclusion of his second missionary journey, and the beginning of his third missionary journey.
Verses 24-28 introduces us to a new believer, Apollos and his ministry.

Read Acts 18:1. It is unclear whether or not Paul is traveling alone at this point. He left Silas and Timothy in Berea when he went to Athens, but with orders to come to Athens later. Read Acts 17:14-15. As we will read in Acts 18:5, Silas and Timothy will be coming from Macedonia to join Paul in Corinth, but we have other scriptures that indicate that Timothy (at least) did come to Paul in Athens. In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians we read how Paul sent Timothy, from Athens, back to Thessalonica. Read 1 Thessalonians 3:1-3. It is possible (though it is not mentioned specifically anywhere), that Silas was sent back to Philippi from Athens. If that is the case, Paul is currently traveling alone to Corinth.

Read Acts 18:2. My commentary provides some good about this verse: Pontus. In the northeastern region of Asia Minor, a province lying along the Black Sea between Bithynia and Armenia (see 2:9). Priscilla. The diminutive form of Prisca. Since no mention is made of a conversion and since a partnership is established in work (see v. 3), it is likely that they were already Christians. They may have been converted in Rome by those returning from Pentecost or by others at a later time. Claudius. Emperor of Rome (A.D. 41-54). ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Recorded in Suetonius (Claudius, 25). The expulsion order was given, Suetonius writes, because of "their [the Jews'] continual tumults instigated by Chrestus" (a common misspelling of "Christ"). If "Chrestus" refers to Christ, the riots obviously were "about" him rather than led "by" him.

We talked about this some weeks back, when we did a quick look at some of the Roman emperors. If Paul's preaching about Christ regularly caused riots among the Jews in the cities he visited, it should not be surprising that there were other riots in Rome centered around Christ, as well. { Point out distance from Rome to Corinth on map }

Read Acts 18:3. Apparently it was a common practice among the Jews to provide manual training for their sons, whether rich or poor, in some trade. Paul, therefore, would have learned tent-making as a youth, a useful skill, now! { Show picture of tentmaker from "Great People of the Bible & How They Lived", pg. 407 } I think when we usually think of Paul we think of a great orator and writer, an intellectual, and don't think of him working with his hands. I think we tend to see him as he was portrayed during Byzantine times, a stiff figure, either sitting or standing, one hand raised, perhaps in blessing, holding a scroll or a book. { Show pictures from "Art of the Byzantine World" by Schug-Wille } I think the picture of the humble tent-maker we saw, in the first book, is probably a more realistic portrayal of what Paul's life was like a good portion of the time.

Read Acts 18:4. Paul's regular practice, as we've seen, is for him to preach regularly in the synagogue for as long as the Jews would allow it. This made a lot of sense for it provided a ready made preaching situation, a building to hold the service, regular meetings, and an audience that knew the Old Testament scriptures. Remember, also, that God fearing Gentiles were allowed to attend the synagogue meetings, so his audience would not be restricted just to Jews.

Read Acts 18:5. So Silas and Timothy are back together with Paul and Paul now has other helpers to help generate the necessary money to support their ministry. Paul sets aside his tent-making for now and focusing entirely on preaching the gospel.

Read Acts 18:6. Unfortunately, after a time, as there had been in past cities, eventually a group of Jews rises up and opposes Paul, causing him to leave the synagogue. Here we have Paul "shaking out his clothes" in protest. At first I thought this was a variation of "shaking the dust off your feet." In Psidian Antioch during Paul's first missionary journey there was a similar response of rejection by some of the Jews; in that case, Paul's shook the dust from his feet. Read 13:50-51. This symbolized the severance of responsibility and repudiation of those who had rejected their message and perhaps had even harmed the Lord's servants.

However, when I did a little digging, I found another example of someone "shaking out one's clothes" and it seems to have a slightly different meaning. In the book of Nehemiah the prophet is coming against the practice of usury, that is taking advantage of other people's financial misfortune by charging interest for loans. The people Nehemiah is speaking to, it appears, respond quite positively. Read Nehemiah 5:9-13. Here we see the shaking out of the prophet's robe as symbolizing the solemnity of the oath and reinforcing the curses that will fall upon the people if they don't fulfill their oath. (I did more digging to find out what kinds of curses are described in the Bible and there are some pretty horrible ones! I'm just glad I live under grace!)

Read Acts 18:7. Titius was a common Roman name. Luke probably added "Justus" to help distinguish him from the other Titus mentioned in the Bible. He was most likely a God-fearing Gentile, uncircumcised, but attending the synagogue. He is not mentioned again in the Bible. { Put up symbol of synagogue and Titius Justus' house on flannel board }

Read Acts 18:8. I'm sure this was all very exciting and encouraging for Paul when the synagogue ruler came to Christ! Just to review, a synagogue ruler was responsible for calling readings and preachers, arranging services and maintaining order. The only other mention we have of Crispus is in 1 Corinthians 1:14-15. Apparently Crispus was only one of two men who Paul baptized in Corinth. My commentary pointed out that the tense of the verbs used in the Greek in Acts 18:8 indicate that people were coming to Christ on a daily, progressive basis. It wasn't just a one time altar call, per se, but rather a steady stream of people coming forward as the word spread from Paul and the other new Corinthian believers.

Read Acts 18:9-10. If the Lord came to tell me "don't be afraid", I admit my first response would be to be afraid! I would hope that my second response, after He spoke, would be to rest and trust in His promises. The fact that the Lord came to speak with Paul personally here tells us that Paul may have been quite afraid of what was going happen next, after converting the synagogue ruler (which surely would have angered many of the other Jews) and after being chased out of yet another synagogue. I would imagine he might even have been quite run down from the steady physical and emotional abuse he had had to endure over these long months. He may have been wondering - "Lord is it time for me to leave yet another city? I don't want to - I have good friend here (Aquila, Priscilla, Titius Justus, Crispus, etc.) and would like to settle down for a while. Is it safe? Can I stay, Lord?" But the Lord reassures him that he will be safe and that he won't be attacked.

As a short rabbit trail, Paul first saw Jesus in His resurrected body at his conversion on the Road to Damascus. Read Acts 9:4-6. When Paul was in Jerusalem after his conversion he actually saw Jesus again in a trance. We don't get to read a description of this experience until Acts 22. Read Acts 22:17-21. And finally, Paul's last recorded vision Jesus (he may have had others that are not listed in scripture) is in Acts 23:11. God is so good! I have no doubt that at each of these points in his life, Paul needed these special encouragements from seeing Jesus in person and hearing confirmations that he was walking the right path.

Read Acts 18:11. My commentary said that during this time Paul may also have taken the gospel to the neighboring districts for Achaia. This is based on what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1. { Point out district of Achaia on flannel map; between Berea and Athens }

The booklet that came with my flannel map says that it was during this time that the letters to the Thessalonians were written. I would like to read the commentary provided with the booklet on these two books, along with recommended verses in these two books. { Read description for #27 symbol from booklet; put symbol on flannel map }

Read Acts 18:12. What do we know about Gallio? My commentary provided the following information: "The brother of Seneca, the philosopher, who was the tutor of Nero. Gallio was admired as a man of exceptional fairness and calmness. From an inscription found at Delphi, it is known that Gallio was proconsul of Achaia in A.D. 51-52. This information enables us to date Paul's visit to Corinth on his second journey as well as his writing of the Thessalonian letters. From a Bible dictionary I learned a little bit more about Gallio: he was Seneca's older brother and Seneca dedicated his treatise De Vita Beta to him and described him as a man universally loved and who especially abhorred flattery." { Put up symbol of Gallio on flannel map }

Read Acts 18:13. From my commentary: contrary to the law. The Jews were claiming that Paul was advocating a religion not recognized by Roman law as Judaism was. If he had been given the opportunity to speak, he could have argued that the gospel he was preaching was the faith of his fathers and thus authorized by Roman law. He will have an opportunity to give that defense in Acts 24 when a different set of Jews have him brought before yet a different Roman court. Read Acts 24:14-15. But as we will see, in this case before Gallio, Paul is never given a chance to speak, and in fact never needs to give any defense.

Read Acts 18:14-16. As already said, Gallio is immune to flattery, is a fair judge, and knows that this argument between the Jews and Paul has absolutely nothing to do with any breaking of Roman law, so he refuses to even hear the case. { Read "A Secular View" from Study Bible about Gallio }

Read Acts 18:17. they all turned on Sosthenes. It is not clear whether the Greeks beat Sosthenes, seeing the occasion as an opportunity to vent their feelings against the Jews, or the Jews beat their own synagogue ruler because he was unsuccessful in presenting their case--probably the former. A Sosthenes is included with Paul in the writing of 1 Corinthians (1:1). Perhaps he was the second ruler of the synagogue at Corinth to become a Christian in response to Paul's preaching. (From my interactive commentary.)

To be continued...

Sources
Editors. Great People of the Bible & How They Lived
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
John D. Davis. The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible.