Acts 18:1-17
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Paul in Corinth
1After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the
Jews to leave Rome. And he went to
see them, 3and because he was of
the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by
trade. 4And he reasoned in
the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was
Jesus. 6And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his
garments and said to them,
“Your blood be on your own heads! I
am innocent. From now on
I will go to the Gentiles.” 7And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8Crispus, the ruler of the
synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed
and were baptized. 9And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the
word of God among them.
12But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 14But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or
vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your
complaint. 15But since it is a matter of questions
about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a
judge of these things.” 16And he drove them from the tribunal. 17And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
- God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
- We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
- What does 1 Corinthians 2:3 say about Paul’s disposition when he arrived in Corinth? Why did he feel this way?
- What was the moral and spiritual climate in Corinth in Paul’s day (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-20)?
- Claudius' order Acts 18:2 was given in A.D. 50 after a Jewish riot in Rome over the preaching of Christ. What else reveals a Roman attitude toward Christianity Acts 18:12-17)? Would this help or hinder Christian witness?
- If you were a missionary looking for a promising location for work, do you think you would have chosen Corinth? Explain. Do you think the gospel is the best solution to the world’s ills?
- How did Paul and his new friends Aquila and Priscilla meet each other’s needs?
- Why was Paul able to give up tent-making for full-time preaching in Acts 18:5?
- How did Paul's ministry change after Timothy and Silas came to him (see 2 Corinthians 11:9)?
- How might the vision from God in Acts 18:9-10 and the gift from the Philippians encourage him?
- How did Paul respond to God’s promises made in verses 9-10 (see v. 11)? How did God keep his promise?
- What historical facts do we know about Gallio?
- Why would Luke think this case before Gallio important to include in his narrative?
- When have you felt like Paul—worn out, alone, afraid, broke, worried? What did you do about it? What did God do about it?
- I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How can I apply it to my life this week?
- With what missions or missionaries have you entered into financial partnership? If you were called to the foreign mission field, would you seek such partners, or would you become a "tent-maker"? Why?
- How could your present job be "tent-making" to support your family while you engage in God's kingdom work?
- Thinking of this section as being about relationships, why are relationships so hard to make and maintain in the church?
- You can ... Who do you know who needs to hear this? Feel free to share with others by social media links at the bottom of this.
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Do Not Be Silent (Crispus) - Acts 18:1-11
#One80
1
& 2 CORINTHIANS IN RELATION TO ACTS
By
Mark Moore
1.
Paul sent
Titus from Ephesus to Corinth with a copy of 1 Corinthians in the Spring of
2.
Paul writes
a painful letter to the Corinthian Church:
3.
Paul takes
off for Macedonia, hoping to meet up with Titus: Acts 20:1 When the uproar had ended, Paul
sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out
for Macedonia.
4.
Paul stopped
at Troas to preach the gospel: 2
Cor 2:12–13 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found
that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I
did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to
Macedonia.
5.
Paul finally
meets up with Titus and gets a good report about the Corinthians' repentance: 2 Cor 7:5–9 For when we came into Macedonia,
this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on
the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by
the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had
given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent
concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. Even if I caused you
sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my
letter hurt you, but only for a little while—yet now I am happy, not because
you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you
became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.
6.
Paul writes
2 Corinthians and sends it ahead with Titus from Macedonia: 2 Cor 7:13 By all this we are encouraged. In
addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how
happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.
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CORINTH — From Athens, Paul moves on to Corinth, where he spends 18 months (Acts 18:11), the longest in any church except for Ephesus, where he stayed about three years (Acts 19:8, 10). As major cities in the empire, Corinth and Ephesus become the missionaries’ bases of operation to evangelize the surrounding regions. Paul has a long (and sometimes tempestuous) relationship with the church at Corinth, which suffers from the kinds of problems typical of those who convert from a pagan environment of immorality and idolatry.
Paul's coming to Corinth was "in weakness and fear, and with much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3). Though he was directed through a vision to minister in Macedonia (Acts 16:9-10), the mission there had not gone at all as he had expected. Nor had his initial attempt in Achaia provided him with any reason to hope for a change in his fortunes. So he must have traveled from Athens to Corinth in a dejected mood, wondering what worse could happen and why God had allowed matters to fall out so badly. Also, he was almost sick with anxiety over the state of the Thessalonian converts whom he had been forced to leave with the threat of persecution hanging over them (1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5). All this drove Paul into depression. He was only human, and he found that his emotions affected his spiritual well-being and his work. Perhaps at this time he prayed repeatedly for deliverance from his "thorn in the flesh," to which God responded, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
At Corinth the exact situation is difficult to ascertain, mainly because in his letters to the Corinthians Paul provides so much allusive material about his relations with them, while Luke gives so little in Acts. One reason for this problem is the wide difference of purpose between Paul and Luke in their written materials: Paul's concern was pastoral and Luke's apologetic. Luke's main interest here in Acts 18 is the proceedings before Gallio (vv.12-17), in order (1) to demonstrate that one of the wisest of the Roman proconsuls had declared Christianity to be an approved religion and (2) to warn that if Rome began to persecute the church, it would be acting contrary to Gallio, a ruler renowned for his urbanity and wit.
The emperor Claudius Caesar (A.D. 41–54), while favorable toward the Jews early in his reign, later forbade their assembly. Suetonius, a Roman historian, indicates that Claudius “expelled from Rome the Jews, who were constantly rioting under the leadership of Chrestus.” Two Jewish refugees affected by this expulsion (which is dated in A.D. 49 by Orosius, a church historian) were Aquila and Priscilla. Luke records that when Paul stayed with them in Corinth, they “had recently come from Italy” because of Claudius’s edict (Acts 18:2, 3).
During a period of 18 months Paul established a flourishing Christian congregation (18:11). In A.D. 51 he was brought before Gallio, the Roman proconsul of Achaia (southern Greece). The archaeological remains of Gallio’s judgment hall have now been discovered. Perhaps more important, however, is an inscription found at Delphi that mentions Gallio and fixes his brief proconsulship over Achaia (about one year) in A.D. 51–52. The likelihood, then, that Paul founded the church in Corinth in A.D. 51 is one of the most certain points for establishing the chronology of Paul’s ministry.
After leaving Corinth, Paul accompanied Priscilla and Aquila to Ephesus. He left them there and sailed to Caesarea. He next greeted the church at Jerusalem before returning to his home base in Antioch.
===============
GALLIO—ACTS 18:12
1.
Proconsul, most probably 51–52 A.D.
2.
Real name: Marcus
Annaeus Novatus.
3.
Took the name of his adopted father, Lucius Junius Gallio
upon coming to Rome.
4.
Younger brother of Seneca the Stoic philosopher and tutor of
Nero as a child.
5.
Noted for his mild disposition:
Seneca,
Natural Questions, IV.
Statius,
Silvae, II. 7. 32.
Seneca,
Epistolae Morales, CIV.
6.
Achaia just recently returned to the rule of a proconsul,
probably in conjunction with the Jewish expulsion from Rome.
=====================
One Sunday, I was telling the story of Aquila the tent-maker to my 6-year-old daughter's Sunday-school class. As a demonstration, I had brought along my sewing machine to sew a tent for the children to play in after the lesson. While I was sewing, I asked the children if any of their mothers used a sewing machine. I was surprised to see that my daughter was the only one raising her hand.
I asked if any of their mothers used a needle and thread to mend clothes or to sew on a loose button. Again, my daughter was the only one raising her hand.
A few minutes later, I noticed one little boy with tears in his eyes. I asked, "Brady, what's wrong?"
He replied, "My mom only knows how to use a curling iron!"
-- Amy B., "Life in Our House," Christian Parenting Today, Vol. 13, no. 4.
See: Pr 31:10-31; Ac 18:1-26; Titus 2:4-5
