Let the Gospel be propagated, not by force, but by fair argument, meeting the reasonings of sinners with ready answers from the Scriptures. It is always our duty to testify with all solemnity to Christ’s deity, especially where men speak reproachful!?; of Him, thus making ourselves clean from the blood of their souls. Those who have Christ with them need not shrink from pleading the cause of heaven with boldness.
Acts 18
1 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 publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Acts 18:1 – J. Vernon McGee
Acts 18:2-8 – J. Vernon McGee
Acts 18:9-17 – J. Vernon McGee
Acts 18:18-22 – J. Vernon McGee
Acts 18:23-28 – J. Vernon McGee
Acts 18:1-17 – A Great Ministry in a Great City
Paul tells us, in I Corinthians 2:1-4, that he entered Corinth with fear and trembling and made no effort to attract by human wisdom or eloquence. From the first he preached “Christ, and him crucified.”
Similarity in trade discovered friends who were to be of the utmost assistance; nothing in our life may be attributed to chance. Sitting at their common toils, he won them for Christ.
Pressed in the spirit, Acts 18:5. The heart of the Apostle yearned with irrepressible desire. He was weary of forbearing. God’s word was as a fire in his bones. The guilty city appealed to him and tugged at his heartstrings. So Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Do we participate in this soul anguish? Are our hands free of the blood of men? Are we prepared to suffer if only we may save others?
Gallio was a typical man of the world, intent upon matters of law and order, philosophical and cultured. But when questions of religion were in debate, he was absolutely indifferent. How vast the contrast between him and Paul! —Through the Bible Day by Day
Acts 18:2—A certain Jew named Aquila,… with his wife Priscilla.
It is a striking spectacle to see Paul, on his entrance to Corinth, with which his name was to be so remarkably associated, looking around, probably in the Jewish quarter, for manual employment, that he might be sure of his bread. Similarity of craft introduced him to Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who had been recently expelled from Rome by the imperial edict. At this time they were in unbelief, but were apparently converted by the words the apostle addressed to them as they sat together over their daily toil.
How eager Paul was, not only to preach the Gospel to the crowds that thronged the gay and sunny streets of Corinth, but to win individual souls for his Master’s kingdom. Some are eager enough in this holy quest, when they occupy the pulpit, and are conscious of many eyes being fixed upon them; but they are careless of the individual souls cast in their way. Not so was it with the Master, who went out of his way to find one Samaritan woman, and stopped beneath the tree to call down one publican. Not so was it with Philip, who spoke to the eunuch as eagerly as to Samaria. Not so was it with the apostle, who was as intense in his endeavors for a jailer, a Lydia, a Timothy, as for the crowds that were going to destruction.
Is not this God’s secret test? If we are not careful about the ones and twos, He will not use us to the crowds. Indeed, it is the experience we obtain in dealing with individuals that equips us for multitudes. The way in which the kingdom of God comes ordinarily is, “One by one.” How much might be done if each Christian workman would seek to win his neighbor! —Our Daily Homily
Acts 18:18-28 – New Helpers in the Gospel
In unimportant matters Paul was still amenable to Hebrew customs and rites, Acts 18:18. Probably he desired to conciliate his Judaizing opponents so far as he could without surrendering vital principles. He took his new-found friends with him to Ephesus. Though none of them realized it, there was important work awaiting them in that mighty city. The plans of Apostles, and of ordinary travelers as well, must be subordinated to the divine will. See I Corinthians 4:19; James 4:15.
Apollos combined the eloquence of the Greek with the religious instinct of the Jew. A student from the great university at Alexandria, a convert to the gospel, deeply conversant with the Old Testament, gifted with marvelous eloquence, he was a strong ally of the Christian forces of his age. But he needed to know of the death, resurrection, and ascended power of Christ, and to experience the Pentecostal gift. Into all these he was led by Aquila and Priscilla. How wonderful is that holy wisdom which the Spirit of God gives to simple and humble believers, so that they can become teachers of men who are intellectually their superiors! —Through the Bible Day by Day