This week's ongoing Bible study will be part 1 of Acts chapter 18

Paul Is Joined By Silas and Timothy in Corinth

[Acts chapter 18, verses 1-13]

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Last week when we left off in our chronological study of the writings of the apostle Luke, we completed the remainder of Acts chapter 17, where the apostle Paul had just finished evangelizing many of the Jews and Greeks in the Synagogue in Athens. His message that Sabbath morning had been none other than their souls being saved by the shed blood of Christ, who was slain and yet lives! He had made some remarks about one of the idols in the Aereopagus, which had the inscription, “To an unknown god”. That “unknown god”, Paul argued, was none other than the risen Christ, and he then used the Bible – our Old Testament, since that was the entire Bible at the time – to prove his point and so persuade as many as he could to place their faith in Christ alone. Some believed him, but others “sneered” at him, as I wrote last week.

This week as we begin part one of chapter 18, we discover the apostle Paul has left Athens for Corinth, a Grecian town roughly 100 Km west of Athens. It is at this point that Paul begins the process of founding a church in that city. So let's begin at verse one of Acts 18. (1) “After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2) There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3) and because he was a tent maker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4) Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 18, verses 1-4)

Although the apostle Luke did not specify Paul's reasons why he left Athens for Corinth, it may have been because of the significant amount of resistance from the native Greeks, particularly those whose livelihoods were tied to the idol-making industry that flourished at that time. Although Christian churches exist in Greece today, they are primarily of the Greek Orthodox faith, which is an entirely separate branch of Christendom. So Paul arrived in Corinth, and soon after befriends Aquila and his wife, and he gets an opportunity to earn some extra money as a worker in their tent making 'enterprise'.

Contrast the difference between the way Paul approached his ministry back then, and the way certain TV evangelists do today. In point of fact, they all want – even demand – 10% of your income, but Paul simply went to work when he needed money. But, he also honored the Sabbath by spending his single day off each week trying his best to persuade the local Jewish and Greek Corinthians that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The apostle Paul never asked any of them for a single dollar. Imagine Creflo Dollar working as a dishwasher, or Pat Robertson scrubbing toilets, and you get a good idea of what I mean....

“5) When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6) But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7) Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8) Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.” (Acts 18, verses 5-8)

You will recall from 2 weeks ago when Timothy and Silas had stayed at Berea to finish planting the church that they had founded together there with Paul. So evidently Timothy and Silas had traveled from Berea to Athens and, discovering that Paul had moved on to Corinth, caught up with him there. It was evidently at that point that Paul ceased his tent-making employment with Aquila and began once again to devote his full time occupation to that of itinerant preacher, especially since his 2 co-workers had arrived. When Luke wrote these words, he did not specify how much time had elapsed from the time of Silas and Timothy's arrival to the time of Paul's leaving the synagogue in protest, as he did in verse 6.

And so it is at this time in the history of the early Church that a major turning point occurs. Paul leaves the synagogue in disgust, vowing never to return, and he made good on that vow for the rest of his life, especially in Berea and Corinth. Without actually planning to do so, Paul left the synagogue and went to the first house he sees. Paul is so filled with frustration at this point that he begins going door to door, and I find Paul's passion and zeal very noteworthy here. Most other preachers, if faced with such a situation where they were compelled to leave as Paul was, might well throw up their hands and quit. Seriously, they would simply walk away thinking to themselves, “I've had just about enough of this”. But not the apostle Paul. He was so overwhelmed with determination he started knocking on doors!

And so Paul moved on “....to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.” Paul's fortunes changed immediately upon his stepping away from the synagogues and taking his message straight to the people. The very first door he knocked on was opened to him by Titius Justus, just as
Jesus taught in Matthew 7, verses 7-8: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

It's also a lesson on the early history of populism as told through the Bible. Not populism in the strictly political sense, but more in the way the Gospel was originally spread during the times of the early Church (see earlier lessons on Acts 4: 32-37). They are not exactly alike, but there are similarities, such as the fact that they are both powered from the bottom up. One way to visualize this is to imagine a lateral peer-to-peer management and government that replaces the current top-down structure. But before I drift off-topic, let's quickly finish up this week's study, beginning at verse 9.

“9) One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: 'Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10) For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.' 11) So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. 12) While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. 13) 'This man,' they charged, 'is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.'”

So now we are at the point where the early Church, at least from Paul's point of view, has moved on from the synagogues to private homes. As my long-time readers know, the churches in Paul's letters were all located in private homes, especially when they were first planted. This was done to follow the teachings of Christ (see Matt. 10, verses 11-15). And now that Silas and Timothy were with him, Paul gained the time and resources he needed to preach, teach and evangelize the Good News of Jesus Christ. It was at approximately this point in his ministry there at Corinth that Paul got the message of great encouragement that is documented in verses 9 and 10. I can only imagine my own joy at receiving a message like that audibly from the Lord, but I get plenty of Spiritual encouragement from him already, and it serves me very well for the most part. If I ever get anything more than that, such as a vision like Paul's, I will consider it to be a bonus.

And yet upon getting that encouragement through the vision he received, it was soon after that Paul found himself dragged before Junius Gallio, the Roman proconsul of Achaia (the apostle Paul was at Corinth circa A.D. 53) under the emperor Claudius. So this guy Gallio was our modern equivalent of a governor. The accusations leveled against him must have sounded very familiar to Paul by now: “'This man,' they charged, 'is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law'”. And so the Jews and their allies, not to mention their financial backers, are all seated on one side of the aisle, and Paul – with Silas, Timothy, and Titius Justus likely close by – and a few others are seated on the other. Like our modern-day court system in at least some ways, the prosecution comes prepared to present their case to Proconsul Gallio. What did they say and how did they say it? More importantly, what does Paul say in response? To find out, come on back next week for part 2 of Acts chapter 18. Enjoy the rest of your day!