College Notes
The Acts
Chapter 18
49-50 A.D.
Corinth
(18:1-17)
Aquila and Priscilla (18:l-3)
vs. 1
Corinth:
vs. 2
"Jews to depart from
Rome" means:
Claudius banished the Jews from Rome in an Imperial edict
that was issued in A.D. 49 or 50. Seutonius, a Roman biographer for the Caesars says: Claudius drove the Jews out of
Rome cause they were "incessantly raising tumults at the instigation of a
certain Chrestus. (Christ)"
Prior to this the Jews had a history of causing problems for Rome therefore, they were "violently persecuted" by 3 successive emperors, e.g.: 4,000 Jews were sent as convicts by Tiberius to the island of Sardinia. Caligula also took his toll.
"Aquila and his wife Priscilla" -- loyal friends of Paul.
vs. 3
Shows Paul as a
tentmaker by trade. Jewish
fathers were urged to teach their sons a trade -- tent making was an
important trade in Tarsus.
Go To Gentiles (18:4-6)
vs. 4
Preached only on
Sabbath -- probably because he worked during the rest of the
week.
vs. 5
Silas and Timothy join
Paul after staying in Berea.
vs. 6
Paul is fed up with the Jews -- henceforth
to Gentiles.
Protection Promised (18:7-11)
vs. 7
The house sharred a
common wall with the synagogue.
vs. 7
(-8)
Crispus:
vs. 10
"I have much people
in this city,” means that God was going to call a number of individuals in
that city.
vs. 11
Paul resided in
Corinth for l- l/2 years and wrote I and II Thessalonians.
Church Called Jews (18:12-17)
vs. 17
Possible that Sostenes (I Cor. l:l) was
same as one here.
Ephesus (18:18-22)
vs. 18
"Having shorn his
head" means Paul shaved his head as part of the vow he had made to
God. A usual procedure for
one who had "either been afflicted with a distemper, or with any other distresses."
(Josephus).
Barclay explains the vow on page 138
of his commentary on Acts:
"When a Jew specially wished to thank God for some blessing he
took the Nazirite vow (Numbers 6:1-21). If that vow was carried out in
full it meant that for thirty days he neither ate meat nor drank wine;
and he allowed his hair to grow.
At the end of the thirty days he made certain offerings in the
Temple; his head was shorn and the hair was burned on the altar as an
offering to God. No doubt
Paul was thinking of all God's goodness to him in Corinth and took this
vow to show his gratitude"
Aquila may have taken this vow vs. Paul. Because he was expelled from his homeland.
Point: Be careful about making vows. It is safer not to (Ecc. 5:5) except in marriage and baptism.
vs. 21
"This feast that cometh in Jerusalem" means
the Feast of Tabernacles, 52 A.D. This is the only logical reason
why he emphatically refused to spend even a few days at Ephesus after long
sojourns at lesser places -- 18:20."
(L. 38 Correspondence Course.)
Some modern translations of the Bible omit Acts 18:21, as does the Catholic Version. But 95% of all Greek manuscripts include it. The only ones that leave it out are those 5% copied in Egypt and in Italy under the influence of Simon Magus' followers.
The Apostle Paul Kept the Feasts.
In 50 A.D. Paul crossed over from Asia into Europe and began to preach to gospel at Philippi "on the day of weeks" -- Pentecost 50 A.D. -- according to the inspired original Greek (Acts 16:13). Pentecost is also called the "feast of weeks" in the Old Testament (Deut. 16:10). After a few weeks at Philippi, Thessalonica (verse 6).
Paul came to Corinth in the late
summer of A.D. 50. After
spending several Sabbaths teaching in the synagogue (Acts 18:4), he
continued to hold meetings in the house of Justus (verse 7) for "a year and six months"
(verse 11). This brings us to
the spring of 52 A.D. After a riot stirred up against
the apostle was quelled, Paul yet "tarried there a good while, and then
took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria" (vs.
18). It was now well into the
summer of A.D. 52 -- the Days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost were
past. Obviously it was nearly
time for the Feast of Tabernacles.
Here then was a major way to the headquarters Feast at
Jerusalem..." (Correspondence
Course).
vs. 22
Down to Antioch.
Third Evangelistic
Tour (18:23-21:26)
Apollos (18:23-28)
vs. 23
47-48 A.D. began to
preach the Gospel.
52-53 A.D. - wrote book of
Galatians.
vs. 24
Apollos: Learned, cultured, well grounded
in the scriptures. Powerful
orator.
vs. 25
“The way" = common
title. (Also 9:2,
19:9).
"only the baptism of John" means as in 19:3.