Acts 18 Commentary

Paul leaves Athens and goes to Corinth. There, he preaches the gospel in the synagogue every Sabbath, and works as a tent-maker alongside a married couple of the same trade: Aquila and Priscilla.

Timothy and Silas arrive from Macedonia to Corinth. Their presence frees Paul to preach the gospel full time. Some of the Jews reject the gospel with hostility. Paul announces he will focus on the Gentiles from then on. He leaves the synagogue and begins preaching next door. The leader of the synagogue and his entire household believe in the gospel. Many other Corinthians, Jewish and Greek, believe. Jesus tells Paul in a vision that he will be physically safe in Corinth. Paul teaches in Corinth for a year and a half.

A new Roman proconsul, Gallio, comes to Corinth to govern the province of Achaia. The hostile Jews bring Paul to Gallio and ask him to get rid of Paul. Gallio dismisses them, since there is no criminal charge against Paul. The proconsul of Rome is not concerned with Jewish religious quarrels. The Jews return to Gallio, dragging with them the new leader of the synagogue, Sosthenes, who is apparently a believer. They beat Sosthenes in front of Gallio. Gallio still will not do anything about Paul. Paul and his team decide to leave Corinth. Priscilla and Aquila go with them. The married couple stop in Ephesus to live there. Paul preaches the gospel in Ephesus and tells the interested Jews there that he will return if God wills it. He sails back to Israel, visits the Jerusalem church, then returns to the Syrian Antioch church.

For a third time, Paul leaves Syria to go preach the gospel in the west. He first visits the Galatian churches. Meanwhile, in Ephesus, a man named Apollos comes to town and preaches passionately about Jesus. Priscilla and Aquila teach him about some aspects of faith in Jesus of which Apollos was ignorant. Eventually, the Ephesian believers send Apollos to Corinth. In Corinth, Apollos helps the Corinthian believers by debating the hostile Jews in public and showing persuasively that the Hebrew scriptures prove Jesus was the Messiah.