Skip to content

Acts 18

Chapter Text

Paul in Corinth

Paul Returns to Antioch

Apollos in Ephesus

Summary

Paul arrives in Corinth, where he meets Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tentmakers. He preaches in the synagogue each Sabbath until Jewish opposition forces him to turn to the Gentiles. The Lord encourages Paul in a night vision, assuring him of many people in the city. Paul remains eighteen months, teaching the word of God. When brought before the proconsul Gallio on charges of unlawful religion, the case is dismissed. Paul eventually sails for Syria with Aquila and Priscilla.

Meaning

God's encouragement to Paul in Corinth — 'I have much people in this city' — reveals that the Lord knows His chosen ones even before they believe. This assurance sustained Paul through opposition and should encourage every gospel worker that God's purposes will not fail.

Paul's tent-making ministry demonstrates that secular labor can serve the gospel's advance. Gallio's dismissal of the case established an important legal precedent, effectively ruling that Christianity was not a criminal religion under Roman law. The partnership with Aquila and Priscilla models the vital role of lay believers in the apostolic mission.

Background

Corinth was one of the most important commercial cities in the Roman Empire, situated on a narrow isthmus connecting northern and southern Greece. It was notorious for moral corruption. Aquila and Priscilla had been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius's edict against Jews around AD 49. The proconsul Gallio was the brother of the philosopher Seneca. An inscription at Delphi helps date Paul's time in Corinth to approximately AD 50-52.

Chapter Outline

  1. vv. 1-4Paul arrives in Corinth and meets Aquila and Priscilla
  2. vv. 5-8Turning from the synagogue to the Gentiles
  3. vv. 9-11The Lord's vision and eighteen months of teaching
  4. vv. 12-17Paul before Gallio's judgment seat
  5. vv. 18-22Departure from Corinth and return to Antioch
  6. vv. 23The third missionary journey begins
  7. vv. 24-28Apollos instructed and sent forth

Key Verses

“Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:”— 18:9

A pivotal divine encouragement that sustained Paul's longest settled ministry to date. The Lord's command to keep speaking despite opposition has comforted persecuted preachers throughout church history.

“For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.”— 18:10

A remarkable assurance of divine presence and sovereign election — God claims a people in Corinth before they have yet believed, echoing the doctrine of grace that Paul would later expound in his Corinthian epistles.

“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.”— 18:6

A solemn prophetic gesture marking a decisive turn in Paul's Corinthian mission, echoing Ezekiel's watchman language (Ezek. 33) and signaling the gospel's expanding reach to the nations.

“For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.”— 18:28

Apollos models the apostolic method of christological exegesis — proving from the Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus is the promised Messiah, a pattern foundational to Christian apologetics.

People & Places

People

  • Paul — The apostle, here founding the Corinthian church and continuing his second missionary journey.
  • Aquila — A Jewish tentmaker from Pontus, recently expelled from Rome, who becomes Paul's co-laborer.
  • Priscilla — Aquila's wife and ministry partner, notable for instructing Apollos in sound doctrine.
  • Claudius — The Roman emperor whose decree expelling Jews from Rome brought Aquila and Priscilla to Corinth.
  • Silas — Paul's missionary companion who rejoins him at Corinth from Macedonia.
  • Timotheus — Timothy, Paul's young protégé, also arriving from Macedonia to assist the mission.
  • Justus — A Gentile God-fearer in Corinth whose house, adjoining the synagogue, became a meeting place for Paul.
  • Crispus — Chief ruler of the Corinthian synagogue who believed with his whole household.
  • Gallio — Roman proconsul of Achaia who refused to adjudicate Jewish religious disputes against Paul.
  • Sosthenes — A synagogue ruler beaten before Gallio's tribunal, possibly the same later named in 1 Corinthians 1:1.
  • Apollos — An eloquent Alexandrian Jew, mighty in the Scriptures, who became a powerful preacher after fuller instruction.

Places

  • Athens — The Greek philosophical center Paul departs after his Areopagus address.
  • Corinth — A wealthy, cosmopolitan port city of Achaia where Paul ministered for eighteen months.
  • Pontus — A region of northern Asia Minor along the Black Sea, Aquila's birthplace.
  • Italy — The Roman heartland from which Aquila and Priscilla had recently been expelled.
  • Rome — The imperial capital where Claudius's edict had displaced the Jewish community.
  • Macedonia — The northern Greek province from which Silas and Timothy returned to Paul.
  • Achaia — The southern Greek province under Roman proconsular rule, with Corinth as its chief city.
  • Cenchrea — The eastern port of Corinth, where Paul shaved his head in fulfillment of a vow.
  • Syria — The eastern province toward which Paul sailed on his return journey.
  • Ephesus — The major Asian city where Paul left Aquila and Priscilla, planting seeds for his later extended ministry.
  • Jerusalem — The mother church which Paul intended to visit for an approaching feast.
  • Caesarea — The Mediterranean port serving as Paul's landing point upon returning from his journey.
  • Antioch — The Syrian sending church to which Paul returned, concluding his second missionary journey.
  • Galatia — The Asian region Paul revisited to strengthen the churches he had earlier founded.
  • Phrygia — A neighboring region traversed by Paul as he encouraged the disciples.
  • Alexandria — The great Egyptian city of learning and Jewish scholarship, Apollos's birthplace.

Prophecy & Fulfillment

The chapter contains no predictive prophecy in the strict sense, but Paul's gesture of shaking his raiment in verse 6 deliberately invokes the watchman imagery of Ezekiel 33:1-9, in which the prophet who has warned the wicked is innocent of their blood. The Lord's nighttime vision in verses 9-10 also echoes the covenantal assurances given to patriarchs and prophets — 'I am with thee' recalling Genesis 26:24 and Jeremiah 1:8. Apollos's ministry in verse 28, demonstrating from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, embodies the apostolic conviction that the entire Old Testament finds its fulfillment in the Messiah.

Devotional

Corinth was no easy mission field — wealthy, immoral, and resistant — yet God told Paul, 'I have much people in this city.' Before a single Corinthian had believed, the Lord already saw them as His own. That truth steadies us when our witness feels fruitless: God is at work behind the scenes we cannot see.

Notice too how ordinary partnership advances the gospel. Paul makes tents with Aquila and Priscilla; this same couple later disciples Apollos over a meal. Faithful work, hospitality, and humble correction can shape a generation. You do not need a platform — you need a willing heart and an open home.

Literary Style

Historical narrative in Luke's polished Hellenistic Greek, marked by precise geographical and political detail, named eyewitnesses, and the inclusion of a Roman judicial scene. The chapter functions as a transitional travelogue, weaving together missionary activity, divine speech, and biographical sketches of emerging church leaders.