Acts 18 explained: A Long Stay in Corinth

Tentmakers in Corinth (vv. 1-4)

Corinth was a rich port city and the Roman capital of southern Greece, and Aquila and Priscilla had arrived there after Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome. Paul shared their trade of making tents and worked to support himself, so no one could say he preached for money.

Moving next door (vv. 5-8)

When Silas and Timothy arrived, Paul pressed harder in his preaching, though translations differ on whether he now preached full time or felt a strong inner urge to speak. When opponents turned abusive, he shook out his clothes, a gesture meaning 'I have done my part, the responsibility is now yours,' and taught next door, where even the synagogue leader Crispus came to believe.

A reassuring vision (vv. 9-11)

Paul had been forced out of earlier cities and seems to have feared the same here, so the vision promises protection and says many in Corinth belong to God. He stayed eighteen months, one of his longest stays anywhere.

The case before Gallio (vv. 12-17)

Gallio, the Roman governor, saw the complaint as an argument inside Judaism rather than a crime and refused to rule, which in practice left Paul free to keep teaching. Then Sosthenes, a synagogue leader, was beaten in front of the court while Gallio ignored it, and the text does not make clear exactly who attacked him or why.

The journey back (vv. 18-23)

Paul cut his hair because of a vow, a special promise made to God, but scholars are unsure what kind of vow it was or whether the haircut began it, ended it, or was part of keeping it. He stopped briefly in Ephesus, visited the church, most likely in Jerusalem, returned to his home base at Antioch, and later set out again to encourage believers inland.

Apollos learns more (vv. 24-28)

Apollos, a learned speaker from Alexandria in Egypt, already taught about Jesus but knew only the baptism of John the Baptist, and exactly what was missing in his understanding is debated. Priscilla and Aquila taught him privately in their home, and he went on to Greece, where he argued publicly from the Jewish Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised king.

Key verse: Acts 18:9

Something to think about

When people strongly reject something you care about, how do you decide whether to keep speaking up or to move on?