Actschapter 18
28 verses · BSBActs book hub →
Speaks with:1 Corinthians 1×31 Corinthians 4×3Acts 18×32 Timothy 4×2Acts 19×22 Corinthians 5×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Corinth. Aquila and Priscilla. Gallio's ruling. An eighteen-month stay. Paul's return through Ephesus, Caesarea, Antioch. Apollos mighty in the scriptures; Priscilla and Aquila expound the way of God more perfectly.
Context
History · Luke — Acts overview
- A. 1–11 Corinth: Tentmaking With Aquila and Priscilla
- B. 12–17 Gallio Throws the Case Out of Court
- C. 18–23 A Vow, a Voyage, and Disciples Strengthened
- D. 24–28 Apollos Taught the Way More Accurately
The outline
A.Corinth: Tentmaking With Aquila and Priscillavv. 1 to 11
Read vv. 1 to 11 →B.Gallio Throws the Case Out of Courtvv. 12 to 17
Read vv. 12 to 17 →C.A Vow, a Voyage, and Disciples Strengthenedvv. 18 to 23
Read vv. 18 to 23 →D.Apollos Taught the Way More Accuratelyvv. 24 to 28
Read vv. 24 to 28 →
The world behind this chapter
Acts 18The history
Corinth sat on a narrow neck of land with a harbour on each side, so cargo crossed the isthmus rather than risking the long sail around the southern capes. That made it rich, transient, and rough — a rebuilt Roman colony full of freedmen, traders, sailors, and people on the make.
Aquila and Priscilla had been forced out of Rome when the emperor Claudius expelled Jews from the city, an event the Roman writer Suetonius dates to about AD 49 and links to disturbances over someone he calls "Chrestus." Their arrival in Corinth is the church's gain from an imperial edict.
Paul worked with them at the same trade, described as tentmaking — leatherwork, sewing panels of cloth or hide for tents and awnings. It was hard, portable work a man could set up in any market, and Paul used it to stay financially independent.
Gallio is the reason this chapter matters for chronology. An inscription found at Delphi records his term as proconsul of Achaia and can be dated to about AD 51–52, which pins Paul's stay in Corinth to within a year or so and fixes the surrounding journeys with it. His ruling — that this was an internal Jewish dispute, not a Roman crime — gave the young churches breathing room across the province.
What it meant to them
The first readers saw a wearied apostle told in a vision to stay and keep speaking, because God had many people in that city. Corinth had every reason to look hopeless, and he stayed a year and a half.
Gallio's verdict was better news than it looked. A Roman governor declining to treat the Christian message as a crime set a precedent the church could point to for years, and Luke — writing for a reader who cared how Rome viewed this movement — makes sure it is on the record.
Sources cited
- F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free
- Colin J. Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Acts 18. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.