Acts 18 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
About AD 50 to 52, during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius
Location
Corinth, the wealthy Roman capital of the province of Achaia in southern Greece, with brief stops in Ephesus on the west coast of Asia Minor, Caesarea, Jerusalem and Antioch
Audience
Theophilus, a person of rank, and through him Greek-speaking Christians in the Roman world reading Luke's second volume about how the message spread from Jerusalem to Rome
Situation
Paul settles in Corinth for a year and a half, working as a tentmaker alongside Aquila and Priscilla and teaching in the synagogue until opposition pushes him to the non-Jewish population next door. The Roman governor Gallio throws out the charges brought against him, and Paul later sails east, ending the chapter with Apollos being taught more fully at Ephesus.
Key Background
Corinth sat on a narrow strip of land between two seas and had been refounded by Julius Caesar as a Roman colony, so it was full of freed slaves, traders and transient workers, a city known for money and for its temples. Aquila and Priscilla were in Corinth because Claudius had expelled Jews from Rome around AD 49, a detail Roman historians also record. Gallio was the brother of the philosopher Seneca, and an inscription found at Delphi dates his year in office, which makes this one of the few fixed calendar points in the whole New Testament.
After this, Paul left and went to
There he met a Jewish man named originally from who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because had ordered all Jewish people to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
and because he worked in the same trade, he stayed and worked with them — they were by profession.
Every he would in the trying to win over both Jewish and Greek people.
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Paul devoted himself entirely to getting the message out, to the Jewish people that Jesus was the
But when they pushed back and started throwing insults, he out in protest and told them, is on own I'm not responsible. From now on, I'm going to the
So he left the synagogue and went next door to the house of a man named Titius Justus, who
Crispus, the put his trust in the along with his whole household. And many of the Corinthians who heard Paul also believed and were
One night the Master told Paul in a "Don't be afraid. Keep speaking and don't be silent,
because I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have in this
So Paul stayed there for a year and six months, teaching them
But while was serving as of Achaia, the Jewish leaders made a coordinated move against Paul and brought him before the
"This man," they said, "is convincing people to worship God in ways that violate the
Paul was just about to respond when Gallio said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, if this were about some or I'd have good reason to hear you out.
But since this is just arguments about and and own deal with it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things."
And he had them removed from the
Then they all grabbed the synagogue leader, and beat him right there in front of the court. But Gallio have
Paul stayed on in Corinth for quite a while longer. Then he said goodbye to the and and sailed for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. Before he left, he had in because of a vow he had made.
They arrived in where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and with the Jewish people there.
When they asked him to stay longer, he declined.
But as he said goodbye, he told them, "I'll come back to you if me to." Then he set sail from Ephesus.
After landing at he went up and greeted the and then went down to
After spending some time there, he left and traveled through the region of and one place after another, strengthening all the who the
Meanwhile, a Jewish man named arrived in Ephesus. He was from an impressive speaker, and deeply knowledgeable in the
He had been taught about the of the and spoke with teaching accurately about Jesus — though he only knew about
He began speaking boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard they and explained the of to more completely.
When Apollos wanted to cross over to the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the people who followed the Way there, asking them to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a huge help to those who had come to trust in Jesus through
He publicly the of the Jewish opponents with powerful reasoning, showing from the that Jesus was the