Chapter 18

After these things Paul, having departed from Athens, came to Corinth. And finding a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife—because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome—he came to them; and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by trade they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them: Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; from now on I will go to the Gentiles. He came to Corinth. He was led by the Spirit to Corinth, where he had to remain. For the Athenians, though they were lovers of novel discourse, nevertheless paid no heed. For they were not earnest about this, but only to always have something to say. So it seemed sufficient to Paul to cast down the seeds there. For under Nero Paul was perfected, but under Claudius the war against the Jews was being kindled, and they were being driven from Rome as pestilent persons. Therefore it is providentially arranged that he be led there as a prisoner, so that he might not be driven out as a Jew. “And because Aquila was of the same trade, he stayed with him and worked.” He remains because he found a suitable lodging. For it was more suitable for him than many royal palaces, just as for the athlete the wrestling-arena is more useful than soft couches, and for the warrior an iron sword is needed, not a golden one. “He shook out his garments and said to them.” So as to frighten them not by word only, but also by deed. “Your blood be upon your own heads.” The saying is obscure. I think he says this: Everyone who apostatizes from Christ, who is life, seems to kill himself, passing from life to death, in a manner pouring out his own blood through the slaughter which he brings upon himself. So this is what he says: Since by unbelief you slay yourselves, you yourselves will pay the penalty for this very thing, while I am innocent. From this one may say that he who slays himself is punished by God as a murderer.

Acts 18:7–11. And departing from there, he came into the house of a certain man named Justus, who worshiped God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision by night: Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one will set upon you to harm you, because I have many people in this city. And he stayed a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God. “…whose house adjoined.” So that from this also he had zeal, from the nearness. “And Crispus the ruler of the synagogue believed in the Lord.” This is that Crispus, he says, about whom he says: I baptized no one except Crispus and Gaius. “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent.” What he especially needed, this the Lord tells him afterward. For nothing so grieved Paul as those who refused to believe.

Acts 18:12–18. Now while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying: This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews: If indeed there were some wrong or wicked crime, O Jews, I would reasonably have borne with you; but if it is a question about a word and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; for I do not wish to be a judge of these matters. And he drove them away from the judgment seat. And all the Greeks seized Sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue and beat him before the judgment seat; and none of these things mattered to Gallio. And Paul, having stayed yet many days, took leave of the brothers and sailed away to Syria—and with him Priscilla and Aquila—having shorn his head at Cenchreae, for he had a vow. “The Jews rose up with one accord.” How then did they attack him? someone might ask. By suddenly seizing him. And yet they prevailed nothing, but brought him to the proconsul. But he walled off the court against them. He seems to me to have been a fair-minded man. “And seizing Sosthenes.” As for their beating Sosthenes: either they beat him because he too, like Crispus the ruler of the synagogue, was rather attached to Paul; or they had been driven to such madness that, having failed of their purpose, they beat Sosthenes instead of Paul; or they beat him because they wished to murder Paul and Sosthenes prevented them. And acting impiously in the very presence of the ruler, they beat Sosthenes, saying this: If whoever wishes does what he wishes, and there is no law any longer, then behold, we too beat this man. But the proconsul did not take notice of them, but let them beat one another; since if they had done this against some other person and not against themselves, he would surely have brought them to their senses. “And there sailed with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head at Cenchreae.” Since it seemed to the Jews that he taught apostasy from the law, and many were scandalized at him and did not receive his preaching, for this reason both here and in the temple at Jerusalem he does this with a high purpose; and this is the very thing he said: I became to those under the law as under the law, that I might gain those under the law. “For he had a vow.” By vow he means the promise. For he had promised to cut off his hair, so that he might no longer practice the things of worldly men as a worldly man, but, living according to God, might remain devoted to the Church. And Aquila too by vow cut off his hair. For those who wished to live in a godly way did this; but it was also an ancient custom among the Jews. And so it is fitting that both monks and the canonical women shear their hair.

Acts 18:19–21. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. And when they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, but took leave of them, saying: I must by all means keep the coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, if God wills. “If God wills.” “And he left them there.” He left these two in Ephesus, fittingly, as teachers; for having been with him so long a time, they had learned much. As for “I will return again to you”—Paul, being a prophet and seeing that he was to return, promised to return again. And lest anyone out of rashness do the same thing, improperly promising to do this or that, he taught us to promise nothing concerning the future without saying “if God wills.” For no one knows what the coming day will bring forth. Foolish, then, is the one who does not qualify his promise with “if the Lord wills.” For if anyone promises confidently that he will certainly do it, he will often hear these words: “Fool, this night your soul will be required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

Acts 18:22–23. And he set sail from Ephesus, and going down to Caesarea, he went up and greeted the Church, and went down to Antioch. And having spent some time there, he departed, going through the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. It was always Paul’s custom to visit the faithful and strengthen them, so that if he found them grown weak, he might lighten their burdens by his teacher’s word of admonition.

Acts 18:24–25. Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, being mighty in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. There are some who affirm that this Apollos is the Apollos who was bishop of the Corinthians, about whom Paul writes: “Concerning Apollos our brother, I strongly urged him”; and also: “I planted, Apollos watered.” And if this is true, consider: either the man had two names, or else one of the names was afterward changed into the other.

Acts 18:26–28. Knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him to themselves and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he intended to go into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to receive him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed, through grace. For he powerfully refuted the Jews publicly, showing through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. If this man knew only the baptism of John, how is he fervent in the Spirit? For the Spirit was not given in this way. And if those after him needed the baptism of Christ, much more would he himself have needed it. What then is to be said? It seems to me that this man was one of those baptized together with the apostles; or, if not this, then what happened in the case of Cornelius happened also in his. And besides, John’s baptism had only an exhortation to repentance, but did not at the same time bring cleansing from sin; so that this is the difference between John’s baptism and that of the faithful: that the baptism of the faithful grants forgiveness of sins, since the believer is baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and is washed from his former errors. But if those baptized by John did not have the Holy Spirit, how did Apollos, baptized only into John’s baptism, burn with the Spirit? Yet even so, even if he burned with the Spirit, he did not have the Holy Spirit, for he neither spoke in tongues nor prophesied. It is one thing to be fervent in the Spirit, and another to have the Holy Spirit. He who has the Holy Spirit has it dwelling in him, and the Spirit itself speaks to him from within, as it spoke to the apostles, now forbidding them to speak the word, now commanding them. But he who is fervent in the Spirit acts by illumination and exhortation from without, being guided by the Spirit; for from sensible things one must infer the invisible. “He powerfully refuted the Jews publicly.” Now to refute them “publicly” showed boldness; to do so powerfully manifested power; and to do so “demonstrating from the Scriptures” showed his knowledge. For neither does boldness accomplish anything when there is no power, nor power when there is no boldness.