Acts 18:11

ἐκάθισε, see critical note, “he dwelt,” R.V., cf. Luke 24:49, but not elsewhere in N.T. in this sense, but constantly in LXX, 1MMalachi 2:1; 1Ma 2:29. Rendall renders “he took his seat,” i.e., as a teacher, a Rabbi, and see also the remarks of Ramsay on the way in which St. Paul was evidently regarded at Corinth as one of the travelling lecturers on philosophy and morals so common in the Greek world, “Corinth,” Hastings' B.D. 1, p. 482. The word may be purposely used here instead of the ordinary μένειν to indicate the quiet and settled work to which the Apostle was directed by the vision which had calmed his troubled spirit, and had taught him that his cherished plan of revisiting Macedonia must be postponed to preaching the Word in Corinth. During this period 1 and 2 Thess. were probably written. The year and a half is taken to include the whole subsequent residence in Corinth, Acts 18:18, in which Acts 18:12-17 form an episode. Men attacked him with a view of injuring him, but without success, and his continuous abode in Corinth was a fulfilment of the promise in Acts 18:10 (indicated perhaps more clearly by τε than by δέ in Acts 18:11). On ἡμέρας ἱκανὰς, Acts 18:18, see below the words are taken to mark simply a note of the time spent between the incident of Acts 18:12-17 and the departure of Paul from the city. In this period the Apostle would have founded the Church at Cenchreae, and his labours seem to have extended still further, for in 2 Corinthians 1:1 we read of the saints in the whole of Achaia (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:10) and the household of Stephanas is spoken of as the firstfruits not of Corinth but of Achaia.