Acts 18 - Introduction

THE BOOK OF ACTS. CHAPTER 18

OUTLINE AND COMMENTARY. MARK DUNAGAN

I. OUTLINE OF CHAPTER 18:

I. Paul in Corinth: Acts 18:1-18

A. Working with Priscilla and Aquila: Acts 18:1

B. Arrival of Silas and Timothy: Acts 18:5-8

C. Jesus' promise: Acts 18:9-10

D. Before Gallio: Acts 18:11-17

II. End of second missionary journey and beginning of third: Acts 18:18-23

III. Apollos: Acts 18:24-28

Before we move into this chapter we need to set the stage. Here we see the strength and resolve of the Apostle Paul, because many things were happening at this time that could have completely overwhelmed or discouraged men with less faith. The situation back in Thessalonica: While Paul is at Corinth, he will write two letters to the Church at Thessalonica,. congregation of relatively new converts who are facing persecution and false doctrine (1 Thessalonians 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:1 ff) He was all by himself until he meet Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2). Instead of being able to devote all his time to teaching and preaching, initially he had to support himself (Acts 18:3). "Financial need is always depressing, and particularly when one sees that this Christian work is suffering for lack of more liberal support" (Erdman p. 143). The vast size of Corinth: "Corinth at its zenith had nearly three-quarters of. million people" (Stott p. 293). Imagine being initially the only Christian in the Portland metropolitan area and being given the task to evangelize this community. The pride and immorality of the Corinthians: "The Corinthians were. proud people. Their intellectual arrogance emerges clearly in Paul's correspondence with them. They were proud of their city, which Julius Caesar had beautifully rebuilt in 46 B.C. They boasted of its wealth and culture, of the world-famous Isthmian games which it hosted every other year, and of its political prestige as the capital of provincial Achaia, taking precedence even over Athens. Secondly, Corinth was associated in everybody's mind with immorality. Behind the city, nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, rose the rocky eminence called the Acrocorinth. On its flat summit stood the temple of Aphrodite or Venus, the goddess of love.. thousand female slaves served her and roamed the city's streets by night as prostitutes. The sexual promiscuity of Corinth was proverbial, 'korinthiastes' was. synonym for. harlot. Corinth was 'the Vanity Fair of the Roman Empire'" (Stott pp. 295-296).

The gospel that Paul preached came into direct collision with such attitudes, because the cross of Christ demands self-humbling (not arrogance) and self-denial (not indulgence) (1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 6:9). Erdman notes, "Commercialism and materialism were absolutely absorbing; and the intellectual pride was almost invincible" (p. 143). Here is. city of which many people would have said, "There is no way that the gospel can penetrate the hearts of those people. They are absorbed in the pursuit of material things, human wisdom, and physical pleasure. The gospel stands for everything they don't want". And yet, many people in this city did become Christians (Acts 18:10). Paul's stay in Corinth should teach us that you can never judge. person's possible receptiveness to the gospel by their current attitudes. People can put on. good front, and people who look like they are self-satisfied, happy, content, fulfilled, and on top of the world, might actually be starving on the inside for. message of real substance and meaning.