Act 18:1 ¶ After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; COMMENT: After those things which took place in Athens, Saint Paul came to Corinth which is South just across a small body of water where the boot of Greece is broken off from the mainland. You can refer back to the map at the bottom of Chapter fifteen where Paul's THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY is outlined.

Act 18:2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. COMMENT: Emperor Claudius issued an edict banning all Jews from Rome in A.D. 49. This was four years after King Herod Agrippa died suddenly after accepting worship from a multitude which is a form of blaspemy punishable by death under the law of Moses. (Acts 12:20/23).

Act 18:3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. COMMENT: Saint Paul was apparently short of finances for the work. We don't find him passing the famous collection plate of today nor does he make speeches promising what great works God will do if believers donate to the cause. Instead he takes up his trade of tentmaking which ought not to be confused with his credentials as a Pharisee which are of no use to him now that he is preaching against their errors in denying Christ.

Act 18:4 And he reasoned in the Synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. COMMENT: Paul is working during the week as a tentmaker now and is preaching on Saturday with powerful persuasion, convincing both Jews and Greeks in the city of Corinth.

Act 18:5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was PRESSED IN THE SPIRIT, and testified to the Jews [that] Jesus [was] Christ. COMMENT: Here we have a spiritual tip showing those few who would master the anointing, how being PRESSED IN THE SPIRIT was understood by Paul to indicate it was time to testify to the Jews that Jesus was Christ, the Messiah they were looking for. This is to this day the point of contention with the Jewish people in regard to the validity of the New Testament.

Act 18:6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook [his] raiment, and said unto them, Your blood [be] upon your own heads; I [am] clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. COMMENT: Now we find out why the great Saint was PRESSED IN THE SPIRIT. The Jews in Corinth were not preordained by God to accept Christ as their Saviour in this Age; so Paul was able to move on to the Gentiles.

Act 18:7 And he departed from there, and entered into a certain [man's] house, named Justus, [one] that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

Act 18:8 And Crispus, the Chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. COMMENT: Once again, Saint Paul is winning a congregation out of a city in a very short time.

Act 18:9 Then spoke the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your peace: COMMENT: Here is the personal relationship so many speak of, but so few attain to. The Lord appeared to Saint Paul in a vision and spoke to him. You can be sure the supernatural vision was not anything man has ever seen with his natural eyes.

Act 18:10 For I am with you, and no man shall set on you to hurt you: for I have much people in this city. COMMENT: Paul had apparently gotten weary of being beaten and whipped for preaching the gospel, and the Lord seeing it spoke to him reassuringly giving him rest from the violence. This conjecture is supported by Paul working at tentmaking. The poverty was getting to him too.

Act 18:11 And he continued [there] a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. COMMENT: Once it became clear he had an umbrella of divine protection for the preaching and teaching of the gospel in Corinth, Paul was more than willing to remain there as long as the grace of God made it possible.

Act 18:12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, COMMENT: The unbelieving Jews finally had enough after a year and a half and gathering against Paul, they brought him to Gallio who was appointed as proconsul of Achaia for a one-year term in A.D. 51.

Act 18:13 Saying, This [fellow] persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. COMMENT: Here the Jews meant to accuse Paul of violating both the law of Moses and Caesar's law if they were given the opportunity.

Act 18:14/15 And when Paul was now about to open [his] mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words and names, and [of] your law, you look [to it]; for I will be no judge of such [matters]. COMMENT:

Act 18:16 And he drove them from the judgment seat. COMMENT: They must not have been driven very far.

Act 18:17 Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the Chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat [him] before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things. COMMENT: Here you see in a small way the persecution the Jewish people have suffered all over the world. Were Gallio a just judge and ruler, he would have stopped them from beating the Chief ruler of the synagogue. You will also notice Crispus is no longer Chief ruler of the Synagogue after he and his family believed in Jesus Christ, the unbelieving Jews replaced him with Sosthenes who was beaten before the judgment seat.

Act 18:18 ¶ And Paul [after this] tarried [there] yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed from there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn [his] head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow. COMMENT: Paul knew he had gotten all of the mileage he could get out of the Lord's promise of safeguarding him there in Corinth as soon as he had been brought before the judgment seat of the Romans, he knew it was time to move on.

Aquila shaved his head because he had a vow unto God. Shaving the head has always had spiritual significance with Israel.

Act 18:19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the Synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. COMMENT: Ephesus was directly across the Aegean Sea

Act 18:20/21 When they desired [him] to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that comes in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.

Act 18:22 And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch. COMMENT: Paul sailed from Ephesus to Caesarea which would have been a long walk, and there in Caesarea he was back among the first church he and Barnabus had estalished in the faith; so we have no Epistles to them, but to the later churches of the Thessalonians, Corinthians, Philippians and Ephesians; we have Epistles from Saint Paul in the New Testament and the Jewish people of today like the Jewish people of the first Century would be wise to hear what a man made wiser than them by God of their own kinship has to say to them.

Act 18:23 And after he had spent some time [there], he departed, and went over [all] the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. COMMENT: Saint Paul tended to the sheep.

Act 18:24/25 ¶ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, [and] mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. COMMENT: In other words, he had not yet received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Act 18:26 And he began to speak boldly in the Synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto [them], and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. COMMENT: Aquila and Priscilla were discreet. They took Apollos aside where they could talk privately without him losing face. And in private they "expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly" for they were disciples and knew the way of God better than Apollos.

Act 18:27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: Act 18:28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, [and that] publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. COMMENT: Aquila and Priscilla apparently showed him convincing arguments from the Prophets so Apollos was able to mightily convince the Jews "Jesus was Christ."