Acts 18:1 - Meaning and Application

Paul does not seem to have suffered much persecution in Athens, nor was he forced to leave because of rough treatment. Since his reception there was cold and there seemed little hope of doing much good, he left Athens. He left the believers there, with Dionysius taking care of them, and went on to Corinth. There, God used him to help plant a church that later became important in many ways.

Corinth was the leading city of Achaia, which was then a Roman province. It was a rich and grand city. People used to say, “Not every man can go to Corinth,” because the city was so famous and so hard to match. The land around it is called the Morea today.

Here we see Paul working for his living (Acts 18:2, 3). Though he had been trained as a scholar, he also knew a practical trade. He made tents, or perhaps tent coverings, for soldiers and shepherds, from cloth, leather, or skins. The Jews often taught their children a trade, even when they also gave them learning or property. Rabbi Judah said that a father who does not teach his son a trade is like one who teaches him to steal. Another rabbi said that a trade in a man’s hand is like a fenced vineyard. An honest trade, one that helps a man earn bread, should never be looked down on.

Paul was a Pharisee and had studied under Gamaliel, one of the leading Jewish teachers. Yet he did not lose his skill through not using it. Even though the churches he planted and the people he preached to had a duty to support him, he still worked at his trade to provide for himself. This shows his humility, and it is striking that such a great man would stoop so low. But he had learned this from his Master, who came not to be served, but to serve.

It also shows how industrious Paul was, and how ready he was to work hard. He had so much important work to do with his mind, yet when needed he did not think it beneath him to labor with his hands. Even those redeemed from the law’s curse are still under the rule that bread comes by the sweat of the face. Paul also wanted to keep his ministry above suspicion. He supported himself so that no one could say he made the gospel a burden (2 Corinthians 11:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:8, 9).

Though he likely knew his trade well, he did not refuse to work as a journeyman. He worked with Aquila and Priscilla, who were in the same trade, and likely earned only day wages, just enough to live on. Poor tradesmen should be thankful if their work supports their households, even if they cannot build wealth like rich merchants.

Paul was a great apostle, yet he chose to work with Aquila and Priscilla because they were well taught in the things of God, as he later shows (Acts 18:26). He also says that they had been his helpers in Christ Jesus (Romans 16:3). This is a good example for anyone seeking service or companionship: look for places and people that can help your soul. It is wise to work with those who can be helpers in Christ Jesus. It is good to keep company with people who help us grow in the knowledge of Christ and who are set on serving the Lord.

Aquila was a Jew born in Pontus, where many Jews from the dispersion lived (1 Peter 1:1). He had recently come from Italy to Corinth, so he seems to have moved often. This world is not a place where we can expect a lasting settlement. He had left Italy because Emperor Claudius Caesar had issued an order banishing all Jews from Rome. Jews were widely disliked, and people often took chances to insult and mistreat them. God’s people were like a speckled bird, with the birds around it against it (Jeremiah 12:9).

Even though Aquila was a Christian, he suffered exile because he had been a Jew. Gentiles often had such confused ideas that they did not clearly distinguish between Jews and Christians. Suetonius, in his account of Claudius, says this happened in the ninth year of his reign. He says the Jews were expelled because they were always causing riots, and that it happened over Christ, with some strongly for him and others bitterly against him. Those tensions alarmed the government and stirred up the emperor, who was a timid and suspicious man, to drive them out. If Jews persecute Christians, it is no surprise when pagans persecute both.

Here we also see Paul preaching to the Jews and trying to bring them to faith in Christ, both the native Jews and the Greeks, meaning those who had partly embraced the Jewish religion and attended their meetings. He reasoned with them publicly in the synagogue every Sabbath. This shows how the apostles spread the gospel, not by force, violence, fire, or sword, and not by demanding blind obedience. They used fair arguments. They spoke as people do when they draw with human cords. They gave reasons for what they taught and allowed objections, with answers ready.

God invites us to reason with him (Isaiah 1:18), and he challenges sinners to present their case and bring forward their strong arguments (Isaiah 41:21). Paul was a preacher who used both reason and Scripture. He also persuaded them. That can mean he urged them earnestly, not only arguing with them but pleading with them for God’s sake, for their own souls, and for their children, not to refuse the salvation offered to them. It can also mean his preaching had success, and he won some of them over to his view. Some were convinced by his arguments and came to Christ.

He became even more earnest when his fellow workers arrived. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia and brought him good news from the churches there, they were ready to help him and strengthen him. Then Paul was pressed in spirit more than before, and that made him preach with even greater urgency.

Paul was grieved by the stubbornness and unbelief of his fellow Jews, and this made him even more eager to see them turn to Christ. The love of Christ constrained him, that is, it pressed him on in spirit to keep on speaking to them (2 Corinthians 5:14). So he testified to the Jews with full seriousness about what he knew was true, declaring the faithful message that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah promised to their fathers and long expected by them.

Many of the Jews, in fact most of them, kept resisting the gospel. They would not yield to the strongest arguments or the kindest appeals. They opposed Paul and blasphemed. They lined up against the gospel, as if gathering for battle, and joined together to block its spread. Since they could not answer the truth, they turned to insults. They spoke against Christ, and in doing so, against God himself (Revelation 13:5-6).

At that point Paul declared that he was free from responsibility toward them and left them to the result of their own unbelief. The one who had been pressed in spirit to speak to them was now pressed in spirit to speak against them, and he showed this with a sign. He shook out his clothing, like shaking dust from it, as a witness against them, just as earlier others had shaken dust from their feet (Acts 13:51). In this way he showed that he was clear of their guilt, while also warning them of God’s judgment.

Paul had done his duty, and his conscience was clear. Like a faithful watchman, he had warned them, and so he had delivered his own soul, even though he could not save theirs. He had tried every way to persuade them, but all had failed. So if they perished in unbelief, their blood would not be required at his hand. This points back to Ezekiel 33:8-9, and it is a great comfort to ministers when their conscience can testify that they have faithfully warned sinners.

At the same time, their ruin would come from themselves alone. “Your blood be on your own heads” means that they would be their own destroyers. Their nation would be ruined in this world, and individual people would be ruined in the world to come. If anything could have frightened them into accepting the gospel, this warning should have done it.

Even so, when he gave them over, he did not stop his work. Though Israel was not gathered, Christ and his gospel would still be honored. “From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” The Jews could not fairly complain, because they had been offered the gospel first, and the offer had been made sincerely. The first guests would not come, so the feast must not go to waste, and guests must be found on the highways and hedges. We would have gathered the Jews and healed them, but they would not (Matthew 23:37; Jeremiah 51:9). Christ must not be left without a body, or a foundation without a building, so if they will not come, others must be called. In this way, the Jews’ fall and loss became the riches of the Gentiles, and Paul said this openly, not only because it was true, but to stir the Jews to envy and bring them back if possible (Romans 11:12, 14).