Acts 18:7 - Meaning and Application

Here we are told, first, that Paul changed his place of meeting. Christ had told his disciples, when he sent them out, not to go from house to house (Luke 10:7), but there were times when this was necessary, as it was here. Paul left the synagogue because the unbelieving Jews were so stubborn, and he went into the house of a man named Justus (Acts 18:7). It seems he did not go there to live, since he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, but to preach. When the Jews would not let him continue his work peacefully in their meeting place, this honest man opened his home and offered him a place to preach, and Paul accepted.

This was not the first time God’s ark, his special presence among his people, had rested in a private house. When Paul could not freely preach in the synagogue, he preached in a house without any loss to his message. Notice both the man and his house. The man was close to a Jew in religion, a worshiper of God. He was not an idolater, though he was a Gentile, but one who worshiped the God of Israel alone, like Cornelius. Since Paul had to leave the Jews and turn to the Gentiles, he still tried to avoid giving offense to the Jews as much as he could. Even when he had to break with them, he still wanted to be considerate toward them.

The house was right next to the synagogue. Some may think this was meant to draw people away from the synagogue, but it seems better to take it as an act of charity. Paul came as close to them as he could, ready to return if they were willing to receive his message and would stop contradicting and insulting it.

Second, Paul quickly saw the fruit of his work among both Jews and Gentiles. Crispus, a Jew and an important man, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord Jesus, along with his whole household (Acts 18:8). It honored the gospel that some rulers and people of high standing, in both church and state, accepted it. This made the Jews even more without excuse, because the ruler of their synagogue, who was likely better informed in the Scriptures and more zealous for their religion than most, believed the gospel while they opposed and slandered it. Not only he, but his whole house believed, and they were likely baptized with him by Paul (1 Corinthians 1:14).

Many Corinthians, who were Gentiles, also believed and were baptized. Some of them had lived badly, as Paul later says, “such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11). They first heard, because faith comes by hearing. Some may have come with a troubled conscience, sensing that their way of life was wrong. Most likely, many came only out of curiosity, because this was a new teaching. But hearing, they believed through God’s power working in them. Believing, they were baptized, and by that they openly took the name of Christ and received the privileges of Christians.

Third, Paul was strengthened by a vision to keep working at Corinth (Acts 18:9). The Lord Jesus spoke to him by night in a vision. While Paul was thinking over his work, talking with himself in bed, and wondering whether he should stay, what approach he should take, and whether there was much hope of success, Christ came to him at exactly the right time and comforted him with divine encouragement. He renewed Paul’s call to preach the gospel: “Do not be afraid of the Jews,” though they were very angry, perhaps even more so because the chief ruler of their synagogue had converted. “Do not be afraid of the city officials, for they have no power against you except what is given from above. You are pleading heaven’s cause, so speak boldly. Do not be afraid of their words or discouraged by their looks. Speak, and do not stay silent. Do not hold back from speaking because of fear. Speak plainly, fully, and courageously, like an ambassador for Christ.”

He also promised his own presence, which was enough to strengthen Paul and give him courage. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you,” to protect you, support you, and bring you through every fear. “Speak, and do not stay silent, for I am with you,” to approve what you say, work with you, and confirm the word by following signs. The same promise that confirmed the great commission, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:19-20), is repeated here. Those who have Christ with them do not need to fear and should not draw back.

He also gave Paul a promise of protection. “No one will attack you to harm you,” meaning that Paul would not be driven away by persecution as he had been in other places. This does not mean no one would try to attack him, since the next news is that he is brought before the judgment seat (Acts 18:12). It means they would not succeed in hurting him. Their anger would be held back. He would not be beaten and imprisoned there, as he had been at Philippi. Paul had first suffered rough treatment, and now he was comforted in proportion to the suffering he had already endured. Troubles will not last forever (Psalm 66:10-12). We may also understand it more generally: “No one will attack you to do evil to you.” Whatever trouble they caused, there would be no real harm in it. They might kill him, but they could not truly hurt him, because the Lord was with him (Psalm 23:4; Isaiah 41:10).

Finally, Christ gave him hope of success: “I have many people in this city.” Therefore no one would be able to stop his work, therefore the Lord would be with him in it, and therefore he should go on with courage and joy. There were many in Corinth who would be effectively called through Paul’s ministry, and in them he would see the fruit of his labor. “I have many people here” means, “There are many here who belong to me.” The Lord knows those who are his, and he also knows those who will be his, because they become his by his own work in them. They are known to him in all his works. “I have them, though they do not yet know me, though they are still held captive by Satan at his will.” The Father has given them to Christ, to be a people for his service. Their names are written in the book of life. Christ will lose none of those given to him. Those he planned to save, he also called.

In this city, which was very corrupt and full of sexual impurity, there was also a temple of Venus, and many people went there. Yet even in that mass, which seemed to be all useless chaff, there was wheat. In that material, which seemed to be all waste, there was gold. So we should not lose hope about any place, because even in Corinth Christ had many people.

Paul stayed there for a long time, as Acts 18:11 says, a year and six months. He did not stay to rest, but to keep working, teaching them the word of God. Because Corinth was a city people came to from many places, he also had a chance to preach the gospel to visitors and send the message out from there to other countries.

He stayed so long, first, to bring in those who were still outside. Christ had many people there, and by the power of his grace he could have brought them all in during one month or one week, as happened when the gospel first began and thousands were gathered at once. But God works in different ways. The people Christ had in Corinth had to be called one by one, some through one sermon and some through another. We do not yet see everything placed under Christ, so Christ’s ministers should keep doing their duty, even if the work is not finished at once, or even if it moves forward only a little at a time.

He stayed there also to build up those who were already inside the church. People who are converted still need to be taught the word of God. At Corinth, they especially needed Paul himself to teach them. As soon as the good seed was planted in that field, the enemy came and sowed weeds, the false apostles, those deceitful workers that Paul later speaks of with such grief in his letters to the Corinthians. When Jewish persecutors, who openly hated the gospel, were no longer able to trouble him, Paul faced a different and more painful harm. The church was damaged by Jewish-Christian teachers who, while claiming the Christian name, were actually undermining the very foundations of Christianity.

Soon after Paul came to Corinth, it is thought, he wrote the first letter to the Thessalonians, which was the first of all his letters written by divine inspiration in the order they were given. He wrote the second letter to that same church not long after. Ministers can serve Christ and advance the great purposes of their work not only by preaching sermons, but also by writing helpful letters.