In Corinth: Leaving the Synagogue
Acts 18After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul visited them, and because he practiced the same trade (their craft was tentmaking), he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, attempting to persuade Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they opposed him and vilified him, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Y’all’s blood be on your* own heads! I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the ethnic groups!”
So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and his entire house believed in the Lord. Many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized.
One night, the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.” So Paul stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews united with one mind to attack Paul and brought him before the place of judgment, saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” But just as Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed this was a matter of wrongdoing or an actual crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to y’all Jews. But if these are questions about words and names in y’all’s own law, then y’all can look into it. I won’t be the judge of such matters.” So he drove them away from the judgment seat.
Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.
In Ephesus: Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos
After staying many more days in Corinth, Paul said farewell to the siblings, and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchreae, he shaved his head because he had taken a vow. They arrived in Ephesus, Paul left them there. But he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay a longer time, he declined. Instead, he said farewell and added, “I will come back to y’all if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem+18:22 The word Jerusalem is not in the text, but the verb “went up to” in this context implies it. and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he set out and passed successively through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man and strong in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and with a fervent spirit, he spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and they explained to him the way of God more accurately.
When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the siblings encouraged him, and they wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed by grace. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.