God has many ways to encourage His people.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Acts 18
Having been run out of town four times in a row, Paul entered the large and decadent city of Corinth at a low point. But there, God sent him co-workers in ministry, significant financial resources, and the reminder that God's mission didn't depend on Paul. God let Paul stay in Corinth for 18 months, building up a very important church in Christian history.
Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. (18:9)
Our Internet Is Back
For those of you wondering why I haven't posted anything for two weeks, we had a hurricane hit our area almost three weeks ago. We're 125 miles away from the nearest coast. My house didn't have power for 2 weeks; our church didn't have internet access for two weeks; cell service has been spotty at best (and we got off easy compared with some of our neighbors). So, a website blog post became the least of anyone's concerns.
For those of you still in the muck, our prayers are with you, and more importantly God is with you.
Getting Started: Things to Think About
How Do You Handle Discouragement?
This seemed an appropriate topic. To say that a lot of folks around here are discouraged would be an understatement. Homes have been destroyed, places of business have been destroyed, cars have been destroyed. And this happened to a lot of people over a wide area, so the "line" for resources is long. Things are rough, and the recovery date seems far away. Discouragement seems like a very natural response.
Think about the time you were most discouraged in life. What were those circumstances? How did you handle it?
Paul's experience in Corinth (this week's passage) has some valuable lessons for us. Luke doesn't talk about them in Acts (he had a different purpose), but Paul talks about them in his letters to the church he planted in Corinth.
1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. (1 Cor 2)
Some people have read that as "Paul's just a meek guy", and there's good reason for that. But let me suggest another possibility. Maybe Paul was discouraged.
Sneaky Double Purpose: Where We Are in Acts
I've missed a couple of weeks, so I have a lot to catch up on. Paul is in his "Second Missionary Journey" about to enter Corinth.
Think about his last few stops:
Philippi (Acts 16) -- After some initial success in evangelism, Paul is thrown in prison and then asked to leave the city by the city magistrates.
Thessalonica (17:1-9) -- After some initial success in evangelism, Paul's enemies start a riot and force Paul to leave town.
Berea (17:10-15) -- After some initial success in evangelism, the same enemies from Thessalonica start more riots and force Paul to leave town.
Athens (17:16-34) -- Paul had very little success in evangelism, and he left because very few people wanted anything to do with him.
See a pattern? If Paul had any success, opposition arose to prevent him from "enjoying" it. And his ministry in Athens basically ended with a whimper. So when he showed up in Corinth, he might have been discouraged and weak (literally). Remember, he had been beaten in Philippi, and he had been mostly on the run ever since. That's no way to let the body heal.
Now, how did Paul handle his discouragement?
4 My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power. (1 Cor 2)
In other words, Paul took away two lessons from his discouraging experiences:
It kept him humble. Paul regularly mentions his "bona fides" -- if anyone could boast about himself and his accomplishments, it was Paul! And boasting about yourself is pretty disastrous when it comes to God's mission.
It kept the focus on God. Think about it -- if Paul went from "success to success", he might start to think that he had the "magic formula" for church planting and evangelism, and then it would become about him and not God.
Paul explains this a little more in his second letter to the church in Corinth:
7 Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12)
In conclusion, how did Paul handle discouragement?
He saw it as God building his faith.
He saw it as God keeping him humble.
He saw it as God making space for God's power to shine.
I don't know if any of those help you right now, but they might.
The Definition of Insanity
You've all heard this: "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results". What do you think the point of that saying is?
There's a huge flaw in that saying, and the flaw is rooted in another famous saying: "you can never step into the same river twice". What do you think that saying means?
In other words, you can never do the "exact" same thing in the "exact" same way. Lots of things have changed in the meantime, not the least of which is you.
Having been run out of four towns in a row, Paul would probably have been tempted to think something like "maybe it's me"; "maybe I need to change things". Did Paul need to change things? I would say not; his experience in Corinth played out very differently. Why? The people were different. The city was different. The city's leadership was different. Basically everything was different. But above all else, God's planned outcome was different:
9 The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” (Acts 18)
What I like the least about the proverbial definition of insanity is it puts everything on the human, on us. And that's a terrible mistake:
Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the Lord’s decree will prevail. (Prov 19:21)
So with all of that in mind, I have two questions for discussion:
Have you ever waited too long to make a change in your "routine"?
Have you ever changed your "routine" when you shouldn't have?
Sometimes, the same things happen because we keep making the same mistakes, and God wants us to realize that. But sometimes, we make changes because we want results other than what God is giving and we want to take matters into our own hands. Have you ever been in either of those situations, and what lessons have you learned from them?
This Week's Big Idea: Priscilla and Aquila -or-
Somebody's Gotta Work Around Here
Aside #1: Listing the wife first? Yes, Priscilla is the wife, and yet Luke usually lists her first. Seems strange for that culture, doesn't it? Well, the common explanation is that Aquila was a "common Jew" and maybe even a former slave, whereas Priscilla came from a prominent merchant family (more on this in a sec). Listing her first was a show of respect.
Here are some verses about this husband/wife team:
Acts 18:18 "After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. 19 When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews."
Rom 16:3 "Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus." [Note: Paul is writing to the church in Rome.]
1 Cor 16:19 "The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla send you greetings warmly in the Lord, along with the church that meets in their home." [Note: Paul is writing to the church in Corinth.]
2 Tim 4:19 "Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus." [Note: Paul is writing to Timothy, who was in Ephesus at the time.]
In other words, Priscilla and Aquila got around. They had business dealings in Rome (they had been kicked out of Rome by Claudius but later returned). They had a shop in Corinth. They apparently started a shop in Ephesus. The common understanding is that they had a "multinational" business dealing in tentmaking and leatherworking, and it was evidently successful, owing to them having multiple large houses.
Aside #2: Prisca or Priscilla? "Prisca" is the formal name, "Priscilla" is the familiar name. Luke tended to use the familiar version ("Priscilla" "Silas" "Sopatros") whereas Paul tended to use the formal version ("Prisca" "Silvanus" "Sosipatros"). Just a matter of style.
Now, where am I going with this? If you want to eat, if you want to have a place to meet, somebody has to pay for it, right? So when it comes to the Christian mission, somebody has to "make a living", right? Priscilla and Aquila are two of several people who financially helped Paul on his journeys, and they were apparently very instrumental in helping the church grow in different cities. The hurricane forced me to skip over the lesson about Lydia, a wealthy convert in Philippi who gave Paul and Silas a place to stay while they ministered in the city. In his letters, Paul regularly mentions churches who have sent money to his ministry so he can focus on preaching and evangelism (more on this below).
I have had a few discussions which church members over the years who have worried about the amount of money they make; they feel a kind of guilt over being financially successful. And yes, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Tim 6:10) as Paul said. My advice is generally the same each time: if this is something you worry about, you probably don't "love" money in the way Paul warns. In today's world, financial resources are absolutely necessary for most Christian ministry -- from disaster relief to having a safe place to meet to broadcasting your service on the radio. Those resources have to come from somewhere. I know people who left a "good" job in order to focus on Christian ministry (I'm one of them); I know people who stayed in their "good" job so they could help many (many) people in their Christian ministries. That's between you and God.
But somebody's gotta make the money.
Part 1: God's Encouragement through People (Acts 18:1-4)
After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 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 came to them, 3 and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked. 4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.
Corinth is only about 50 miles from Athens, but it couldn't have been more different.
Corinth had twenty times the population of Athens (~200,000), and it was a commercial hub for the region. Where Athens was filled with "thinkers", Corinth was filled with "workers". Corinth was also incredibly immoral, being the center of Aphrodite worship (the goddess of love) and her thousand temple prostitutes. "To Corinthianize" was used as a verb for sexual immorality. Not surprisingly, the city was a favorite for Roman emperors, and it came to host the biannual Isthmian Games.
And this is where Paul went after his depressing exit from Athens.
But God immediately went to work encouraging Paul.
What do you think are the "odds" that Paul would find Jewish Christians who were also tentmakers in Corinth? They've got to be pretty small, right? (Luke doesn't say anything about Paul converting them, so they must have become Christians before being evicted from Rome.) And Paul "finds" them.
Really. Think about this for a while. What better way could God have encouraged Paul in that moment? Paul met somebody who was already Christian -- meaning that Paul wasn't the only one doing evangelism. Paul met somebody who was Jewish -- meaning they understood his ministry model. Paul met somebody who was a tentmaker -- meaning he could work with his hands with them (see 1 Cor 9), which can be very therapeutic. And Paul met somebody with financial means -- meaning he could eat well and maybe even benefit from the famous hospitals in Corinth, recovering his strength and well-being.
It's no wonder that Paul would come to think of Priscilla and Aquila not just as important fixtures and ministry supporters, but as dear friends and loyal partners.
Aside: Why doesn't Luke give these details about them? Well, remember that Luke's "protagonist" is Paul. He's focusing on Paul, and thus the other characters "matter" in so much as they help Paul. This is why it is so helpful that we have Paul's letters to fill in some of the "emotional gaps" in Luke's writing.
So, with supportive, like-minded Christian partners, Paul gets back to the work as he understood it -- going to the synagogue and reasoning with the Jews there (and curious Greeks). This is not "insanity" -- this is Paul doing what he believed God told him to do. Priscilla and Aquila were the "divine jolt" to help Paul stay committed to his mission.
Application: Professional Organizations.
This is in the Lifeway material, and I like where they were going with it. What we do for a living can give us lots of natural connections with other people in similar types of work. Have you ever tried to leverage that for Christian ministry? Or for Christian encouragement? Some lines of work are really tough for Christians, and it can make all the difference to connect with another Christian who is facing the same challenges. If you don't already have those sorts of connections, what might you do this week to start finding them?
Application: The Power of People
More than anything, I see these verses as God's "lifeline" to a discouraged Paul. "You're not alone." "It doesn't all depend on you." "You have help and support." Think about times in your life when God used people to encourage you. Have you thanked them? What are ways you can be an encouragement to somebody today?
There are a lot of people around us who need encouragement right now.
Part 2: God's Encouragement through Fruitful Ministry (Acts 18:5-11)
5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. 6 When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized. 9 The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.
Paul's work in Corinth follows the same path as in other cities, but it doesn't end the same way. Paul stays in Corinth for 18 months helping build up the church there!
Silas's and Timothy's arrival accomplishes much more than "more people to share the work". We have Paul's other letters to thank for these details:
1 Thess 3:6 "But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love. He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you."
2 Cor 11:9 "When I was present with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, since the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have kept myself, and will keep myself, from burdening you in any way."
In other words, Silas and Timothy brought encouraging news from a church Paul had left under difficult circumstances (Thessalonica). Paul was clearly burdened for the Christians there -- he probably worried if he had done enough for them -- and he didn't have a cell phone to check in. Just that news probably uplifted Paul in a powerful way. But they also brought money (particularly from Philippi), so Paul would not have to feel the financial uncertainty that so many missionaries today feel. Both of those things must have encouraged Paul immeasurably. They gave him the foundation to feel like he could do the bold thing of shifting his focus from the Jews to the Greek.
Making that step meant to Paul that he would need to leave the Jewish household of Priscilla and Aquila (more symbolic than anything) and find a Greek man to put him up. Not coincidentally, the next-door neighbor of the synagogue was a Greek man who had been converted to Christianity (likely dues to Paul's work in the synagogue). And Paul didn't have to ask Titus Justus for a free lunch -- he had the resources to pay his fair share and focus entirely on his preaching and evangelism.
Things were looking good.
And in his previous stops, this was usually when the bottom dropped out.
That's why Luke wanted to report God's encouraging words to Paul: "Things are going to be different in Corinth; I'm going to give you a long ministry here." (Why Corinth? It could have been anywhere, right? Well, Corinth was the largest and most important city in the region, so it makes sense that Paul would have the greatest opportunity here. But there's more -- see the next section.)
Aside: Financial Freedom
In our Sunday School, we are taking a few weeks to go through an excellent stewardship study called "I was broke; now I'm not". A foundational lesson we have learned many times so far is this: plans and dreams require resources, and "planned money" goes a lot further than "unplanned money". Paul was willing to earn his living in Corinth, knowing that every hour he spent working was an hour he didn't spend evangelizing. But when the money to support him arrived from Philippi, he could redo his entire schedule. He knew how much money it would take to meet his needs (not much), so he knew how long that money would last if he was diligent and responsible. What are your dreams? What financial steps are you taking to be able to achieve those dreams in the future?
Application: Teams and Resources
In that church planter prayer calendar I mentioned a few weeks ago, a regular theme is "Pray that God will grow our core team and help us build the resources to afford a consistent place to worship". Here in Corinth, Paul found those things. First, he met Priscilla and Aquilla, loyal partners who would be instrumental in providing places of worship for the early churches. Second, Silas and Timothy arrived, doubling the size of the team and also bringing important financial resources to enable Paul to pour jet fuel into his evangelistic ministry.
Pray for all of those churches (and church planters) who are trying to build a team and raise necessary resources. And if you're in that position yourself, remain faithful to God's mission and attentive to God's guidance.
The Important Verses Our Lesson Skips
Lifeway skips over verses 12-17:
12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal. 13 “This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” 14 As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews. 15 But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.” 16 So he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.
I guess I understand, but these are super-important verses to Luke and his broader purpose for Acts. Remember that Luke wrote Acts in part as an apologetic for the early Christian church in the Roman empire -- "Christians are good Roman citizens and do not deserve harassment or persecution."
Gallio was a member of a very important family. His brother was Lucius Seneca (yes, "the" Seneca). Seneca wrote about his brother's charm and goodwill. [Corinth was the capital of the senatorial province of Achaia, meaning it was led by a proconsul. (Macedonia, on the other hand, was an imperial province which was led by a praetor. Don't ask me "why" when it comes to Roman politics.)] Gallio was appointed consul sometime in mid-AD 51 (and he wasn't there for very long). This would suggest that Paul was in Corinth for ~8 months before Gallio came along.
This would only make sense as an opportunity for Paul's enemies to get Paul in trouble. But Gallio quickly shot them down -- Paul's "crimes" were not against Rome, but an internal religious dispute not worthy of his time.
This would be an important precedent for Christians to point to for the next decade. A well-respected consul ruled in favor of a Christian, giving validity to Christianity as a "recognized" religion.
This is part of Luke's mission in the book of Acts to demonstrate the place of Christianity among the recognized religions in the empire. Well-respected men and women can think favorably of Christianity and even choose to follow Christ!
Note that when Nero became emperor in the mid-60's, everything would change for Christians and Jews. But I proposed that Luke wrote Acts in the early 60s, before Nero's persecution began, so his hopeful tone is legitimate.
Part 3: God's Encouragement through Continued Guidance (Acts 18:18-21)
18 After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. 19 When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined, 21 but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
How else could God encourage Paul? By continuing to give him assignments. God can't be through with you if He keeps giving you things to do, right?
Readers get hung up on this head-shaving comment. How could we not? The truth is that we don't know what vow Paul took. It could have been a type of Nazirite vow; it could have been as simple as "when I leave Corinth alive, I'll shave my head"; whatever it was, it was personal to Paul.
Note that Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus. This is almost certainly because they had business to do there. Perhaps they wanted to build a new branch. Ephesus was an important city and seaport. But note that while they were there, they were the hosts for the church in Ephesus, so they mixed business with mission (1 Cor 16:19).
Paul didn't stay in Ephesus for long, but he would be back, and then he would stay for two years (19:10). Luke doesn't give us the reason for Paul's urgency to leave; neither does he tell us what Silas and Timothy did during this time. And that's okay. We aren't entitled to every answer!
Final note: We're going to be talking about Ephesus again next week, so I recommend not going into detail about the city. Save it for next week!
I see this lesson as a chance to talk about all of the ways God encouraged Paul, following with a discussion of all the ways God has encouraged us, even in the aftermath of a hurricane. God bless you!