Acts 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the final part of the second missionary journey of Paul, together with Silas and Timothy, and the beginning of the third missionary journey. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.
This part of the second missionary journey of Paul took place in c. AD 50–52, based on the time when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia.
Corinth (18:1–11)
This part records the founding of the church in Corinth, which was administrative center of the Roman province of Achaea and to become an important center for the Paul's mission. Luke notes the first meeting of Paul with Aquila and Priscilla, who are to become his important associates, well known to the Corinthian church.
Verse 1
Paul traveled from Athens to Corinth, a distance of about 82 km on modern roads.
Luke simplified the story of Paul's mission in Corinth as it follows a familiar sequence.
"Silas and Timothy": see,.
Gallio (18:12–17)
Following a relatively quiet period of church growth, opposition flares up again and Paul is brought before the proconsul Gallio. Proconsuls were in office only for one year, so this name provides an important chronological indicator for Luke's narrative, one of the key dates for New Testament chronology.
Verse 12
Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus or Gallio was a Roman senator and brother of famous writer Seneca. He was the proconsul of Achaia. According to this chapter, he dismissed the charge brought by the Jews against the Apostle Paul. His behaviour on this occasion showed his disregard for Jewish sensitivities, and also the impartial attitude of Roman officials towards Christianity in its early days. Gallio's tenure can be fairly accurately dated to between 51–52 AD. The reference to proconsul Gallio in the Delphi Inscription, or Gallio Inscription provides an important marker for developing a chronology of the life of Apostle Paul by relating it to the trial of Paul in Achaea mentioned in this chapter. Therefore, the events of Acts 18 can be dated to this period. This is significant because it is the most accurately known date in the life of Paul. Matthew Henry claims that the crowd that beat up Sosthenes was enraged at Paul and Gallio. They demonstrated that if Gallio would not judge that they would. Gallio's indifference to the case against Paul could be commendable for its impartiality. However Gallio's indifference to the beating up of an innocent man, Sosthenes, carried indifference too far, not only showing a contempt for the case, but also for the people presenting the case.
At some point after a long and successful mission in Corinth, Paul decides to return to his base in Syria.
Verse 18
Matthew Henry claimed that the original text is ambiguous as to who had their hair cut off, it could have been Aquila or Paul. The vow was likely a Nazarite vow with the hair cut signifying completion of the vow period.
In an interlude, Luke gives a rare glimpse of Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew, an independent missionary at work within the almost-exclusive Pauline sphere. Apollos is a member of one of the largest Jewish communities in the ancient world, with a complex and well-established tradition of philosophical hermeneutics of which Philo is the best-known proponent. Perhaps because he displays some of the 'wisdom' that Paul lacks, Apollos has gained a following within the Corinthian church. Apollos received a sufficiently Christian instruction to speak about 'the way of the Lord', but it stops short at the 'baptism of John'. Priscilla and Aquila presumably heard Apollos in the synagogue and then provide whatever further instruction is needed.
Verse 26
"More perfectly": translated from Greek ἀκριβέστερον, , "more accurately".
