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Back to the Bible Podcast
Episode 117: Acts 18:1-16
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In this epsiode, we consider Paul's work in the city of Corinth..
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Back to the Bible. Let it be our plea. God's word alone, our authority, every word, every step, in the name of Christ. Back to the Bible for the way of life.
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Thank you for listening in. This is Back to the Bible. My name is Larson Plyler and we are delighted, as always, to have the opportunity to share in a consideration of God's Word. Today we're going to be looking at Acts 18. And so if you have your Bibles close at hand, you might take it and look there. If not, we'll try to read carefully and make it clear what we're trying to say and give good explanation of the Scriptures in the best way that we can. We are thankful for the radio programs that host us. We are thankful for the means by which we can come to you, and we are thankful that you are able to tune in. Most of all, we are thankful to God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, because God originated this wonderful plan. Jesus executed it, and the Holy Spirit has revealed it. And we can hold in our hands, in our own language, the word of the living God. Notice what I said? The word of the living God. There is one God and He has revealed His Word to us in one place. All that God has to say we can find in this book. And every word as we go through is revealed from God. So we have the word of the living God that we can hold in our own hands and we can surely go back to the Bible for it all. Let me make mention of the book that I mentioned on our last program. It's called Anchors in a Sea of Questions. And I wrote it over a several year period. It is not that long as far as books go. But the point of it is not to answer every question about the Bible and about questions that you may have. In fact, it's. It's not that point at all. The point of it is to lay foundations, to put anchors in place. I just think about a young person who goes off to college. And if you're like me when I went off to college, even the New Testament class that I took, or the Old Testament class or the biology class as well, they would raise questions that I didn't know the answer to with regards to Bible contradictions or what science was saying and what I had, and I am thankful to my parents for this and Bible teachers along the way, what I had were anchors in place. So I didn't know all the answers to all the questions that were being raised. But I knew there was a God and I knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and I knew that the Bible was reliable. And on and on and on. There had been so many anchors set in place for me that. That even though I didn't know the answer to every smaller question along the way, that didn't mean that I was adrift. That didn't mean that I was pulled away. Now, I think there were good answers to those questions. I think there were good responses to those, but I didn't have them close at hand. There was no way I could anticipate all the questions. There was no way that I could know every question that would be raised. And there's certainly no way that over the last 35 years of my life, almost 36, there's no way that I could have been prepared for all the questions and challenges that I've had to face. And while I have struggled along the way, there has never been a time where I was unanchored. And that's because of some truths. And so the book that I wrote is thinking about all of that in mind and trying to find scriptural anchors that I can make clear. And that I think will set us firmly where we need to be. If you want to, you can order through the Truth Books or the CEI Bookstore. It's in Athens, Alabama, and it's available there. Or you can go to my website, the website of this program. BackToTheBiblePodcast.com BackToTheBiblePodcast dot com and you can go to the extras up at the top on the menu. And there is a link to the book there. Thank you so much for your consideration of that. And now let's turn our attention to Acts 18. Last time when we looked at the book of Acts, we saw Paul in Acts 17 in the city of Athens. Now, Athens had a reputation for being a very wise and philosophical city. But as we saw Paul's. The response to Paul's teaching there was, I would say, ambivalent. That is, it wasn't like the people were hostile to him. They just didn't care. There were a handful, and let's note that there were some there who became disciples of Jesus. But overall, it was a mockery or it was a. We'll hear you again later on this. And then you had some, like Dionysius the Areopagite and some of the leading women who became followers of Jesus. I want you to note that they were so interested in just hearing new things that when they heard the message about Jesus, they were not struck by it in any meaningful way. They were not pricked by it like those in Acts 2, to repentance. They were not pricked by it like those in Acts chapter seven, to anger. They were simply unmoved. And that is a tragedy in and of itself. There are times where we hear the truth of God's word and we don't let it change us. And we don't get mad about it. We just move on with our lives as if nothing had been said, as if nothing had been read. And that's a danger as well. Well, in Acts 18, the apostle Paul is going to stay in Greece. It was called Achaia, and he's going to stay there, but he's going to go to the city of Corinth. Look at Acts 18, verse 1. After these things, he departed Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, and his wife Priscilla, who recently came from Italy. Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, he came to them. And because he was of the same trade, he was staying with them. And they were working for trade by. They were working for. By trade. They were tent makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks. So leaving Athens, Paul went to Corinth. Now, because of its position on the Greek peninsula, it served as a key trading port between Rome and the rest of the Mediterranean world. If you went kind of southeast from Rome, from the Italian peninsula and ran into Achaia, then you could. There was a very narrow land bridge at Corinth, and goods could be unloaded and loaded back on another ship to be taken on the Aegean Sea and reach Asia Minor, you could, say, sail all the way around that. But many port ships came into Corinth. So it became a key trading point. Now, as a result of that, it became a large city with a rough population. Corinthian society was understood to be wicked, even by the world standard. In fact, the Greek term to Corinthianize was a term which meant to engage in sexual immorality. Now, some have suggested that language was from the distant past of Corinth, but we might say that what was happening is that Roman society was. Was meeting it in its immorality. It was probably not the case that Corinth was getting morally better. Now, Corinth was a colony of Rome, and it became probably the most beautiful and active city in Greece. We often think of places like Athens, Greece, but Corinth was economically and culturally very active. Now, in Corinth, there was a Jewish couple named Aquila and Priscilla. Now, they had been driven from Rome in an ousting of Jews by Caesar Claudius. Now, I don't know what their status was when Paul met them first in Corinth. Were they already disciples of Jesus or do they become disciples of Jesus? I don't know the answer to that. It will be very obvious by the end of the chapter that they will be faithful disciples. But at the beginning, notice that the text says in verse three that because he was of the same trade, he was staying with them. And they were working for by trade. They were tentmakers. Luke explains their connection not on the basis of their connection to Jesus, but on the connection of their trade. Now, maybe Luke would have us assume that Paul would be with them because they were disciples who share the same trade. But that's not what he says here. Now, it's possible that they were already disciples. They were already disciples who. Who were Jews who were living in Rome. Notice that it says that Aquila was a native of Pontus. But they come from Italy because Claudius the Caesar there had gotten rid of all of the Jews out of Rome. And so they come to Corinth. But Paul is able to work with them. And then on the Sabbath he goes to the synagogue. And he's trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks. So he worked making tents, but used the Sabbaths as teaching opportunities. Now, in verse five, when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word, solemnly bearing witness to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads. I am clean from now on. I will go to the Gentiles. Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a God fearer, believed in the Lord. Excuse me. A God fearer whose house was next to the synagogue. And Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and being baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you. And no man will lay a hand on you in order to harm you. For I have many people in this city. And he stayed there a year and six months and teaching the word of God among them. So Silas and Timothy come down from Macedonia. I don't know here, but it may very well be that they Bring a contribution, support from the church at Philippi to Paul at this moment, which allows him to not have to be making tents and allows him to go into full time devotion completely to the Word. Now he's bearing witness. Notice the text says to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. Again. He is explaining to them that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises and the hopes of the Old Testament scriptures. But they notice, resisted, and they blasphemed. He shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads. I am clean from now on, I will go to the Gentiles. We see this repeat itself. I think we've seen it all the way since Acts 13, where Paul will go and he will preach to the Jews, but they will reject the message. And he says, then I'm going to turn to the Gentiles. And he is saying, the guilt of what you've done is going to be on you. The blood is going to be on your own heads. I'm clean. I've met my responsibility. I've done what I'm supposed to do. And so he says, from now on, I'm going to go to the Gentiles. Now he had met his responsibility toward them, but their response demanded a sharp rebuke. So he leaves there and he goes to the house of a man named Titius Justus. He was a God fearer, that term is used, of one who wanted to listen to and obey the Lord, but who had not made the full conversion or proselytization into Judaism. The Gentile God fearer was attending the synagogue, though he was not Jewish. Now next door is where he lived. So here's the synagogue. And you know, a synagogue is like the church building, the meeting location for the Jewish community. Here's the synagogue and then right next door to that, there's Titius Justus house. And that was a pretty convenient location because now Paul can continue his work in spite of the rejection of the Jewish people. But he's right there. And so Justus takes him in. Notice that even Crispus the synagogue leader, believed along with his household. Now, we don't know what his household was composed of, what it was comprised of, but his household, over which he was the leader, over which he was the father and the husband. The whole household responds in belief to the Gospel. Now notice how Luke summarizes their response. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and were being baptized. So while there was resistance, while there was opposition from the Jewish people in Corinth, significant and many Corinthians were convinced by the truth of the gospel, and there was more to come. It might have been surprising to Paul, that and anybody else who knew what Corinth was like. But God told Paul not to be afraid, perhaps because of the Jewish response that he had seen already and to keep on preaching because God said he had many people in the city of Corinth. God could see their hearts, and he knew the kind of people that were there, and he knew that there would be many who would be ready to respond to the gospel. So he stays a year and six months, 18 months. This is longer than we have seen him staying at any of his journey destinations that are recorded up to this point. Now, isn't it strange, or is it that at the heart of human wisdom was at best ambivalent response toward Paul's message? They were intellectual in Athens, but they were not moved by the preaching of the Gospel. But in Corinth, this worldly and wicked city, there were many people who were ready to respond to the lordship of Jesus. Now, of course, there were those in Athens who responded to the gospel, but the positive response rates seem to have been much higher in Corinth. Now, the city of Corinth is really significant. We're going to have two letters written to the church at Corinth. And I love to study 1st and 2nd Corinthians. The books there are so valuable because Paul has to address so many issues in the church at Corinth in two epistles, and we learn so much in First Corinthians, Paul addresses issues of division within the group, devotion to one leader or another leader. He addresses issues of sexual immorality. He addresses issues about marriage. He even addresses issues of lawsuits and disagreements among brethren. He talks about eating meat sacrificed to idols. And in all of that, one of the lessons we learn is the appropriate response to challenges from the world and helping weak brethren. He addresses assembly matters like women's roles in the assembly and head coverings and the Lord's Supper. He addresses the use of spiritual gifts in the assembly. And while we believe that the spiritual gifts have faded in light of the fact that we have all of God's word, the principles that he offers for what a worship assembly should look like are there not only that, but he addresses the resurrection of Jesus Christ and why that is important for us. And he also addresses the contribution Second Corinthians goes on. Do you hear how many issues are being addressed? And in those Letters, especially in First Corinthians, he mentions over and over again, 4 verse 17 he says, I'm going to send Timothy to you who will tell you the same thing that I teach in every church. He'll say the same thing in chapter 7 and verse 17. He'll say in chapter 14 and verse 37, if anyone thinks he's a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things that I write to you are the Lord's Commandment. In chapter 16, the instructions that he gives them about the contribution are the same instructions that he had given the church at Galatia. Why does that matter? Well, here's why it matters, as far as I can see. It is that Paul, when he writes to the city of Corinth, in addressing their questions and giving them answers, he is telling them the same thing he would tell everyone everywhere. That shows that the Scriptures applied not just in Jerusalem, not just in Antioch, not just in Ephesus, not just in Corinth, not just in Rome, but they applied there and everywhere else. Isn't that powerful? So we can listen to the words of Paul and we can take the words of the other apostles. We can read those words, and we can read the words of those who are inspired men. We can take those words and we can say, these apply to us. Now, of course, we don't have all the same issues that Corinth does. I don't know if I've ever seen a congregation that was divided like Corinth was in First Corinthians 1. I don't know that I've ever seen them divided between Apollos, Peter and Paul. Who should we listen to the most? But I have seen places that were divided between what Bible teachers they should listen to the most. Do you know there are churches that are called Lutheran churches? There are people, biblical students who call themselves Calvinists. And whether or not it's devotion to a man or to a tradition, Now, I believe in baptism. But the core of my faith, the core of my devotion is to Christ. I believe in having presbyters or elders, but I'm not going to call myself a Presbyterian or a Baptist because my ultimate devotion is not to some doctrine, but to Jesus and who he was. Now I believe he teaches about having baptism for sure, though I would say the way that baptism works is different than what the Baptist would suggest, and I'm happy to talk about that. We will talk about that along the way. I think we should have presbyters who are overseers of a local congregation. Again, I think that's very different than what the Presbyterian Church has. I think there are good methods for building spiritual Devotion. But I'm not going to be a Methodist. Why? Because my devotion is to Christ. Now somebody says, well, you're just part of the Church of Christ denomination. I don't want to be a part of a Church of Christ denomination. The local church that I assemble with does describe itself, does designate itself as a church of Christ. We want to be a church whose devotion is to Jesus, whose devotion is to Christ. Now there is a great challenge because what can happen is we can begin to create our own denomination. But we don't want to do that. That's not our goal. Our goal is to as a local church under the leadership of our elders and with our teaching and preaching, we want to be a local church independently devoted to Jesus Christ. Now somebody would say, well, if that's the case, then why do all those churches of Christ look the same? Well, first of all, they don't. I live in Franklin County, Alabama, and there are more than a dozen that I can think of, churches of Christ in this county. And if you were to visit each one of them, there would be some similarities. But it wouldn't take very long to see that the way they spend money, the doctrines that they emphasize, the things that they promote, it wouldn't take very long to see that there are lots of differences among churches of Christ. But if they are the same in the ways that they are the same, why are they the same? I hope my prayer is it's that it because like the church at Corinth, they are receiving the words of Peter and Paul and James and John and Luke and Mark. That we are receiving those words, recognizing that they are the same for all people everywhere. Every church in every place can listen to, to Paul's words in First Corinthians. Every church in every place can listen to Peter's words in first and Second Peter. And what that means is, is that we can find the value and the authority and the motivation in order to listen to the scriptures wherever we are. And so here I am at the Quinn congregation just south of Russellville. I hope that we are molding and being shaped by molding to and being shaped by the scripture. And where my dad worships up north of Florence at the Underwood Church congregation. I hope that, that they are being shaped by the scripture. And there may be lots of similarities in our worship services, but it's not because we have some denominational connection, but it's because we have devotion to the Scripture. Where my brother in law preaches in Ardmore or where my aunt and uncle go in somerton or my aunt and uncle go in Texas, wherever it may be. I want all of those congregations to look a lot alike, but not because we're part of a denominational unity, not because we have some board of directors over us, but because our devotion is to the Scripture. And I think the letter to this church at Corinth, one of the most powerful places to see that principle. There are even more places in the letter to Corinthians to the Corinthians that we can see that principle. And so we want to emphasize that this church at Corinth receives so much instruction in first and Second Corinthians that we can spend a lot of time meditating and thinking about what this church was having to deal with. Let me make one other point along these lines. I believe in a principle called restoration. Maybe we could call that idea better replanting. But I understand the word restoration. The word restoration. We talk about restoring the New Testament Church. I was in college speaking of questions that were asked in college, and somebody says, well, which New Testament church are you restoring? You don't want to restore the church at Corinth, do you? Because the church at Corinth had a lot of issues, and this man kind of in a snarky way was saying, you don't want to restore that congregation. You don't want to be like them. Well, I understand what he's saying. I will say there are ways in which we do want to be like the church at Corinth. They had a lot of issues in First Corinthians, and when Paul addressed them, he was grateful in Second Corinthians because of the way that they responded to his instruction. I would like to be like the church at Corinth in that way. I don't want to deal with all the problems that they had to deal with. But if we do have to deal with those problems, I want to respond in the way that they did. You see what I'm saying? So there is a way in which we do want to be like them. However, when we talk about restoring the New Testament Church, we are not talking about being like any one New Testament congregation in every way. We are not saying we want to be just like the church at Antioch or just like the church at Ephesus or just like the churches at Rome. Why? Well, those churches were made up of human beings that were imperfect and over time strayed away from the truth. I think you could probably find congregations in Corinth and Antioch, but I doubt they look very much like the churches of the New Testament. What you see in those places are congregations that have diverted from the truth. Now, there may have been efforts there to do some replanting, and that is wonderful. But let me say this. When we talk about restoring the New Testament Church, we're not talking about being like any local congregation in every way. We're talking about restoring ourselves personally and the congregations that we're a part of to the New Testament ideal. That is, the instructions that Paul gave and the examples that he commended and the conclusions that we draw from, we're trying to meet the standard. So while I don't want to be just like Corinth in every way, I do want to look at what Paul called them to be, and I want to be like that. When I look at the standard and the example that the church at Antioch set, I'm sure I don't want to be like they were in every aspect. But where they set commendable standards, where they set a commendable example, that's what I want to meet. And the same is true for with the church at Ephesus or the churches of Galatia or the churches in Asia Minor. I don't want to be like them in every way, but I do want to match the standard that they were given. Until next time, we bid you a pleasant good day.
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Back to the Bible. Let it be our plea. God's word alone, our authority, every word, every step in the name of Christ. Back to the Bible for the way of life.