Acts 18
Please read Chapter 18 of Acts…
Welcome back, Class, to Paul’s journeys. As we join Paul, he is heading out of Athens and off to Corinth… Why Corinth? Well, Corinth was a major crossroads city in its day. By the time Paul was there, it had surpassed Athens on a commercial and political front. Corinth sits on two harbors and was a crossroads for trade and travelers, both land and sea.
The town was dominated by a large temple dedicated to Aphrodite. Being the goddess of love, the temple was served by temple prostitutes. Historians of the time recorded as many as 1000 of them, so this was strongly pagan town and a town where Paul would not find a natural home. But Paul does…he gets to meet Aquila and Priscilla. These two were kicked out of Rome by Claudius. All Jews were being booted from Rome due to the squabbling that was going on amongst them…that fight was over a certain “Chrestus” character (according to the historian, Suetonius)…hmm, wonder who that could be… Obviously, the fight over Christ, the one that Paul was constantly initiating in other areas had spread to Rome.
Being Tentmakers by trade, it is natural for Paul to join them. Paul has lived by supporting himself all the while in his travels. In 2 Thessalonians Chapter 3, Paul says “6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."” ‘Nuff said… Could he have lived off the locals…sure…but part of being a Christian is in how we live ALL our lives and the examples we set…
We get back to Aquila and Priscilla and their story. This is one of the only times we see his name listed first. It is obvious with these two, she has a major role in their ministry. God is using them both in mighty ways. When Silas and Timothy come, Paul goes into full time ministry mode, since they are there to support it.
Paul goes back into the synagogue and testifies to the Truth…finally Paul is done with this part of his mission. When he hits rejection and distain, he shakes his robe out. Remember Class, this is an era of demonstrative means of communication. When a Jew of this era is distraught, he will rip his robe in a public display. Paul shakes his robe, as Jesus told his apostles to do in Matthew 10:15-16. It was symbolic of shaking all the dirt and sin of an area, all trace of them, off you. It was done symbolically by the Pharisees of the day to the Gentiles. He takes it one step further: He says “your blood be on your own heads”…ouch. This is an echo of the Hebrew response at Christ’s trial, “Let his blood be on us and our children.” This is a tough thing… You see, the Hebrew system of sacrifice required blood for the cleansing. This goes back to the beginning of the faith, and even back to the Garden. God had established this system to give innocent blood to clean the guilty. Hard to understand for us “modern” people… why the sacrifice. Christ was to be the ultimate sacrifice, the only blood truly capable of removing our sin, allowing us to stand with and in front of a righteous God. The picture in Revelation of the saints that “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” is a big one to imagine. Only Jesus’ blood can make us as white as snow. The tribe of Israel they were not open to the message of Christ, they were to be “in their blood” since no sacrifice could make them clean again…that system was over. Not that god would abandon them completely, but the Temple’s days were numbered. It had served it’s purpose (even had been sprinkled in Jesus’ blood on the day of His trial) and now its days were numbered. It is destroyed in 70AD…and has not been rebuilt again…but I am getting ahead in history…
Back in Acts, we see Paul getting encouragement, both from God directly (how cool is that) and in the success of his work. Even the ruler of the Synagogue is converted! He still faced yet another trial but God cleared that one up, as Galio (a wise judge in that day and age) through it out of court immediately. God did not want Paul to see trial…yet. And when the case gets thrown out, the Jews BEAT UP THEIR LEADER AND LAWYER…any wonder why the Romans kicked them out of Rome?
Paul prepares to leave Corinth and more on to Syria, but before he goes, he does an unusual thing…He shaves his head. This is likely to signify the end of a Nazarite vow. See Numbers 6 for more details on this vow. Suffice to say, this vow was a serious thing and signified a special dedication to the Lord. No wine or grape of any kind could be eaten and no shaving or cutting of hair at all. If this dedication took place, He vowed to use them in a mighty way. Does this idea sound familiar? Any Biblical Character fit the bill? Look up Sampson in your concordance and review the story. It was the dedication to God that made this vow powerful, not the man making it…His power, not theirs…
Why did Paul make this vow? When did he do it? We do not know…but maybe, just maybe, it was Paul’s dedication to establishing a strong church in this important but very ungodly of towns. The one we know more about because of the Book of Corinthians…
I will stop here, as we touched on Priscilla, Aquila and Apollo’s time together but we will go into more detail in the next class and blog…
May we all understand His sacrifice a bit deeper and have it show in our lives this week. Read Ch. 19 to prepare!
God bless!
D
Please read Chapter 18 of Acts…
Welcome back, Class, to Paul’s journeys. As we join Paul, he is heading out of Athens and off to Corinth… Why Corinth? Well, Corinth was a major crossroads city in its day. By the time Paul was there, it had surpassed Athens on a commercial and political front. Corinth sits on two harbors and was a crossroads for trade and travelers, both land and sea.
The town was dominated by a large temple dedicated to Aphrodite. Being the goddess of love, the temple was served by temple prostitutes. Historians of the time recorded as many as 1000 of them, so this was strongly pagan town and a town where Paul would not find a natural home. But Paul does…he gets to meet Aquila and Priscilla. These two were kicked out of Rome by Claudius. All Jews were being booted from Rome due to the squabbling that was going on amongst them…that fight was over a certain “Chrestus” character (according to the historian, Suetonius)…hmm, wonder who that could be… Obviously, the fight over Christ, the one that Paul was constantly initiating in other areas had spread to Rome.
Being Tentmakers by trade, it is natural for Paul to join them. Paul has lived by supporting himself all the while in his travels. In 2 Thessalonians Chapter 3, Paul says “6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."” ‘Nuff said… Could he have lived off the locals…sure…but part of being a Christian is in how we live ALL our lives and the examples we set…
We get back to Aquila and Priscilla and their story. This is one of the only times we see his name listed first. It is obvious with these two, she has a major role in their ministry. God is using them both in mighty ways. When Silas and Timothy come, Paul goes into full time ministry mode, since they are there to support it.
Paul goes back into the synagogue and testifies to the Truth…finally Paul is done with this part of his mission. When he hits rejection and distain, he shakes his robe out. Remember Class, this is an era of demonstrative means of communication. When a Jew of this era is distraught, he will rip his robe in a public display. Paul shakes his robe, as Jesus told his apostles to do in Matthew 10:15-16. It was symbolic of shaking all the dirt and sin of an area, all trace of them, off you. It was done symbolically by the Pharisees of the day to the Gentiles. He takes it one step further: He says “your blood be on your own heads”…ouch. This is an echo of the Hebrew response at Christ’s trial, “Let his blood be on us and our children.” This is a tough thing… You see, the Hebrew system of sacrifice required blood for the cleansing. This goes back to the beginning of the faith, and even back to the Garden. God had established this system to give innocent blood to clean the guilty. Hard to understand for us “modern” people… why the sacrifice. Christ was to be the ultimate sacrifice, the only blood truly capable of removing our sin, allowing us to stand with and in front of a righteous God. The picture in Revelation of the saints that “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” is a big one to imagine. Only Jesus’ blood can make us as white as snow. The tribe of Israel they were not open to the message of Christ, they were to be “in their blood” since no sacrifice could make them clean again…that system was over. Not that god would abandon them completely, but the Temple’s days were numbered. It had served it’s purpose (even had been sprinkled in Jesus’ blood on the day of His trial) and now its days were numbered. It is destroyed in 70AD…and has not been rebuilt again…but I am getting ahead in history…
Back in Acts, we see Paul getting encouragement, both from God directly (how cool is that) and in the success of his work. Even the ruler of the Synagogue is converted! He still faced yet another trial but God cleared that one up, as Galio (a wise judge in that day and age) through it out of court immediately. God did not want Paul to see trial…yet. And when the case gets thrown out, the Jews BEAT UP THEIR LEADER AND LAWYER…any wonder why the Romans kicked them out of Rome?
Paul prepares to leave Corinth and more on to Syria, but before he goes, he does an unusual thing…He shaves his head. This is likely to signify the end of a Nazarite vow. See Numbers 6 for more details on this vow. Suffice to say, this vow was a serious thing and signified a special dedication to the Lord. No wine or grape of any kind could be eaten and no shaving or cutting of hair at all. If this dedication took place, He vowed to use them in a mighty way. Does this idea sound familiar? Any Biblical Character fit the bill? Look up Sampson in your concordance and review the story. It was the dedication to God that made this vow powerful, not the man making it…His power, not theirs…
Why did Paul make this vow? When did he do it? We do not know…but maybe, just maybe, it was Paul’s dedication to establishing a strong church in this important but very ungodly of towns. The one we know more about because of the Book of Corinthians…
I will stop here, as we touched on Priscilla, Aquila and Apollo’s time together but we will go into more detail in the next class and blog…
May we all understand His sacrifice a bit deeper and have it show in our lives this week. Read Ch. 19 to prepare!
God bless!
D
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