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THE BOOK OF ACTS

CHAPTER 18

PAUL’S THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY

THE CHALLENGE OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

There are people all around hungering for the truth, and God will send us to those crying out to
know Him. We must always be ready to respond to God in boldness and resist fear of the
opinions of others. Our motive for ministry must never be for personal gain but for the gaining
of souls into the kingdom of God. We must also determine to continually be renewed in our
minds by the Word of God so we can share the truth in love with those God brings across our
paths.

PAUL MINISTERS IN CORINTH (1-17)

After Paul leaves Athens, he arrives in Corinth where he meets Aquila and Priscilla who have
also recently arrived in Corinth from Rome. Like Paul, they are tent makers by occupation.
Although Paul works as a tent maker for a time, he still reasons with those present in the
synagogue every Sabbath. When the Jews appose Paul, he departs to minister to the Gentiles.
The Lord then appears to Paul in a night vision, encouraging him not to fear and to continue
sharing the gospel message.

PAUL MAKES TENTS

Act 18:1 After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.

To the natural mind, Athens would be a nice place to stay because of the beauty of the country.
But overall, the people are against the message of Paul, and he departs to other areas to
evangelize. His next stop is Corinth.

Corinth is a strategic city in the Roman empire, built by Julius Caesar. It is a convention town: a
pleasure city. The temple of Aphrodite housed over one thousand prostitutes, priestesses to
the Roman goddess of love. It was also a great sports city, and during the writing of the New
Testament, the greatest games were the Isthmus games of Corinth, not the Olympic or Pythian
games of Greece.

Claudius is the Roman Emperor at this time. His stepson, Nero, will be next in line for the
throne. Claudius is a very gracious man but becomes intolerant of the Jews for their religious
arguing. He eventually commands all Jews to be cast out of Rome. One of the Jews who had to
leave was Aquila, a very prosperous tent maker in Rome who made tents both for individuals
and the military. He was married to a Roman aristocrat, Priscilla. Both of them travel to
Corinth and continued their tent making business.