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Act 18,1-8

(148l) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Obligation to preach the gospel >> Slave laborers – Imagine the contribution to the word of God that came about because Paul went to Corinth and preached Jesus to them. The books of first and second Corinthians probably do more to talk about Christianity as it is today than any other epistles of the New Testament. First Corinthians is the longest epistle in the New Testament, and in it he severely rebuked the Corinthian Church for its immaturity, but he also made some of the most profound statements in the Bible about God in relation to this world.

Act 18,1-5

(14k) Servant >> Ministry of helps >> Helpers are indirectly in charge of the word >> They relieve church leaders of menial duties – Paul made friends with Aquila and Priscilla, a husband and wife team. He was a Jew evicted from Rome through persecution, for Claudius had commanded all Jews, Christian and non-Christian, to leave Rome. Unbelieving Jews were stirring up trouble in Rome and blaming their own behavior on Christian Jews and non-Jews, complaining to the authorities that if it weren’t for the Christians they wouldn’t be causing these skirmishes. Christians were not the troublemakers, but those who fought against the faith were to blame, in attempt to extinguish the flame that kept burning brighter in every place. The number one objective of every Roman leader was to stamp out all disturbances before they became riotous in as easy and efficient manner as possible, for riots and insurrections reflected poorly on them in the eyes of Caesar, making them appear to be ineffectively rulers, and since most of the latest upheavals seemed to involve Jews, he determined that all Jews should leave Rome, whether they were causing the skirmishes or not. Paul met Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth and they became friends, being faithful Christians who served the brethren, giving what they could to those of greater poverty. Paul enjoyed people who were deeply committed to the faith in a practical way and made themselves available for service and ministry. Aquila and Priscilla were evangelists to some degree, but their forte was hospitality, contributing to the needs of the saints, opening their house to anyone in need.

(119g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Debt free

(241g) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of the kingdom >> Distractions

Act 18-1,2

(170a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Stepping on people to get to the bottom >> Those who seek glory from men discard others – Caesar commanded all Jews (Christian and non-Christian) to leave Rome because the unbelieving Jews were making a stink about Christianity that was forming in their region. This caused great hardship in the lives of Roman believers who were forced to resettle, imprisoning some and martyring others. All it did was promote Christianity all the more. The people looked upon all this commotion and deduced that there must be something to this Christianity; otherwise so many people would not be devoting their efforts to it and suffering hardship for its cause. Christianity was a cause to which people affixed themselves for the hope of eternal life.

Act 18-3

(101j) Thy kingdom come >> Ambition >> Be an ambitious businessman for God >> Ambitious in the business world of this life – A man named Aquila worked with Paul as a tent maker. Churches supported Paul, and when funds were low, he supported himself when needed, and when the opportunity arose to save souls, he devoted himself exclusively to the ministry. Fulltime pastors today are not apostles who establish churches or evangelists who win souls, as Paul did. Instead, they stay within the confines of their own churches and wait for worshippers to come to them. This is a far cry form Paul’s ministry. Many pastors live better than most of the members of their church, which is a grievous sin in the eyes of God. He will ask them one day why they lived more lavishly than the majority of those who supported him.

Act 18-4,5

(6k) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Persuade men that Jesus is the Christ -- This verse goes with verses 19. For the first century Church, especially in the beginning when it was fresh and new, the greatest hurdle of the evangelist was to convince the Jews that Jesus was their Messiah through their Old Testament writings. The New Testament is filled with Old Testament references that spoke about Jesus as the Christ, and these were the very verses that first century Christians used in their evangelism. The problem today is that if we convinced somebody that Jesus was the Christ, it probably wouldn’t affect their salvation. People already assume this about Him, or at least they know that other people believe it. It might still have an affect on some Jews, but gentiles never believed in a Messiah until Jesus came. What influences gentiles today is the preaching of God's love, and the biggest hurdle evangelist have today is convincing people they are sinners. People have a tendency to compare themselves with other people to determine whether they are good or bad, but the gospel is about saving people from the wrath of God, not from each other. Without putting our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin we will trust something else to make us righteous before God, which is an offense after He suffered and died for us. See also: First century Church; Act 18,24-28; 80a

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Act 18-5,6

(27a) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Curse >> Deeds that return to the doer >> Blasphemy – Someone might say to the evangelist, ‘What you believe may seem real to you, but it isn’t real to me.’ People could not say that to Paul, anymore than they could speak to an oncoming train without either moving off the tracks or else getting run over. With the level of zeal that Paul employed in his preaching, he was able to answer every question who challenged him about his faith. If we developed a commitment like Paul, who had a miraculous commitment and a miraculous relationship with God, we could reshape Christianity as they did. By the time Paul finished speaking with the Jews, they could not deny what he was saying without blaspheming, but whether they actually believed it was another thing. It is possible to know something without believing it, though it is one of the definitions of blasphemy, being a very dangerous way of thinking and an attempt to override the conscience.

(69i) Authority >> Righteous judgment (Outcome of Discernment) >> Passing judgment by the authority of God

(71a) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have authority from God to evangelize the world >> We have an anointing to preach the gospel

(185h) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Responding with contempt to the Holy Spirit >> Resisting the Holy Spirit – It is one thing to resist but another to blaspheme, saying things they didn’t mean just to win an argument. The things they said to Paul they would have said to God, lying to their own hearts to avoid believing in the gospel. On any other subject, science, politics, etc., a person can lie to his opponent during a debate to win an argument, and it is not technically a grievous sin, but it is when someone pulls this on God. There is a word devoted to those who would lie to their own conscience: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said is an unpardonable sin, for if they would lie to Paul, they would just as well lie to God (Mat 10-40).

(200b) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Rejecting the will of God >> Rejecting the gospel

(202g) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running from the word of God >> Running from the gospel

(211c) Salvation >> Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Gentiles included >> Gentiles steal the kingdom from Israel through obedience – Paul shook off the Jewish dust from his feet many times, but he always found himself going back to the them, because the gospel of Christ belonged to them first and foremost, and then secondly to the gentiles. Paul had a heart for them, being also a Jew. Eventually, though, the thrust of his ministry would turn almost exclusively to the gentiles; after all, why would he forsake those who sought to receive the gospel only to preach to those who rejected it? He often gave the Jews an opportunity to receive the gospel, but if they resisted, he would turn from them to the gentiles in that area. This would often incite jealousy in the Jews, leading to his persecution, so it was in a sense doing himself a disservice by approaching them with the gospel. He felt an obligation to them at the risk of his life, but these verses may be spelling the death knell of his ministry to the Jew when he finally made up his mind to name his ministry after the gentiles (Eph 3-1). His efforts toward the Jews became less and less after this, simply because many of them were resistant to the point of hostility, while many gentiles were ready to receive the gospel.

(222d) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God does not entrust his treasures to dogs >> Do not give to dogs who will not receive you

(130l) Depend on your brother (Key verse)

(130m) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Interdependent on each other >> Depend on your brother to walk in the gifts of God’s calling

(147h) Solemnly testify (Key verse)

(147i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Solemnly testify about Jesus -- This verse goes with verses 9&10. Evangelism groups try to reach their communities with the gospel; meanwhile, the people have their own beliefs, and they think their beliefs are just as valid. However, when Paul and Silas came and completely devoted themselves to preaching the word of God, they turned the world upside-down for Jesus. Paul had a commitment to his faith that went far beyond the average Christian. To what lengths was he willing to bring the word of God to the known world? There were obviously other evangelists, but Paul had a large sphere of influence in the world because of his commitment and his knowledge of many subjects, especially of the Old Testament that he used to speak to the Jews about Jesus as their Messiah. His level of commitment to fulfilling God’s purpose and calling in his life was no less profound than the signs, wonders and miracles he performed through Christ. He was a living marvel; nobody could stop him though they tried. Paul’s commitment to the gospel acted as a witness that what he was saying was the truth, for no lie ever conceived by man or demon was worth the trouble, pain and suffering that he endured to convey his passion to the world. This is the kind of relationship and commitment that God would like us all to enjoy, so people around us would realize that we have come to know God.

Act 18-6

(180ca) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Be shrewd as wolves and more innocent than they appear >> Fighting off wolves with a clever innocence >> Being more clever than their sin – By this statement Paul bypassed the Jewish nation of Israel, who initially were the intended recipients and rightful stewards of the gospel of Christ, but they rejected the will of God for themselves, so Paul had no choice but to go over their heads, and the gentiles became stewards of the gospel instead. This was never meant to be, and the Church suffered greatly because of it, not that the Jews would have done a better job managing the gospel, since they fouled up the first covenant, but that Jesus was their Messiah. When they rejected Him to the point of nailing Him to a cross, God did not hold it against them. In fact, Christ’s death was the predetermined plan of God. However, afterward they rejected the gospel that resulted from His resurrection, and at that point there was nothing else Paul could do except bypass them, for no one can force anybody to believe in Jesus. This was a very clever move on Paul’s part, though it saddened Him to the point of despair, because the Jews were his countrymen. In the beginning many Jews were being saved, but there were unbelieving Jews that finally won over Israel and convinced the Jewish population to reject the gospel. Paul could not stop them; he prayed fervently, yet God did not answer his prayer. God has His own ideas; He has His own set of priorities, answering some prayers and not others. He chose not to answer Paul’s prayer to make these Jewish unbelievers stop harassing him, who followed Paul everywhere in attempt to hinder the gospel, and they spread their blasphemy as far as Asia, so when the gospel came to them, they rejected it. This is something that has transpired since time began, leaders having a negative influence on people. It is all because those who put themselves in leadership positions are the ones who know how to fight for the things they want. Having the gift of gab and other relevant talents, they beat off other people on their rise to the top of the dung pile.

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Act 18-7,8

(90c) Thy kingdom come >> Keeping the law >> Law is our tutor >> It prepares your heart to receive Christ

(208b) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The kindness of God >> You and your household shall be saved – The Corinthian Church was a very carnal group of believers, being that their city was the hub of paganism. It was difficult to live there as a Christian because of all the seduction and worldliness. The Corinthians struggled with their culture, clashing between the world and God’s kingdom that was growing in their hearts. Many Corinthian people believed in the Lord and were baptized, and Paul was happy to make converts of them though they were a secular people, and he greatly struggled with them, yet he was more than happy to accommodate their faith and bring the gospel to them that they might believe and be saved.

(252j) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship God >> Worship God by your lifestyle – Titus was a worshipper of God. There are some Christians who are not technically worshippers, though they might praise the Lord and sing the songs, tithe and do other things. Worship is the difference between a regular Christian and someone who is truly dedicated to the faith. When we get to heaven, we will all worship God, but in this life there are many who have substituted religious beliefs for genuine faith.

Act 18-9,10

(2m) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Let Him do His work – It was the work of God that Paul should continue speaking and not be intimidated. It was not only the work of God to protect the mouth piece of His gospel, God also took the credit for what Paul did, since he preached the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit.

(6c) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Jesus’ yoke of evangelism

(28a) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> The protector of our faith – These verses go with verses 16,17

(77c) Thy kingdom come >> Hunger for the essence of God >> Hunger for His truth – The Corinthians engorged their fleshly appetites, and it left them hungry. This is the deception of the world, the flesh and the devil: they promise to satisfy but never deliver. In fact, they take more than they give. We can ask any person who has gone on a pleasure binge ten years later and ask him what advantages he enjoys of those days in contrast to the consequences that are still hounding him. If he told the truth, he would say there are no advantages that remain of that time but plenty of shame. Whatever the flesh dictates, like faithful servants they surrendered to its whimsical desires. Solomon did this, the man of so-called great wisdom. He performed an experiment of sorts, indulging his flesh for a period of years seeking utopia, striving to experience every possible form of pleasure, and he said, “everything is futility and striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2-17). He testified that carnal pleasure is uncontainable, and if we did manage to corral it, would destroy us. The Corinthians conducted a similar experiment and came to the same conclusion, and now they were ready to hear about Jesus. Carnal passions and desires are insidious; when the Corinthians got saved, their sin didn’t die; instead, the Corinthians had to die to their sinful passions and desires in order to make separation between themselves and their lusts, for sin looks for inroads that it might continue living through the flesh. Although they gave Paul a great reception, he struggled with them throughout his ministry to keep them on the straight and narrow path of faith and love. They remained the most carnal people of all the churches, according to Paul’s epistles. See also: Sin is like a bubble in a rug; Act 22,24-30; 97h

(100b) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance >> Persevere in preaching the gospel

(102j) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Consistency >> Loyalty

(105h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit to the will of God >> Led to the right people – Paul spent a year and half with the Corinthians, which was probably longer than he spent with anyone else. He had to dedicate more time to them because of their "carnal faith" (oxymoron). They wanted to walk in the gifts of the Spirit, inadvertently de-emphasizing the fruits of the Spirit, and Paul devoted a considerable effort in his letters trying to persuade them to emphasize the fruits over the gifts. The Corinthians welcomed him well enough and enjoyed their new faith in the Lord, but they were immature in their practice of love, compared to many of the other churches. We can say the same about any church today that emphasizes the gifts over the fruits that they are acting like the Corinthian Church.

(117b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke through obedience – Paul rested in the words that the Spirit of Jesus spoke to him, but the only way he could abide in His word was to do them. That put Paul in a vulnerable position in that Christ commanded him to do the very thing that made his enemies hate him. However, Paul was content with preaching the gospel, even though he knew it would someday cost him his life. It was the only thing that would satisfy God, and with that Paul would be content.

(117i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing visions – As a result of Paul’s vision, the Corinthian Church was born, resulting also in two epistles written of them. The Lord said to Paul in the night, “Do not be afraid… for I am with you;” God was always with him, even while he was mercilessly whipped five times, and when he was three times beaten with rods and when he was stoned, and all the other things that happened to him according to 2nd Corinthians chapter eleven. God was with him while he preached the gospel in Corinth without hindrance, for He has “many people in this city.” He put the words in his mouth that would lead the Corinthians to salvation, so Paul could confidently say, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1Cor 2,3-5). The Lord told Paul not to be afraid, yet he still was afraid, showing the difference between obedience and disobedience, that is, between ability and debilitation.

(122a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence in the word of God

(126b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> God is at peace >> The Peace of God

(139e) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Encouraged by the word of God – God spoke to Paul in a night vision (it apparently wasn’t a dream), and in the vision told him not to be afraid any longer. Paul the great evangelist was terrified. The Jews had whipped him on five separate occasions, and three times he was beaten with rods, among many other punishing circumstances (2Cor 11-24,25), and he was afraid the Jews would have their way with him again. That would put fear into anybody; he would wish 39 lashes with a cat-o-nine-tails had killed him just to be over the suffering and horror of it, yet Paul was willing to endure it for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of those who would inherit eternal life. Thus, when God told him not to be afraid anymore, that no harm would befall him, it was like getting a free pass to preach the gospel in Corinth. After the vision he could preach without fear, so long as he remained on the path that God had designated for his feet as an apostle and evangelist and prophet.

(147i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Solemnly testify about Jesus -- These verses go with verse 5. Corinth was one of the most carnal cities in the known world at the time. Paul had a huge uphill battle trying to bring faith to them, since there was nothing in their culture that could relate to the gospel, yet Paul played that to his advantage. For example, how many times has the devil posed a counterfeit gospel through religion and used thoughts and ideas that resembled the truth but were skewed in some way to confuse us? The Corinthians didn’t have this problem, since the gospel was brand new to them. Paul’s challenge was to introduce a new idea to them, but that had an upside; they didn’t have the experience base to misconstrue what he was saying. Paul came demonstrating the gospel in power, so even if they didn’t have a mind to understand it, they could see the miracles God performed through him and recognize the significance of his message.

(148e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Natural advantage of the public eye – Paul used the popularity of Christianity to protect himself from persecutors, which was a trick Jesus often used. The Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus; meanwhile, all His followers gathered around Him, who would be eyewitnesses of anything the Pharisees did to Him. If the Pharisees raised their hand against the Lord, the people would take it upon themselves to seek justice. The same thing happened in Corinth; it became a popular place for Christianity almost immediately, and God was telling Paul to use that popularity as a buffer against his enemies. God said to Paul in his vision, “I am with you… for I have many people in this city.” God was saying that He would be with Paul through the people who believed in his message. Far as we know the city of Corinth had not been previously evangelized until Paul arrived, so Christ was saying to Paul in the vision, ‘I have many people predestined to inherit eternal life, who will listen to your message.’ This indicates happened to Paul many times when he was manhandled and brutally tortured throughout his missionary journeys; the people did not receive his message and their rejection placed him in a lonely place in a dark corner of the world with many enemies and no protection. The Jews would take him into custody, persecute and torture him, and then release him, because they were not allowed to execute a person outside of Roman authority. However, in Corinth it would be different; he would receive a large reception of believers.

(247h) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> God is interested in the gospel

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Act 18,11-17

(18c) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Charges not defined as crimes >> Accusing Paul without formal charges – Paul settled in Corinth teaching them for a year and a half, and then continued his missionary journeys to Syria, and later wrote the Corinthians a letter telling them how carnal they behaved. After devoting a year and a half to them they tried to portray him as an enemy, making up lies about him regarding his motives for wanting to be their spiritual leader (2Corinthians chapter 10).

(24i) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Jews are envious of the gospel – Christianity has never caused riots and upheavals in society; rather, it has been counterfeit Christians pretending to believe in God. Hecklers rarely get the blame for social unrest, though they are always responsible for it. The manner in which governments respond to social unrest is usually to grease the squeaky wheel; that is, instead of punishing the rioters as we would expect, they punish their enemies to placate the complainers. In other words, they give them what they want just to shut them up. This is how it works in society today; however, Gallio stood firm against the Jews and did not give them what they wanted. He was a wise governor.

(166a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Man’s wisdom excuses his sinful nature >> Man’s wisdom rationalizes his sin

(242c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting God >> Persecuting the word of God – The unbelieving Jews grabbed Sothenes and started beating him in front of Gallio, the proconsul, and he was unconcerned about it. The Jews were trying to make Gallio react to their behavior, hoping he would tell them to stop. His reaction would have been all the Jews needed to interject their case against Paul, so if he didn’t tell him to stop, then they couldn’t tell him why they were beating Sothenes.

Act 18,11-16

(75k) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Jealously manipulating people

(175f) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Evading the word of God

(200g) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Excuses for rejecting Christ >> Selfish ambition >> Putting your own personal interests above God

Act 18,11-13

(65g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan brings unity >> Satan unites the world for the cause of persecution

Act 18-11

(33n) Gift of God >> Believers are special to God >> God receives us – A couple verses earlier it said that God told him not to be afraid anymore but to go on teaching and preaching, saying, “I have many people in this city,” meaning there were many people who were believing in Jesus in Corinth, and since it was a hub of worldly paganism and carnal sensuality, it indicated just how sick and tired people were of it, yet they also had a hard time letting it go, which is characteristic of all addictions. Based on some of the things Paul said in his letters to them, tired as they were of their phony paganism and burned out as they were of mining their bodies for pleasure, when they heard about the gospel and the love of God and the fellowship of the brethren and the commitment to the faith and to each other that the gospel teaches, it was a pleasant change from their former religion that allowed them to use their bodies however they wished. When the Corinthians discovered Christianity, they found that God loved them and wanted a relationship with them through obedience instead of sacrifice.

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Act 18,12-17

(42d) Judgment >> Be like Jesus >> Innocent >> No evidence against you in a court of law

Act 18,12-16

(182f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Three causes of interpreting Scripture falsely >> Because they do not understand the Scriptures – These vicious Jews hated the gospel of Christ, though they endlessly studied the Scriptures. These were probably not the same Jews that had Jesus crucified, but were of the same spirit. Instead of grabbing Paul and murdering him, they were clever and sought the legal system on their side, but there was disparity between Jewish law and Roman law that merely tolerated many of their Jewish traditions and customs. This man Gallio was familiar with their pet issues, that they wrangled about words and started huge controversies over jots and tittles, which made Paul write, “Solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers” (2Tim 2-14). Paul is commanding Christians not to choose a pharisaical manner of interpreting the Bible, which is not edifying, that feeds on controversy, arguments and dissension. This was not Paul’s manner of teaching; he did not teach about words, yet how many sermons have we heard that were based on a single word? The enemies of Paul focused on single words and controversial issues and disputes about the law. In Christendom today we see devoted Christians spreading out their favorite reference books around the table, Bible dictionaries, Greek and Hebrew lexicons and word studies, where they look up words and break them into their primitive roots to find out exactly what they mean. This is rarely edifying. Bible scholars who translated the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew languages were not hillbillies. They knew more about the process of translation than most of us will ever know, so how the Bible reads is usually very accurate. For us to do a word study is largely a waste of time, for this has already been done, and it is like reinventing the wheel. 

Act 18,14-16

(239k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Let not many of you become teachers >> Dividing accurately the word of truth – Gallio wouldn't touch the issues of the Jews with a ten-foot pole, and neither should we. However, if you want to do a study on words the best thing to do is find a program on the Internet that offers multiple Bible translations (biblehub.com). What makes language complicated is the constant fluctuation of the way we use words, connotation. The words our favorite translation uses will most likely be the best words available; nevertheless, there are occasions when doing a word study is productive; for example, the King James Version is a translation of antiquity; we don’t talk or think or read or write that way anymore (yet I use it on my website because it is the only translation that is not copyrighted, imagine copyrighting the Bible; they should be ashamed of themselves). The newer translations are much better (I prefer the NASB). If we don’t understand the way a word is used in one translation, we can read the verse in a different translation. One note of caution, stay far away as possible from paraphrased versions of the Bible, which are translations of a translation, often written by amateurs. English dictionaries are designed to render the denotation of a word, what it means, which is what all word study tools do, whereas more often we need to know the connotation of the word, how it was used, and sometimes only God can tell us that. The context is usually far more helpful when studying a word. The more accurately we interpret the Bible as a whole, the more accurately we can interpret a verse or a word in a sentence, because we use words to interpret words and verses to interpret verses. Conversely, the more off-base we get in understanding the Bible, the more off-base we get in understanding the words and verses it contains, because we use one misinterpretation to misinterpret the next. See also: Misinterpreting the Bible; Mat 26,57-63; 160da

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Act 18-16,17

(28a) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> The protector of our faith -- These verses go with verses 9,10. They didn’t beat Paul but they beat Sosthenes in front of the proconsul, showing the veracity of God’s word to Paul in a vision that He would protect Paul (v9). Paul is the one they hated, but they beat up the other guy, so there are benefits to having a special commitment to the Lord, yet God will always be more committed to us than we are to Him.

Act 18-18

(2e) Responsibility >> Keep your commitments >> it is better not to vow at all – Aquila and Pricilla went with Paul to Ephesus, and it says that Paul cut his hair because he was keeping a vow. Vows were big in olden days, and Jesus put the kibosh on it; nevertheless, vows still have their place, such as in marriage. Paul was a righteous and holy man and very knowledgeable, and he knew what Jesus said about vows that it was better not to vow at all, so we must assume he had a good reason for vowing. He most likely cut his hair for the sake of someone else to avoid offending the person. Ephesus was the city of the great goddess Artemis, and it is possible that to a make a contrast, men didn't wear long hair in Ephesus.

(150b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Instructions on evangelism – Paul usually had somebody with him; if it wasn’t Barnabas or Mark, it was Silas or Timothy, or in this case Aquila and Pricilla. He needed help preaching the gospel and he also needed support and encouragement. He needed someone beside him who believed in Jesus as a witness, so he wouldn’t feel alone in what he was doing. It was the reason Jesus sent them two-by-two.

Act 18,19-21

(105g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the will of God >> Led to the right place – This is Paul weakening his commitment to the Jews. He went and spoke to them, and though they received him and asked him to stay, he refused, because his heart was being solidified to the gentiles. He left a group of believing Jews in search of gentiles, because this was the direction that God was leading him. Even so, Paul always preached Christ to the Jews first, for they would always remain in his heart.

(143i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Popularity >> Sought commendably >> Being sought for your relationship with God – Paul had such a heart for the Jews; he wanted desperately to reach them with the gospel. The Jews asked Paul to stay longer, indicating that they had received the gospel, yet Paul did not consent, but took his leave of them. This suggests that Paul had a place more pressing to go than ministering to his fellow Jews; He continued to encourage the gentile churches further along his journeys. He went land and sea, region to region strengthening the churches, led by the Spirit. He loved to preach the gospel and see people being saved, but it was even more important to him that they remained saved, “For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain” (1The 3-5). Paul went around strengthening the churches to ensure his investment in the Kingdom of Heaven, and for this reason he did not consent to remain with the Jews. There were many occasions when the Jews did not receive Paul’s message but vehemently persecuted him, so it must have been a breath of fresh air to hear the Jews ask him to stay and teach them the word of God. Numbers mattered to him; he wanted as many souls as possible saved, regardless if they were Jew or gentile. This attitude was also true of Jesus, “And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled'” (Lk 14-23).

Act 18-19,20

(150a) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Invitation to the Kingdom of God

Act 18-19

(6k) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Persuade men that Jesus is the Christ – This verse goes with verses 4 & 24-28

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Act 18,22-28

(80k) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word to minister to people >> To evangelize the world – If there is one thing we can say about this chapter, it is the travels of Paul through so many of the regions that he visited, preached and later wrote letters to the new converts, which have become the epistles of the New Testament. It is a wonderful account how all these things came to pass, for these were some of the first people to believe in Jesus. We don’t have to imagine it; we can read for ourselves the summary of events that occurred and can even trace his steps.

Act 18-23

(9h) Responsibility >> Strengthened by the sword of His Spirit >> Through His word

(130g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Committed to caring for the needs of the body >> Caring for spiritual needs

(139c) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Encouragement >> Encouragement strengthens our faith -- This verse goes with verses 27,28. The Bible speaks of Christians as disciples; they were students of the word of God and disciples of prayer, but in today’s Church it is difficult to find Christian disciples. Basically, what we have in Christendom today are a lot of religious people who get involved in church activities but don't often read their Bible or pray. This is not discipleship but churchianity. They believe a set of doctrines, hoping that believing them will guide them safely to heaven, but as far as actually being disciples of their beliefs, not so much. Our greatest hope should be in eternal life, but if our faith does not have an application in this life, then most likely our faith cannot get us to heaven either. When Paul preached the gospel, he told them beforehand what to expect, and when they got saved, they knew what kind of faith they would follow. Paul and Barnabas told them, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Act 14-22). This is what it means to be a disciple, a person whose faith means more to him than his life. When Paul went about strengthening the disciples, they were glad to see him, and they soaked up the word of God that Paul spoke to them.

(139g) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> We build the temple through Christ – Paul was in the construction business, working with Christ to build the temple, searching the countryside for willing bricks to be used for God’s divine purposes  “to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phi 2-13). Paul traveled from church to church strengthening the disciples, doing the footwork around the regions of Galatia preaching and teaching the word of God to the new converts and strengthening their faith. When we get to heaven, everyone there will be a brother and a sister to us. There are many families on the earth, and each family is distinct and unique, but in heaven there will be only one family and one church and Christ will be head of it.

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Act 18,24-28

(6k) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Persuade men that Jesus is the Christ – These verses go with verses 4 & 19

(72k) Authority >> Hierarchy of authority >> Authority makes you accountable >> You are accountable to the one who gave it to you

(80a) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word as a sword in spiritual warfare >> To oppose religion – We have something the first century Church didn’t have, and they had something we don’t have. We have the New Testament in its entirety, and for this reason we have the knowledge and confidence that Jesus is the Christ, but they had a fledgling newness to their faith and the original outpouring of the Holy Spirit. People back then were excited about their faith, and they literally established the Church in the world. They had another advantage over us: more accurate doctrines. Over the two millennia people have interpreted and reinterpreted the Bible until they misinterpreted it to mean something other than what it says. For us the truth is buried under a sludge of denominations and false teachings, making it difficult to know the truth and a hindrance to people getting saved. See also: History of the Church (First century Christians); 176i / Rom 16,1-16; 88b

(111b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit and evangelism – Without believing in the baptism of the Holy Spirit there is no formal acclaim to His power to live a godly life. Some people literally run from the baptism of the Holy Spirit, yet their fear is based on ignorance. All aspects of communing with God and receiving from Him and walking in His grace produce the fruits of the Spirit as a matter of faith. The mercy of God’s unmerited favor and the grace of His unmerited power are two different things. Apollos was already walking in the power of God and didn’t know how he was doing it, and for this reason God had given an anointing without him knowing it. He powerfully refuted the Jews in public, and he was doing it by the Spirit of God, though he didn’t understand the teachings behind the anointing. God was still able to use Apollos because he was faithful, for all he wanted was God’s will and to be a faithful servant. With this in place, God worked His power into Apollo’s life, regardless of his beliefs, but note that it was important to teach him a more accurate version of the truth. The grace of God is available to us, so we should seek it. According to the example of Apollos, obedience makes the power of God available to us regardless of our beliefs, but we should also seek the knowledge of these things.

(123a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness to speak the word by the Spirit

(149d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Compel them to come in >> Forceful persuasion

(176i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Passion without principles – When Pricilla and Aquila heard Apollos preaching the gospel, they turned him aside and explained to him a more accurate version of the truth. Essentially, they told him about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The people who taught him the gospel did not embrace the anointing, so this rejection of the anointing was already beginning to take hold of the Church. Mercy was Apollos’ forte, just like it is for the Evangelicals and Baptists today. Apollos only understood the baptism of John, suggesting that he was unfamiliar with baptism of the Holy Spirit, which was the very theme of earlier chapters in the book of Acts. It appears the Church today has regressed to the Apollian belief system, which understands the baptism of John, but not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Evangelicals and Baptists are mostly at fault for this, those who have throne out the baby with the bathwater just to be safe, but there is nothing safe about throwing out God’s truth and power. They say they don’t trust people who seek the anointing, but we could say the same about them: we don’t trust people who reject the power of God. They are afraid they will fall into false doctrine and become a statistic of another cult, but according to the standards of the first century Church, those who reject the anointing are a cult. We don’t see the Evangelicals and Baptists as cults because they take up so much of the Christian tapestry, but they in a sense resemble a cult in that they reject God’s truth and have replaced it with their own beliefs. They never thought they had to pay a price for rejecting the anointing, but they have; the Church has sunken into a state of easy-believism and have drunk the blood of Christ like kool-aid, refusing to balance His mercy with repentance, for unbalanced truth is no truth at all. The Evangelicals would say, ‘If I must pick one, then I choose mercy,’ but no one said we had to choose one or the other. Embracing the mercy of God sounds noble, but discarding any part of God’s truth defeats all nobility. See also: First century Church; Act 18-27,28; 210j

(190k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism >> Baptism of the Holy Spirit – Apollos was a man of great power and spirit, yet he didn’t know about the anointing. This suggests that a person can have an anointing without being properly educated about it. Pricilla and Aquila took Apollos aside and instructed him more accurately in the Scriptures to teach him about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which refers to the anointing. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a very controversial subject, and so is the anointing; everybody has a different opinion about it, and that is why most people have dropped it, which is precisely what Satan wanted them to do. We almost never hear about it anymore, since it is a point of contention, though the Bible speaks clearly enough about it.

(239d) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachable students >> The teachable submit to the word

(239k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Let not many of you become teachers >> Dividing accurately the word of truth

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Act 18-27,28

(31h) Gift of God >> Grace >> Salvation >> The ministry of reconciliation

(139c) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Encouragement >> Urging the disciples to continue in the faith -- These verses go with verse 23. The word “encouragement” comes from “edifice”, which means house or structure, so when we encourage someone in the faith, we are acting as construction workers, and when we encourage the entire church, we are constructing a spiritual building made of people, each person representing a brick of the temple. For this reason, encouragement is a very important tool; everybody should be involved in building up the body of Christ. When Apollos came to the brethren in Achaia and encouraged them to continue in the faith, how did he encourage them? Was it by jaw-jacking them for hours about the Scriptures, long sermons every day? Eventually it is just more tiring information that does not encourage anyone. Instead, Apollos powerfully refuted the Jews in public. This did three things: (1) the saints heard the word of God with the Jews, and (2) the fact that he rebuked them publicly demonstrated a boldness that is characteristic of the anointing, which encouraged the saints; and most importantly, (3) he demonstrated by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. 

(142i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Having a reputable ministry >> A reputation of ministry in the word

(210j) Salvation >> Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Gentiles included >> Fellow heirs with Israel (Spiritual Jew) >> God welcomes the Gentiles to the promise of Israel – Many Christians back then were gentiles, but when Apollos refuted the Jews and demonstrated that Jesus was the Christ through their own Scriptures, even many of the Jews were being saved. Pointing out Old Testament prophecies about Jesus as the Christ had a profound effect on the Jews who had a deep faith in these writings. They were familiar with these verses from their youth, yet having never known their relevance. Most Jews back then were believers in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament, the laws of Moses). Israel as a whole never saw the first coming of Christ in their Scriptures; they weren’t expecting their Messiah to come as the meek and mild Lamb of God to die for the sins of the world. They didn’t see any of this coming, but when Apollos took them through the Scriptures and showed them things that were written, they remembered these verses; they had read them a hundred times, though never seeing Jesus in them. Some of the more explicit passages they read less often, since they didn’t know what they meant, being obscure passages and almost forgotten, such as Isaiah chapter 53. In the first century proving Jesus as the Christ was of utmost importance. Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ was the question of the day. Although it is answered for us in our time, still it wouldn’t hurt to go back to the Old Testament and study for ourselves what the OT says about our prophesied Messiah (see: http://www.icogsfg.org/jcmessot.html). See also: First century Church; Act 19,2-6; 95d

Act 18-28

(141h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ life

(143c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The public >> The disciples ministered publicly

Act 19,1-7

(35i) Gift >> God gives Himself to us >> Receiving the Holy Spirit as a form of baptism – This passage reveals the difference between the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus. There are several issues in the Church these days regarding baptism, one of them being in whose name we baptize someone. In this case Paul said we should baptize them in the name of Jesus. What did John the Baptist say about the baptism of Jesus? “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mat 3-11). Nobody is baptized in the name of John these days, though baptism in fact signifies repentance; and people are baptized in the name of Jesus, though most of them never walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Some people get very dogmatic about the words they say over a person being baptized; i.e. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Most will agree to that, though some would say, "Jesus only". And so there is a debate, but the nagging question is not so much what we say over the person being baptized, but whether the person repents of his sin and whether they walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we baptize someone in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are saying that these three persons come to dwell in the believer being baptized (Jn 14-23), and they will remain in him for eternity. This may not have begun at the baptism ceremony, for he may have gotten saved before that, indicating that the baptism ceremony merely represents what divine thing God has wrought by faith. The Father sent the Son, Jesus died for our sins and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, so they all three are involved in salvation.

(110k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit of revelation >> Effect of the spirit on the word

Act 19,2-6

(86d) Thy kingdom come >> Belief demands a response – People in the Church are trying to serve God in the flesh and it’s not going very well. It was the problem of the old covenant, suggesting that to subtract the anointing from Christianity is to revert to the old covenant law. They of the old covenant looked forward to their Messiah coming to deliver them from their enemies, not knowing that their greatest enemy was sin, while we of the new covenant see that the Lord has established a new and living way through His own blood, but we are trying to fulfill that covenant through the flesh. The blood of His covenant inaugurated the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the true advantage of the new covenant. If we subtract the anointing from the new covenant, we regress to old covenant worshippers. We observe this in the Church today; people are not living better than Israel did in ancient times.

(95d) Thy kingdom come >> Positive attitude >> Speaking in tongues >> Tongues are a sign of obedience – If these twelve men never heard that there was a Holy Spirit, how would they know to fake the gifts of the Spirit? This reveals a tremendous advantage of the First Century Church: they were innocent and ignorant of our loose theology. 2000 years later people and demons have refined their strategies to replicate Christianity in all its religious forms. Now, just because we see and hear the gifts of the Spirit from someone doesn’t mean the person has had an encounter with God. See also: First century Church; Act 18-4,5; 6k

(115h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Laying on of hands >> Bestowing the Holy Spirit

(190k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism >> Baptism of the Holy Spirit – When Paul asked whether they received the Holy Spirit when they believed, he wasn’t asking about the indwelling Holy Spirit, but about the anointing. The indwelling Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence in a person’s heart the moment he believes in Jesus, and this indwelling Holy Spirit acts as the seal of his salvation and the substance of eternal life. The question Paul asked them, though, was whether they received the anointing that envelops the believer and helps him obey the Lord. The anointing is the manifestation of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Mat 13-33). There is only one Spirit, and He dwells both inside and outside His people. He dwells inside to seal us for the day of redemption (Eph 1-13,14), and He dwells upon us as a covering for for obedience (Rev 19-8). The twelve men in this passage had already believed and had been water baptized into John’s baptism of repentance, and then Paul re-baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus. The symbolism of water baptism doesn’t pertain to the inner person unless he drinks the water, which is not part of the ceremony, but soaks the person’s extremities; therefore, baptism symbolizes what God does to our outer form. This external emersion causes us to emerge wet from the water, reminiscent of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, whose ministry is to manifest the kingdom of God through godliness, exercising the gifts of the Spirit, which are meant to promote unity in the body of Christ. We can take this anointing into the world to show those who are coming to Christ that the kingdom they are seeking reveals itself in power to perform miracles through the same Spirit who indwells us. John’s baptism of repentance was a symbol of Him who was to come, so Paul re-baptized them in the Holy Spirit’s ministry to effect repentance and endow them with power to manifest the Kingdom of God in the world. There is no ceremony that has the power to transfer spiritual authority, otherwise unbelievers could be baptized and access to the power of God; rather, the transfer comes through faith and obedience. So, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, referred to as the anointing, has three purposes: He gives us power to lead a godly life, He promotes unity in the body of Christ, and He persuades people to believe in Jesus. Godliness is missing in the Church today, suggesting that the anointing is also missing.

Act 19,2-5

(176a) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Misguided -- These verses go with verse 32