Acts 18:11

And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. AND HE CONTINUED THERE A YEAR AND SIX MONTHS, TEACHING THE WORD OF GOD AMONG THEM. This is meant to embrace the whole period of this his first visit to Corinth, and not merely of so much of it as has already been treated of. During some part of this period he wrote his SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. (See Introduction to 2 Thess.) At the instigation of the Jews, Paul is arraigned before the Proconsul, who, after hearing the case, dismisses it with contempt, and the head of accusing party is assaulted with impunity before the Proconsul (18:12-17)...

− 11._He continued there a year. _We do not read that Paul stayed so long anywhere else save there; and yet it appeareth by his two epistles that he was not only likely to suffer much troubles, but that he had suffered many unjust and unmeet things by reason of the pride and unthankfulness of the people, so that we see that there was no part of warfare wherein the Lord did not wonderfully exercise him. Also, we gather what a hard and laborious matter the edifying of the Church is, seeing that the most excellent workmaster spent so much time about the laying of the foundation of one church only. Neither doth he boast that he had finished the work, but that the Lord had put others in his place, that they might build upon his foundation; as he saith afterwards that he had planted, and that Apollos had watered, ( 1 Corinthians 3:6.)...

7-11 The Lord knows those that are his, yea, and those that shall be his; for it is by his work upon them that they become his. Let us not despair concerning any place, when even in wicked Corinth Christ had much people. He will gather in his chosen flock from the places where they are scattered Thus encouraged, the apostle continued at Corinth, and a numerous and flourishing church grew up....

Verse Acts 18:11. _HE CONTINUED THERE A YEAR AND SIX MONTHS_] He was now confident that he was under the _especial_ protection of God, and therefore continued _teaching the word_, τον λογον, the doctrine _of_ _God_. It is very likely, that it was during his stay here that he wrote his _first_ epistle to the _Thessalonians_, and the _second_ not long after; and some think that the epistle to the _Galatians_ was written during his stay at Corinth....

AND HE CONTINUED ... - Paul was not accustomed to remain long in a place. At Ephesus, indeed, he remained three years Acts 20:31; and his stay at Corinth was caused by his success, and by the necessity of placing a church, collected out of such corrupt and dissolute materials, on a firm foundation....

EXPOSITION ACTS 18:1 _He _for _Paul, _A.V. and T.R. AFTER THESE THINGS, etc. No hint is given by St. Luke as to the length of Paul's sojourn at Athens. But as the double journey of the Beroeans, who accompanied him to Athens, back to Beraea, and of Timothy from Beraea to Athens, amounted to above five hundred miles, we cannot suppose it to have been less than a month; and it may have been a good deal more. His reasonings in the synagogue with the Jews and devout Greeks, apparently on successive sabbaths, his daily disputations in the Agora, apparently not begun till after he had "waited" some time for Silas and Timothy, the knowledge he had acquired of the numerous temples and altars at Athens, and the phrase with which this chapter begins, all indicate a stay of some length. CAME TO CORINTH. If by land, a forty

AND HE CONTINUED THERE,.... At Corinth, as the Syriac version, and some copies, read; he was obedient to the heavenly vision: in the Greek text it is, "he sat" there, answerable to the Hebrew word ישב, which signifies to sit, continue and abide: he stayed there in all a year and six months; which was a long time for the apostle to stay in one place, and longer than he did anywhere, unless at Ephesus, where he continued two years, Acts 19:10 for as for his stay at Rome, that was by confinement: but here were many people to be called, and much work to do, a large church to be raised, and put in order; and this required time as well as care and labour: TEACHING THE WORD OF GOD AMONG THEM; he did not sit idle here, but preached the Gospel, which is the word of God, and not man, openly and publicly, among them all; and that frequently, in season and out of season, and

Paul had been preaching the gospel at Athens to the most famous men of that city gathered at Areopagus. Acts 18:1. _After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth:_ Another most important city of Greece, where he struck at the very center of the country by preaching the gospel, since these were the centers of commerce, and also of literature. Acts 18:2. _And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them._ Lodged with them. Acts 18:3. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their

CHAPTER 18 _ 1. In Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla. His Testimony and Separation from the Jews (Acts 18:1)._ 2. Encouragement from the Lord in a vision (Acts 18:9). 3. Paul and Gallio (Acts 18:12). 4. From Corinth to Ephesus and Antioch. The second journey ended (Acts 18:18). 5. Establishing disciples in Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23). 6. Apollos, the Alexandrian (Acts 18:24). Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned here for the first time.

PAUL AT CORINTH. Corinth (p. 832), the seat of the Roman proconsul, was to the Christian missionary as good a field as Athens was the opposite. A great seaport, it was much addicted to vice and luxury, and had a very mixed population, as the Corinthian epistles show us, of rich people and poor, of tradesmen and would-be philosophers. ACTS 18:2 F. The edict of Claudius (Suet. _Claudius,_ 25) is to be placed in his 9 th year, A.D. 49 or 50. We shall see in connexion with Gallio that Paul's arrival in Corinth falls early in 50. Aquila and Priscilla (her name is, for an unknown reason, placed first in Acts 18:18 and Acts 18:26, also Romans 16:3