Acts 18:21

But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. BUT BADE THEM FAREWELL, SAYING, I MUST BY ALL MEANS KEEP THIS FEAST (PROBABLY PENTECOST (WIESELER)), THAT COMETH IN JERUSALEM: BUT I WILL RETURN AGAIN UNTO YOU, IF GOD WILL. The fulfillment of this promise is recorded in . AND HE SAILED FROM EPHESUS....

18-23 While Paul found he laboured not in vain, he continued labouring. Our times are in God's hand; we purpose, but he disposes; therefore we must make all promises with submission to the will of God; not only if providence permits, but if God does not otherwise direct our motions. A very good refreshment it is to a faithful minister, to have for awhile the society of his brethren. Disciples are compassed about with infirmity; ministers must do what they can to strengthen them, by directing them to Christ, who is their Strength. Let us earnestly seek, in our several places, to promote the cause of Christ, forming plans that appear to us most proper, but relying on the Lord to bring them to pass if he sees good....

Verse Acts 18:21. _I MUST - KEEP THIS FEAST_] Most likely the _passover_, at which he wished to attend for the purpose of seeing many of his friends, and having the most favourable opportunity to preach the Gospel to thousands who would attend at Jerusalem on that occasion. The whole of this clause, _I must by all means keep this_ _feast that cometh in Jerusalem_, is wanting in ABE, six others; with the _Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian_, and _Vulgate_. Griesbach leaves it in the text, with the mark of _doubtfulness_; and Professor White, in his _Crisews_, says, probabiliter _delenda_. Without this clause the verse will read thus: _But he bade them_ _farewell, saying, I will return again unto you, if God will_. And this he did before the expiration of that same year, Acts...

KEEP THIS FEAST - Probably the Passover is here referred to. Why he was so anxious to celebrate that feast at Jerusalem, the historian has not informed us. It is probable, however, that he wished to meet as many of his countrymen as possible, and to remove, if practicable, the prejudices which had everywhere been raised against him, Acts 21:20. Perhaps, also, he supposed that there would be many Christian converts present, whom he might meet also. BUT I WILL RETURN ... - This he did Acts 19:1, and remained there three years, Acts 20:31....

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

BUT BADE THEM FAREWELL, SAYING,.... As follows: I MUST BY ALL MEANS KEEP THIS FEAST THAT COMETH IN JERUSALEM; which perhaps was the passover, since that often went by the name of the feast: the why he must by all means keep it, was not because it was obligatory upon him; nor did he always observe it, as appears from his long stay at Corinth, and other places; and besides, as a Christian, he had nothing to do with it; but either because of his vow, Acts 18:18 or because he knew he should have an opportunity of preaching the Gospel to great numbers; the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions omit this clause: BUT I WILL RETURN AGAIN UNTO YOU, IF GOD WILL; he promises to return to them, but not peremptorily as knowing that he was altogether subject to the will of God, who disposes and orders all things according to his sovereign pleasure; see...

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

ACTS 18:21 eivpw,n {A} The addition made by the Western reviser, which has passed into the later ecclesiastical text (and therefore is represented in the AV: “I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem”), is loosely paralleled by the similar statement in Acts 20:16, and by the Western text of Acts 19:1 (see the comment on the latter passage). The interpolation (for thus it must be accounted, there being no reason why, if original, it should have been deleted in a wide variety of manuscripts and versions) may well give, as Bruce observes, “the true reason for Pau...

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.

JOURNEY TO SYRIA. No special object, is stated; the facts are placed before us abruptly, and some are hard to understand. An apostle is by his office a traveller who does not give himself to any one church, and Paul had been the best part of two years at Corinth when he bade the brethren there farewell and sailed for Syria. It was Aquila, not Paul, who had a vow and terminated it at Cenchreæ. For the hair sacrifice, see *Numbers 6,,; cf. Numbers 21:24 below; it would refer here to an escape from some danger of which we know nothing Acts 18:19. At Ephesus Paul addresses, as elsewhere, the Jews in the synagogue, and is well received, but he will not stay there. With a promise to return he sets off on the voyage. He lands at Cæ sarea, and goes up and greets the church. Jerusalem is not mentioned, nor