Acts 18:8

And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. AND CRISPUS, THE CHIEF RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE, BELIEVED ON THE LORD WITH ALL HIS HOUSE - an event (to use the words of Howson) 'felt to be so important that the apostle deviated from his usual practice (1 Corinthians 1:14), and baptized him, as well as Caius (Gaius) and the household of Stephanas, with his own hand.' AND MANY OF THE CORINTHIANS HEARING BELIEVED, AND WERE BAPTIZED. These were the beginning of the church of Corinth....

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 18:8. _CRISPUS THE CHIEF RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE_] This person held an office of considerable consequence; and therefore his conversion to Christianity must have been very galling to the Jews. It belonged to the chief or ruler of the synagogue to preside in all the assemblies, interpret the law, decide concerning things lawful and unlawful, punish the refractory, excommunicate the rebellious, solemnize marriages, and issue divorces. It is likely that, on the conversion of Crispus, Sosthenes was chosen to succeed him. _MANY OF THE CORINTHIANS_] Those to whom the sacred historian refers were probably Gentiles, and were the fruits of the apostle's labours after he had ceased to preach among the Jews....

AND CRISPUS - He is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14 as having been one of the few whom Paul baptized with his own hands. The conversion of such a man must have tended greatly to exasperate the other Jews, and to further the progress of the Christian faith among the Corinthians. WITH ALL HIS HOUSE - With all his family, Acts 10:2. AND MANY OF THE CORINTHIANS - Many even in this voluptuous and wicked city. Perhaps the power of the gospel was never more signal than in converting sinners in Corinth, and rearing a Christian church in a place so dissolute and abandoned. If it was adapted to such a place as Corinth; if a church, under the power of Christian truth, could be organized there, it i

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 CRISPUS, THE CHIEF RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE,.... This was a Jewish name; frequent mention is made of R. Crispa in the Jewish writings k this person, either through hearing Paul before he departed from the synagogue, or when in Justus's house, which was hard by the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house: he believed the doctrine the apostle preached, concerning Jesus, and that he was the Messiah; and he believed in him for life and salvation, and made a profession of his faith in him, and so did all his family, upon which he was baptized by the apostle; see 1 Corinthians 1:14 AND MANY OF THE CORINTHIANS HEARING not "his faith", as the Arabic version adds; as if hearing of the faith of Crispus induced them to believe also; for the ruler of the Jewish synagogue had no such influence on the Gentile Corinthians, as these were: but these hearing the Gos

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 18:8 kai. evbapti,zonto {A} The verb evbapti,zonto was supplemented by scribes with the addition of “through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (614 syrh with *) or “believing God through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (D); the latter ignored the redundancy that was created with the previous evpi,steuon....

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