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Acts 18

The Lord sustains gospel witness through opposition, shared work, and instruction that equips others to proclaim Jesus as the Christ.

Paul arrives in Corinth and works as a tent maker alongside Aquila and Priscilla while teaching in the synagogue. Opposition leads him to teach next door, where many Corinthians believe. The Lord speaks to Paul in a vision, and Paul stays eighteen months. Gallio later dismisses charges against him, though Sosthenes suffers a beating. Paul then travels onward, leaving Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus. There they help Apollos understand the way of God before he goes to strengthen believers in Achaia.

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1After these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth.
2He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
3and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers.
4He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks.
5When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
6When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”
7He departed there and went into the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
8Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.
9The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent;
10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”
11He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
13saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”
14But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you;
15but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.”
16So he drove them from the judgment seat.
17Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.
18Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow.
19He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
20When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he declined;
21but taking his leave of them, he said, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
22When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to Antioch.
23Having spent some time there, he departed and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.
24Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures.
25This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.
26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
27When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him; and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;
28for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Acts 18:9The Lord’s command to keep speaking, joined to his promise of protection, anchors Paul’s long stay in Corinth.
Acts 18:6Paul’s warning places responsibility on those rejecting his testimony and marks his move from the synagogue toward Gentile hearers.
Acts 18:5The arrival of Silas and Timothy accompanies Paul’s Spirit-compelled testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the chapter’s central claim.
Where this chapter reaches

1 Corinthians shares the people and setting of this account: Paul and Apollos serve among believers in Corinth, where their teaching shapes the church. Ezekiel supplies a parallel to Paul’s bloodguilt language, linking a messenger’s duty to warn with the hearers’ responsibility for their response.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out about the Lord’s words to Paul before the confrontation with Gallio?

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How does Apollos’s need for further instruction affect your view of gifted teachers?

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Questions people ask about Acts 18

What does God promise Paul in Acts 18:9–10?

The Lord commands Paul to keep speaking and promises his presence and protection from harm in Corinth. He also declares that he has many people in the city. This assurance concerns Paul’s work there; it does not establish a promise that every believer will escape violence.

Why did Paul shave his head in Acts 18?

Verse 18 connects the haircut at Cenchreae with a vow. The chapter does not explain the vow’s purpose, terms, or duration. A connection with Jewish vow practices is plausible, but the text gives too little detail to identify the precise form or Paul’s reason for taking it.

What was missing from Apollos’s teaching?

Apollos knew the Scriptures and taught about Jesus with accuracy, yet he knew only John’s baptism. Priscilla and Aquila took him aside to explain the way of God with greater accuracy. The chapter does not record their full explanation or say whether Apollos received another baptism.

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Acts · 28 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).