Acts 18:11-28 - Part A

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. And then he goes to the southwest over to Corinth. And we noticed last time, we only read the first 10, maybe 11 verses of the chapter, we left off when Paul was in the city of Corinth. Altogether, Paul stayed in Corinth 18 months or so, a little more. We don't know how much more. It just says after he was done, he stayed a little longer, but we don't know how much longer.

So let's say a year and a half, 18 months or so. It happened to be the longest place that he stayed on any of his missionary journeys up to this point. He usually went through, went to the synagogues, preached the gospel.

Something happened. He either got put in jail, kicked out, beat up, and or people believed and a church was established. He wouldn't go to the next town, etc. When he gets to Corinth, he stays 18 months.

It's the longest stint in a city. It will only be outdone when he goes to Ephesus on his third missionary journey where he will stay for about three years, so he'll double his time there. But though it was difficult for Paul at the beginning in Corinth, and it was, and though Paul was discouraged, and he was, the Lord gave him a special vision to not hold back, not be silent. But down in verse 9 and 10, speak, Jesus said, because I have many people in this city, implying there are still many more people I want to touch and save in this city.

That bolstered his courage, and that's where we left off last time. Now, do you remember that Corinth is the capital of the region of Achaia? I don't expect you to have remembered that.

It's not something that most people remember or know or care about. You got to remember in those days that the entire southern portion of Greece, called Achaia, was like an island. If you had a map or if you have a map in the back of your Bible, you will notice that if you go down from Athens, you come to a very narrow neck of land, and then you find this big landmass that is connected to it. So it's really an island, except for that little neck of land that connects the main body with this island. So it's called a peninsula, right? It's not an island because it's connected at that one spot, so it's a peninsula. And the actual term is the Peloponnesian Peninsula. I just thought you'd want to know that because it just sounds cool. So Paul is at the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Say that really fast 10 times. No, I'm just kidding.

You don't have to do that now. So Corinth is the capital of this area in the Peloponnesian Peninsula called Achaia, a noteworthy city, a city of trade, and it connects two bodies of water, essentially. Because if you were to look at a map and see that island, on the left or on the west would be the Adriatic Sea, or the Ionian Sea it is also called. And then on the other side is sort of the heart where the Mediterranean begins. So it's surrounded by water, except for that little narrow piece of land that's three and a half miles wide.

Now there's a couple of ways you could go from one side to the other. You could sail around it. That's 200 miles by ship. You have to go all the way down into the open sea around what is called the Cape of Malaya, and it was considered dangerous by sailors. There was even a saying the sailors had, he who sails the Cape of Malaya must first make out his will, because many ships were wrecked in the voyage. So some came up with the idea, well since it's only three and a half miles, what if we were to put the ships up on land on rollers and roll them across? That's what they did.

That's what most people opted for. Taking their ship, rolling it across the land, and across that area is the capital city of Corinth. Corinth a very, very famous place. A wild place because there's so much transient traffic. Although Corinth was known for its traffic, its trade, its commerce, its commercial endeavors, there was, if you remember in our study, a seedy side of Corinth. The underbelly of the city. Really what Corinth was renowned for, known for. It was debauched.

It was immoral. And that is because it was a mixture of a transient population and a religious system. The religious system was called the worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And if you were to look at Corinth, and last time we had a backdrop of it, we don't need to see it again, but there was the city and then behind the city, as you look at it from the front, was a hill called the Acro Corinth. And at the top of the Acro Corinth of that prominent hill was a temple to Aphrodite. Housed in that temple were a thousand priestesses, religious prostitutes, who would come down into the city to find those people in their transient journeys coming through the city and ply their trade in the name of religion. And because of that, Corinth got a reputation.

A bad reputation. In the Greek plays, when somebody played the part of a Corinthian, he was always drunk. And a term, a word was coined, Corinthi et zas thy, which means to act the Corinthian. If you called somebody that, it was sort of like cussing them out.

It's saying you scoundrel, you lowlife, you immoral, debauched person. That's what it was. That's how bad Corinth had this reputation. It was a party town. It was the ancient Las Vegas, or pick your city.

There's probably a lot of cities like it, but that's an easy target. So Paul goes there. And as we mentioned, Paul was discouraged. Now when he went there, he stayed with two people who were of the same trade. A husband and wife team. You remember their names.

Aquila and Priscilla. He stayed with them. They had been in Rome. They were Jewish. Claudius kicked them out of Rome.

All the Jews were expelled from Rome. They went to Corinth. That's where they met Paul. They probably met him in the synagogue. Paul usually went to the synagogue first. And in those days, people of the same guilds or trades often sat close together in the synagogue.

So in one corner, you might have somebody who's a woodworker or stonemason, and over in this corner, tentmakers. So Paul sat where other tentmakers were, and one guy stuck his hand out and said, hey, I'm Aquila. And his wife said, and I'm Priscilla.

And he thought, and your names rhyme, but that's cool. So they became close friends. And they brought courage to Paul. They brought him courage. They brought him comfort, as friends always do, don't they? New friends bring you courage.

But that's not all. Old friends bring you more encouragement. And so while Paul is in Corinth and he's going and sort of doing spiritual battle in the synagogues, he has made new friends. But at this point, two old friends come to him, Timothy and Silas.

They had been up in Macedonia. They come and join him there. And not only are they encouraging him by their presence, but if you place all the other scriptures together, and I'm not going to have you turn and chase it down, take my word that I've done the homework.

They bring a financial subsidy, a gift for Paul the apostle that has been given to them by the Macedonian churches. So they gave the money to Paul, which now means Paul can quit tent making for a while and give himself fully to the word of God, which he did. And he was able to stay there for 18 months on this mission, on a second missionary journey there in Corinth. And so we left around verse 11, it says he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

Now let's give you a date if you are into dates. Paul was there in Corinth, we believe, from the fall of AD 50 to the spring of AD 52. In AD 52, something happened to change the political landscape. And that is Achaea, that provincial governent of that area of southern Greece, got a new governor. And his name was Gallio, and he is mentioned in verse 12. When Gallio was proconsul of Achaea, he's the new politician.

I bring it up, he's new, because I think it sets the stage because the Jewish population of this town are going to try to take advantage of the fact that he's the new kid on the block. They don't like Paul, they want to manipulate governmental authority against Paul by using this new guy, Gallio, but it's going to backfire. When Gallio was proconsul, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. The word judgment seat is the word some of you know, it's the word bema seat. You've heard people talk about the bema seat of Christ, we will all stand, Corinthians says, before the judgment seat of Christ. And there we're going to be rewarded, we're going to be evaluated on our ministry, on our life, on our faithfulness.

It comes from an actual raised platform in Greek cities where the judgments took place, the bema seat. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, God's peace, his shalom, can penetrate every aspect of your life, spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. In his book, Unleashing Peace, Experiencing God's Shalom in Your Pursuit of Happiness, author Jeremiah J. Johnston helps you understand shalom and guides you into the peace that passes all understanding. And when you give a gift of $50 or more today, we'll send you Unleashing Peace. Our thanks for your support to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. By the way, if you go to Corinth today, archaeologists have dug up the agora, the marketplace, many of the temples of the city, the acro Corinth is still there, and they will show you the bema seat, the bema seat that raised judgment platform in the city of Corinth. And it was that judgment seat that Paul looked at and used when he said, we'll stand before the judgment seat of Christ, when he wrote to the Corinthians, he had that in mind because he stood before that very judgment seat. And so he's comparing that saying, but we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

So if you ever make it to Corinth, look for the bema seat, it's still there. So they brought him to the judgment seat and they said, this fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. Now, when Gallio hears these words being a Roman official, when he hears the word law, he's thinking of only one thing.

What is that? Roman law, not Jewish law. These are Jewish leaders saying he's telling us to worship God contrary to the law. They are thinking Jewish law. He hears it as Roman law. He's soon going to figure out, oh, this has nothing to do with Roman law. And when Paul was about to open his mouth, he didn't even get the chance to speak or rebut that. Gallio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, oh Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you.

But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves, for I do not want to be judge of such matters. And he drove them from the Bema seat, from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes and he is called here, verse 17, the ruler of the synagogue and beat him before the judgment seat.

But Gallio took no notice of these things. Luke, the author of this book. I believe here wants to give us an illustration of how that Jesus was with Paul. Remember, Paul had a vision. Jesus appeared to him at night, verse 9 and 10, and said, keep talking.

I'm with you. He now wants to give an example of how Jesus was with him, protecting him. And the example is Gallio, how God used Gallio to protect Paul the apostle when these charges were leveled against him by the locals in the city of Corinth. They tried to manipulate him.

They tried to manipulate Roman justice, but he wouldn't have any part of it. He had a good policy. He had a hands-off policy. He's government. He's the state. He's the feds. They're disputing about religious affairs.

So in his mind, it was a separation of powers, a separation of church and state. I don't have any jurisdiction over your law, these names and stuff. That's up to you guys.

You take care of that. So I love that he had a hands-off policy, and I think that's very important for justice to be done. Honestly, if Gallio was around today and was running for office, I'd vote for him. I like his policy. So they tried to manipulate him.

It doesn't work. Now, here's an interesting factoid. You that know your Greek history a little bit will recognize the name Seneca. Seneca was a Greek stoic philosopher, very famous. Seneca was the brother of Gallio, and he writes about his brother. Seneca writes of his brother that no one was good to one like Gallio was to all, that he was kind-hearted and very fair, very favorable in his disposition. So that's a part of history that plays into Gallio, the brother of Seneca, who's now the proconsul at the city of Corinth.

Now, I mentioned that the Jews' scheme backfired, and I want you to see why. Go back to verse 8, and you'll notice something. It says, then Crispus, and what is he called in verse 8, the what? The ruler of the synagogue, but then if you go to verse 17, then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, what? Yeah, the ruler of the synagogue, what goes on? Well, Crispus was the ruler of the synagogue when Paul came to the town of Corinth. Now, a synagogue had a ruler. What that meant was, the Greek word is archē sunagogos, that was his Greek title, and an archē sunagogos, or a ruler of a synagogue, was somebody appointed by the elders, the Jewish elders in that synagogue to oversee and upkeep the local synagogue. So Crispus was the archē sunagogos, Jewish, served the God of Israel, not a believer, until Paul comes to town. Crispus gets converted, Paul baptizes him, we discover in 1 Corinthians 1. So, they want to replace him, and who do they replace him with? Sosthenes. So they want to kind of manipulate Roman justice, saying this guy ought to be arrested, and instead they take the ruler of the synagogue, the new guy, and they beat him.

So, they're thinking twice about this, but the best part is still yet to come. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul begins. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and listen, Sosthenes, our brother. So, the first ruler of the synagogue gets saved and baptized by Paul, the second ruler of the synagogue first gets beaten, but eventually believes. So both of them are now Messianic Jews, believers in Jesus Christ. So, all of the plans and schemes of these people against Paul didn't work, backfired against them, and their case was thrown out of court. So, verse 18, Paul remained a good while. He's been there 18 months, he remains a little longer, we don't know how long, days, maybe weeks, maybe longer. So, Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Sentrea, for he had taken a vow.

Okay, I want to just go through this quickly and then dispense of it so we can get to the meat of this. Sentrea isn't far from Corinth. So, there's that little neck of land, that Isthmus it is called, that little neck of land, three and a half miles. On one side is Sentrea, on the other side is Corinth.

So, they're close to each other, a few miles away. Paul goes to another synagogue in that port town of Sentrea, and he cuts his hair off, he has taken a vow. What vow has he taken? We're not sure, but some believe it was the vow of a Nazarite.

Now, without filling all of that in, it's found in Numbers chapter 6. In Numbers chapter 6, the Old Testament allowed Jewish men to take a vow called the vow of a Nazarite, which means during this period of time that I'm under this vow, there are certain things I can and can't do. I can't drink any wine, which is a celebratory kind of a drink to them, so I'm kind of diminishing my modes of celebration.

I drink no wine, no fruit of the vine. Also, you'd let your hair grow out during the time of your vow. At the end of it, you'd shave your head and take it to a synagogue, and they would burn the hair. Now, a vow of a Nazarite was, I guess you could look at it as sort of a token of thanksgiving. If you come to a place and you just really want to thank the Lord for something He's done in your life, you take this vow.

You don't have to do it, but you can do it. Now, here's the interesting thing. Paul, who's not under the law and keeps preaching in the synagogue that Jesus Christ can justify people for things the law could never justify them, and that we're not under the Old Testament law, we're not under all those regulations, we're free. He was a champion of grace, not of the law. Question is, why is Paul taking a vow under Jewish law, Nazarite or other?

And because of that, people have faulted Paul. Some said he did this when he was unsaved. This is before his conversion.

That doesn't fit the text. Some believe he's backslidden and he's going backwards into Judaism. I don't think that fits the motif or the character of Paul.

But I think they make a bigger deal of it than you should really make a deal of it. He took a vow. So what?

It's not wrong to do it. Where is he going? He's on the way to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is Judaism capital. Here's Judaism 101. It's the center of everything Jewish. He's on the way to Jerusalem. And Paul said to the Jews, I become a Jew. To the Greeks, I become a Greek.

I become all things to all men, if by all means, I may save some. So in order to open a door with Jewish people in order to share with them, he took a vow. Did he have to? No. Did he want to? Yeah. Can't fault him for that.

Any more than you can fault a Christian today. If Christian says, you know, I'd like to celebrate Passover with my family. Okay, go ahead. No problem. Have fun. Enjoy it. Understand the meaning. Enrich your life as you see Christ fulfilled in the Passover.

Or if you say, you know, I was in Israel and I've come back and I really like the way they do Friday night and Saturday, their celebration of Shabbat, the Sabbath. I'm going to do that with my family. Great.

Have at it. You don't have to, but if you want to, great. Now the problem is, if you start going around telling other New Testament believers, you need to keep the Passover. You need to keep the Sabbath.

No, you don't. You're not under the Jewish covenant. You're a Gentile.

You're free in God's grace. So under grace, Paul could take the vow. Under grace, Paul could not take the vow.

Guess what? He wanted to take the vow. And when somebody comes along and says, shame on Paul. Paul shouldn't have taken that vow. What they're doing is doing what they're accusing Paul of doing. They've now made a law that Paul violated.

Right? So it's a logical fallacy. Anytime you say, I have a law, you shouldn't keep the law. We're not talking with you because what you said just doesn't make sense. So he's under grace. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Jeremiah Johnston's powerful book, Unleashing Peace, to guide you into the peace that passes all understanding. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app, where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.