Acts 18 Study Notes

18:14-17 Gallio seemed both perceptive (I refuse to be a judge of such things) and negligent (the beating of Sosthenes did not concern him). Keeping order in a multi-ethnic provincial town, heavily involved in trade and travel, was not easy. Gallio preferred the hands-off approach.

18:18 It is not clear that Paul was the one who shaved his head at Cenchreae. It may have been Aquila. The Greek syntax seems to indicate the latter, but it is uncertain. The vow may have been a Nazirite vow. If Paul was the person who made the vow, his going up to Jerusalem to visit “the church” (v. 22) may have included a stop at the temple to complete the vow and make an offering of his hair. Such activity was unusual for Paul, especially outside of Judea (cp. 21:26), but would have been consistent with his Jewish identity.

18:19-20 Paul’s stop at Ephesus must have been very short since he apparently did not encounter Apollos (vv. 24-28) or the misguided teaching that he countered in his later, extended visit to Ephesus (chap. 19).

18:21 Paul promised to come back to Ephesus if God wills, as indeed he did (19:1). Paul saw his ministry and his whole life as being in God’s service and control (see note at Rm 1:1).

18:22 We know it was the Jerusalem church that Paul greeted since he went down from there (Jerusalem is at a higher elevation) to Antioch. His arrival back in Antioch marks the completion of his second missionary journey.

18:23 This marks the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey. Like the first two, this one began from Antioch and retraced his steps through Asia Minor, particularly the Phrygian region of the province of Galatia.

18:24-25 Apollos was from Alexandria, Egypt, the most learned city in the Greco-Roman world. Since Apollos had been instructed in the way of the Lord, we know that Christianity had reached Egypt by this time. However, his knowledge of Christianity was deficient since he knew only the baptism of John the Baptist. Nonetheless, some take fervent in spirit to mean that Apollos was already filled with the Holy Spirit. However, it is more likely that Apollos was serious about his dawning faith in Christ but had not yet received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

18:26 We see here that speaking boldly about Jesus is not enough. One must also accurately understand the faith. Priscilla and Aquila served both Apollos and the kingdom by taking time to instruct him.

18:27-28 Once Apollos’s rhetorical skills were coupled with accurate understanding of the Christian faith, he left Ephesus and went to Achaia (Corinth, 19:1). He vigorously refuted the Jews using apologetic and instructional techniques similar to Paul’s. None of this would have been possible if not for the faithfulness of Priscilla and Aquila.