3. Let us often read and carefully fix in our memories the sublime description here given of the Supreme Being. It is replete with interesting truth and divine consolation. He is the great Creator of the universe, the impartial Father of all mankind, their present Governor and Sovereign, their final Judge, the all-sufficient and omnipresent Deity, infinitely superior to every thing which we behold or can conceive. To him we are indebted for all that we possess; to him we are accountable for all that we have received, for all that we do: him, therefore, let us serve with thankfulness and joy. SECTION XXIX. Paul leaves Athens, and goes to Corinth. He is brought by the Jews before Gallio, the proconsul. ACTS xviii. 1-17. 1. AFTER these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth: This was a large and opulent city of Greece, which, being situated on a narrow neck of land between two seas, was resorted to, for the purposes of commerce from both the western and eastern parts of the globe. The natural consequences of extensive trade and manufactures, were luxury and dissipation of manners, which soon sunk it into one of the most corrupt and effeminate of the states of Greece. It was not much less celebrated for philosophers and orators than Athens itself. 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. 3. And because he was of the same craft, "of the same trade," he abode with them and wrought: (for by their occupation they were tent-makers.) This is the first time that Paul was introduced to these persons, whose names are mentioned more than once in this history, and still more frequently in the epistles. They were, on several occasions, his companions, and he received from them very essential services. As nothing is said about their conversion, it is probable that they became Christians by their intercourse with him, and that it was for this reason, as well as because they pursued the * Travels of Anacharsis, Vol. III. article Corinth. same occupation, that he immediately joined himself to them. Though Jews and natives of Asia, their names are of Latin origin. In assigning the reason of their departure from Rome, an event is referred to in the Roman history, by means of which, we may, in some degree, ascertain the truth and accuracy of that which we are reading for we are told that Claudius, the Roman emperor, had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. The same thing is asserted by Suetonius, a Roman historian, who lived near that time; for he tells us that the emperor Claudius "expelled the Jews from Rome, who were continually raising disturbances, Chrestus being their leader." The fact, probably was, as we have seen in other instances, that the Jews, alarmed at the progress of the Christians, endeavoured to excite tumults and insurrections at Rome, and that the emperor, considering Christians as only a sect of the Jews, commanded one as well as the other to depart from the city. Here then, we see the testimony of a heathen writer coinciding with, and confirming, that of the sacred historian. It has often been observed, that it was almost an invariable custom with Jewish parents, however affluent their circumstances, to teach their children some handicraft business, as a useful resource for maintenance in case of unavoidable misfortunes in life. Hence it is, that we find Paul, although a person who had had a liberal education, (for he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel,) able to employ himself in the ordinary occupation of a tent-maker. The tents which he and his companions were employed in making, were composed of linen or skins, and used as a summer residence in hot climates, by travellers upon their journeys, where no other lodging was to be found, and by soldiers in their camps. Paul has often asserted his right to maintenance from those who enjoyed the benefit of his labours in preaching the gospel; but for prudential reasons he declined enforcing this claim at Corinth and Ephesus. 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit, "was closely employed in the word," i. e. in preaching the gospel, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. This alteration in the translation is authorized by several circumstances, and seems consonant to the design of the writer, who intended to mention something which was the consequence of Silas and Timothy coming to Paul; this was more likely to be, that he was to labour more abundantly in the work of preaching, together with them, than that he was pressed in spirit or discouraged. But the more the zeal and earnestness of the apostle increased, the more violent was the opposition made to him, and the more evident did the temper of the unbelieving Jews appear. 6. And when they opposed themselves and blas phemed, i. e. reviled Jesus and his religion, he shook his raiment, i. e. his loose upper garment; He thus expressed his entire renunciation of all further intercourse with them; as if he had said, I will not keep any thing that belongs to you, not so much as the dust which adheres to my clothes. Take what is yours, as I will keep what is mine. Christ had directed his disciples to shake off the dust from their feet in like circumstances, which meant the same thing. And said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles; "your blood," i. e. your guilt, "is upon your own heads." The apostle does not mean to express an imprecation, but his being clean from whatever guilt or whatever evil belonged to the rejection of the gospel. 7. And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, a proselyte to the Jewish religion, whose house joined hard," was near," to the synagogue. He left the house of Aquila, who was a Jew, and went to reside with Justus, either because his house was more convenient for teaching, or because he wished to please the Gentiles by residing with one of them. The apostle's labours, even among the Jews, were not wholly unsuccessful. 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. In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul tells the church that he baptized none other among them that Crispus and Gaius; but how Crispus came to obtain so honourable a distinction as to be baptized by the apostle's own hand, while the rest did not enjoy that honour, the epistle does not inform us; but this matter is explained by the history; for we here learn that he was ruler of the synagogue, and, therefore, entitled to some distinction for his rank, as well, probably, for his property and character. This is one of those undesigned coincidences between the history and the epistle, which serve to confirm the authenticity of both.* Notwithstanding the number of converts at Corinth, and the respectable character of some of them, the apostle's prospects here were not so encouraging as to induce him of themselves to spend much longer time in that city. The violent temper which the Jews had just discovered, naturally led to a suspicion that they would soon have recourse to the same measures which they had successfully employed against him in other places. The supernat * Paley's Horæ Paulinæ, p. 89. ural communication mentioned in the next verse became necessary, therefore, to inspire him with confidence, and in induce him to persevere in his labours. 9. Then spake the Lord, i. e. probably the Lord Jesus, to Paul, in the night, by a vision, probably in a dream, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: 10. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city. 11. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. Luke calls the gospel of Christ, as preached by the apostle Paul, the word of God, because it was a revelation made to him by God; but the same denomination cannot wtth propriety be applied to a history like the present, which contains, indeed, an authentic, but not inspired, account of the reception which it met with in different places. It was during the apostle's residence at Corinth that he wrote his first and second epistle to the Thessalonians; a church which he had lately established, and which required all his attention and care. 12. And when Gallio was deputy, in the original, "proconsul," of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection. with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment-seat; It has been observed that this province, of which Corinth was the chief town, had undergone various revolutions, and been called by different names, but that the name given to it by Luke, is what belonged to it at this period, which is one proof among many, of the care and accuracy with which he writes. 13. Saying, This fellow persuadeth men, meaning Jews, to worship God contrary to the law. 14. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, "wicked mischief," O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you, i. e. it would be reasonable that I should hear you patiently. 15. But if it be a question of words, "doctrines," and names, i. e. whether Jesus ought to be called Messiah or not, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matter. 16. And he drove them from the judgment-seat. This Gallio was brother to Seneca, the stoic philosopher, and a man of a remarkably mild and amiable disposition; but his conduct on the present occasion in protecting Paul from the violence of the Jews, seems to have been directed by a regard to the Roman law, which forbade their magistrates to interfere in religious disputes. 17. Then all, i. e. the Jews, took Sosthenes the chief ruler of the synagogue, who succeeded Crispus, and seems to have favoured Paul, and beat him before the judgment-seat, and Gallio cared for none of these things. The common translation reads "then all the Greeks took Sosthenes," &c. but the word Greeks is omitted in some manuscripts and versions, and, therefore, I have left it out, as it appears to embarrass the sense. That the Jews should beat one of their own countrymen, who was supposed to favour the Christians, and that they should be permitted to do it, is not unlikely; but that the Greeks, or unbelieving Gentiles should do this, and be suffered to proceed without opposition, is highly improbable. REFLECTIONS. 1. FROM the condition of the apostle, in being obliged to work with his own hands for a maintenance, we may derive an argument to prove the sincerity of his attachment to the gospel. He has not been induced to support it by interested or ambitious prospects, by the hope of gain or of power; for, although he had now been a preacher of this doctrine many years, we find him neither rich nor at ease, but, on the contrary, so poor as to be obliged to labour for his own support. Of the danger and trouble to which he was exposed, we have had repeated proofs in the course of this history; yet his zeal is unabated, and his exertions unrelaxed. If unsuccessful in one place, he renews his efforts in another. Whence could this undaunted zeal and persevering fortitude proceed, but from an overpowering conviction of the truth and divine origin of Christianity, and from a persuasion that in preaching it he was promoting the best interests of mankind? The motives and arguments which satisfied him, ought to satisfy us also. 2. The success of the apostle in the circumstances above described, ought to afford us the like satisfaction. In the great city of Corinth, a city distinguished for the opulence and dissipation of its inhabitants, abounding also in philosophers and orators, Paul was honoured with great success in preaching the gospel, and had numerous converts; notwithstanding that he spent the greater part of his time in providing, by the labour of his hands, for his necessities, and that labour not of the most honourable kind; not in casting statues VOL. III. 2 A |