Acts 19 (Bible Study) - (Corinth)
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When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.[a] 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
In Berea
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
In Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
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Acts of Jesus through the Apostles
Introduction
The city of Corinth connected the Peloponnese peninsula with Greece. It was a main trade route. Goods brought to east Corinth were transported a few miles to west Corinth, saving a 200-mile journey by ship around the peninsula. It was a major commercial and finance centre
Corinth became known for immorality and corruption. In classical Greek korintheazdo (to “Corintheanise”) was a synonym for fornication. The temple of Aphrodite in Corinth had thousands of female slave/ priestesses who were prostitutes. At that time, Ephesus was 500,000, Corinth 750,000, and Rome a million+. Corinth was the commercial centre of the empire, Athens the intellectual centre, Ephesus was the popular culture/occult centre, and Rome was the political power centre.
1. Compare Paul’s choice of ministry sites with 16:12, what do you recall from the book of Acts. What kinds of places does he give priority? Why? What impact should that have on Christians today?
What kinds of places? Paul’s pattern is clear. In Acts 16:9-10, Paul is called in a dream to preach in Macedonia. In 16:12 we are told that he went then to Phillipi. Why? Because it was “the leading city of that district of Macedonia”. By going to Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Paul is choosing to go the biggest and most influential cities in every location. When he was done planting a church in a major city, he left the region, considering his work finished there. It is clear that Paul’s mission was almost completely an urban ministry. He concentrated on cities in preference to smaller towns.
Why? The reasons Paul did this is speculative, but Paul had learned that the most strategic and receptive people to the gospel were the “God-fearers”, Gentiles who had come to believe in the God of the Hebrew Bible. They were more open than many Jews to the gospel (they did not have their moral pride). Further, they were more open than many Gentile pagans (they had an understanding of the nature of God as holy and gracious). And when God-fearers became Christians, they were natural “relational bridges” to the Gentile population. Paul found Jews and God-fearers in synagogues in cities.
Other reasons include: 1) City people are less conservative and set in their ways, and therefore are more open to new ideas like the gospel. 2) City people are more mobile and therefore converts in the city become core groups in new cities, creating natural bridges for ministry. 3) City people are diverse culturally and racially, and therefore conversions in a city bring the gospel into new language groups and cultural groupings. 4) Cities are the seat of media, learning, and culture, and therefore converts in the city have influence over the whole society. The Roman world became a Christian civilization.
What does it mean for us? It means that, in general, the most strategic place for Christians to live and work and minister is large cities. This is not a law for everyone, just a general truth for the church at large. John Stott puts it rather pointedly:
“In 1850 there were only four ‘cities’ of more than a million inhabitants; in 1980 there were 225, and by the year 2,000 - 500. In 1980, 40% of the world’s population are city-dwellers; by 2000 the ratio 50%… On the one hand, there is an urgent need for Christian planners and architects, local government politicians, urban specialists, developers and community social workers, who will work for justice, peace, freedom and beaut in the city. On the other, Christians need to move into the cities, and experience the pains and pressures of living there, in order to win city-dwellers for Christ. Commuter Christianity (living in suburbia and commuting to an urban church) is no substitute for incarnational involvement.” Stott, p.292-293
2. Acts 19:1-18. What were the stages in the Corinthian mission? What led to each move to a new stage? What obstacles did he meet at each stage, how did he respond, and how did God respond each time?
The first stage - “tentmaking” phase (v1-4). Paul was not in full-time ministry, he worked at a craft and did ministry in the synagogue on the Sabbath, evangelising Jews and God-fearers (v4). The reasons for tent-making v5 funds. Also Acts 20:33-34 indicates avoidance of appearance of greed) and 1 Thes. 2:9 (to avoid burdening the people he is trying to reach). During this time the ministry moved slowly. Paul did not have a lot of time to give, and he did not have much fellowship or partnership. Note the word “trying” in v4. He persisted faithfully in this way. God sent help in the form of fellowship.
The 2nd stage when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia (& Phillipi). Paul went “full time.” ‘Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying.’ Three things led to this move forward – (a) The encouragement of fellowship (friends and fellow workers with him) (b) a financial gift (see Phil.4:14ff. and 2 Cor.11:8-9), and (c) probably the good news about the converts flourishing in the new churches Paul had left behind (see 1Thess 3:6). Fellowship and sharing of love, burdens, and resources for the spread of the gospel is so important. Obstacle: Jewish leaders rose up to oppose Paul’s preaching (v6). Paul changed venues and approaches. God’s response - God then blesses the new method richly.
The 3rd stage began with ministry in a private home rather than the synagogue. God-fearer Titius Justus (v7) offered his home. Paul held meetings there. Over the years outreach meetings have been conducted ministering to the friends and relatives and neighbours of the householder. A fruitful approach (v.8), there was a great harvest of new converts. Obstacle: Paul experienced fear and discouragement. God’s responded with a personal counselling session for Paul.
The 4th stage - discipling ministry. v.11 - Paul stayed 1½ years “teaching them the word of God”. Long term grounding the new converts in the Word. Possibly the reason for this long stay may have been the unusually dark spiritual battle in Corinth. Possbily Paul needed to “heal” from his spiritual depression. Obstacle: The Jewish leaders attacked Paul before the proconsul accusing him of disobeying Roman law. God’s response: Gallio’s retort this is to do with “your law” (v15) was a great success for Paul.
The Jews were trying to make a case that Paul was teaching a new religion (not authorised), Gallio ruled (v15) “it involves questions about words and names and your own law. Settle the matter yourselves.” This gave Christianity the same Roman protection given to Judaism. A triumph for the Christians, and as a result of this incident, Paul remained in Corinth for some time (v18).
NB: v.17 “They all” probably means the a mob of Gentile onlookers turned and beat the synagogue head. This is anti-Semitic and ethnic hostility. The vented their hatred (Gallio looked the other way).
3. Acts 19:8-11. What is surprising about the emotional condition of Paul in v9 in light of v8? Why did Paul find Corinth ministry difficult (cf1 Cor.2:2)? How does God respond?
What is surprising is that in v.8 there is a growth of new converts after a period of patient work (v4). We would expect that Paul would be a) confident and b) encouraged. Instead, v9 indicates that he was so a) afraid and b) discouraged that he was ready to quit. This rings so true to experience, probably why Luke included it! People who have experienced “spiritual success” after a dry period often do not respond emotionally with joy but with depression. Jesus, after his baptism and the heavens opened - was immediately set upon by the devil in the wilderness. This is not unusual.
Pauls fear & discouragement does seem unusual. He had faced greater physical danger elsewhere. Two reasons: First, 1 Cor 2:2 says that Paul came to Corinth in “fear and trembling”. Probably due to the reputation Corinth had for spiritual darkness. Second: “burn out.” The time of unfruitful ministry, combined with the long months of Paul’s missionary journeys. Through overwork, a person becomes drained of any real satisfaction in what they are doing. “Success” comes and they realise that he/she is too tired, numb, and broken to enjoy it.
God responds with a counselling session. Paul is exhorted by the Word of God in his moment of crisis. “Do not be afraid” and “I am with you” are continually being said to his people by the Lord. (Gen.26:24; Jer.1:8ff). God can speak to us in the same encouraging way through Scriptural promises and the Spirit, makes them “come alive” as if they were being spoken just to us. In other words, Heb.12:5-6 - Scripture continues to be a way for God to exhort and counsel us.
4.List the ways that God’s help and encouragement comes to us.
What can we learn from a) Paul’s actions and b) God’s directions (see v9-10) about how we can receive God’s help ourselves?
God’s help comes in these forms:
a) First, it can come through Christian friends and fellowship (v.5) Paul, could not “pull off” the Corinthian mission by himself, without co-workers, fellowship, emotional and financial support. In reality it is cowardice or pride that makes us try to go it alone. We need other Christians.
b) Second, the Spirit working through the Word. (v9-10) We must not cut ourselves off from community, but we must also “get alone with God” and draw near to Him in in prayer and reflection.
c) Third, Providence. God opened people’s hearts (v.8) and guided Gallio’s thoughts (v.15). This is usually the way that we want God’s help! Reach down and change other people’s minds and hearts. Overrule and make history go our way. NB he did not do that for Paul right away (v.4) We should go to Christian friends, and to God in prayer, a) & b) aswell as (c).
From Paul’s actions in Acts 18:1-18 we learn:
a) Sometimes the only way through obstacles (v1-4) is faithfulness, plodding along, and waiting on God, but b) other times (as in v.5-8) it is best to take a different approach! When to go with a) or b) requires Godly wisdom which comes from meditating on the promises and directions of God in v9-10.
From God’s directions in v.9-10 we learn:
God first of all tells Paul: do not be afraid”. God is saying, “you will not be afraid if you do the following things”. What are those things? He tells Paul to:
a) Do something. “Keep on speaking”. Here is a command to do an act of the will. God is telling Paul to open his mouth and share the gospel despite his fears.
b) Remember something. (1) “For I am with you”. The word “for” means that Paul is to speak out remembering and meditating on the fact that God is with him. (2) Secondly, “no one is going to attack and harm you.” Nothing will happen that isn’t for God’s glory/Paul’s benefit (Rom 8:28).
c) See something. “I have many people in this city”. Paul is to see Corinth as full of friends not enemies. Paul is to see the city through God’s eyes — filled with potential and future children of God. That is how we should we look at our town!
Introduction to the end of the second missionary journey:
v18-23 is a very compact, condensed summary of the latter part of Paul’s “second missionary journey”. The introduction of Christian leader, Apollos.
5. Acts 19:24-28. What can we learn from Apollos and from Priscilla & Aquila in ministry?
a) Apollos is admired by Paul for being learned and with a knowledge of the Scriptures (v24)
Too often, those have been seen as opposites. “Learned” means “educated and knowledgeable”. Apollos was a man of the world and a knowledge of the Bible. A balance we need.
b) Apollos also combined great fervour with teaching about Jesus accurately (v25). This too is a balance we need. Apollos combined both the ardour and the order of the gospel.
c) Apollos was a teachable man. Luke says that he taught about Jesus accurately (v25), but he knew only John the Baptist’s teaching and baptism. He needed to know the full gospel (v.26). He was a good public debater v28). Apollos was more gifted than Priscilla and Aquila. Yet he was humble enough to listen to two Christians who knew more (one a woman). We have to let the gospel mould our relationships, not the world’s proud standards, or we won’t listen to people less talented than we are.
d) Priscilla and Aquila were both bold and gentle in their approach. They spoke to him privately, in their home, rather than confronting him in a public place (v.26). There’s the gentleness. Yet it took real boldness to speak to such a preacher about his theology.
