Acts 18:5

Act_18:5-8

And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit (R.., By the Word).

Enthusiasm justified

1. Different effects are produced in different minds by the proclamation of the same truths. Some may accept it with a languid spirit, assured of its verity, but wholly indifferent to its real import; others may receive it with all gladness, rejoicing to repeat it with enthusiastic delight. A lighted match falling on a granite rock or pile of sand is extinguished; but the same, when applied to wood, kindles a genial glow, or, to powder, creates a flame and explosion. So with truth. Even Christian minds are affected by the same truth very differently at different times.

2. Paul was familiar with these varying experiences. When he was at Athens his spirit was stirred within him as he saw the prevailing idolatry. At Rome he felt the power of her imperial greatness, and was not ashamed of the gospel of the Son of God. But now at Corinth, though he preached in the synagogue, it does not seem that he was putting forth any special effort to reach the people. He may have been disheartened. But the vision was at hand, and with it the emphatic command, Speak! Even now was he straitened. The same word is used by the Saviour (Luk_12:50) and by Paul (Php_1:23), when he says that he is in a strait betwixt two. Now that the help brought him by Silas and Timotheus released him from labour, he yielded to an urgent and imperative impulse, testifying that, Jesus was Christ. Opposition did not deter. When the Jews blasphemed, he shock his robe, and said (Act_18:6).

3. We are apt to regard the great apostle as a flaming star that burned incessantly. We forget his human moods, though he records them. We rejoice in these recorded imperfections of the good, so far as they show the triumphs of Divine grace, for they encourage us to trust in the same ennobling and overruling grace in the midst of our own infirmities. Rising from his apparently passive condition, urged by the assurance, I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee, he boldly and ardently proclaimed the truth as it is in Jesus.

I. This enthusiasm was justifiable; his inertness was not. Moods like this might have led him to say that he was not meet to be an apostle; but when he reflected upon the truth, it filled and thrilled him. Now he was ready to preach to prince or peasant. Man was great in his possibilities. Sin was a terrific evil. He saw, too, the power of the gospel to save man. He believed that eternal life and death hinged on the acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ. These were the springs of his enthusiasm, and they justified it. A man drops from an ocean steamer into the sea. You shout aloud for help to save him. The occasion justifies your excitement. A trivial occurrence would not warrant an outcry. Fanaticism is sometimes shown in its disproportionate zeal for unimportant matters; but Paul was pressed by an imminent and awful truth that menaced the ungodly. His enthusiasm would be ours if his convictions were.

II. There is an enormous power in such an enthusiasm.

1. So it proved at Corinth when Pauls soul flamed forth in eager utterance. The power of truth is measured oftentimes by the resistance it awakens. So bitterly did the Jews hate him, they were ready to invoke the aid of Rome--another hated power--to crush Paul. We ought not to be cast down because today atheists assault Christianity. This is but the answer of mans rebellious will to Gods authoritative voice. Were there no opposition to the Bible we might think that there was no power in it.

2. The work Paul did at Corinth showed that his enthusiasm had a vital energy. Even in that wicked city Paul gained much people to the Lord. Did we feel the pressure he felt, we, too, would be eloquent in our advocacy of the truth. The burden of the spirit is relieved by earnest speech; and this secret, subtle power of soul is contagious. Rome felt it, as thousands of martyrs gave up their lives for the Lord Jesus. Mediaeval ages felt it, as Christian missionaries carried to savage tribes the gospel that became the seed of Christian commonwealths. Germany and England felt this intrepid and heroic enthusiasm of the Reformers. Puritan civilisation, modern missionary enterprises--in short, all self-sacrifice founded on conviction of the truth of God, illustrate the abiding and triumphant power of this element of life.

III. We infer, then, what is our great lack. It is the pressure of the Word. We do not have it as we ought. We are trying to push a steamer across the sea, only using tepid water. Without this full and mighty pressure of consecrated enthusiasm, our example, teaching, and giving are all defective in impulse and in power.

IV. Therefore we see the duty of prayer for the holy ghost. Kindled as at Pentecost, out love will then make our life vocal with a Divine message. Our inertness will be rebuked as we contemplate the devotion of Paul under the pressure of his illuminated sense of truth and duty. Baptized anew, the Church will go on from conquest to conquest. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)

Encouragements--Divine and human

1. In Act_18:5 we read that Paul was pressed in the spirit; in chap. 17:16 we read that Pauls spirit was stirred in him. In both cases it was not a little transient excitement, it was agony. Would God we could recall our early enthusiasm, our first burning hate of sin. We are familiar with it; we pat its black head. Paul was a man of conviction. He really believed that there was no other name given under heaven among men whereby they could be saved but the name of Christ. That faith will not lodge in the same heart with indifference.

2. In Act_17:6 we read, From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. Paul was not the man to lay hold upon the plough and to turn back; Paul would not even keep company with a young man who had broken faith with him in the Christian work. He went clear through with it to the end. Let us never give up the work. We may turn in vexation of soul from stolid unbelief and preach to ignorant and bewildered heathenism, but do not let the work have less of our energy because we have been disappointed in this or that particular circle.

3. A little encouragement would cheer us now. Here it is in Act_17:7-8. Paul entered into a certain mans house, named Justus, one that worshipped God--is there any greater phrase in all human speech? And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed, and many of the Corinthians thought they would believe too. Great men are the looking glasses into which ordinary men look to see what they ought to be like. What we want, then, is courage on the part of those whose influence is extensive. If you, the head of the house, could say, Let us worship God, many within the house might respond So be it. We must have leadership--may that leadership always be in an upward direction.

4. We have encouragement in Act_17:9 in another form. These words were not spoken once for all; they are spoken every day to every earnest labourer. God took the census of Corinth from a religious point of view. Apparently there was not a saint in the whole place. As Athens was wholly given to idolatry, so Corinth was, apparently, wholly given to sensuality. We cannot tell where Gods people are. The ancient prophet thought that he alone was left; but God told him that He knew of seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. God is looking for His own; and one of the most gracious surprises in store for the Church is that there will be more people in Gods pure home than it may have entered into the most generous human heart to conceive.

5. But Act_17:12 seems to contradict the vision. What a violent transition! At night, lost in the ecstasies of Divine fellowship, in the morning dragged before the judgment seat by an incensed mob! Is it thus that Providence contradicts itself? Apparently so, but not really. Evil shall be overruled for good; for the outcome was the Church at Corinth.

6. But we are told by Mr. Buckle, e.g., that Christian missions have failed. He sets side by side with missionary reports the testimony of impartial, independent, well-instructed travellers, who say that whilst many heathen populations have taken upon themselves Christian forms of worship, they are destitute of the spirit of Christianity. It is beautiful to notice the verdant simplicity of men who have just discovered that nominally converted and baptized people are not angels. Many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized; but impartial and independent travellers testify that even after that they were not so good as they might have been. Did Paul set them forth to be perfect men? Read his Epistles to the Corinthians. We must not give up missionary work simply because some impartial and independent travellers interrupt their geographical business by little scrutinies into the spirit and manners of people who had been baptized into the name of Christ. We do not expect a man to grow in a night. If they have been arrested; if their attention has been turned in the right direction; if they have expressed a desire to enter even into the veriest elementary lines of discipleship, let us be glad, and report at home that the battle is moving towards victory. Things are seen most by contrast. What is black is blackest when seen upon a white surface, and so many of our shortcomings and failures look very black because of the background of the holy Name which we profess to have accepted as our symbol and our hope--the spotless name of the Son of God! (J. Parker, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 18:5-6. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia — Silas seems to have stayed a considerable time at Berea; but Timotheus, having come to the apostle while he was at Athens, and having been sent back by him to comfort and confirm the church at Thessalonica, now left that city to join Paul at Corinth; and in his way calling upon Silas at Berea, they travelled together to Corinth, where they found the apostle, and gave him the agreeable information that the Thessalonian brethren stood firm in the faith, bare the persecution of the unbelievers with exemplary fortitude, and entertained a grateful remembrance of him their spiritual father, 1Th 3:5-6. These tidings, it seems, filled the apostle with joy, and encouraged him to deal more plainly with the Jews at Corinth than he had hitherto done. For he was pressed in spirit — And the more probably from what Silas and Timotheus related; and testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ — Confirming his testimony by arguments brought from the Scriptures, and by the miracles which he wrought. And when they opposed themselves — To his doctrine; and blasphemed — Jesus, by affirming that he was not the Christ, but an impostor; he shook his raiment — To signify that from that time he would refrain from them, and that God would soon shake them off as unworthy to be numbered among his people; and said, Your blood — That is, the guilt of your destruction; be upon your own heads: I am clean — From it, agreeably to God’s declaration, Eze 33:2-9. By this wilful impenitence and unbelief, you are your own murderers; and, as God and man can testify that I have done all in my power to prevent so sad an event, I now desist from any further attempts of this kind; from henceforth — While I continue in this city, leaving the synagogue, I will go and preach to the Gentiles — Who will readily receive that gospel which you so ungratefully reject.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL REMARKS

Act_18:5. Pressed in spirit.—According to the oldest authorities this should be was held together by the word, συνείχετο τῷ λόγῳ—i.e., either earnestly occupied with the business of preaching (Bengel, Holtzmann, and others), or wholly seized upon and constrained by the word within him (R.V.).

Act_18:6. Your blood be upon your own heads.—Compare 2Sa_1:16; 1Ki_2:33; Eze_3:18; Eze_3:20; Eze_33:4; Eze_33:6; Eze_33:8.

Act_18:7. Justus.—The oldest MSS. waver between Titus Justus (R.V.), Titius Justus, and simply Justus, who, however named, is not to be identified with Titus (Wieseler).

Act_18:9. By a vision.—Compare Act_16:9; Act_23:11. The words addressed to Paul remind one of Isa_62:1.

Act_18:11. A year and six months.—Paul’s whole sojourn in Corinth was three years (Act_19:31).

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_18:5-11

A Year and Six Months in Corinth; or, Three Significant Experiences

I. Renewed activity in preaching.—

1. Brought about by the coming of old friends. Though Paul was of more heroic mould than to sink beneath the pressure of external circumstances, however severe (Php_4:13), though he could testify for Christ without other aid than that Christ extended, whether in the Areopagus before Athenian philosophers (Act_17:22), or at Cæsarea before Festus and Agrippa (Act_26:1), or at Rome before Nero (2Ti_4:16), he was nevertheless in a high degree dependent on the sympathy of others. During the absence of Timothy and Silas he felt lonely both in Athens and in Corinth, while there is good ground for thinking that his strength was at this time somewhat weakened through his thorn or stake in the flesh (1Co_2:3), and perhaps also through the severe privations he chose to endure rather than accept support from his friends in Corinth, where his enemies were numerous (2Co_11:8; 2Co_12:13 et seq.; 1Co_9:12). Consequently, though he never for a moment dreamt of abandoning his holy work of preaching, he nevertheless toiled along as if a heavy burden lay upon his spirit. Accordingly when, after the lapse probably of some weeks, or it might be months, Timothy and Silas arrived from Macedonia, the former from Thessalonica bringing cheering tidings of the faith and charity of his dear friends in that city and perhaps also such material assistance from them as helped to relieve him from the necessity of manual labour (1Th_3:6), and the latter from Berœa (Act_17:14), possibly with equally cheering intelligence about the Church there, and with gifts of love from Philippi (Php_4:15; 2Co_11:9), the load lifted from his heart so that he bounded forward in his work with revived alacrity and zeal, as if the word had seized upon him (see “Critical Remarks”) and constrained him with a holy violence, impelling him to greater diligence, fervour, and prayerfulness than before (compare 1Co_9:16).

2. Manifested in special efforts to gain his countrymen. Though designated specially as the minister of Christ to the Gentiles, Paul never could forget the fact that the Jews were his kinsmen according to the flesh, or neglect an opportunity of seeking their salvation. Hence this fresh outburst of missionary zeal which seized upon him was directed specially to them. With redoubled energy and impassioned earnestness he laid before them the proofs from Scripture that Jesus was the Christ. (For the manner of his preaching see 1Co_2:4; and for its matter 1Co_15:3.) Not that he neglected others; but these were his first care (Luk_24:47; Rom_1:16).

II. Renewed opposition by the Jews.—

1. Its secret spring. Nothing local, or accidental, or personal to Paul such as his “contemptible presence or speech” (2Co_10:10); but the innate hostility of the human heart to a gospel of salvation by grace and through faith without works (1Co_2:14), and the irreconcilable antagonism of the Jewish heart to everything and every one that challenged the validity of Moses’ law, as understood and practised by them, or accused them of ignorance and sin in rejecting Jesus as Messiah.

2. Its bitter violence. Like defeated controversialists generally when they cannot answer their opponents, and like their co-religionists at Antioch (Act_13:45) and afterwards at Ephesus (Act_19:9), they betook themselves to abusive language, railing against the apostle and blaspheming God and Christ (compare 1Co_12:3).

3. Its necessary consequence. Paul discontinued his efforts to persuade them.

(1) His symbolic action. “He shook,” or shook out, “his raiment”—i.e., shook out the dust from its folds, as in Antioch of Pisidia he had shaken the dust from his feet (Act_13:51), for a testimony against them.

(2). His solemn declaration. “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am pure; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” By this he gave them to understand that the responsibility for their destruction, both as a people and as individuals, would rest entirely with themselves, that he regarded himself as in no way involved in their guilt, and that henceforth he would preach exclusively to the Gentiles (compare Act_20:6; Eze_33:5-9).

(3) His public withdrawal. From that day forward he no more frequented their synagogue, no more proclaimed to them the words of eternal life, no more invited them to believe. Having made their election, they were now by him left to the tender mercies of Heaven. So far from being again pressed to accept salvation, they would no more be troubled. Practically by Christ’s ambassador they were judicially abandoned.

III. Renewed consolation from God.—

1. The opening of a new door. When the synagogue was closed against the apostle, the house of a Greek proselyte, Justus, or Titus Justus (R.V.), opened to give him welcome, as afterwards at Ephesus the school of Tyrannus was placed at his disposal, when excluded from the synagogue (Act_19:9). There does not appear to be sufficient ground for identifying this individual who befriended the apostle in Corinth with Titus, or supposing that Paul left Aquila’s house and went to lodge with Justus. What Luke designs to say is rather this, that while Paul continued lodging and working with Aquila, he preached on the Sabbaths in the house of Justus, who resided hard by the synagogue, so that the Jews and proselytes, if they chose, might still come to hear him. In the action of Justus Paul would undoubtedly delight to see the guiding hand of his glorified Master (Rev_3:7).

2. The accession of a new friend. Whether Justus was at this time a believer or not cannot with certainty be inferred from Luke’s words. If, as is most likely, he was not, the probability is that he ultimately became a convert. But the withdrawal or exclusion of Paul from the synagogue led to the decision of Crispus its ruler to cast in his lot with the new cause, in which act he was followed by his whole house. Already Paul had gathered converts in Corinth, “of humble and most probably of slavish origin,” the first of these being—not Epænetus (Rom_16:5), where the true reading is of Asia—but the household of Stephanas (1Co_16:15). The conversion, however, of one so prominent as Crispus and of his family, whom, as well as the household of Stephanas, Paul baptised with his own hand, either because of their importance or because of the absence of his assistants (1Co_1:15-16), could not fail to exert a powerful and happy influence on the side of the gospel and on the heart of Paul. Most likely this contributed to the success of Paul’s ministry in Justus’s house, many of the Corinthians who heard him there having believed and been baptised, which again led to the prolongation of his ministry in Corinth for a year and six months.

3. The enjoyment of a new vision. In some respects this differed from each of the other visions granted to Paul. The vision at Damascus (Act_9:12), like that in the temple at Jerusalem (Act_22:18), occurred at midday; this, like the vision at Troas (Act_16:9), took place at night. In the vision at Troas a man of Macedonia appeared; whereas in this, as in the Damascus and Jerusalem visions, it was the form of the glorified Redeemer that was seen. The purpose of the Jerusalem vision was to counsel Paul to flee from the city; the object of this was to make him stay in Corinth.

(1) The Lord exhorted him to banish fear and preach the gospel with all boldness: “Be not afraid, but speak,” etc., a suitable word for one whose ministry had been up till then carried on “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1Co_2:3).

(2) The Lord assured him of His constant presence and protection, saying, “I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee,” or if they do their purpose shall be defeated (compare Act_18:12-17). The like promise had Christ given to the twelve (Mat_28:20).

(3) The Lord revealed to him that many would be converted by his ministry: “I have much people in this city,” not already, but about to be converted, a cheering announcement for one who was probably beginning to think his labours in the gospel might be in vain.

Learn.—

1. The impassioned earnestness with which the word of God should be preached.

2. The certainty that a faithful minister, should he not convert others, will at least clear himself.

8. The fearful retribution that will eventually overtake those who oppose themselves and blaspheme.

4. The justification of preachers in leaving those who persistently refuse to accept the gospel.

5. The extreme unlikelihood of faithful preaching having no saving result.

6. The consolation God can give His discouraged servants.

7. The assurance that such have of God’s presence with, and assistance of them in their work.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act_18:6. “I am Clean”; or Thoughts About Ministerial Responsibility.—A minister may hold himself free from responsibility for his hearers.

I. When he has faithfully preached the gospel to them.—

1. Clearly, so that they can understand it.

2. Fully, so that they are made acquainted with the whole counsel of God contained in it.

3. Fervently, so that they are impressed with a sense of its importance and urgency.

II. When he has solemnly warned them of their danger in rejecting it.—When he has reminded them—

1. Of their guilt in refusing to believe.

2. Of their certain condemnation unless they do believe.

3. Of the possibility of being abandoned because of declining to believe.

III. When he has exhausted every available means for securing their acceptance of the truth.—Though Paul turned himself to the Gentiles he did not entirely desert the Jews. They were still at liberty to visit the house of Justus. Doubtless many of them did this. So ministers should never cease to labour even for those who reject and oppose the truth.

Act_18:8. The Conversion of Crispus.

I. Unexpected.—Because of his being a Jew and its occurring after Paul had left the synagogue.

II. Scriptural.—Brought about by the preaching of the word.

III. Influential.—Leading to the conversion of all his house and of many of his neighbours.

IV. Sincere.—Proved by being baptised and opening his house to Paul.

Act_18:10. God’s Hope for His Workers.—“For I have much people in this city.” It is very evident that the apostle came to Corinth in a state of great depression. His work had seemed almost a failure in Athens; and should he fail likewise at Corinth? He says afterwards, writing of his entrance among them, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (1Co_2:3). Nor was his early experience in that city calculated to dispel his fears; for the Jews, to whom first he preached the gospel, bitterly opposed, and blasphemed. It was, therefore, with a heavy heart that he turned to the Gentiles—such Gentiles as had mocked at the gospel in the city which he had just left.

I. Both human instinct and Divine guidance had led the apostle Paul to concentrate his efforts on the populations of great cities.—Damascus, Antioch, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens—these had already been his spheres of labour; and Ephesus, Jerusalem, and Rome were to feel his power. Meanwhile, the great city of Corinth was to absorb his time and care for some eighteen months. Great cities have played a very important part in the history of the world, both in ancient and in modern times. Nineveh and Babylon, Memphis and Thebes, Athens, Carthage, Rome—how much do these names stand for, as representative of the changing fortunes of the world in the ages of the past! And to-day great cities are of more and more account, as affording home and industry and power to the thronging populations. Great cities have had, and have still, their various objects of interest and wonderment, affording almost inexhaustible material for the entertainment of the curious, and the research and study of more serious minds. So Corinth had its Isthmus—called “the bridge of the sea,” and “the gate of the Peloponnesus”—across which, about the time of the apostle’s visit, the Emperor Nero attempted to cut the canal which, left incomplete through all the centuries, has just been opened from sea to sea; the great rock Acropolis, rising abruptly from the shore to the height of two thousand feet; the two harbours, of Cenchreæ and Lechæum; the temple of Neptune, hard by; and all that beauty of situation and structure which led to its being called “the Star of Greece.”

II. But though the apostle would not be insensible to these things, the attraction of Corinth, as of the other great cities that he visited, was not in any way external or adventitious greatness or charm.—Nor is it any such attraction that makes the great cities of to-day of so absorbing an interest to the thoughtful mind. Said Dr. Johnson, of the London of a hundred and thirty years ago, “If you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.” And his biographer, commenting on the remark, says, wisely enough, “I have often amused myself with thinking how different a place London is to different people. They whose narrow minds are contracted to the consideration of some one particular pursuit view it only through that medium. A politician thinks of it merely as the seat of government in its different departments; a grazier, as a vast market for cattle; a mercantile man, as a place where a prodigious deal of business is done upon, ’Change; a dramatic enthusiast, as the grand scene of theatrical entertainments; a man of pleasure, as an assemblage of taverns. But the intellectual man is struck with it, as comprehending the whole of human life in all its variety, the contemplation of which is inexhaustible.” So it was the quick, busy, eager, multifarious human life of Corinth that made the city of such interest to the apostle; that made it, if we may say so, of such interest to Him who spoke to Paul of the “much people” there.

III. It was not, however, even the human interest of Corinth, under such aspects as would present themselves to other visitors, that made the supreme demand on the apostle’s regard and care; nor, vast and various as they were, did these more secular interests of the city call forth the emphatic declaration of the Lord Christ. But there was one interest which was indeed supreme, in the regard alike of Christ and of Paul; an interest which, wherever men do congregate, is still so paramount in the eyes of all who have learned anything of the true import of human history and human destiny—the relation of men to duty, to God, to eternity. And it is the vision of these invisible but so real relations, men’s relations to the infinite, that invests with so thrilling an interest all the doings, and aims, and desires of the multitudes that make up the teeming life of our great cities.

IV. This brings us to what is indeed God’s hope, as held forth in gracious encouragement to all who work in behalf of the gospel of the kingdom for their fellow-men.—God’s hope? And who but the Divine Christ could have had hope of Corinth? So busy, so wealthy, so gay—and so utterly wicked, in its unblushing sensuality of sin, that “to Corinthianise” meant to give one’s self up to the worst abominations of immorality! But, “I have much people here,” said Christ; for, through all their eager alertness of industry and commercial enterprise, and beneath their superficial gaiety, and even deep down in the reeking corruption of the people’s sin, did He not see that many hearts were weary of self-seeking, and aching despite their gaiety, and sick of the sin to which, nevertheless, they were selling themselves body and soul? Ah, their very despair of any good was the secret of Christ’s hope for that people. For over against their utmost sin and shame the apostle was to set forth God’s utmost and most holy love, as manifested in the Cross. Nor could any inferior power avail to move them. “Christ for England, and England for Christ”—this must be our watchword, and we shall not watch, and work and wait in vain. And in like manner, when we look out upon the seething millions of the great cities of the world, and equally when we regard the needs of those who live in smaller towns, and in villages, and in remote, solitary places, we must listen, as Christ says, “I have much people here.”—T. F. Lockyer, B.A.

Act_18:5-10. Great Things in Corinth.

I. Fervent preaching.—Constrained by the word Paul testified.

II. Violent unbelief.—On the part of the Jews.

III. Solemn judgment—Pronounced against the opposers. They were self-destroyed.

IV. Glorious mercy.—The gospel offered to the Gentiles.

V. Unexpected deliverance.—Justus’s house opened.

VI. Marvellous success.—“Many hearing believed, and were baptised.”

VII. Heavenly consolation.—Paul’s vision of the Lord by night.

Act_18:9-10. Thoughts for the Night of Ministerial Despondency.

I. The heavenly master from whom the faithful minister holds his commission. The Lord (compare Act_27:23).

II. The holy duty which that Master has imposed on His servants. To speak and hold not their peace (compare Act_5:20; Isa_58:1).

III. The encouraging arguments against fear supplied by the Master to His servants.

1. His presence with them (compare Mat_28:20).

2. His protection of them (Mat_16:18).

3. His preparation for them. Having souls waiting to receive their word.

4. His prospering of them. Promising their labours should be successful.

Paul’s Midnight Vision at Corinth; or, The Lord’s interview with His servant.

I. A sublime manifestation: The Lord’s appearance to Paul.—

1. The reality of this appearance. Unless on à priori grounds of objection to the supernatural the historic credibility of what is here narrated cannot be assailed.

2. The timeliness of this appearance. It came when Paul was in some degree depressed. Man’s extremity is ever God’s opportunity.

3. The object of this appearance—to cheer the heart and embolden the spirit of the apostle.

II. A magnificent exhortation: the Lord’s commandment to Paul.—

1. Not to be afraid. Either of himself suffering injury or of his cause suffering defeat. Paul, though habitually courageous and hopeful, obviously laboured at the moment under some apprehension as to both of these contingencies.

2. But to speak. Manfully, openly, continuously, holding not his peace, but, like an old Hebrew prophet, crying aloud and sparing not, lifting up his voice like a trumpet, showing the Jews their transgression and the Gentiles their sins (Isa_58:1).

III. A cheering consolation: the Lord’s assurance to Paul.—

1. Of companionship. “I am with thee”: a promise which had been given of old to Abraham (Gen_26:3), to Isaac (Gen_26:24), to Jacob (Act_28:15), to Moses (Exo_33:14), to Joshua (Jos_1:5), to Israel in exile (Isa_43:2); a promise which had been renewed to the disciples by Christ before His ascension (Mat_28:20).

2. Of protection. “No man shall set on thee to harm thee.” This promise also had been given to ancient Israel collectively (Psa_46:1; Pro_2:7; Isa_32:2; Isa_32:18; Isa_33:16; Isa_33:20; Zec_2:5; Zec_2:8), was renewed to the Church of Christ (Luk_21:18), and is now repeated to the apostle.

3. Of success. “I have much people in this city.” As Elijah of old, in a time of despondency, had been assured that Jehovah had seven thousand faithful adherents who had never bowed the knee to Baal (1Ki_19:18), so is Paul now informed that Jesus had many souls in Corinth who were only waiting to be gathered into His kingdom by the preaching of His gospel.

Act_18:11. The Secret of Ministerial Success.

I. Much prayer.

II. Much patience.

III. Much trust in God.

IV. Much diligence in work.—Quesnel.

The Word of God.

I. “In complete sense the Word of God is alone the living, historical person, Jesus Christ, understood and explained in the Divine spirit, and according to His own word and will. On this account are also the words and discourses of Jesus, since these are inseparable from His person and activity, to be included and considered as the Word of God.

II. “Whilst, however, Jesus Himself in His person, in His works and words, as in His sufferings and death, is the Word of God, at the same time also in a derived sense is the proclamation of Him the Word of God. That is, the gospel of Christ and of His kingdom (Act_28:31), at first only orally diffused, later also laid down in writing, becomes recognised in Christendom as the Word of God in a special sense, in distinction from all preparatory, prophetic words of God as from all sorts of subordinate revelation. In this sense has Jesus Himself often and clearly spoken, and the whole New Testament agrees therewith. This gospel is, in its contents, firm and unassailable, homogeneous and all-embracing; in its formulation manifold and many-formed, as every really living, spiritual great thing is; and exactly, because it is homogeneous and living, also in every individual part somehow germinally contained. Hence it can be shortly described as the divine and gracious will which has appeared in Christ, as the proclamation of God’s salvation work, as the Word of Christ the crucified (1Co_1:23), as the Word of grace (Act_14:3; Act_14:7; Act_20:24; Act_20:32), as the Gospel of grace and repentance (Act_20:21), as the Word of reconciliation (2Co_5:19), or as the Revelation of the divine mystery (1Co_4:1; Eph_6:19); or otherwise designated according to some one particular item of its contents. According to its peculiar contents, therefore, is it not so much a theoretic doctrine, as a joyous message adapted to the actualities of life, and consists principally of promises and assurances of heavenly rights and possessions, conjoined with admonitions and serious warnings which correspond to those gifts and promises.”

III. “Consequently in derived sense is every oral and written proclamation, which teaches men to understand the person and work of Christ, inasmuch as it prepares them for this, speaks of it, leads to it, and teaches men to use it, Revelation or the Word of God. Hence also of preaching in public worship, as of every written or printed exposition of the gospel, the expression Word of God can be used. But above all does the title Word of God belong both to the whole of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, and, according to its inner sense or its understanding in graduated fashion, to particular scriptures or to their particular expositions. This meaning of the Biblical canon also becomes through this clear and practical, that in the public church doctrinal preaching the Holy Scriptures must in some way be constantly assumed asits basis.”—Bornemann, §47.

Act_18:5-11. Paul’s preaching at Corinth.

I. The place of his preaching.—

1. The Jewish synagogue. According to his custom. Dictated probably by three motives.

(1) To find a proper starting ground for his work. The Jews knew the Scriptures, and were looking for the Messiah.

(2) To secure the conversion of his countrymen. Paul loved his kinsmen, and longed for their conversion.

(3) To prevent misunderstanding of the nature of Christianity. Christianity not antagonistic to, but development and completion of Old Testament religion.

2. The house of Justus. To this Paul withdrew when expelled from synagogue. In so doing Paul

(1) followed the example of Christ;

(2) showed that Christianity was not confined to special places (Joh_4:21); and

(3) kept within earshot of his countrymen.

II. The subject of his preaching.—That Jesus was the Christ, Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1Co_3:2), which signified—

1. That Jesus of Nazareth had been the Messiah promised to the fathers—to Abraham as a seed, to David as a son, to Israel as the Lamb of God.

2. That salvation was attainable only through His Cross. Not through his teaching alone, though “Never man spake like this man” (Joh_7:46), or through His example alone, though “He left us an example that we should walk in His steps” (1Pe_2:21), but through His blood (Eph_1:7).

III. The manner of his preaching.—

1. Biblical. Out of the Scriptures. The proper basis of all right preaching.

2. Reasoning. Addressing himself to the intellect. Paul knew the value of great ideas. The road to the heart lies through the understanding.

3. Fervent. Paul was no drone or dullard, no merely formal talker or polite essay reader, but a speaker aglow with holy enthusiasm.

4. Fearless. Resulting from

(1) his confidence in the message he delivered;

(2) his reliance upon God’s promise of protection; and

(3) his hope of ultimate success.

IV. The result of his preaching.—Twofold.

1. Opposition. Jews resisted. Not difficult to see why. If Paul was right then Jesus had been their Messiah, and they had been guilty of awful sin in rejecting Him.

2. Success.

(1) He gained a friend in Justus.

(2) He secured a large number of converts, amongst whom were Aquila and Priscilla, Titus Justus, Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, Sosthenes, Crispus’s successor, Stephanas and his house, Gaius, Paul’s host, Erastus, the city chamberlain.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Acts

PAUL AT CORINTH

‘CONSTRAINED BY THE WORD’

Act 18:5.

The Revised Version, in concurrence with most recent authorities, reads, instead of ‘pressed in the spirit,’ ‘constrained by the word.’ One of these alterations depends on a diversity of reading, the other on a difference of translation. The one introduces a significant difference of meaning; the other is rather a change of expression. The word rendered here ‘pressed,’ and by the Revised Version ‘constrained,’ is employed in its literal use in ‘Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee,’ and in its metaphorical application in ‘The love of Christ constraineth us.’ There is not much difference between ‘constrained’ and ‘pressed,’ but there is a large difference between ‘in the spirit’ and ‘by the word.’ ‘Pressed in the spirit’ simply describes a state of feeling or mind; ‘constrained by the word’ declares the force which brought about that condition of pressure or constraint. What then does ‘constrained by the word’ refer to? It indicates that Paul’s message had a grip of him, and held him hard, and forced him to deliver it.

One more preliminary remark is that our text evidently brings this state of mind of the Apostle, and the coming of his two friends Silas and Timothy, into relation as cause and effect. He had been alone in Corinth. His work of late had not been encouraging. He had been comparatively silent there, and had spent most of his time in tent-making. But when his two friends came a cloud was lifted off his spirit, and he sprang back again, as it were, to his old form and to his old work.

Now if we take that point of view with regard to the passage before us, I think we shall find that it yields valuable lessons, some of which I wish to try to enforce now.

I. Let me ask you to look with me at the downcast Apostle.

‘Downcast,’ you say; ‘is not that an unworthy word to use about a minister of Jesus Christ inspired as Paul was?’ By no means. We shall very much mistake both the nature of inspiration and the character of this inspired Apostle, if we do not recognise that he was a man of many moods and tremulously susceptible to external influences. Such music would never have come from him if his soul had not been like an Aeolian harp, hung in a tree and vibrating in response to every breeze. And so we need not hesitate to speak of the Apostle’s mood, as revealed to us in the passage before us, as being downcast.

Now notice that in the verses preceding my text his conduct is extremely abnormal and unlike his usual procedure. He goes into Corinth, and he does next to nothing in evangelistic work. He repairs to the synagogue once a week, and talks to the Jews there. But that is all. The notice of his reasoning in the synagogue is quite subordinate to the notice that he was occupied in finding a lodging with another pauper Jew and stranger in the great city, and that these two poor men went into a kind of partnership, and tried to earn a living by hard work. Such procedure makes a singular contrast to Paul’s usual methods in a strange city.

Now the reason for that slackening of impulse and comparative cessation of activity is not far to seek. The first Epistle to Thessalonica was written immediately after these two brethren rejoined Paul. And how does the Apostle describe in that letter his feelings before they came? He speaks of ‘all our distress and affliction.’ He tells that he was tortured by anxiety as to how the new converts in Thessalonica were getting on, and could not forbear to try to find out whether they were still standing steadfast. Again in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, you will find that there, looking back to this period, he describes his feelings in similar fashion and says: ‘I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.’ And if you look forward a verse or two in our chapter you will see that a vision came to Paul, which presupposes that some touch of fear, and some temptation to silence, were busy in his heart. For God shapes His communications according to our need, and would not have said, ‘Do not be afraid, and hold not thy peace, but speak,’ unless there had been a danger both of Paul’s being frightened and of his being dumb.

And what thus brought a cloud over his sky? A little exercise of historical imagination will very sufficiently answer that. A few weeks before, in obedience, as he believed, to a direct divine command, Paul had made a plunge, and ventured upon an altogether new phase of work. He had crossed into Europe, and from the moment that he landed at the harbour of Philippi, up to the time when he took refuge in some quiet little room in Corinth, he had had nothing but trouble and danger and disappointment. The prison at Philippi, the riots that hounded him out of Thessalonica, the stealthy, hurried escape from Beroea, the almost entire failure of his first attempt to preach the Gospel to Greeks in Athens, his loneliness, and the strangeness of his surroundings in the luxurious, wicked, wealthy Greek city of Corinth-all these things weighed on him, and there is no wonder that his spirits went down, and he felt that now he must lie fallow for a time and rest, and pull himself together again.

So here we have, in this great champion of the faith, in this strong runner of the Christian race, in this chief of men, an example of the fluctuation of mood, the variation in the way in which we look at our duties and our obligations and our difficulties, the slackening of the impulse which dominates our lives, that are too familiar to us all. It brings Paul nearer us to feel that he, too, knew these ups and downs. The force that drove this meteor through the darkness varied, as the force that impels us varies to our consciousness. It is the prerogative of God to be immutable; men have their moods and their fluctuations. Kindled lights flicker; the sun burns steadily. An Elijah to-day beards Ahab and Jezebel and all their priests, and to-morrow hides his head in his hands, and says, ‘Take me away, I am not better than my fathers.’ There will be ups and down in the Christian vigour of our lives, as well as in all other regions, so long as men dwell in this material body and are surrounded by their present circumstances.

Brethren, it is no small part of Christian wisdom and prudence to recognise this fact, both in order that it may prevent us from becoming unduly doubtful of ourselves when the ebb tide sets in on our souls, and also in order that we may lay to heart this other truth, that because these moods and changes of aspect and of vigour will come to us, therefore the law of life must be effort, and the duty of every Christian man be to minimise, in so far as possible, the fluctuations which, in some degree, are inevitable. No human hand has ever drawn an absolutely straight line. That is the ideal of the mathematician, but all ours are crooked. But we may indefinitely diminish the magnitude of the curves. No two atoms are so close together as that there is no film between them. No human life has ever been an absolutely continuous, unbroken series of equally holy and devoted thoughts and acts, but we may diminish the intervals between kindred states, and may make our lives so far uniform as that to a bystander they shall look like the bright circle, which a brand whirled round in the air makes the impression of, on the eye that beholds. We shall have times of brightness and of less brilliancy, of vigour and of consequent reaction and exhaustion. But Christianity has, for one of its objects, to help us to master our moods, and to bring us nearer and nearer, by continual growth, to the steadfast, immovable attitude of those whose faith is ever the same.

Do not forget the plain lesson which comes from the incident before us-viz., that the wisest thing that a man can do, when he feels that the wheels of his religious being are driving heavily, is to set himself doggedly to the plain, homely work of daily life. Paul did not sit and bemoan himself because he felt this slackening of impulse, but he went away to Aquila, and said, ‘Let us set to work and make camel’s-hair cloth and tents.’ Be thankful for your homely, prosaic, secular, daily task. You do not know from how many sickly fancies it saves you, and how many breaches in the continuity of your Christian feeling it may bridge over. It takes you away from thinking about yourselves, and sometimes you cannot think about anything less profitably. So stick to your work; and if ever you feel, as Paul did, ‘cast down,’ be sure that the workshop, the office, the desk, the kitchen will prevent you from being ‘destroyed,’ if you give yourselves to the plain duties which no moods alter, but which can alter a great many moods.

II. And now note the ‘constraining word.’

I have already said that the return of the two, who had been sent to see how things were going with the recent converts in the infant Churches, brought the Apostle good tidings, and so lifted off a great load of anxiety from his heart. No wonder! He had left raw recruits under fire, with no captain, and he might well doubt whether they would keep their ranks. But they did. So the pressure was lifted off, and the pressure being lifted off, spontaneously the old impulse gripped him once more; like a spring which leaps back to its ancient curve when some alien force is taken from it. It must have been a very deep and a very habitual impulse, which thus instantly reasserted itself the moment that the pressure of anxiety was taken out of the way.

The word constrained him. What to do? To declare it. Paul’s example brings up two thoughts-that that impulse may vary at times, according to the pressure of circumstances, and may even be held in abeyance for a while; and that if a man is honestly and really a Christian, as soon as the incumbent pressure is taken away, he will feel, ‘Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.’ For though Paul’s sphere of work was different from ours, his obligation to work and his impulse to work were such as are, or should be, common to all Christians. The impulse to utter the word that we believe and live by seems to me to be, in its very nature, inseparable from earnest Christian faith. All emotion demands expression; and if a man has never felt that he must let his Christian faith have vent, it is a very bad sign. As certainly as fermentation or effervescence demands outgush, so certainly does emotion demand expression. We all know that. The same impulse that makes a mother bend over her babe with unmeaning words and tokens that seem to unsympathetic onlookers foolish, ought to influence all Christians to speak the Name they love. All conviction demands expression. There may be truths which have so little bearing upon human life that he who perceives them feels little obligation to say anything about them. But these are the exceptions; and the more weighty and the more closely affecting human interests anything that we have learned to believe as truth is, the more do we feel in our hearts that, in making us its believers, it has made us its apostles. Christ’s saying, ‘What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on the housetops,’ expresses a universal truth which is realised in many regions, and ought to be most emphatically realised in the Christian. For surely of all the truths that men can catch a glimpse of, or grapple to their hearts, or store in their understandings, there are none which bring with them such tremendous consequences, and therefore are of so solemn import to proclaim to all the children of men, as the truth, which we profess we have received, of personal salvation through Jesus Christ.

If there never had been a single commandment to that effect, I know not how the Christian Church or the Christian individual could have abstained from declaring the great and sweet Name to which it and he owe so much. I do not care to present this matter as a commandment, nor to speak now of obligation or responsibility. The impulse is what I would fix your attention upon. It is inseparable from the Christian life. It may vary in force, as we see in the incident before us. It will vary in grip, according as other circumstances and duties insist upon being attended to. The form in which it is yielded to will vary indefinitely in individuals. But if they are Christian people it is always there.

Well then, what about the masses of so-called Christians who feel nothing of any such constraining force? And what about the many who feel enough of it to make them also feel that they are wrong in not yielding to it, but not enough to make their conduct be influenced by it? Brethren, I venture to believe that the measure in which this impulse to speak the word and use direct efforts for somebody’s conversion is felt by Christians, is a very fair test of the depth of their own religion. If a vessel is half empty it will not run over. If it is full to the brim, the sparkling treasure will fall on all sides. A weak plant may never push its green leaves above the ground, but a strong one will rise into the light. A spark may be smothered in a heap of brushwood, but a steady flame will burn its way out. If this word has not a grip of you, impelling you to its utterance, I would have you not to be too sure that you have a grip of it.

III. Lastly, we have here the witness to the word.

‘He was constrained by the word, testifying.’ Now I do not know whether it is imposing too much meaning upon a non-significant difference of expression, if I ask you to note the difference between that phrase and the one which describes his previous activity: ‘He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade’ the Jews and the Greeks, but when the old impulse came back in new force, reasoning was far too cold a method, and Paul took to testifying. Whether that be so or no, mark that the witness of one’s own personal conviction and experience is the strongest weapon that a Christian can use. I do not despise the place of reasoning, but arguments do not often change opinions; they never change hearts. Logic and controversial discoursing may ‘prepare the way of the Lord,’ but it is ‘in the wilderness.’ But when a man calls aloud, ‘Come and hear all ye, and I will declare what God hath done for my soul’; or when he tells his brother, ‘We have found the Messias’; or when he sticks to ‘One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see,’ it is difficult for any one to resist, and impossible for any one to answer, that way of testifying,

It is a way that we can all adopt if we will. Christian men and women can all say such things. I do not forget that there are indirect ways of spreading the Gospel. Some of you think that you do enough when you give your money and your interest in order to diffuse it. You can buy a substitute in the militia, but you cannot buy a substitute in Christ’s service. You have each some congregation to which you can speak, if it is no larger than Paul’s-namely, two people, Aquila and Priscilla. What talks they would have in their lodging, as they plaited the wisps of black hair into rough cloth, and stitched the strips into tents! Aquila was not a Christian when Paul picked him up, but he became one very soon; and it was the preaching in the workshop, amidst the dust, that made him one. If we long to speak about Christ we shall find plenty of people to speak to. ‘Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.’

Now, dear friends, I have only one word more. I have no doubt there are some among us who have been saying, ‘This sermon does not apply to me at all.’ Does it not? If it does not, what does that mean? It means that you have not the first requisite for spreading the word- viz. personal faith in the word. It means that you have put away, or at least neglected to take in, the word and the Saviour of whom it speaks, into your own lives. But it does not mean that you have got rid of the word thereby. It will not in that case lay the grip of which I have been speaking upon you, but it will not let you go. It will lay on you a far more solemn and awful clutch, and like a jailer with his hand on the culprit’s shoulder, will ‘constrain’ you into the presence of the Judge. You can make it a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. And though you do not grasp it, it grasps and holds you. ‘The word that I speak unto him, the same shall judge him at the last day.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 18:5. Συνείχετο τῷ λόγῳ, was constrained by the word) The power of the word within urged Paul: comp. Jer 20:9; Jer 23:9, wherein there is added the parallelism, ἐγενήθην ὡς ἄνθρωπος συνεχόμενος ἀπὸ οἴνου, I became as a man constrained or PRESSED by wine. Instead of λόγῳ, some have written πνεύματι, from Act 18:25, or else from ch. Act 17:16.—[λόγῳ, a striking reading.—Not. Crit.[109]] Each one ought to observe even in his own soul such a ΣΥΝΟΧῊ, or constraining force, and, when he feels it what is right, to follow it. To do so causes the greatest joy; but to neglect doing so, the greatest sorrow. The tidings which Silas and Timothy had announced, stimulated Paul.

[109] ABDEde Vulg. support λόγῳ: Rec. Text, without any very old authority, πνεύματι.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_18:5. This activity on his part increased yet further when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia (Act_17:14 f.), in whose fellowship naturally the zeal and courage of Paul could not but grow.

The element of increased activity, in relation to what is related in Act_18:4, is contained in συνείχετο τῷ λόγῳ: he was wholly seized and arrested by the doctrine, so that he applied himself to it with assiduity and utmost earnestness. Comp. Wis_17:20, and Grimm in loc. So in the main, following the Vulgate (instabat verbo), most modern interpreters, including Olshausen, de Wette, Baumgarten, Lange, Ewald. Against my earlier rendering: he was pressed in respect of the doctrine (comp. on Php_1:23), he was hard-beset (comp. Chrysostom, reading τῷ πνεύματι: ἐπηρέαζον αὐτῷ, ἐφίσταντο αὐτῷ), it may be decisively urged, partly on linguistic grounds, that the dative with συνέχεσθαι is always the thing itself which presses (comp. Act_28:8; Luk_8:37),[77] partly according to the connection, that there results in that view no significant relation to the arrival of Silas and Timothy.

τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, as in Act_18:28.

[77] Comp. also Thuc. ii. 49. 3, iii. 98. 1; Arrian, vi. 24. 6; Plat. Soph. p. 250 D; Xen. Oec. i. 21, and many other passages; Heind. ad Plat. Soph. 46; particularly Wis_17:20; Herodian i. 17, 22; Ael. V. H. xiv. 22.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 18:5 . See note on Act 17:15 ; McGiffert, Apostolic Age , p. 269, recognises this among the striking points of contact between Acts and the Epistles to the Corinthians. Here Silas and Timothy are said to have been with St. Paul in Corinth, cf. St. Paul’s own statement in 2Co 1:19 , to the fact that the same two names occur in the salutations of 1 and 2 Thess., both of which were written from Corinth, see also Paley, Horæ Paulinæ , iv., 6, 7, and viii. 4. συνείχετο τῷ πνεύματι : “he was wholly absorbed in preaching,” λόγῳ , so Ramsay; “in teaching the word,” Grimm-Thayer, cf. Wis 17:11 ( cf. 2Co 5:14 ). The verb occurs frequently in Luke, six times in his Gospel, three times in Acts, twice in St. Paul, only once elsewhere in N.T., but nowhere as in the particular phrase here. It looks as if St. Paul’s preaching in Corinth was specially characterised by “greater concentration of purpose and simplicity of method,” cf. 1Co 2:2 . The philosophic style in which he had addressed the Athenians is now abandoned, and so too, at least primarily, the proclamation of the living and true God, and of the coming of His Son to save His people in the day of wrath, with which apparently he had commenced at Thessalonica, 1Th 1:9-10 . Such methods and truths had their place, but in Corinth “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” was to be preached as the power of God and the wisdom of God, and in both his Epistles all that the Apostle says about the duties of the Christian life is brought into relation with this fundamental truth (see McGiffert, u. s. , p. 266). Silas and Timothy found him wholly possessed by and engrossed in the word (so the imperfect, Page, Alford, Wendt). On the other hand it has been maintained that the arrival of Silas and Timothy brought St. Paul help from Macedonia, and that on the account, Phi 4:15 , 2Co 11:9 , he was able to give himself up to preaching, as he was thus relieved from the strain of working for his bread (so Wordsworth, Lewin, Rendall). But 1Co 9:1 seems to imply that St. Paul still continued to work for his livelihood at Corinth. Blass seems to find in the uniqueness of the phrase a reason for its alteration; see critical note for his view. Plumptre refers the words to the Apostle’s desire to see Rome, which the Apostle cherished for many years, and which had been further kindled by finding himself in company with those who came from Rome; and the announcement of a journey to Rome, Act 19:21 , after the Apostle had been some time in the company of Aquila and Priscilla both at Corinth and Ephesus, is emphasised by Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 255. But on the whole, Ramsay’s interpretation is very striking, p. 252, cf. the remarks of McGiffert much to the same effect, Apostolic Age , pp. 263 266. διαμαρτ ., see above on p. 92. τὸν Χ . Ἰ .: “that the Anointed One is Jesus,” cf. Act 17:3 , so Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 226. So far the message was evidently for Jews. See critical note for reading in .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Was very much grieved in mind: whereby is signified the great earnestness of his mind, which was greatly moved: for Paul was so zealous, that he clean forgot himself, and with a wonderful courage gave himself to preach Christ.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia--that is, from Thessalonica, whither Silas had probably accompanied Timothy when sent back from Athens (see on Act 17:15).

Paul was pressed in the spirit--rather (according to what is certainly the true reading) "was pressed with the word"; expressing not only his zeal and assiduity in preaching it, but some inward pressure which at this time he experienced in the work (to convey which more clearly was probably the origin of the common reading). What that pressure was we happen to know, with singular minuteness and vividness of description, from the apostle himself, in his first Epistles to the Corinthians and Thessalonians (Co1 2:1-5; Th1 3:1-10). He had come away from Athens, as he remained there, in a depressed and anxious state of mind, having there met, for the first time, with unwilling Gentile ears. He continued, apparently for some time, laboring alone in the synagogue of Corinth, full of deep and anxious solicitude for his Thessalonian converts. His early ministry at Corinth was colored by these feelings. Himself deeply humbled, his power as a preacher was more than ever felt to lie in demonstration of the Spirit. At length Silas and Timotheus arrived with exhilarating tidings of the faith and love of his Thessalonian children, and of their earnest longing again to see their father in Christ; bringing with them also, in token of their love and duty, a pecuniary contribution for the supply of his wants. This seems to have so lifted him as to put new life and vigor into his ministry. He now wrote his FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS, in which the "pressure" which resulted from all this strikingly appears. (See Introduction to First Thessalonians). Such emotions are known only to the ministers of Christ, and, even of them, only to such as "travail in birth until Christ be formed in" their hearers.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. When Silas and Timotheus were come] We have seen, Ac 17:13, that when Paul was obliged to leave Berea, because of the persecution raised up against him in that place, he left Silas and Timotheus behind; to whom he afterwards sent word to rejoin him at Athens with all speed. It appears, from 1Th 3:10, that, on Timothy's coming to Athens, Paul immediately sent him, and probably Silas with him, to comfort and establish the Church at Thessalonica. How long they laboured here is uncertain, but they did not rejoin him till some time after he came to Corinth. It appears that he was greatly rejoiced at the account which Timothy brought of the Church at Thessalonica; and it must have been immediately after this that he wrote his first epistle to that Church, which is probably the first, in order of time, of all his epistles.

Paul was pressed in spirit] συνειχετο τω πνευματι, or he was constrained by the Spirit of God, in an extraordinary manner, to testify to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Instead of τω πνευματι, in the spirit, τω λογω, in the word or doctrine, is the reading of ABDE, three others; both the Syriac, Coptic, Vulgate, Basil, Chrysostom, and others. Griesbach has received this reading into the text, and Bp. Pearce thus paraphrases the verse: "And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul set himself, together with them, wholly to the word; i.e. he was fully employed, now that he had their assistance, it preaching the Gospel, called the word in Ac 4:4; Ac 16:6; Ac 16:32; Ac 17:11. St. Luke seems to have intended to express here something relating to St. Paul which was the consequence of the coming of Silas and Timotheus; and that was rather labouring with them more abundantly in preaching the word than his being "pressed in spirit." This appears to be the true sense of the word, and that τω λογω is the genuine reading there can be no doubt. συνειχετο, which we translate pressed, and which the Vulgate translates instabat, Bp. Pearce thinks should be translated una cum illis instabat, he earnestly strove together with them, τω λογω, in preaching the word. The true sense is given by Calmet, Paul s'employoit a precher encore avec plus d'ardeur, Paul was employed with more ardour in preaching, and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. From this time we hear no more of Silas; probably he died in Macedonia.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(5) And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia.—We learn from 1Th_2:18, that the latter had come to St. Paul at Athens, but had been almost immediately sent back to Thessalonica to bring further news about the converts, for whose trials the Apostle felt so much sympathy and anxiety. They brought a good report of their faith and love (1Th_3:6), possibly also fresh proofs of their personal regard, and that of the Philippians, in the form of gifts (2Co_11:9). This may, however, refer to a later occasion. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians was probably sent back by the brethren who had accompanied Silas and Timotheus on their journey to Corinth. The reader will note the parallelism (1) between the passage in 1Th_4:16-17, which treats of the Second Advent, with the teaching of 1Co_15:51-52, and (2) between the few words as to spiritual gifts, in 1Th_5:19-21, with the fuller treatment of the same subject in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

Paul was pressed in the spirit.—The better MSS. give, “he was constrained by the Word.” The words describe something of the same strong emotion as the “paroxysm” of Act_17:16. The Word was within him as a constraining power, compelling him to give utterance to it. His “heart was hot within him, and while he was musing the fire kindled” (Psa_39:4). Whether there was any connection between the arrival of Silas and Timotheus and this strong feeling is a question which there are no sufficient data for answering. It is hardly satisfactory to say, as has been suggested, that they probably brought pecuniary supplies from Macedonia (2Co_11:9), and that he was therefore relieved from the obligation of working for his livelihood, and able to give himself more entirely to the work of preaching. There is no indication of his giving up tent-making, and 1Co_9:1 is decidedly against it. A more probable explanation may be found in the strong desire—of which he says, in Rom_15:23, that he had cherished it for many years—to see Rome and preach the gospel there. Now he found himself brought into contact with those who had come from Rome, who formed, in fact, part of its population, and the old feeling was stirred to a new intensity.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. And (But) when Silas and Timotheus were come (came down) from Macedonia] The particle at the beginning of the verse is better regarded as adversative. We have in this verse an account of a change in the character of the Apostle’s preaching after the arrival of Silas and Timothy, who had been left at Berœa (Act_17:14). It may well be that he had encouragement by their presence in his work, and also that it was not so necessary for him to consume his whole time on his craft because the Philippians had sent a contribution for his support (Php_4:15; 2Co_11:9).

Paul was pressed in spirit] The best texts read, was constrained by the word (so R. V.) and the Vulg. “instabat verbo” is evidence in its favour. The sense seems to be, he was earnestly occupied in preaching the Word, and felt himself more urged on, and also more able, to preach, because of his freedom from the necessity of constant labour. It was apparently only on the Sabbath that he had reasoned with the people before. The usus loquendi favours the passive meaning. Meyer (3rd ed.) renders “he was apprehended, seized by the word” in the sense of internal pressure of spirit.

testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ] This sentence which is of the participial form in the original intimates the manner in which the greater earnestness of the Apostle was exhibited. He gave in all its fulness his solemn testimony, no doubt confirmed from Scripture and by the narrative of his own miraculous conversion, that this Jesus, whom he had formerly persecuted, was the Christ, the Messiah whom the Jews had long expected.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia,.... Not from Berea in Macedonia, for from hence they came to the apostle while at Athens, and from whence he sent them, at least Timothy, to Thessalonica, to know the state of the saints there, as appears from Th1 3:1 and from hence they now came to the apostle at Corinth: when

Paul was pressed in Spirit; either by the Holy Spirit, by which he was moved and stirred up to preach the Gospel more frequently, and more powerfully; for he had not always the same measure of the Spirit, or was not always under the same influence; or else in his own spirit, and so the Arabic version renders it, "grief beset the spirit of Paul"; his soul was filled with trouble and sorrow, when he observed the nonrepenitence and unbelief, the contradiction and blasphemy of the greater part of the Jews; and being filled with zeal for their welfare, he continued preaching Christ unto them. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions, instead of "in spirit", read "in speech", or "in word"; and the sense is, not that he was straitened in his speech, and knew not what to say to the Jews, or had not freedom of speech with them; but he was instant in preaching to them, and preached the word more frequently and fervently, upon the coming of Silas and Timothy to his assistance:

and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ; he continued to produce more testimonies out of the writings of Moses, and the prophets, to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, or Messiah, prophesied of in those writings, and promised to the Jews, and whom they expected.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

Ver. 5. And when Silas and Timothy] Good people one kindle another. Paul was much heated with the zeal of God by the company of these two good men. Two flints, though both cold, yet yield fire when smitten together. Billets one kindle another. Iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the face of a man his friend.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when Silas and Timotheus ... - They came to Paul according to the request which he had sent by the brethren who accompanied him from Thessalonica, Act 17:15.

Paul was pressed - Was urged; was borne away by an unusual impulse. It was deeply impressed on him as his duty.

In spirit - In his mind; in his feelings. His love to Christ was so great, and his conviction of the truth so strong, that he labored to make known to them the truth that Jesus Was the Messiah.

That Jesus was Christ - That Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. Compare Act 17:16. The presence of Silas and Timothy animated him; and the certainty of aid in his work urged him to zeal in making known the Saviour.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

No further mention is made of Silas in these Acts. Some martyrologists think he died in Macedonia by martyrdom. He is honoured in the Church as a saint, and sometimes, as well as St. Barnabas, obtains the title of apostle. (Calmet) See annotation, chap. xvi. ver. 37.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Were come from Macedonia; according as was ordered by him, Act 17:14,15.

Pressed in the spirit; more than ordinarily affected, the Spirit of God influencing his spirit, so that he felt an anguish or pain at the heart, as 2Co 2:4; such was his grief for the contumacy of the Jews, so great was his desire that they might be saved.

Jesus was Christ:

1. The Christ, or anointed, that excelled all other Christs or anointed ones, being anointed with oil above measure.

2. The Christ that was promised by the prophets.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. From Macedonia—(See note on Act_17:14; Act_17:16.) The arrival of Silas and Timothy reanimated the apostle. Thence he learns that his Churches stand fast in the truth, and that Thessalonica’s faith sounds, like a trumpet, out into the world. And, reinforced in courage by their cooperation, he was pressed with an urgent spirit to preach Jesus the Messiah with a new and fearless force. The day of conciliation was now past, and the usual outbreak of the Jews accordingly followed.

The report made by Silas and Timothy induces Paul now to write from Corinth the FIRST AND SECOND EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS, (A.D. 53,) which were not only the first of Paul’s canonical epistles, but perhaps the first written documents of the entire New Testament.

The second epistle was written to guard the Thessalonians from imagining from any thing said or written by Paul that Christ’s second advent was nigh at hand. (See note on Act_17:4.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But for and, A.V.; Timothy for Timotheus, A.V.; came down for were come down, A.V.; constrained by the Word for pressed in spirit, A.V. and T.R.; testifying for and testified, A.V; the Christ for Christ, A.V. When Silas and Timothy, etc. It is probable that Silas had returned by St. Paul"s directions to Beraea, and Timothy to Thessalonica from Athens. If there were extant a letter of Paul to the Beraeans, it would probably mention his sending back Silas to them, just as the Epistle to the Thessalonians mentions his sending Timothy to them. Now they both come to Corinth from Macedonia, which includes Beraea and Thessalonica. If they came by sea, they would probably sail together from Dium to Cenchreae. (see Act_17:14, note) Was constrained by the Word. As an English phrase, this is almost destitute of meaning. If the R.T. is right, and it has very strong manuscript authority, the words suneiceto tw logw mean that he was seized, taken possession of, and as it were bound by the necessity of preaching the Word, constrained as it were to preach more earnestly than ever. In St. Luke sunecesqai is a medical term: in Luk_4:28, R.T., "Holden with a great fever;" Luk_8:37, "Holden with a great fear;". Act_28:8, "Sick of fever and dysentery;" and so frequently in medical writers ("Medical Language of St. Luke, "Hobart)

But it is worth considering whether suneiceto is not in the middle voice, with the sense belonging to sunechv, i.e. "continuous," "unbroken," and so that the phrase means that, after the arrival of Silas and Timothy, St. Paul gave himself up to continuous preaching. St. Luke has not infrequently a use of words peculiar to himself. The Vulgate rendering, instabat verbo, seems so to understand it. It was probably soon after the arrival of Silas and Timothy that St. Paul wrote his First Epistle to the Thessalonians. (1Th 1: 50:3:1, 2, 6) The Second Epistle followed some time before St. Paul left Corinth. If the T.R., tw pneumati, is right, it must be construed, "constrained by the Spirit," in accordance with Greek usage. Testifying, etc. Note how different St. Paul"s preaching in the synagogue was from his preaching in the Areopagus.

Vers. 5-11 (or vers. 9, 10). Faithful ministry.

I THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE MESSENGER.

1. Testify by a special access of zeal in preaching the Word. Times when we should make unusual efforts to persuade men. We need to guard against monotony. The presence of sympathetic fellow-workers is a great encouragement and incitement.

2. Called out by the blaspheming opposition of unbelievers. If Christians knew what is said against Christ, they would not be so quiet as they are.

3. By Divine intimations encouraging and stimulating. Many of the greatest preachers, Luther, Wesley, Savonarola, have had such visions. In our intercourse with God in prayer we receive such gifts of preparation for our work. Every public man should have his seasons of approach to the throne, that his strength may be fed with the invisible stream of grace.

II THE MINISTRY OF PAUL AT CORINTH IN ITS RELATION TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND THE WORLD. (Compare the Epistles.) The commercial influence of Corinth would help the diffusion of the truth. While the people were luxurious they were highly cultured. Greek thought was there, and the close intercourse with Athens would give the gospel the opportunity to lay hold of Greece as a whole. "The Lord had much people in that city." The two elements of difficulty evinced in the Epistles were the Greek contentiousness, especially developed at Corinth, and the sensual tendencies of a voluptuous, wealthy people. Hence the importance of the Jewish portion of the Corinthian Church. Crispus the ruler of the synagogue, and Titus Justus the proselyte, would both become important fellow-workers with Paul. Notice, therefore:

1. The union of the Jewish and Greek elements in the early Church and in the development of Christian life; seen in the union of fact and doctrine, of the practical and theoretic, especially in Paul and his teaching (cf. the Epistles throughout).

2. The remarkable guidance of Providence. The opposition of the synagogue leading to a more decided ministry among the Gentiles; and hence to the rapid spread of truth among Greeks, and so through Europe. A merely Jewish religion would never have laid hold of the Greek and Latin minds; Christianity did. We may compare the influence of France during the Middle Ages and since the Reformation, in diffusing ideas among surrounding nations. So we are taught that it is not by human agencies alone that the victims of the gospel are won, but by innumerable instrumentalities and influences working with God"s ministers. The conversion of the world may be much nearer than we suppose. Under the surface are hidden operations of God. R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia - Silas seems to have stayed a considerable time at Berea: but Timotheus had come to the apostle while he was at Athens, and been sent by him to comfort and confirm the Church at Thessalonica, 1 Thess. iii, 1-5. But now at length both Silas and Timotheus came to the apostle at Corinth. Paul was pressed in spirit - The more probably from what Silas and Timotheus related. Every Christian ought diligently to observe any such pressure in his own spirit, and if it agree with Scripture, to follow it: if he does not he will feel great heaviness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

pressed

Or, constrained by the Word. Cf. 2Co 5:14.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. When Silas and Timothy arrive from the North, Paul was straightened in the Word, testifying to Jews and Greeks that “Jesus is the Christ.” The meaning of that statement is simply this: he has preached till he has developed a positive issue, so that something has to break, and the prophetic eye of Paul saw what was coming, as we have described in the next verse.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 4

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. When Silas and Timotheus were come. When Paul left Berea for Athens they remained (17:14), but he sent for them to come to him. 1 Thess. 3:1 seems to imply that Timothy was sent back from Athens to Thessalonica. Some think, however, that they did not join him at all until he was in Corinth. Was pressed in the spirit. The Revision reads, “Was constrained by the word,” that is, by the gospel message. When they came, probably freed from the need of daily labor, and encouraged by their presence, he began the work in earnest.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

5. λόγῳ for πνεύματι with אABDE. Vulg. ‘verbo.’

εἶναι added after Ἰουδαίοις with אABD. Vulg. ‘esse.’

5. ὡς δὲ κατῆλθον … ὁ Τιμόθεος, but when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia. After the arrival of his companions, who had been left at Beroea (Act 17:14) there was a change in the character of St Paul’s preaching. It may well be that he had encouragement by their presence in his work of preaching, and also that it was not so necessary for him to consume his whole time on his craft because the Philippians had sent a contribution for his support (Php 4:15; 2Co 11:9).

συνείχετο τῷ λόγῳ ὁ Παῦλος, was constrained by the word. The meaning is, he was earnestly occupied in preaching the word, and felt himself more urged on, and also more able to preach, because of his freedom from the necessity of constant labour. It was apparently only on the Sabbath that he had reasoned with the people before. The usus loquendi favours the passive meaning. Meyer (3rd ed.) renders ‘he was apprehended, seized by the word’ in the sense of internal pressure of spirit. For the verb cf. Wis 17:11, πονηρία προσείληφε τὰ χαλεπὰ συνεχομένη τῇ συνειδήσει, being pressed with conscience’ (A.V.).

διαμαρτυρόμενος … εἶναι τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. We are here told of the manner in which the greater earnestness of the Apostle was exhibited. He gave in all its fulness his solemn testimony, no doubt confirmed from Scripture and by the narrative of his own miraculous conversion, that this Jesus, whom he had formerly persecuted, was the Christ, the Messiah whom the Jews had long expected.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5.] See ch. 17:15; 1Th 3:6.

συνείχετο τῷ λόγῳ] ‘When Silas and Timotheus arrived [see ch. 17:15 note] from Macedonia, they found Paul anxiously occupied in discoursing to the Jews.’ This I believe to be the meaning: that they found him in a state of more than ordinary anxiety,—more than usually absorbed in the work of testifying to the Jews (see reff.):—a crisis in the work being imminent, which resulted in their rejection of the word of life. (On the whole character of his early preaching at Corinth, see notes, 1Co 2:1-5.) Thus only, the δέ in ver. 5 and that in ver. 6 will both be satisfied: he discoursed in the synagogue, &c.… but when Silas and Timotheus arrived, he was earnestly occupied in discoursing, &c. But, as they opposed themselves and blasphemed, &c. Wordsworth adopts the view that after the arrival of Silas and Timotheus with supplies from Macedonia, Paul gave up his tent-making and gave himself up (συνείχετο) to preaching. But surely this is ungrammatical. The aor. (ὡς κατῆλθον) and imperf. (συνείχετο) require the rendering ‘when they arrived, they found him συνεχόμενον.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Was pressed in the spirit [συνειχετο τω πνευματι] . Instead of spirit the best texts read logw, by the word. On pressed or constrained, see note on taken, Luk 4:38. The meaning is, Paul was engrossed by the word. He was relieved of anxiety by the arrival of his friends, and stimulated to greater activity in the work of preaching the word.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.