THE LIVING CHURCH
Meditations in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 18:1-17

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THESE SEVENTEEN verses give the account of Paul's ministry in Corinth. This ministry lasted eighteen months which may have been the longest time Paul spent in anyone place, yet the account of it is only given 17 verses. Many times in the Bible we would have liked more information, but it pleased the Holy Ghost to give us less. What we may be sure of is that all we need to know has been given. We give thanks for this without enquiring where it has not pleased God to give us information.

God does indeed guide and uphold his people in their service of him. We have example of this here in the case of Paul. Though the ministry of Paul was marked by many difficulties and discouragements, yet God is with his people all the time and brings about, through them, his purposes of redemption. We have examples here both of discouragement in the ministry and encouragement, with the evidence of the presence of God with his servants.

Let us first look at the guidance and encouragement. On coming to Corinth Paul is led to a house where he would be welcome and where God was giving blessing, the house of Aquila and Priscilla who were Jews, and later believers, even if they were not at the time of Paul's arrival. Employment was available, tent making, which provided for Paul until the work became established and the church could care for his everyday needs. Though Paul was rejected by the synagogue and the Jews, the ruler of the synagogue believed with his household (v.8), and God found another venue for the work to continue next door to the synagogue (v.7). Then Paul experienced one of those relatively rare occasions when God comes to his servants in an unmistakable way. Paul had a vision and Jesus spoke to him in this vision (v.9). Paul is told that God has a great deal of his elected to be brought into the kingdom in this city of Corinth, and that God would protect him and defend him until this work was done. This defence of the Lord is proved mightily when the Roman proconsul throws out the charges brought by the Jews against Paul.

Paul proved the words of Jesus at the end of Matthew's Gospel that Jesus would be with his people until the end of the age. This presence of the Lord with his people is true for all of us, and although this does not mean we do not have to suffer difficulties and hardship in our discipleship, God is always with us, and will bring us through according to his purposes for us and his church. As we look back we will see evidence of this. Here we have evidence of this guidance and protection of the Lord, and we are meant to be able to strengthen our faith on this testimony.

Then there is the discouragement and difficulty in Paul's experience also recounted here. Paul finds the Jews very hardened to the Gospel. As Paul reasoned with them they became angry and abusive, and Paul could no longer stay ministering in the synagogue. Indifference to our witness is bad enough and most discouraging, but when those we witness to become angry and abusive then it is far worse. The problem did not stop after Paul left the synagogue. The unbelieving Jews pursued Paul and sought to discredit him and stop his ministry by bring accusation against him before the civil court.

In fact Jesus warns us in John 15 that the world will hate us because it first hated him. There is an in-built hate in fallen human nature to Christ and the Gospel. This hate may be mild showing itself in indifference. It can become more virulent in attack verbally and even physically. We must not be surprised at this, nor must we be discouraged from going on telling people about Jesus. The truth is that God has his elect to call to himself, and the means he uses is the witness of his people.

Notice the world is just as much in the religious realm as the secular, and here it is more virulent in the religious scene than in the secular. The Jews were very religious, but they were still of the world. We can only be translated from the kingdom of the world through new birth by the Spirit of God into the Kingdom of Christ. None of us are naturally in the Kingdom of Christ. Naturally we are all born into the Kingdom of the world.

There is a further serious lesson to be learnt here. It is that constant rejection of the Gospel brings about eventually a giving over to the world. Paul ceased to preach to the Jews in the synagogue. There is a time when if people continue to reject the truth, that they must be left. The Bible also gives testimony that God gives up people to their godlessness and lost condition if they continue to reject the overtures of his love. But notice the grace of God. Paul left the synagogue and so the Jews lost the benefit of his ministry and were left in their unbelief. However this did not stop them from leaving the synagogue and going next door to hear the word. While this life continues the Gospel invitation is always open.