Acts 18 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

After having very little success amongst the Jews in Corinth, Paul dedicated the rest of his ministry in that city to the Gentiles. But in leaving the synagogue, he didn’t go very far, for right next door to the Jewish house of worship, Paul set up in the house of Titius Justus who was a Gentile worshiper of God, and he began to preach to anyone who would listen to him there. Strangely enough, though, the first person to come to faith in this Gentile home was the synagogue ruler himself, named Crispus, who along with his entire household believed in the Lord Jesus. Now this was wonderful and amazing! And yet it was dangerous at the same time. For the synagogue ruler himself to convert unto Christ surely would cause trouble for Paul from those Jews who hated his message. If Paul had been beaten with rods and thrown into prison for converting a demon-possessed slave girl and had been run out of town for healing a lame man in the name of Christ, what do you think might happen if, through his preaching, a prominent synagogue ruler came to faith in Christ? Surely trouble was coming. And it would appear that Paul sensed that the opposition was growing and fear had entered his heart. In fact, in his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul admits that in Corinth he struggled in weakness with much fear and trembling. Surely none of us would blame him for being afraid of persecution after all he had already undergone.

So, the first thing the Lord said to him in his vision was, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.” Just as the Lord had promised to be with the twelve apostles in the Great commission, so he promised to be with Paul. And this time in particular, God promises him that no one was going to attack and harm him. Why? Because the Lord had many people in that city, he said. But what exactly did he mean by that? Basically, the Lord knows those who are his. Surely, Paul didn’t know who was going to come to faith in Christ, but the Lord did, for he was the one who would draw them. This was similar to what the Lord told Elijah when he made his complaint that he was the only prophet left in Israel. But the Lord assured Elijah that he had reserved seven thousand people in Israel who had not bowed down to Baal and this was a great comfort to Elijah, just as God’s Word served to comfort the apostle Paul.

And as a result of this assurance from the Lord, Paul stayed over a year and half teaching the Word of God to the Corinthians without harm. That’s not to say that the devil didn’t try to harm him, though, for the next year, in 53 AD, Caesar Claudius appointed a new proconsul over the province of Galatia who was named Gallio. And as soon as he took his new post, the Jews sought an opportunity to stamp out Christianity and punish Paul for preaching Christ in the city. So, they mounted a united attack on Paul and with much passion and anger they brought him to court accusing him of persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law. But it seems that Gallio didn’t respect the Jews at all, and before Paul was even given the opportunity to defend himself, Gallio threw the case out. Consequently, the Jews turned on Sosthenes, the new synagogue ruler, and began to beat him in front of the court, but even this was of no concern to Gallio because of his disdain for the Jews.

But the question might be asked, why would the Jews turn against the ruler of the synagogue in this way? Apparently, with the apostle Paul preaching next door to the synagogue, the new synagogue ruler also began to pay attention to his message, for we find in 1 Corinthians 1:1 that Sosthenes is mentioned in the opening greetings of Paul now as a brother in the Lord. But whether Sosthenes was a Jew or a Christian at the time of his beating made no difference to Gallio, for these religious movements were of no consequence to him. Either way, Paul was free to go and to continue his work of ministry. This may be a strange way for God to save Paul from his enemies and to give the gospel an open door to be preached and heard in Corinth, but the Lord actually worked through the prejudice of this Roman proconsul to advance the gospel in the land.

What a marvelous testimony to the power of God in opening doors for evangelism. On the one hand, God was working through his enemies to protect his own people from harm, and on the other hand, he was converting two of the chief leaders of the enemies of the gospel in saving these local synagogue rulers. Indeed, God can do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think.