ON TO OTHER PLACES: CORINTH AND EPHESUS P/1

  

                                  

A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                      PART XVIII - I

I, Paul, had enjoyed meeting with the new believers in Athens and helping them to grow in their faith... However, at some point I knew that the time had come for me to move on to other places.... So I said goodbye to the believers... And I then travelled to Corinth.... Once I arrived there, I met a couple from Rome.... Their names are Aquila and Priscilla.... They and all the Jews had been ordered to leave Rome by Emperor Claudius....Thankfully, they are still able to make a living... For they are tentmakers by profession, as I am.... We have become very close friends... They too know and love the Lord... Of course, my main reason for being in Corinth is to preach the Gospel... So I have been going to the synagogue every Sabbath... While there I preached the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ.... However, the response has been very negative.... And the people have even become abusive....I then knew it was time for me to go to those who would be willing to hear the Gospel message...I told the Jewish people this and quoted from the prophet Ezekiel about their blood being on their own head....I have preached the truth and am, therefore, not responsible for their eternal destiny... They are."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn of Paul's meeting with a Jewish couple Aquila and Priscilla...

                 ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                     PART XVIII - I

"After having spent some time in Athens Paul went to a city called Corinth. There he met some Jews named Aquila and his wife Priscilla who had to leave Rome as you can know from Acts 18:2

There he met Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome...

Paul shared the same professions as Aquila and Priscilla, for they were all tentmakers,  so they worked together and, no doubt, that is how they were able to survive. However, on every Sabbath Day Paul would go into the synagogue to preach as you can know from Acts 18:4

Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Paul knew that his main task was not to make tents but to preach that Jesus was the Messiah to the Jews and Gentiles. However, the Jews were very opposed to his message so Paul decided to mainly focus on the Gentiles as you can know from Acts 18:6

But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood will be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

The statement "he shook out his clothes in protest" reminds us of Jesus' words to the Twelve in Matthew 10:14

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that town or home and shake the dust off your feet."

His words, "your blood be on your own heads," may well be a reference to a passage in Ezekiel 33:1-6

The word of the Lord came to me, "Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, "When I bring the sword against the land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, the blood will be on their own head. Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone's life, that person's life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood."

Paul was hereby saying that because he had preached the truth to these Jews - and had blown the trumpet of the Gospel - but they had refused to hear it, they were, therefore, responsible for their own eternal destiny and God would not make him accountable for their eternal destiny.

Read Part Two HERE