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Acts

About this book

Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila in Corinth

Chapter 18

1 After this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them,⁠ 3 and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade). 4 He addressed both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade them. 5 Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!” 7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized. 9 The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent⁠ 10 because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you because I have many people in this city.” 11 So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Paul before Gallio

12 Now while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews attacked Paul together and brought him before the judgment seat, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God in a way contrary to the law!” 14 But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some crime or serious piece of villainy, I would have been justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews, 15 but since it concerns points of disagreement about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I will not be a judge of these things!” 16 Then he had them forced away from the judgment seat. 17 So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and began to beat him in front of the judgment seat. Yet none of these things were of any concern to Gallio.

Paul's Vow and Travels toward Antioch

18 Paul, after staying many more days in Corinth, said farewell to the brothers and sailed away to Syria accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because he had made a vow. 19 When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila behind there, but he himself went into the synagogue and addressed the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay longer, he would not consent, 21 but said farewell to them and added, “I will come back to you again if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus, 22 and when he arrived at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem and then went down to Antioch. 23 After he spent some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila in Ephesus

24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker, well-versed in the scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak out fearlessly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately. 27 When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he assisted greatly those who had believed by grace, 28 for he refuted the Jews vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

Texts in conversation

Compare Acts 18:3 and Pirkei Avot 2:2

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

Acts describes Paul making tents, following a practice found in later Rabbinic tradition, such as Pirkei Avot, that says teachers should support themselves instead of relying on income from teaching the Torah.

Passages

Acts 18:3

New Testament
1 After this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them, 3 and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade). 4 He addressed both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade them. 5 Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Acts

Pirkei Avot 2:2

Rabbinic · Mishnah
2 Rabban Gamaliel the son of Rabbi Judah Hanasi said: excellent is the study of the Torah when combined with a worldly occupation, for toil in them both keeps sin out of one's mind; but study of the Torah which is not combined with a worldly occupation comes to be neglected in the end and becomes the cause of sin. And all who labor with the community should labor with them for the sake of Heaven, for the merit of the community's forefathers sustains them, and their righteousness endures forever. As for you, God says: I credit you with a rich reward, as if you had accomplished it all yourselves.
190–230 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pirkei Avot

References

"... It can be plausibly inferred that a significant contingent of the intended community are farmers. 4Q418 81 15 states that the mevin has חכמת ידים (“wisdom of the hands”), a reference to manual skill, which is praised in line 16 as a means by which he can provide nourishment for himself (compare 4Q418 137 2–4; Sirach 9:17). The audience of 4QInstruction includes farmers and low-level artisans or craftsmen of some sort. The overall impression is that much, if not all, of the group is at a socio-economic level which is rather low. The social context of the mevin raises questions about the pedagogical Sitz im Leben of 4QInstruction. The students are not being trained to become scribes or some other profession in the upper echelons of society. There is no sense that the teacher-figure of the composition was wealthy. He is not a tutor hired by rich families for the instruction of their children, a common educational practice in the ancient world. The teacher of 4QInstruction, whether he be understood as a single historical individual or multiple persons who held this office, may have had some sort of menial trade, just like his student-addressees. If so, 4QInstruction provides an early example of a phenomenon attested later among the rabbis and also Paul (who was a tent-maker, according to Acts 18:3), of teachers supporting themselves financially not by their teaching but rather with simple, physical occupations, such as being blacksmiths or tanners (Pirkei Avot 2:2) ..."
Matthew Goff, “Searching for Wisdom in and beyond 4QInstruction,” in Tracing Sapiential Traditions in Ancient Judaism, ed. Hindy Najman, Jean-Sébastien Rey, and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, JSJSup 174 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 119–137.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Acts 18:3 and Pirkei Avot 2:2

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