Ambassador College Notes and Course Outlines

Approximately 500,000
Thriving commercial center
Center of pagan worship. “Corinthianize" was a term adopted from Corinth's immorality that described one who was immoral. Manages to prostitute one's self.

vs. 2
"Jews to depart from Rome" means:
Claudius banished the Jews from Rome in an Imperial edict that was issued in A.D. 49 or 50. Seutonius, a Roman biographer for the Caesars says: Claudius drove the Jews out of Rome cause they were "incessantly raising tumults at the instigation of a certain Chrestus. (Christ)"

Prior to this the Jews had a history of causing problems for Rome therefore, they were "violently persecuted" by 3 successive emperors, e.g: 4,000 Jews were sent as convicts by Tiberius to the island of Sardinia. Caligula also took his toll.

Mentioned in Romans 16:3 as having risked their lives for Paul. Doesn't say how.
Mentioned in I Corinthians 16:19 -- Greeting.
Mentioned in II Timothy 4:19 -- Priscilla also called Prisca.

vs. 3
Shows Paul as a tentmaker by trade. Jewish fathers were urged to teach their sons a trade -- tent making was an important trade in Tarsus.

vs. 4
Preached only on Sabbath -- probably because he worked during the rest of the week.

vs. 10
"I have much people in this city,” means that God was going to call a number of individuals in that city.

vs. 11
Paul resided in Corinth for 1½ years and wrote I and II Thessalonians.

vs. 18
"Having shorn his head" means Paul shaved his head as part of the vow he had made to God. A usual procedure for one who had "either been afflicted with a distemper, or with any other distresses." (Josephus).

Barclay explains the vow on page 138 of his commentary on Acts:
"When a Jew specially wished to thank God for some blessing he took the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:1-21). If that vow was carried out in full it meant that for thirty days he neither ate meat nor drank wine; and he allowed his hair to grow. At the end of the thirty days he made certain offerings in the Temple; his head was shorn and the hair was burned on the altar as an offering to God. No doubt Paul was thinking of all God's goodness to him in Corinth and took this vow to show his gratitude"

Point: Be careful about making vows. It is safer not to (Ecc. 5:5) except in marriage and baptism.

vs. 21
"This feast that cometh in Jerusalem" means the Feast of Tabernacles, 52 A.D.

Some modern translations of the Bible omit Acts 18:21, as does the Catholic Version. But 95% of all Greek manuscripts include it. The only ones that leave it out are those 5% copied in Egypt and in Italy under the influence of Simon Magus' followers.

In 50 A.D. Paul crossed over from Asia into Europe and began to preach to gospel at Philippi "on the day of weeks" which would be Pentecost 50 A.D. according to the inspired original Greek (Acts 16:13). Pentecost is also called the "feast of weeks" in the Old Covenant (Dt. 16:10). After a few weeks at Philippi, Thessalonica (verse 6).Paul came to Corinth in the late summer of A.D. 50.

After spending several Sabbaths teaching in the synagogue (Acts 18:4), he continued to hold meetings in the house of Justus (verse 7) for "a year and six months" (verse 11). This brings us to the spring of 52 A.D. After a riot stirred up against the apostle was quelled, Paul yet tarried there a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria (vs. 18). It was now well into the summer of A.D. 52 -- the Days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost were past. Obviously it was nearly time for the Feast of Tabernacles. Here then was a major way to the headquarters Feast at Jerusalem... (Correspondence Course).

vs. 23
47-48 A.D. began to preach the Gospel.
52-53 A.D. - wrote book of Galatians.

vs. 24
Apollos: Learned, cultured, well grounded in the scriptures. Powerful orator.

vs. 25
The way = a common term living after the way of Christ (Also 9:2, 19:9).