Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Paul goes from Athens to Corinth. There, by the command of God who promises the conversion of many, he preaches for a year and a half; then, verse 12, being accused by the Jews, he clears himself before the proconsul, in whose sight the Jews in their fury flog Sosthenes with impunity. After this, verse 18, Paul in his preaching travels through Ephesus, Caesarea, Antioch, Galatia, and Phrygia. Finally, verse 24, Apollos, instructed by Aquila, vigorously defends and propagates the faith of Christ against the Jews.
Vulgate Text: Acts 18:1-28
1. After these things, departing from Athens, he came to Corinth; 2. and finding a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had lately come from Italy, with Priscilla his wife (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome), he came to them. 3. And because he was of the same trade, he remained with them, and worked (for they were tentmakers by trade). 4. And he disputed in the synagogue every sabbath, inserting the name of the Lord Jesus, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. 5. But when Silas and Timothy had come down from Macedonia, Paul was instant in preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6. But they contradicting and blaspheming, he shook his garments and said to them: Your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean; from henceforth I will go to the Gentiles. 7. And departing thence, he entered into the house of a certain man named Titus Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house was adjoining to the synagogue. 8. And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized. 9. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision: Do not fear, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10. because I am with you, and no man shall attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city. 11. And he stayed there a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God. 12. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, 13. saying: This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. 14. And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews: If it were indeed some matter of injustice or a wicked crime, O you Jews, I should with reason bear with you. 15. But if they are questions of a word, and of names, and of your law, see to it yourselves: I will not be judge of such things. 16. And he drove them from the judgment seat. 17. And all laying hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, beat him before the judgment seat; and Gallio cared for none of these things. 18. But Paul, when he had stayed for yet many days, taking leave of the brethren, sailed into Syria (and with him Priscilla and Aquila), having shorn his head in Cenchrae, for he had a vow. 19. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there. But he himself entering into the synagogue, disputed with the Jews. 20. And when they requested him to tarry a longer time, he did not consent. 21. But taking his leave and saying: I will return again to you, God willing, he set out from Ephesus. 22. And going down to Caesarea, he went up and saluted the Church, and went down to Antioch. 23. And having stayed there some time, he set out, passing in order through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 24. Now a certain Jew, named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, mighty in the Scriptures. 25. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things that concern Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John. 26. He therefore began to act with boldness in the synagogue. Whom when Priscilla and Aquila had heard, they took him to themselves, and expounded to him the way of the Lord more diligently. 27. And whereas he was desirous to go to Achaia, the brethren, exhorting him, wrote to the disciples to receive him. Who, when he had come, helped them much who had believed. 28. For with much vigor he convinced the Jews openly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
Verse 1: After These Things, Departing from Athens; He Came to Corinth
1. After these things, departing from Athens. — Because the Athenians, eager for novelty, being immediately sated with Paul's new doctrine, were intent, according to their custom, upon hearing and saying other new things, as Chrysostom says. For such is the disposition of lovers of novelty, that as soon as they have heard something new they at once scorn it as old, and presently catch at other and yet other novelties: for, as though feverish, they labor under an insatiable thirst for what is new.
HE CAME TO CORINTH. — Because Corinth, says St. Chrysostom, was a city full of Philosophers and Orators. This was the metropolis of Achaia, or of the Peloponnese, which is now called the Morea; concerning its situation, wealth, and manners, see what is said in the preface to the Epistle to the Corinthians. Here Paul wrote the Epistle to the Thessalonians, which is the first of all the Epistles of St. Paul, if you consider the time of writing. For Paul, having summoned Silas and Timothy to himself at Athens, had sent them to Thessalonica: they returned to him at Corinth and reported to him the state of the Thessalonian Church: which having heard, he sent them his first epistle. So Baronius. See what is said on 1 Thessalonians 3:6.
Verse 2: A Native of Pontus; Who Lately; Because Claudius Had Commanded All the Jews to Depart from Rome
2. A NATIVE OF PONTUS. — sprung from the province of Pontus. Some wrongly read, "of pontifical race," as though he had been sprung from the pontiffs. This Aquila is different from the Aquila likewise of Pontus, who was the first after the Septuagint to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek, and lived under the Emperor Hadrian, having been turned from a Gentile into a Christian, and from a Christian into a Jew; concerning whom see Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures, and Philastrius, heresy 90. For our Aquila here was earlier than that translator, and a great propagator of the Gospel. Whence Paul wonderfully praises him, 2 Timothy 4:19, and 1 Corinthians 16:19. Wherefore this Aquila together with his wife Priscilla, or Prisca, is read to have been inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints in the Martyrology, on July 8. See Baronius there.
Who lately. — prosphatōs, that is, recently; the Syriac, "at that time."
BECAUSE CLAUDIUS HAD COMMANDED ALL THE JEWS TO DEPART FROM ROME. — Suetonius in his Claudius, chapter 25, gives the cause, that the Jews at Rome were continually rioting; but in what he adds, "at the instigation of Christus," he lies brilliantly, as Gentile historians are accustomed to do in Jewish matters. It appears therefore that the Jews at Rome, as the Christian religion was increasing, opposed it after their usual manner, and continually quarreled with the Christians concerning the Messiah, that is, Christ, and His kingdom; the Christians affirming that Christ had already come, the Jews denying it. Claudius, fearing that any tumult might thence arise, by which he himself might be driven from his empire through Christ and the Christians (for he was most timid and dreaded the shadows and very name of a new king, as I said above from Suetonius), commanded all of them to depart from Rome. For that not only the Jews, but also the Christians sprung from the Jews, as though Jews by race, departed from Rome, is evident here from the example of Priscilla and Aquila, and of St. Peter, who for this cause leaving Rome came to Jerusalem, and there celebrated the first Council of Jerusalem, as I said in chapter 15. Hear a recent poet, portraying Claudius in his own colors:
"Senseless, stupid, to the prudent appearing foolish, to fools prudent. He would have been more illustrious, had he been more obscure. Fleeing the sword in a corner, he found the sceptre. He held dominion under a master, a freedman of freedmen, a slave of his wife. He had all things in his empire except empire itself."
Another cause for the expulsion of the Jews is given by Hugo and Lyranus, namely that they had enticed Agrippina, Claudius's wife, to Judaism, just as shortly before Tiberius had likewise banished them from Rome, because they had drawn Fulvia, the wife of the senator Saturninus, into Judaism, and had extorted from her gold and purple, as Josephus relates in book 18 of his Antiquities, chapter 1 and 5. Moreover this expulsion happened in the 9th year of Claudius, in the 51st year of Christ, as Baronius demonstrates from Paul Orosius, Bede, Ado, and others.
Verse 3: And He Worked; They Were of the Tentmaking Trade
3. AND HE WORKED. — and this for a year and a half, continually preaching, and working for himself and his companions, so as to procure a living. See here the generosity of Paul: he could have demanded sustenance and a stipend for his preaching from the Christians, and supported himself thereby, as the other Apostles did; but he refused, that it might be clear to all that he was hunting not for profit but for souls, and so might convert more to Christ. See St. Gregory, Homily 12 on Ezekiel, and the things I said at 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Chrysostom excellently commends Paul's laborious and arduous life: "For so," he says, "the wrestling ground is more useful to the boxer than soft couches, and the iron sword is more proven to the soldier than the golden one. And he worked while preaching. Let us be ashamed, who even without preaching live idly."
THEY WERE OF THE TENTMAKING TRADE. — that is, makers of tabernacles; the Syriac has, makers of mosquito-nets; Vatablus and others, of tapestries, which are made from sewn hides, as Turkish tapestries are: for all these are of the same trade, namely the sewing of hides. Origen, book 4 Against Celsus, calls Paul a phrygio, whom common people call an embroiderer. Aptly Paul was a tent-maker, inasmuch as having wandered his whole life, he taught all to live here as pilgrims and fellow-citizens of the Saints and members of God's household: for pilgrims have no home, but lodge in tents, as the children of Israel did while wandering through the desert, and as soldiers still do in camps: so Chrysostom. Moreover these tents and mosquito-nets were made from hides. Hence Paul is called by Origen, Homily 17 on Numbers, "a sewer of hides, who from the sewing of earthly tents was called to sew eternal ones." Where and with what purpose Paul learned and practiced this mechanical craft, I said at 2 Thessalonians 3:8.
Thus St. Francis, disciple of Paul and professor of poverty, laying that as the foundation of his Order, says St. Bonaventure, commanded his followers to build and dwell in poor houses, not as their own but as another's, as pilgrims: whose rules are, "to be gathered under another's roof, to thirst for the homeland, to pass through peacefully." So the ancient monks worked with their hands, and from that they lived. See St. Augustine, treatise On the Work of Monks, vol. III. The same thing was done by many priests and Prelates of the Church after Paul's example, as St. Epiphanius testifies, Heresy 80. Moreover Chrysostom marvels at Paul, Homily 4 On His Praises: "For an ignoble man," he says, "lowly and a street-vendor, who plied his trade in hides, advanced so far in virtue that in scarcely the space of thirty years he brought under the yoke of truth the Romans, Persians, Parthians, Medes, Indians, Scythians, Ethiopians, Sauromatians, Saracens, and absolutely the entire human race. Answer therefore: Whence did that vile and common workman, standing in the place of his trade and holding a cobbler's stool in his hand, so philosophize, and teach others to philosophize, namely nations, cities and regions; not showing any forcefulness of speech in himself?" The Golden-mouth says these things by rhetorical amplification; for we do not read that Paul preached to Indians, Ethiopians, and Sauromatians. He adds the reason: "For he himself, like fire thrown upon hay or upon straw, consumed all the works of the demons, and turned all things whithersoever he wished. Venerate the power of the Crucified." And below, recounting Gentiles and Jews as beasts rising up against Paul everywhere: "Yet blessed Paul," he says, "leaping into such great fires, and standing in the midst of such wolves, although he received blows from all, was not only not overwhelmed himself, but also led them all over to the side of truth, etc.; and just as when fire is kindled the thorns are gradually consumed, and yield and are overcome by the flames; so also, when Paul's tongue resounded, and rushed on more vehemently than any fire, all things yielded, the worship of demons fled, ancestral customs, the furies of peoples, the threats of tyrants, the plots of household members, the malignant operations of pseudo-apostles. Moreover; as when the rays of the rising sun come forth, both darkness is put to flight, and beasts lurk hidden, and robbers, murderers, thieves flee to their dens, and all things are made bright, land, sea, mountains, cities, regions, so also then, Paul's preaching shining forth and disseminating the Gospel everywhere, error was put to flight and truth returned." He concludes by exhorting that we should strive to become like Paul: "Nor let us think that impossible," he says: "for his body was such as ours too has been, such a soul, such foods; but the will in him was admirable and his devotion illustrious: and that is precisely the source from which he was made such."
Verse 4: Inserting the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ
4. INSERTING THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. — These words are lacking in the Greek and Syriac. The sense is, as if to say, Paul, while discoursing in the synagogue after the manner of the Jews concerning the Scripture, was everywhere inserting mention of Christ: for his aim was to preach Jesus Christ. See the things said at chapter 17, verse 3.
Verse 5: When Silas and Timothy Had Come from Macedonia, Paul Was Pressing On with the Word; Testifying to the Jews That Jesus Was the Christ
5. WHEN SILAS AND TIMOTHY HAD COME FROM MACEDONIA (Berœa and Thessalonica. See what was said at verse 1), PAUL WAS PRESSING ON WITH THE WORD (of preaching). — as if to say, He preached urgently and frequently now through himself, now through Silas, now through Timothy. In Greek it is syneicheto tō pneumati, that is, he was constrained in spirit, because of the trouble which those Jews caused him, says Chrysostom. Hence the Syriac translates: Paul was constricted in speech, because the Jews were rising up against him, as if to say the Jews with their persecutions bound as it were Paul's heart and tongue, so that he could scarcely speak out and preach: for he foresaw that he would lose his labor. Others better have, "he was constrained in spirit," that is, by a zeal, they say, so burning that he scarcely contained it: so that it is the same as what he said about himself at Athens in chapter 17:16: "His spirit was stirred, seeing the city given over to idolatry." Hence others translate, "he was pressed in spirit," as though the Holy Spirit were pressing and urging Paul's heart and mouth to preach. Our translator, embracing all these, aptly rendered it, "he was pressing on with the word."
TESTIFYING (showing effectively from the testimonies of Sacred Scripture) TO THE JEWS THAT JESUS WAS THE CHRIST. — namely, that Jesus of Nazareth crucified was their true Messiah, that is, Christ.
Verse 6: Blaspheming; Paul Shaking Out His Garments; Your Blood Be Upon Your Own Heads; I Am Clean; From Now
6. BLASPHEMING. — reviling both Christ and Paul. Here a golden maxim of St. Chrysostom is to be noted: "A reproach," he says, "or insult is like a thieving maidservant, who steals an unclean vessel (e.g. a chamber-pot) from her master's house, and sets it out in public; whereby she shames herself more than her master: the reviler does the same; for by unclean words he defiles himself more than his enemy. The same happens when we fight with wicked people, as if someone should strike another who is wallowing in a dunghill, and with his hands let down into the dung, while he strives to strike him, defiles himself."
PAUL SHAKING OUT HIS GARMENTS. — for the same reasons for which he shook off the dust of his feet, chapter 13, verse 51. For the reason of both shakings-off is the same. See what was said there.
YOUR BLOOD BE UPON YOUR OWN HEADS. — as if to say: Destruction and everlasting death, threatening your head on account of hostility against Christ and the faith, be imputed to you: you will perish by your own fault, not by mine, nor by anyone else's. For I have tried to avert this destruction from you: but you contradict me and blaspheme Christ. You therefore are your own slayers and murderers.
I AM CLEAN. — from your blood and destruction, because what was my duty, namely to preach to you salvation through Christ, this I have done: but you attack Christ, and consequently your own salvation: for I should not be clean, had I not preached to you. Hence Chrysostom infers: "Therefore we too are guilty of the blood of those who are entrusted to us, if we neglect them."
FROM NOW. — apo tou nyn, that is, from now, from this time and moment I will go to preach to the Gentiles. He said and did the same in chapter 13, verse 46.
Verse 7: Of Titus, Surnamed Justus; A Worshipper of God
7. OF TITUS (surnamed) JUSTUS. — Perhaps from the justice by which he excelled, says Bede. The word "Titus" is no longer in the Greek, but is in the Syriac. Hence it is probable that it was formerly in the Greek: for from that the Syriac version is translated. This Titus is different from the Titus, the disciple of Paul, whom he made Bishop in Crete, and to whom he wrote the epistle entitled to Titus. So Bede, Hugo, and others.
A WORSHIPPER OF GOD. — that is, a Gentile, but worshipping the true God, not idols, like the other Gentiles, and that either from the instruction of his parents, or from familiarity with the Jews: whence the house of Titus was also adjacent to their synagogue. So the Gloss and Hugo.
Verse 8: But Crispus the Ruler of the Synagogue Believed in the Lord
8. BUT CRISPUS THE RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE (prince and prefect of the Jews' synagogue at Corinth) BELIEVED IN THE LORD. — and Paul writes that he alone, along with Gaius and Stephanas, baptized at Corinth with his own hand, 1 Corinthians 1:14. Crispus is inscribed among the Saints on October 4. St. Chrysostom, in Homily 7 On the Praises of St. Paul, marvels at his virtue and efficacy, by which he suddenly converted to himself and to Christ the proconsuls, judges, and rulers of the Jews who were most hostile to him. "For as fire," he says, "falling upon various materials, is increased the more, and takes its increase from the substance placed under it: so also Paul's tongue, to whomsoever it had been applied, continuously transferred them to himself. His opponents too, quickly captured by his word, became as it were food for this spiritual fire, and through them the fame of the Gospel grew the more."
Verse 9: And the Lord Said to Paul by Night in a Vision: Do Not Be Afraid; Speak, Do Not Keep Silent; Because I Am with You
9. AND THE LORD SAID TO PAUL BY NIGHT IN A VISION (in sleep): DO NOT BE AFRAID. — For Paul could justly fear, lest on account of Crispus the ruler of the synagogue who had been converted by him, the whole synagogue of the Jews should rise up against him. St. Augustine excellently says, Sermon 6 On the Words of the Gospel according to Matthew: "Why do you fear man," he says, "O man, placed in the bosom of God? Do not fall from that bosom; whatever you suffer there will avail for salvation, not for destruction. Martyrs endured the tearing of their limbs, and do Christians fear the injuries of Christian times?"
SPEAK (preach the Gospel), DO NOT KEEP SILENT. — This negation in the Hebrew manner confirms and augments the previous affirmation, as if to say: Speak openly, freely and fearlessly, with open mouth, sonorous voice, steady heart. For he who speaks with fear does not part his lips, hesitates, mutters, and does not so much utter his words as suppress them; he breaks them rather than sets them down, as our Lorinus says.
BECAUSE (dioti, that is, for this reason that, because) I AM WITH YOU. — to defend you, to contend for you, to suggest courage and words, and to make you superior to all enemies and every power of the world and of hell. Thus the angel says to Gideon, sending him against the most numerous camps of Midian: "The Lord is with you, O most valiant of men, etc. Go in this strength of yours, and you shall deliver Israel from the hand of Midian: know that I have sent you," Judges chapter 6, verses 12 and 14.
Verse 10: And No One Shall Lay Hand on You; To Harm You; Because I Have a Great People
10. AND NO ONE SHALL LAY HAND ON YOU. — In Greek epithēsetai, which can be translated actively, no one shall lay upon, or cast upon you, namely hands, no one shall attack or invade you.
TO HARM YOU (te). — to you: for formerly noceo governed the accusative. In Greek tou kakōsai se, that is, to afflict you.
BECAUSE I HAVE A GREAT PEOPLE. — as if to say: Many Corinthians will be converted by your preaching and will become My people and My Church.
Verse 11: He Sat
11. HE SAT. — he settled, he remained.
Verse 12: When Gallio Was Proconsul
12. WHEN GALLIO WAS PROCONSUL. — L. Junius Gallio, Proconsul of Achaia, was the full brother of L. Annaeus Seneca, the teacher of Nero, as Seneca himself testifies in the preface of book IV of Natural Questions, who also inscribed to him the book On the Remedies for Chance Events, and another On the Happy Life. So Baronius. For this Gallio was contemporary with Paul, not another elder one, as Delrio maintains in the preface to Seneca, chapter III. For the elder one, namely the father of this younger Gallio, is not recorded to have been Proconsul of Achaia, but the younger, or son. For these three were brothers, namely M. Annaeus Novatus, L. Annaeus Seneca, the teacher of Nero, and L. Annaeus Mela, who was the father of the poet Lucan. But Novatus soon changed his name, and passed into the family of Junius Gallio, by whom he was adopted. See Lipsius in his proem to Seneca, chapter II On the Life of Seneca. Wherefore from both families in Eusebius's Chronicle, this Gallio is surnamed "Junius Annaeus Seneca Gallio, brother of Seneca, an outstanding declaimer." It favors this view that Seneca, epistle 104, asserts that Gallio his brother was elder and firstborn, whom for that reason (and because he was Proconsul of Achaia) he calls his lord, says Lipsius; he was in Achaia, but left there on account of a fever, saying that it was not an illness of the body but of the place. Moreover, through Seneca it seems that Gallio was made Proconsul. For when Seneca was unjustly condemned to exile by Messalina Augusta, the wife of Claudius (as Dio reports, book LX), after her death he was restored by Agrippina, the other wife of Claudius and mother of Nero, and was made teacher to Nero, whom Claudius had adopted as a son; and in gratitude to him the province of Achaia was assigned to his full brother Gallio. Hence through Gallio, to whom Paul pleaded his cause, it seems a friendship was brought about between Paul and Seneca: hence letters from each to the other circulate, but they are rightly suspected by learned men of being forgeries, and not sufficiently worthy of the dignity of both Paul and Seneca; however, that Paul wrote to Seneca, and in return received letters from him, is testified by St. Augustine, epistle 54; St. Jerome, book On Ecclesiastical Writers, and others. But those err who think Seneca was a Christian: for he lived a Stoic, and died a Stoic, and consequently his writings contain nothing Christian, but Stoic doctrines, as is clear from what was said at chapter 17, verse 18. Finally, as he was dying, he poured out his blood as a libation to Jupiter. No doubt puffed up with the opinion of his wisdom, as though the foremost Philosopher of that age and Nero's master, he disdained to become a disciple of Paul and of Christ crucified; otherwise he could have seen and spoken with Paul at Rome: for he was killed by Nero two years before Paul. This is what Paul says, 1 Corinthians 1:26: "Not many wise, etc., but God has chosen the foolish things of the world." This Gallio, condemned with his brother Seneca by Nero, "killed himself with his own hand, with Nero deferring his death to his own presence," says Eusebius in his Chronicle, in the year of Christ 66.
Moreover, Paul had already spent a year and a half at Corinth, says St. Chrysostom (although some think that this tumult happened before the year and a half had been completed); when it had been completed, when the new Proconsul Gallio came into Achaia, the Jews dragged Paul to his tribunal, perhaps because they thought that Gallio was their friend and supporter, just as Messalina Augusta had recently been a friend and intimate of the Jews, and had judaized.
Verse 13: Because Contrary to Law; Paul Persuades People to Worship God
13. BECAUSE CONTRARY TO LAW. — both of the Jews, which worships one sole incorporeal God; and of the Romans, which forbids bringing in new gods without a decree of the Senate.
(PAUL) PERSUADES PEOPLE TO WORSHIP GOD. — namely Christ the man crucified by our pontiffs. But the judge Gallio disregarded the law of the Romans, knowing, or interpreting, that it applied only at Rome, not in foreign provinces: but the law of the Jews, about which he suspected the Jews were properly contending with the Jewish Paul, he despised, or at least judged that it did not pertain to him. Hence he said: "I do not wish to be a judge of these things."
Verse 14: If Indeed It Were Something Wrong
14. IF INDEED IT WERE SOMETHING WRONG, etc. — as if to say: If Paul were charged with a crime of wickedness, e.g. that he was a thief, a murderer, seditious, a disturber of the state, I would hear you and judge: but now, when you accuse him of violating your law and religion, I do not wish to involve myself in this dispute, both because I do not understand your law, and because I am a political judge, whose business it is to judge civil causes, not Ecclesiastical ones. So Augustus refused to hear cases of religion in an open forum, says Suetonius in his Life, chapter 39. On the other hand, the kings of Egypt, so that they might judge such matters, were made pontiffs, says Dio, book LIII. Aristotle reports that the kings of other nations did the same, book III of Politics, chapter X.
Verse 15: But If They Are Questions About a Word, and Names, and Your Law
15. BUT IF THEY ARE QUESTIONS ABOUT A WORD, AND NAMES, AND YOUR LAW. — that is, "about a word and names of your law," as some codices read. It is a hendiadys. For Paul contended that Christ was in reality the same God whom the Jews worshipped: but the Jews called Him different and another. Again, Paul asserted that Jesus was to be called Messiah and Christ: the Jews denied it. Hence Gallio judged it to be a question of word and name. Moreover, Paul contended with the Jews about the meaning of the Law and of Sacred Scripture, namely whether it was about that Christ whom Paul preached; or another, as the Jews wished: wherefore Gallio rightly judged that this was a matter of judgment for Jewish law, and therefore did not pertain to him. This free judgment of Gallio agrees with what Seneca writes at the beginning of book IV of Natural Questions about the character, integrity, and hatred of flattery of his brother Gallio.
Verse 16: And He Drove
16. AND HE DROVE. — that is, he led away, or rather ordered them to be led away. "To drive" (minare) is one thing, "to threaten" (minari) is another. For "the Shepherd drives the sheep with his staff, the wolf threatens with his mouth." In Greek apēlasen, that is, he drove off, drove away; the Syriac has, he dismissed.
Verse 17: They Beat Sosthenes, the Ruler of the Synagogue; And None of These Things Mattered to Gallio
17. THEY BEAT SOSTHENES, THE RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE. — namely, who, after Crispus was converted to Christ in verse 8, had succeeded to the headship and primacy of the synagogue. For what Chrysostom thinks is less probable, namely that Sosthenes was the same as Gaius, having had two names. For the Martyrologies distinguish them and make them two.
Moreover, Bede, Hugo, Cajetan, and the Carthusian judge that Sosthenes was still a Jew: and so was beaten by the Greeks, as the Greek adds, namely by the servants of the Proconsul, who, according to his sentence, would have driven him along with his Jews from the Tribunal with blows; or rather was beaten through the Greeks, that is, Gentiles, at the instigation of the Jews, because he had pleaded their cause rather coldly, and seemed to favor Paul, and had snatched him from the hands of the Jews who wished to kill him. For it is incredible that Hugo says, that Sosthenes was beaten by the Christians, because he resisted Paul and the Gospel. It is truer that the Jews, when they had failed in their hope of killing Paul before the Proconsul, vented their rage on Sosthenes, especially when they had heard from the Proconsul: "See to it yourselves;" for they thought that by this expression the vengeance of their law was permitted to them. For Sosthenes, converted by Paul's preaching, was at heart a Christian, and so favored Paul and defended him: wherefore the Jews, as though betraying their cause and law, beat him either by themselves or through the Greeks, that is, the Gentiles. Hence St. Chrysostom here writes, and in the preface to the first epistle to the Corinthians, that St. Paul too was beaten in this Jewish tumult. That this is so is clear from the fact that St. Paul praises this Sosthenes and makes him his companion at the beginning of the first epistle to the Corinthians. In addition, the Menologium of the Greeks, on December 7, makes him Bishop of Colophon. Finally, the Roman Martyrology, on November 28, clearly has this about him: "At Corinth the birthday of St. Sosthenes, disciple of Blessed Paul, of whom the same Paul makes mention writing to the Corinthians. He, converted from ruler of the synagogue to Christ, severely beaten before the proconsul Gallio, consecrated the beginnings of his faith with an illustrious start." So he was truly Sosthenes, that is, strong savior, namely of Paul: for sōzō is "I save," sthenos is "strength": for St. Chrysostom here excellently praises his strong patience and meekness (and that of any sufferer), by which he inflicted sharper blows on the souls of the Jews than he himself received from them in body.
AND NONE OF THESE THINGS MATTERED TO GALLIO. — either because he despised the Jews and their quarrels; or because he feared that if he settled them, they would turn their own angers upon himself: otherwise, by this dissembling he did not sufficiently provide for his own dignity, nor for Sosthenes's innocence, nor for the peace of the state, as he ought to have done by virtue of his office: for he was Proconsul and governor of the province.
Verse 18: But Paul, After Remaining Many Days; Who Had Shaved Himself; For He Had a Vow; At Cenchreae
18. BUT PAUL, AFTER REMAINING (Tigurine version, he had stayed) MANY DAYS. — after those uproars of the Jews, intrepidly and constantly evangelizing. Some include these days in the year and a half of which verse 11 speaks, by prolepsis; so that altogether Paul spent only a year and a half at Corinth: but St. Chrysostom separates them and judges these days to have come after the year and a half had been completed; either is probable. Moreover, that Paul performed many great things and wrought miracles, which Luke passes over in silence, the same Paul teaches writing afterwards to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 12: "The signs," he says, "of my apostleship were wrought upon you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. For what is there wherein you had less than the other Churches?" Finally, just as at Corinth in the first year (for he stayed there a year and a half) he wrote the first epistle to the Thessalonians, so in the later year he wrote the later one to the same. So Baronius.
WHO HAD SHAVED HIMSELF. — The "who" Isidore refers to Aquila, book II Of Offices, chapter On Tonsure, and Baronius; indeed some codices read "they had shaved," namely Aquila and Priscilla. But that the "who" refers to Paul, St. Augustine thinks, epistle 19, and St. Jerome, epistle 11, which is found in volume II of the epistles of St. Augustine; Bede and others in various places. Hence the Roman codices enclose Priscilla and Aquila in parentheses, so that this shaving cannot pertain to them.
FOR HE HAD A VOW. — You will ask, what was this shaving, and what sort of vow? First, some think it was Paul's own peculiar vow, distinct from the vow of the Nazarites (for that should have been made and fulfilled at Jerusalem), made by Paul out of zeal for the worship of God and for mortification.
Secondly, others think it was the vow of nazariteship, but made by Paul before his conversion while in Judaism: namely, that in order to overthrow Christ and Christianity, he had vowed that he would be a Nazarite, that is, abstemious from wine and growing his hair, until he should have extinguished the Christian religion. Just as in our age some Nobles, of those who stirred up the first tumults of rebellion in Belgium, swore that they would not cut their hair until they had avenged the death of certain Belgian princes, beheaded by the king of Spain because they had favored heretics. But this vow, as well as the oath, is impious, and consequently its execution in Paul would have been impious: for by that he would have professed that he approved that Jewish vow, and was a Jew and champion of Judaism, and by this vow was supplicating God to overthrow Christianity.
I say therefore that this vow of Paul's was the vow of nazariteship, namely that he should abstain from wine and let his hair grow, not for his whole life, but for a certain time set by himself, concerning which I spoke on Numbers chapter 6. It is proved first, because this was a common and ordinary vow among the Jews, and so by antonomasia was called "the vow": just as among Christians the vow of religion is, of which the nazariteship was a figure and prelude; so when they named "the vow," they understood naziriteship. Secondly, because the vow of the Nazarites properly consisted in the hair of the head, that they might let it grow, and shave it when the vow was finished. Thirdly, because for this reason Paul sailed to Syria, namely to fulfill it at Jerusalem. For Luke gives the reason why Paul sailed to Syria: because he had shaved his head, that is, had bound himself by the vow of nazariteship, which had to be fulfilled in the Jerusalem temple. Fourthly, because to vow precisely the shaving of the head is a trifling thing, and unworthy of the religion of a vow, especially a Pauline one: therefore this tonsure was annexed to the nazariteship. Fifthly, because this vow of nazariteship, or a similar one, Paul fulfilled in the temple, chapter xxi, 24. From which place great light shines upon this verse. For there St. James says to St. Paul: "They have heard of thee (the Judaeo-Christians) that thou teachest a departure from Moses for them, etc., saying that they ought not to circumcise their sons, nor to walk according to the custom, etc. Do therefore this that we say to thee. We have four men who have a vow (of Naziriteship) upon them. Taking these, sanctify thyself with them, and bestow on them that they may shave their heads: and all shall know, that the things which they have heard of thee are false, but that thou thyself also walkest keeping the law." Paul had already seen and foreseen this very thing before. Therefore, in order to reconcile the Jews and Judaeo-Christians, who were offended with him as if he were forbidding the legal observances to be kept, and that he might not scandalize those whom he was converting from Judaism to Christianity, inasmuch as they, being accustomed to Judaism, could not so quickly lay it aside, much less hear of its abolition, he made a Jewish vow, and walked long-haired as a Nazarite, and lived abstemiously. For the Nazarites were supremely observers of the Mosaic law, and in it they were what with us are Monks and Religious. Hence they were called corban, that is, God's gift, because they had dedicated and given themselves to God, as Josephus testifies, Antiquities, book IV, chapter IV. Now naziriteship consisted in abstaining from wine and letting the hair grow: for in this lay the sanctity of that rude age. And if it were contaminated by some funeral, or contact with a corpse, the Nazarite had to shave his hair as if polluted, and begin anew the time of his nazariteship; and because this often happened, his vow was thus repeatedly extended over many years. When the vow was fulfilled, he had to go to the temple, shave his hair, and offer to God the sacrifices appointed by the law, Numbers vi. It seems therefore that Paul, having a vow of nazariteship, and therefore letting his hair grow, had been polluted by some funeral, and therefore according to the law shaved his hair, so that he might again begin the nazariteship and let his hair grow, until the fulfillment of his vow, when he would deposit it at Jerusalem in the temple — which he did in verse 22, as I shall say there, or certainly at chapter xxi, 24. So Baronius, Cajetanus, Sanchez, and others.
You will say: A Nazarite, if he were polluted over a corpse, had to be shaved, and at the same time to offer expiatory victims, as prescribed in Numbers vi, 9. But Paul offered no victims here, nor could he offer them, since these could and ought to be offered only in the temple at Jerusalem. I answer: Those who were at Jerusalem and near it were bound to offer these victims; for those remote from it, as was Paul, could not do this, since no one is held to the impossible; hence these only shaved the head. Moreover, Paul did this at Corinth, because there was a multitude of Jews there, that he might show them that he did not spurn the law, but venerated and observed it. Hence it is clear that Paul abstained from wine and strong drink, that is, from everything that can inebriate; for this the Nazarites did. Behold the sobriety of Paul in such great labors; behold the charity by which he becomes all things to all men, to the Jews a Jew, to the Gentiles a Gentile, that he might gain all.
At Cenchreae. — Cenchra, or Cenchreae, is a naval station, says Strabo, book VIII, and the port of Corinth on the east, near which is another called Lechaeum. From these two ports the Greeks call Corinth bimaris (two-seaed) and amphithalassos (encompassed by the sea), as I said in the preface to the Epistle to the Corinthians.
Verse 19: And He Came to Ephesus; He Left Them There
19. AND HE CAME TO EPHESUS. — Ephesus was the metropolis of Asia Minor, in which was the noble temple of Diana, of which in chapter xix, and a multitude of orators and philosophers: for which reason Apollonius of Tyana, the famous philosopher, or rather magician, settled at Ephesus. Paul afterwards appointed Timothy its bishop, whom Onesimus succeeded. At Ephesus also St. John the apostle often dwelt with the Blessed Virgin, who had been committed to his care by Christ, while he was founding and governing the Churches of all Asia, as the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus assert, chapter xxvii, to the Cleric of Constantinople; whence also he died at Ephesus.
HE LEFT THEM (Aquila and Priscilla) THERE. — that they might imbue the Ephesians with the faith of Christ.
Verse 21: Saying; I Will Return to You, God Willing
21. Saying. — The Greek adds: "I must by all means keep the feast that is at hand in Jerusalem." So also read St. Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Cajetanus, Vatablus, and others generally.
I WILL RETURN TO YOU, GOD WILLING. — By this example of Paul and St. James, chapter IV, 13, pious Christians adopt the custom, when they say they are going to do something, to add: "God willing," or: "if God wills." For they believe and hope that they and all their affairs are governed by God, by whose leading all things turn out prosperously: according to that saying of Nazianzen in his Distichs: With God's assent, envy can do nothing. With God's dissent, toil can do nothing.
Verse 22: And Going Down to Caesarea; And He Went Down to Antioch
22. AND GOING DOWN TO CAESAREA. — of Cappadocia, say Rabanus, Bede, Lyranus, Gagneius, and others, because Paul had not yet reached Syria; but Cajetanus, Baronius, Arias, and others understand Caesarea of Palestine. For they hold that Paul came there, and from thence went on to Jerusalem, and there greeted the Church, namely the Jerusalem Church, as the mother, inasmuch as from it the others had sprung. The Greek words cited a little above demand this, and likewise Paul's journey into Syria, and the vow of nazariteship of which in verse 18; for this had to be fulfilled at Jerusalem in the temple. If this is true, this is the third (though some will have it the fourth) journey of Paul after his conversion to Jerusalem. For Luke passes over or flies past many things out of a zeal for brevity. For the first was three years after his conversion, Acts ix, 26, and Galatians i, 18, namely in the year of Christ 39. The second, after 14 years, namely in the year of Christ 51; for then on account of the question of the legal observances he went to the Apostles, and was present at the Council of Jerusalem, Acts chapter xv. The third is here. The fourth we shall hear of in chapter xxi, 17. Moreover Paul, greeting the Church, first of all greeted the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, Mother and chief of the Church, communicating his counsels with her, and in turn consulting her in doubts, and asking her help and prayers with her Son in his so great labors, difficulties, and persecutions, as it is fitting to believe. See what was said at 1, 14, and chapter xx, 22.
AND HE WENT DOWN TO ANTIOCH. — of Pisidia, as near to Caesarea of Cappadocia, say Bede and the authors of the former opinion already cited, who understood by Caesarea that of Cappadocia. But Chrysostom, Baronius, and others generally understand Antioch of Syria. For this is called "Antioch" absolutely, as the capital of Syria, but the others with an addition, as "Antioch of Pisidia." Paul loved Antioch, says Chrysostom, inasmuch as there he had been made Apostle of the Gentiles, indeed where he first preached to them with such fruit that there first the disciples were called Christians.
Verse 23: Passing in Order Through the Region of Galatia and Phrygia
23. PASSING IN ORDER THROUGH THE REGION OF GALATIA AND PHRYGIA. — See the Apostle running like lightning most swiftly through the regions of Asia. Truly St. Chrysostom, Homily 8 On the Praises of St. Paul: "A certain sun," he says, "is Paul to men, who illuminated the whole world with the gleaming rays of his tongue, and who in going around all the nations imitated utterly the course of the sun, and flew through all the regions of the world as if with a soul free from the body, and this when bitter wounds frequently met him;" and soon he compares him to and prefers him above the Patriarchs, Prophets, Angels, and Archangels. Moreover, the Galatians received Paul as if an Angel fallen from heaven, as Paul himself testifies writing to them in chapter IV, 14.
Verse 24: Apollos; An Eloquent Man; Mighty in the Scriptures
24. APOLLOS. — Some cited in Oecumenius think that this is Apelles, Paul's disciple and appointed by him Bishop of Corinth, of whom the same writes to the Romans xvi, 10: "Salute Apelles, approved in the Lord." But others generally distinguish "Apollos" from Apelles. This is the Apollos of whom the Apostle says: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase," 1 Corinthians III, 6. He is listed among the Saints in the Martyrology, on April 22. Moreover, Apollos in Greek is Ἀπολλώς, an indeclinable name, and therefore different from Apollo, god of the Gentiles.
AN ELOQUENT MAN. — logios, Vatablus translates as learned; others, prudent; others, skilled in speech; others, skilled in history and antiquity. For logios signifies all these things.
Mighty in the Scriptures. — that is, versed and effective in citing, explaining, and pressing them to refute adversaries. Some think that Apollos at Alexandria (for he himself was an Alexandrian) was trained in the school of St. Mark among the Essenes, and exercised in the sacred Letters. But against this stands what follows: "Knowing only the baptism of John." Vatablus translates: "This man was most learned in the books of the Old Testament." Hence Apollos is the same as "one brandishing rays," says Pagninus, in the Interpretation of Hebrew Names, or "destroying and exterminating," so that it is the same as Apollyon, Apocalypse IX, 11. For by his doctrine he vehemently refuted the Jews, verse 28, and exterminated Judaism.
Verse 25: He Had Been Instructed; Fervent in Spirit; He Taught the Things That Are of Jesus; Knowing Only the Baptism of John
25. He had been instructed, — katēchēmenos, that is, catechized, instructed as a catechumen, initiated, taught the rudiments of the Christian faith; for he had not yet been baptized with the baptism of Christ, but only with that of John the Baptist, as follows, and therefore was not yet a Christian.
Fervent in spirit. — Whence it seems that before baptism he was justified through an act of contrition and charity. So Chrysostom.
HE TAUGHT THE THINGS THAT ARE OF JESUS, — namely, he showed from the Prophets themselves that Jesus crucified is the Messiah, or the Christ promised by them.
Knowing only the baptism of John, — whose profession and, as it were, form was that they should believe in the Jesus who was to come, of which in chapter xix, verses 1 and 4. Perhaps long ago he had been baptized with John's baptism, and in it had heard that Jesus was the Christ, and then had more rarely seen or heard Christians, so that he was unaware of the baptism of Christ and His other mysteries: hence he learned these from Aquila, and soon received the baptism of Christ.
Verse 26: He Therefore Began to Act with Confidence in the Synagogue; They Took Him; And They Expounded to Him More Diligently the Way of the Lord
26. HE THEREFORE BEGAN TO ACT WITH CONFIDENCE IN THE SYNAGOGUE, — as if to say: He began freely and fearlessly to preach Jesus Christ to the Jews.
They took him — into their own house, to instruct him more fully in the Christian faith. Chrysostom notes and praises the sincere faith and charity of Aquila and Priscilla, inasmuch as they sought not their own but the glory of Christ, and therefore instructed Apollos, that he, eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, might preach Christ better and more effectively. "As," says Chrysostom, "in a cithara you have various voices, but one harmony, and one musician is he who takes the cithara in hand: so here the cithara is charity itself; the voices are those speaking words that pertain to conciliating charity; all conspire into one sweet consonance. But the musician is the force of charity, which by plucking brings forth sweet melody. This melody gladdens both God and the angels. This arouses the whole spectacle in heaven; this also restrains the fury of demons, and soothes the impulses of the affections, even induces silence in them: just as when a musical choir resounds, all the hearers, however garrulous and turbulent, are silent and listen. Nothing so makes a friend as a soul zealous for gratitude, a mouth accustomed to speak well, a soul without pride, contempt of vainglory, contempt of honor."
AND THEY EXPOUNDED TO HIM MORE DILIGENTLY THE WAY OF THE LORD, — namely, the institution of Christianity sanctioned by God. Note here the humility and docility of Apollos, who, though a man eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, allows himself to be instructed by Aquila and Priscilla. Cicero in Cato the Elder praises this saying of Solon: "Daily learning very many things, I grow old." Such is also that of Salvius Julianus the jurist: "Even if I had one foot in the grave, I would still wish to go on learning." Diogenes the Cynic, being repelled by Antisthenes with a staff: "Strike," he said, "if you will, but you will find no staff hard enough to drive me away from you, so long as you shall say something." So Laertius, book VI, chapter II. Zeno, consulting the oracle "by what means he might best order his life," heard: "If he became the same color as the dead." He, sensing that he was being called to the reading of the ancients, devoted himself to philosophy: for study and frugality of diet produce leanness and pallor in a man. So Laertius, book VII, chapter 1. Thus St. Jerome, being rather advanced in years, went to Constantinople to hear St. Gregory Nazianzen, and he often glories in having him as his teacher. Thus St. Augustine proposed his doubts in the Scriptures to St. Jerome, that he might be taught by him. The same did St. Damasus the Pontiff.
Verse 27: The Brethren Exhorted; He Helped Much Those Who Had Believed
27. THE BRETHREN EXHORTED, — protrepsamenoi. The Syriac: "the brethren came before him," namely by exhorting him to proceed into Achaia, that is to Corinth, and to confirm the faithful by his wisdom and eloquence in faith and piety. Our version rightly translates, "exhorted": for logos protreptikos is called an exhortatory discourse.
HE HELPED MUCH THOSE WHO HAD BELIEVED. — The Greek adds, dia tēs charitos, that is, through the grace of word, spirit, and fervor breathed upon him by God.
Verse 28: Vehemently; That Jesus Is the Christ
28. Vehemently, — eutonōs, that is, sharply, with great effort, vigorously and effectively.
That Jesus is the Christ, — that Jesus was the Christ. It is an anastrophe (word inversion).