Acts 18:18

Paul . . . tarried . . . yet a good while--During his long residence at Corinth, Paul planted other churches in Achaia (Co2 1:1). then took . . . leave of the brethren, and sailed . . . into--rather, "for" Syria--to Antioch, the starting-point of all the missions to the Gentiles, which he feels to be for the present concluded. with him Priscilla and Aquila--In this order the names also occur in Act 18:26 (according to the true reading); compare Rom 16:3; Ti2 4:19, which seem to imply that the wife was the more prominent and helpful to the Church. Silas and Timotheus doubtless accompanied the apostle, as also Erastus, Gaius, and Aristarchus (Act 19:22, Act 19:29). Of Silas, as Paul's associate, we read no more. His name occurs last in connection with Peter and the churches of Asia Minor [WEBSTER and WILKINSON]. having shorn his head in Cenchrea--the eastern harbor of Corinth, about ten miles distant, where a church had been formed (Rom 16:1). for he--Paul. had a vow--That it was the Nazarite vow (Num. 6:1-27) is not likely. It was probably one made in one of his seasons of difficulty or danger, in prosecution of which he cuts off his hair and hastens to Jerusalem to offer the requisite sacrifice within the prescribed thirty days [JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 2.15.1]. This explains the haste with which he leaves Ephesus (Act 18:21), and the subsequent observance, on the recommendation of the brethren, of a similar vow (Act 21:24). This one at Corinth was voluntary, and shows that even in heathen countries he systematically studied the prejudices of his Jewish brethren.

We have here Paul in motion, as we have had him at Corinth for some time at rest, but in both busy, very busy, in the service of Christ; if he sat still, if he went about, still it was to do good. Here is, I. Paul's departure from Corinth, Act 18:18. 1. He did not go away till some time after the trouble he met with there; from other places he had departed when the storm arose, but not from Corinth, because there it had no sooner risen than it fell again. Some tell us that Gallio did privately countenance Paul, and took him into his favour, and that this occasioned a correspondence between Paul and Seneca, Gallio's brother, which some of the ancients speak of. After this he tarried there yet a good while, some think, beyond the year and a half mentioned, Act 18:11. While he found he laboured not in vain, he continued labouring. 2. When he went, he took leave of the brethren solemnly, and with much affection, with suitable comforts and counsels, and prayers at parting, commending what was good, reproving what was otherwise, and giving them necessary cautions against the wiles of the false apostles; and his farewell sermon would leave impressions upon them. 3. He took with him Priscilla and Aquila, because they had a mind to accompany him; for they seemed disposed to remove, and not inclined to stay long at a place, a disposition which may arise from a good principle, and have good effects, and therefore ought not to be condemned in others, though it ought to be suspected in ourselves. There was a great friendship contracted between them and Paul, and therefore, when he went, they begged to go along with him. 4. At Cenchrea, which was hard by Corinth, the port where those that went to sea from Corinth took ship, either Paul or Aquila (for the original does not determine w…

18:18 Cenchrea was a seaport located on the Aegean Sea, roughly five miles (8 km) east of Corinth. It was here that Paul shaved his head according to Jewish custom to mark the completion of a temporary Nazirite vow (cp. 21:23-24; see Num 6:1-21; Judg 13:4-7; 16:1; Amos 2:11-12; Luke 1:15).