Tag: Paul Arrives in Corinth. Acts 18. Bible. New Testament

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One key ingredient that will make all the difference

Acts 18:1; James 3:7-12; Matthew 15:11, 16-19; Ephesians 4:11-24; Galatians 5:16-26

Strolling together along a marble ladened hallway, Emperor Claudius and Junius Gallio exchange pleasantries.

“I want to thank you, my lord.” Gallio offers.

“Thank me?” Claudius asks. “Thank me for what?”

“For commuting my brother’s sentence to exile and not death.” Gallio responds.

Claudius chuckles and replies. “Much like your father, there has always been a fire in that man’s belly.”

Gallio smiles at this. “Yes, Seneca’s oratory and pen alike have made both allies and enemies. Who knew a stoic could cause so much anger?”

Claudius stops to laugh, turns to face Gallio, and says. “You know Caligula ordered him to commit suicide?”

“I had heard, yes.” Gallio replies.

Claudius shakes his head and continues. “While your brother said some rather unpleasant things about me as well, Caligula was mad, beyond drunk with power, even to the point of demanding to be worshiped by the Jews in Alexandria and Jerusalem.”

“I noticed you have removed them from Rome, my lord.” Gallio observes.

Claudius nods and takes a moment to find the right words. “Yes, the Jews are a conundrum to me. A necessary evil. They have worked hard with many earning their freedom and acclimating in cities far away from their homeland.” Claudius laughs and continues: “Doing well at it, I might ad. They have added a healthy support to our economy… but, they have not let up with their self-serving activism.”

“What do you mean?” Gallio asks.

Claudius breathes out a heavy sigh. “The Senate has made many concessions for the Jews over the years,” Claudius says. “They have allowed them to worship here in Rome and in every other major city throughout the empire. They allowed them to uphold their Sabbath Law and the freedom to celebrate their annual festivals, even for slaves. They even created legislation to allow Jews to send money back to Jerusalem for temple improvements. If that wasn’t enough, the Jews refused to be conscripted into the military, so the Senate made concessions there as well. Furthermore, the Senate offered certain protections on a local level for the Jewish ways of life against hostile neighbors who sought to antagonize them.” 

Claudius stops again, turns to Gallio and says. “Remember, these Jewish enclaves are found in just about every pocket throughout the Roman world. They moved in and insisted upon keeping their own rules of living, without adapting to the local culture. Consequently, many within these local cultures have found these atheists to be unbending and contentious. Who would want them for a neighbor when they move in next door and refuse to be neighborly?”

“Okay.” Gallio ponders aloud. “So they’re a bit peculiar. What…”

Finishing his question, Claudius interrupts. “What would precipitate us to send them away?”

Gallio nods.

“Gallio,” Claudius says. “I hope you find me to be a temperate man. What I have lacked in physical capacity or in personal charm, I have made up for in being both fair in my dealings with others and strategic for Rome’s sake.”

Watching Gallio nod his head, Claudius continues. “With the concessions I mentioned plus a series of other concessions I haven’t, the Jews have become more assertive in their recruitment and their activism, even to the point of strife within the Jewish community itself.”

“I don’t understand.” Gallio replies.

“Not only do they wish us to bend our policies to meet their demands, they have greatly increased their recruiting efforts.” Claudius replies. “But, it appears their recruiting efforts have caused them some internal strife.”

“How so?” Gallio asks.

“At first, we heard rumblings of infighting.” Claudius says. “In regions throughout Rome where there are large Jewish communities, Jews have brought their internal disputes to local civic authorities to resolve, often with a lynch mob in tow. Riots have happened in Alexandria, Thessalonica, Asia, Carthage… And, more recently, we’ve seen them happen right here in Rome.”

“My lord,” Gallio asks. “Is this the reason for expulsion?”

“For a season, my friend.” Claudius confides. “Until they can learn to behave themselves.”

“What about the other cities? Will you expel the Jews from those cities as well?” Gallio persists.

Claudius walks over to a terrace and stares at the Circus Maximus below. Turning around, he then looks down at the ground before meeting Gallio’s eyes. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Becoming more upbeat, Claudius continues. “Enough about that. Let’s talk about your assignment.”

“Yes, my lord.” Gallio responds.

Grabbing both of the shoulders of the man in front of him, Claudius smiles and says. “My dear friend, I know you wish to be home, but…”

Gallio breathes out an imperceptible sigh and masks his disappointment.

Keeping Gallio’s shoulders high, Claudius reasons. “Achaea needs you. You know we have vested mining interests there, and it has been without healthy leadership for more than a decade.” His face softens and continues. “Achaea is a good gig, you know this.”

“Yes. It is.” Gallio responds. 

“It knows peace, it’s much warmer than any germanic front or anything you’ll find in Gaul or Brittain.” Claudius offers. “Hey, it’s Corinth! Anything goes there. The temperate mediterranean climate and lifestyle. You will make an exceptional proconsul, my friend.”

“As you wish, my liege.” Gallio offers. “I will rule as if you were there yourself.”

“Then it is done.” Claudius resolves. “Come, let us celebrate.”

…

Walking up to the work area of the tentmaker, Paul examines the temporary structures propped up around the kiosk. 

Inserting stitch after stitch with his latest tent, the tentmaker squints to see the man closely evaluating his craftsmanship. 

“See anything you can’t do without?” The tentmaker asks. 

“I’ll take all of it.” Paul playfully responds. 

“Great.” The tentmaker replies. “You’ll take all of this off my hands right now then? Just pull your carriage around. We’ll load it up.”

Paul laughs and says, “Yeah, that would be your lucky day.”

Hearing a voice come from behind, Paul startles and turns around to see a woman.

“He’ll sell you an aqueduct if given the chance.” The woman teases. “Have you agreed to take everything yet?”

“Shhhhhh.” The tentmaker says while looking straight at Paul. “Don’t listen to her. Besides, we don’t have an aqueduct.” He looks back at the woman and asks. “Right? Maybe I just misplaced it. Hey hon, where’s that aqueduct? I placed it right over…”

The woman shakes her head while Paul laughs at the spectacle.

“You two a team?” Paul asks. “You should really think of doing comedy.”

“Why not?” The tentmaker says. “I don’t seem to be doing too well as a tentmaker.”

“No?” Paul asks. He holds up a patch of material and examines the thread work. “You have nice work here.”

Watching Paul carefully assess his work, the tentmaker eyes Paul and asks, “You’re familiar with tentmaking?”

The woman says, “We’re new to Corinth. Just trying to get the word out, you know?”

“Oh?” Paul asks. “Where are you from?”

Answering at the same time, both give different responses. 

“Pontus.” He says.

“Rome.” She says.

“Yeah, that about clears it up for me.” Paul says as he shrugs his shoulders. “Comedy is your thing.”

The tentmaker laughs. “Go figure, hon, we’re funny even when we’re not even trying.”

“Paul.” Paul offers. “And, yes I too am a tentmaker by trade.”

“Aquila.” The tentmaker says. “This is my wife, Priscilla. We’ve come from Rome, though not exactly by choice.”

Paul slowly nods his head with new understanding. “You are Jewish then.”

Priscilla and Aquila look at each other and then back at Paul. 

…

Opening the door to reveal a small apartment living space, Aquila scratches his head and says. “It’s not much, as you can see.”

Paul looks up at the large, unsteady beam above them and asks, “I’m guessing somebody lives above you?” 

Priscilla makes her way in and replies. “Two more floors above us.”

“One snap, and we’ll all get real cozy like.” Aquila says with a chuckle. “Maybe we would do better to stay in one of our own tents.”

“Yeah, outside the city gates sounds like a great idea, hon.” Priscilla responds. “Maybe we would survive the night. Anything goes out there.”

Aquila waves her off.

“I’m still grateful that you’re willing to take me in for a short while.” Paul says. 

“How could we not?” Aquila responds. “It’s what we do with our fellow sojourners.”

Pouring wine from a larger jug into three small mugs, Priscilla sets several cushions around the small room and says, “Now… let’s get to know each other a bit. Where did you say you were from?”

…

We’re going to stop here for today.

Paul makes his way into Corinth and meets up with husband and wife, Priscilla and Aquila, who were recently expelled from Rome under a recent ruling from Emperor Claudius. As the narrative suggests, the Roman attitude towards the Jews was mostly that of indifference. While this is not the first time Rome had expelled a Jewish enclave out from a Roman city–Roman leaders had done this at least two other times within a window of about 100 years. Even Claudius threatened Jewish expulsion out from Alexandria some nine years earlier (around AD 41).

While it appears to be clear that when Messianic ministers proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus in the local synagogues, much like Paul was doing in Greece, some of the Jews did not respond positively. In some instances, much like what happened in Thessalonica, Damascus, or Antioch Pisidium, mobs were formed to eradicate the Christian ministers and their new recruits. As rioting would break out, the civil authorities would then have to muscle their way in and quell the issue. One such way to resolve the problem? You guessed it… Kick out the Jews.

While many stuck around on the outskirts of Rome… after all, their livelihoods and families were nearby… some moved away altogether and relocated to other Roman cities. Due to one of the many waves of the Jewish Diaspora–many Jews were taken into slavery and brought back to Rome after Pompey captured Jerusalem some 100 years earlier. They had since earned their freedom and settled into Roman life, forming synagogues and Jewish communities, some of which were quite large. This resettling happened in Rome and larger cities throughout the empire and its client states. So, Jewish communities could be found just about anywhere.

What’s curious, is while it is likely that the Jews in Rome were reacting to the missionary efforts of those who proclaimed Jesus as Messiah, they were expelled before–prior to Messiah coming onto the scene. As I mentioned earlier, Rome’s attitude towards the Jews was that of indifference. Sure, they were regarded as quirky atheists who negated all of Grecko-Roman worship and lived under a totally different way of thinking. While today we wouldn’t regard monotheism as atheism, but that’s how they were perceived back then. 

But getting back to their multiple expulsions… the Jews were booted out of Rome before. Why? While modern and ancient historians alike are at odds with the reasoning here–sometimes weeding through the accounts of historians can be challenging–it is likely that Tiberius did not like the evangelistic Judaising of his citizenry, especially when Jews were fairly adamant that they would not serve time in the military. Interestingly enough, the Jews were quite evangelistic about converting Gentiles. Also interesting, the converted Gentiles made up most of those coming to faith in Jesus during this time in the early church. They were introduced to the Jewish God and found it easy to identify Messiah after arriving on the scene.

So Jewish expulsion did not only come as a result of the Christ following evangelists. It happened well before Jesus stepped onto the scene. One thing is for certain: The Jews were already considered as irritants in the eyes of the Romans. 

Back to Paul… As he seeks to get settled in Corinth–he’ll stay here for well over a year–he happens upon both Aquila and Priscilla who are trying to start their lives over in Corinth, after being driven out of Rome. This includes starting their business over from scratch and financially struggling along the way. Yet, Jewish hospitality is an important part of their upbringing, so upon meeting Paul, they take him in and begin to discover just who it is they are housing.

Starting over is never easy… especially after being driven out of another locale. While they could have remained on the outskirts of Rome and waited out Claudius’ local ruling, they opted to start fresh in Corinth, a huge city of commerce and trade at this time. Corinth is where the East met the West, so what better place to reestablish one’s business? 

If anyone felt what it’s like to lose, it was Aquila and Priscilla. While they were likely to be a younger couple, say in their late twenties or early thirties, they were also forced to stop their business in Rome and relocate to another city. This means that whatever success they had built over the years would have been forfeited. That said, it is likely that they did not relocate alone. Some who were like minded and wanting a fresh start would have moved with them. 

Community was the name of the survival game in this era. Without community, survival would have been much tougher! No public service helps… no welfare programs… no relocation specialists to help guide with the moving process… no family awaiting at their destination city… Just the clothes on their backs, a few items to take with them, and a community around them was enough to sustain Aquila and Priscilla.

Let’s talk a little more about community. I think we inherently understand how living in isolation can negatively affect us. Now more than ever, especially in light of living in a world impacted by a global pandemic, we see the threat of living in isolation. While I think it’s helpful to spend time away from the noise that comes from outside sources, extended isolation causes me to live in fear. Humanity living in extended isolation gives way to unchecked and ultimately distorted thinking. 

My wife and I bounce a lot of things off of each other. When I become frustrated at the little annoyances that happen around the home, say… oh I don’t know… my kids not cleaning up after themselves… I can tend to lash out and do damage to the relationship I have with each one of my family members. Should I continue to lash out unchecked by my lovely wife, I tend to become fixated on the annoyance and seek to extinguish the problem with a less than helpful approach. At a certain point, my wife needs to run interference by taking me aside and challenging me to come up with a better solution. 

I just wanted the problem to go away; whereas, Vee wanted me to understand that these annoyances are caused by people I love and care for. Should I wish to keep these relationships healthy, then I would do well to come up with a more friendly approach. Yes, this is a huge benefit of having a healthy family intact. Had I been left alone to deal with my frustrations, the outcome would’ve been quite different. Vee in my life has made all the difference. That’s what a healthy family does. That’s what a healthy community does. 

We need community! People around us who want God’s best for us.

Healthy communities have some important things going for them. While compiling a list of these aspects could be a bit lengthy, here is one important thing you should know about when identifying a healthy community.

Thirst for the Kingdom of Heaven

Healthy community is made up of those who long for the Kingdom of Heaven. This means a healthy community will be made up of those who put aside their own wants and look after the needs of others. It offers safety to those who are wounded, shunned, or otherwise rejected. We all go through seasons of pain, and some can cope with hardship better than others. To have a people that we may connect with, without being further wounded is a treasure. While this sounds great, it’s much more challenging than meets the eye, in part because as human beings, we are easily tempted into causing hurt in the lives of others. Ironic right? We don’t want to be hurt by others, yet we have no problem hurting them. 

The apostle James shares the ironic nature of this very issue by pointing out the “tongue” as a deadly weapon. 

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring

— James 3:7-12

We get what he’s talking about. We have no problem spouting both encouragement and criticism out of the same breath. It’s a reflection of what’s really happening inside of us. We have a heart problem, right? Jesus said it this way:

“It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth… “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

— Matthew 15:11, 16-19

Here’s the trick. I’m often unaware that I’m causing pain in the lives of others by the words that come out of my mouth. Should somebody criticize my criticisms, I’ll then turn to criticize them and the bottom falls out from our relationship. So what happens if we surround ourselves with a bunch of people like this? Yikes, right!?! While a healthy community will have folks like this, it will also have other folks who have walked before us, having been down a similar road. They’ve seen the scorched earth results of what it means to hurt others and have learned that there is a better way, a Spirit driven way. 

So, how do we create a healthy community? Here are two great passages share God’s solutions to this very human issue:

First, God created a new community where his people may be with one another to learn of His ways and fulfill what he has designed them to be. He gave this community gifted individuals who build into the community and take it to a new level of joy and encouragement–where they may remove their old ways of functioning and discover how God wants us to function as those under His care.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

— Ephesians 4:11-24

Second, God did not just leave us to function as frail and corrupt humanity. Left to our own devices, we would only see the results of a divisive and hurtful community. But God did not leave us to our own devices. He gave Christ followers the Holy Spirit as a deposit for what is ahead in the Kingdom of Heaven. As we aim to be directed by the Spirit of God, we will want what He wants for us. We will throw aside our own desires and the strife that comes with selfish desires and take on God’s wishes for us. As we do, we will begin to see the life that God wants for us. Furthermore, we will simply see life as God wishes us to see for ourselves and for others.

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

— Galatians 5:16-26

While there is much more to developing a healthy community, I think this is a good start. Imagine a community of people who longed for the Kingdom of Heaven and God’s desires for one another–a people who placed aside their own wants to help others in their times of needs. Now that’s a community worth checking out.

May you see your need for community and get involved with people that you know will love you like God loves you. And with that, let’s move forward… together.