Simple Message and Simple Work makes a 100 Year Old Church
1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
Acts 18:1–4 ESV Read More
Aquila and Priscilla were Jewish exiles from Rome. They fled to Corinth and lived and worked there when Paul came along and met Aquila. They let Paul stay with them since they were also tentmakers. We don’t know how many days they were together before the Sabbath came, but it is safe to assume that when Paul went to the synagogue, Aquila didn’t hear anything new from Paul.
The Gospel about Jesus wasn’t Paul’s message on the Sabbath day – it was his message every day. The people that lived with him would hear it, the people that ran into him in the market would hear it, and the Greeks outside the door of Aphrodite’s temple would hear it. Paul didn’t go to the synagogue on the Sabbath because it was church day and he had to. Paul went because he knew he would find other people there interested in the Lord.
Jews were probably visually noticeable in Corinth, so he could single them out during the week, but he didn’t. During the week, he worked on tents and spoke to whoever would listen. He would say later in 1 Corinthians 2 that all he had to say among them was Christ crucified. He didn’t have lofty speech or anything else attractive about his message. In the context of Acts 18 that encourages me. Paul was a laborer (just like everyone else) and a Jewish man without a home (like many others) and didn’t have lofty wisdom or a big show (just like most of us!)
He would go on to stay there for over a year. Aquila and Priscilla aren’t mentioned much, but when Paul moves on from Corinth to Ephesus, they come along with him and then stay in Ephesus! By his simple work and his simple message, many people became Christians in Corinth and the church was going strong 100 years later.
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