Acts 18:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Meanwhile, the zeal with which the Gospel was received by the Gentiles stirred still stronger hatred among the Jews. They took advantage of the arrival of the new proconsul, Annaeus Gallio, brother of the famous philosopher Seneca, in order to accuse Paul before him.

Since they had been granted the right to perform all religious actions according to their own statutes, they drew a conclusion from this. Whoever spread among them a teaching contrary to their statutes and caused divisions among them was, as a violator of their rights, guilty of transgressing the laws of the empire.

Encouraged by a special vision of the Lord, who commanded him to continue acting fearlessly in Corinth and promised him His divine help, Paul preached the Gospel to the Corinthian Gentiles for a year and a half. During this stay in Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote the First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians.

The hostile attitude of the Jews for a time brought the Apostle into despondency, and he wanted to stop his preaching. But his spirit was strengthened by a night vision of the Lord, who said to him: "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you; for I have many people in this city." This vision calmed and encouraged the Apostle, and he remained in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching its inhabitants the word of God.

"A year and six months." From the time of this appearance of the Lord to him until his departure from Corinth (v. 18), Paul stayed there a full year and a half. Through teaching them the word, he formed from the Corinthians the Lord's people, that is, the Church of Christ.

Paul's year and a half stay in Corinth was filled with many labors and struggles in his preaching of Christ. Yet the author of Acts speaks of this only in general terms. Events such as Paul's being brought before the proconsul Gallio could not go unmarked.

This event is important both for its historical indications of time and for its content. It is especially important for the nature of the charge with which Paul's accusers came before the representative of Roman justice.