Co-Workers

Corinth was the last major stop on Paul’s second missionary journey. It was a strategic and large city full of travelers, diaspora Jews, itinerant businessmen and businesswomen, and prostitutes. When Paul arrived, he quickly became friends with a couple who practiced the same trade. Aquila and Priscilla received Paul into their home, and they spent many hours together as they worked. Paul stayed there for eighteen months, working with his hands while he planted a church. No doubt, his activity as a tentmaker brought him in contact with many local Gentiles and a broad range of travelers.

Read Acts 18:1-18a and then consider the following:

1. Acts 18:3 provides a glimpse into another facet of Paul’s life. He was a skilled artisan who supported himself as a tentmaker (or leather worker). How does knowing that he was not a ‘full-time Christian worker’, in the modern sense, challenge your assumptions about ministry and missions?
2. Aquila and Priscilla arrived in Corinth just a year or two before Paul did, when all Jews were expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius (A.D. 49). What was the significance of Paul finding other Jewish Christians in his same trade? How might working together have strengthened each of them?
3. Though Paul spent most of his time working at his trade, he was also fully engaged in preaching the gospel and church planting. The ministry was very fruitful; despite ongoing tension with the Jews many Corinthians became believers. How did God encourage Paul? How might that encouragement have contributed to him staying in Corinth for a year and a half?
4. Acts 18:18a gives a clue to the quality of Priscilla and Aquila’s relationship with Paul. Why might they have chosen to leave Corinth to travel with Paul?