Baptism: A New Life in Christ or The Conversion of the Corinthians (Acts 18:1-11)

Baptism: New Life in Jesus
Acts 18:1-11

INTRODUCTION:
Before we get into the text, I want to emphasize this point. You cannot be saved by obeying man! Men can be wrong; they can deceive; they can teach error - usually sincerely, but sincerely wrong.

Jesus teaches us in John 3:3-5 that we have to be born again “by the Spirit” in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Paul was guided by the Holy Spirit when he wrote in Romans 8:14: “all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

One more passage… Paul wrote in Galatians 5:25: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

Corinth - Corinth was about 50 miles west of Athens, a drive of about 1 1/2 hours along the coast. There was a major east-west road through Corinth. The road was about 12’ wide and had a sidewalk along its north edge about 5.7’ wide.

Remains of the ancient city lie underneath the village of Old Corinth. Corinth had a population of as much as 300,000 citizens with another 460,000 slaves. The walls around Corinth stretched 6 miles. Corinth was the largest and most important city in Greece with a rather large population of Jews.

Corinth had been the head of a number of cities called the Achaean League when it attempted to make a break from Rome in the 2nd century B. C. The rebellion was put down by Rome and then the city was rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 B. C.

Corinth eventually became wealthy, the master of two harbors. It was a harbor that led toward Asia. The second harbor, Lechaion, led to Italy. This helped Corinth to grow commercially, and thus financially. It was also the home of the famed Isthmian Games.

Corinth was beautified with a number of water fountains in the city.

There was also a theater in Corinth we have discovered. It was built in the fifth century B. C. and would seat about 14,000 viewers in 55 rows of seats.

The Isthmian Games was one of four permanent sites for the Panhellenic games of Greece. Corinth was a city known for its commerce and its entertainment.

Archaeologists have discovered the office of the president of the Isthmian Games and on the floor of that office is a floor mosaic depicting a nude athlete, wearing a crown of withered celery and holding a palm branch, which symbolized victory. The athlete stands before Eutychia, the goddess of good fortune.

Corinthian Canal - Corinth stood between the slopes of the 1,886’ high Acrocorinth and the Gulf of Corinth. In the early 6th century B. C., the tyrant of Corinth, Periander, conceived the idea of digging a canal across the isthmus but after it was attempted, one wrote that it was a job for Poseidon than mortal man. Different Roman emperors tried their hand at it - Julius Caesar, Caligula, Nero. Paul crossed the isthmus around 49 A. D. Some 18 years later, in September of 67, 6,000 Jewish slaves were brought by Emperor Vespasian in Israel to work on the canal. The effort was finally ditched until the 1880s when a French company completed the canal from 1881 until 1883. It is 3.9 miles long with the channel totaling 1,772 feet that extends into the gulf at both ends. The Panama Canal was built from 1903 to 1914.

Temples - The Temple of Aphrodite had 1,000 temple-slaves / prostitutes. There was a Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore; it had recently been remodeled when Paul arrived. There was also the Temple of Asklepios, one of the premier medical centers of the day. Medicine, as every thing else, was practiced within the context of pagan idolatry. Another large temple, to either Apollo or Athena, stood in Corinth, one of the oldest temples in Greece, built in the 6th century B. C. It was square with 38 columns on each side. A temple of Tyche was located in Corinth.

The Acrocorinth was the focal point of religious observance in Corinth. Between the observer in Corinth and the mountain stood the Temple of Aphrodite.

Gallio (Acts 18:12) - Iunius Gallio Annaeanus was the oldest son of Seneca, a famous speaker of Roman history. Under Emperor Claudius, he became proconsul of Achaia roughly 51-52 A. D. He died in A. D. 65, perhaps by suicide with his two brothers. This date of Gallio fixes fairly precisely Paul’s chronology here in Acts 18. A good guess is that Paul came into Corinth in the fall of A. D. 50 and stayed until the summer of A. D. 52.

SCENE #1 - 18:1-4:
Aquila was from “Pontus,” a city of Asia Minor, which is also mentioned in 1 Peter 1:1. A historian from that time period named Suetonius writes that Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome because of a disturbance among the Jews relative to a man named “Chrestus.” This might be a corrupted spelling of the name “Christos.” If so, the Jews were arguing over who Christ is. This expulsion happened in A. D. 49.

It was common among Jews to train their sons in some skill they could use to make their living, even if they wanted to be a Jewish rabbi. Jesus, of course, was trained as a carpenter. Paul was trained as a leather-worker. I have been trained as a biology teacher. Greek culture, however, despised manual labor and philosophers and teachers should live on the generous donations of others, especially specific patrons.

Paul would speak often of his working with his own hands in order to share the gospel of Christ with others: Acts 20:33-35; 1 Cor. 4:12; 9:3-18; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 These. 2:3-9; 2 These. 3:6-8.

SCENE #2 - 18:5-8:
Paul had been with Silas and Timothy in Thessalonica in the early part of chapter 17 (17:4). Paul and Silas went to Berea (17:10) while apparently Timothy was left in Thessalonica or sent back there. Timothy joined Paul in Athens at the end of Acts 17, but then Paul sent Timothy apparently back to Thessalonica. From there, Silas and Timothy came down to Paul at Corinth.

Silas and Timothy likely brought financial support from the churches in Macedonia so that Paul could devote himself to preaching and teaching “full-time:” 2 Corinthians 11:8-9; Phil. 4:15-16.

By shaking the dust out of his garments, Paul showed that he understood the significance of rejecting the truth of God, like Ezekiel in 33:1-9 and when Paul says, “Your blood be on your own heads,” he alludes to Ezekiel 33:4-5. Paul will later say that the was free from the blood of all men (Acts 20:26), because he preached the whole message of God.

Crispus is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14-16, along with Gaius and the household of Stephanus whom Paul had personally baptized. The conversion of a synagogue ruler was extraordinary and it may have intensified the opposition from the Jews who still worshiped in the synagogue.

Here is where hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is extremely relevant and important. In 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul writes that no one knows the mind of God except the Spirit of God. So the Spirit was working through the apostle Paul as he preached the Gospel in Corinth. He was preaching that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, the Savior of mankind. Everything Paul could teach had to have been guided by the Holy Spirit. Crispus and these others, from his household and others who lived in Corinth heard that message and they trusted that message.

Paul will write about the miracles he performed in Corinth while he was there (1 Cor. 12:3) and those miracles gave those people reason to believe that what Paul was saying was true, the truth of the Gospel. The Corinthians trusted Paul’s message and then they obeyed it. Before I go any further, it is obvious that when Luke writes that Crispus’s “household” was baptized, he was not talking about children. Children who do not understand the nature of sin and the salvation available in Jesus Christ are not eligible to become Christians. Far too many people think they become Christians when they are young, but all they’re doing is obeying mom and dad; they really don’t understand what the Holy Spirit teaches about salvation. You have to be old enough to understand what the Holy Spirit teaches about salvation before you can become a Christian.

Now, these Corinthians, including Crispus, heard the gospel preached and they trusted that message and then they were baptized. I can assure you that Crispus did not believe he was a Christian simply by trusting Jesus. There was nobody on earth at that time who taught that. Nobody at that time taught the so-called “Sinner’s Prayer.” I know that Crispus did not believe that because nobody taught that. Nobody guided by the Holy Spirit taught that. What did they teach? I’ll just give three examples:

Acts 2:38 - ““Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” It is clear from this verse that the Holy Spirit does not teach that someone is a Christian before he or she repents or before he or she is baptized. If someone teaches that, he or she is not guided by the Holy Spirit. Crispus was taught by the apostle Paul and Crispus understood that his baptism was for the forgiveness of sins and that he would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit because that’s what the Spirit teaches.

Romans 6:3-4 - "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” If Crispus was saved at the moment he believed - if he was made alive spiritually at the moment he trusted, then at his baptism, Paul would have been burying a live person! But, you don’t bury a live person and you don’t baptize someone who is already saved!

Galatian 3:26-27 - "you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” The Holy Spirit here clearly teaches that you put Christ on, when you are baptized into Christ. When men teach that someone is saved at the moment of faith, then he is teaching that someone can be saved without putting Christ on. And that’s when we know that that person is not being led by the Holy Spirit of God.

You can’t be saved by obeying man. Crispus obeyed the Holy Spirit as He revealed the truth through the apostle Paul.

SCENE #3 - 18:9-11:
First, God assures Paul of His presence to protect Paul.
Second, God tells Paul He has many people in that city, a theme introduced in Acts 15:14 - where words from Exodus 19:5 are applied to those in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ.

Take home message: When you hear the Gospel preached, trust the message from the Holy Spirit, and obey that message.