Acts 18v8

And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

This chapter records the first visit of Paul to the city of Corinth. Paul seems to have firstly travelled to Corinth alone – verse 1 does not mention companions, and verse 3 uses the singular pronoun “he” rather than ‘they’ when talking about the accommodation required. Paul stayed initially with Aquila and his wife Priscilla (v2) and also worked with them, as they were all tentmakers (v3). He also ministered in the synagogue every sabbath, winning over both Jews and Greeks to the gospel.

Later he was joined by Timothy and Silas, and it was not until this point that Paul was pressed by the Holy Spirit to testify “to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.” (v5). This caused a split in the synagogue, with many ‘opposing themselves and blaspheming’ to the point where Paul “shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” (v6) The ‘other half’ of the split is found in this current verse, where the leader of the synagogue and his entire house believed in the Lord. No doubt Crispus was replaced after his departure from the synagogue, as we can see that Sosthenes was later noted as chief ruler of the synagogue (v17). Crispus and his entire house, along with many other Corinthians that believed, were all baptised, as we see in this current verse.

When we look at Paul’s methods of evangelism displayed in Corinth, it is interesting to note that he didn’t reveal that Jesus was the Christ (Anointed Messiah) until other witnesses also arrived that could testify to the fact as well. No doubt it was the Holy Spirit that put such a constraint on him, as it wasn’t until the Spirit pressed him that he revealed this fact. Also, later on, in verses 18 & 19, we see that the Lord spoke to Paul to encourage him not to hold back anything, but to speak the gospel boldly, as there were many still to be saved in Corinth. Clearly God’s ways are not always our ways, and Paul was waiting on the Holy Spirit to guide and direct him at every step of the way.

The passage also brought up the concept of ‘opposing themselves’, as we saw earlier in verse 6. While there was no doubt dissention between one person and the next, at a deeper level there was also dissention within the supposed believers individually. Thus they could believe one thing that was true – such as that the Father would send a Messiah – while not believing in the actual Messiah that had been sent by the Father. This is a lesson for the believer today, because if the total gospel is not believed, but only parts of it, the believer ends up with different beliefs that oppose each other in and within themselves.