Acts 18:11

And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) And he continued there a year and six months.—This obviously gave time not only for founding and organising a Church at Corinth itself, but for work in the neighbouring districts, such as the port of Cenchreæ, where we find in Romans 16:1 a church duly furnished not only with presbyters and deacons, but with a sisterhood of deaconesses. The superscription of 2Corinthians 1:1, “to the Church that is in Corinth and to all the saints that are in all Achaia, clearly indicates an extension of evangelising work beyond the limits of the city. The unimpeded progress of this period came to him as an abundant fulfilment of the Lord’s promise, and prepared him for the next persecution when it came.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:7-11 The Lord knows those that are his, yea, and those that shall be his; for it is by his work upon them that they become his. Let us not despair concerning any place, when even in wicked Corinth Christ had much people. He will gather in his chosen flock from the places where they are scattered Thus encouraged, the apostle continued at Corinth, and a numerous and flourishing church grew up.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he continued ... - Paul was not accustomed to remain long in a place. At Ephesus, indeed, he remained three years Acts 20:31; and his stay at Corinth was caused by his success, and by the necessity of placing a church, collected out of such corrupt and dissolute materials, on a firm foundation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. continued there a year and six months—the whole period of this stay at Corinth, and not merely up to what is next recorded. During some part of this period he wrote his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. (See [2047]Introduction to Second Thessalonians.)

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He sat there as his fixed place; which implies his continuance and constancy in the work of the ministry.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he continued there,.... At Corinth, as the Syriac version, and some copies, read; he was obedient to the heavenly vision: in the Greek text it is, "he sat" there, answerable to the Hebrew word which signifies to sit, continue and abide: he stayed there in all a year and six months; which was a long time for the apostle to stay in one place, and longer than he did anywhere, unless at Ephesus, where he continued two years, Acts 19:10 for as for his stay at Rome, that was by confinement: but here were many people to be called, and much work to do, a large church to be raised, and put in order; and this required time as well as care and labour:

teaching the word of God among them; he did not sit idle here, but preached the Gospel, which is the word of God, and not man, openly and publicly, among them all; and that frequently, in season and out of season, and with great boldness and faithfulness.

Geneva Study Bible

And he {e} continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

(e) Literally, sat, whereupon they in former time took the name of their bishop's seat: but Paul sat, that is, continued teaching the word of God: and this type of seat does not belong to those who never took their seats with a mind to teach in them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 18:11. ἐκάθισε, see critical note, “he dwelt,” R.V., cf. Luke 24:49, but not elsewhere in N.T. in this sense, but constantly in LXX, 1Ma 2:1; 1Ma 2:29. Rendall renders “he took his seat,” i.e., as a teacher, a Rabbi, and see also the remarks of Ramsay on the way in which St. Paul was evidently regarded at Corinth as one of the travelling lecturers on philosophy and morals so common in the Greek world, “Corinth,” Hastings’ B.D.1, p. 482. The word may be purposely used here instead of the ordinary μένειν to indicate the quiet and settled work to which the Apostle was directed by the vision which had calmed his troubled spirit, and had taught him that his cherished plan of revisiting Macedonia must be postponed to preaching the Word in Corinth. During this period 1 and 2 Thess. were probably written. The year and a half is taken to include the whole subsequent residence in Corinth, Acts 18:18, in which Acts 18:12-17 form an episode. Men attacked him with a view of injuring him, but without success, and his continuous abode in Corinth was a fulfilment of the promise in Acts 18:10 (indicated perhaps more clearly by τε than by δέ in Acts 18:11). On ἡμέρας ἱκανὰς, Acts 18:18, see below—the words are taken to mark simply a note of the time spent between the incident of Acts 18:12-17 and the departure of Paul from the city. In this period the Apostle would have founded the Church at Cenchreae, and his labours seem to have extended still further, for in 2 Corinthians 1:1 we read of the saints in the whole of Achaia (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:10) and the household of Stephanas is spoken of as the firstfruits not of Corinth but of Achaia.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. And he continued [dwelt] there] In these words the historian seems to be expressing the content which pervaded the Apostle’s mind after the vision. Neither the A. V. nor the Revised rendering gives to the full the meaning of the Greek. The verb is generally rendered “to sit down,” and here seems to be applied purposely to the restful state of the Apostle’s mind after the comforting revelation. The same verb is used by St Luke (Luke 24:49), “Tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high,” where the admonition is of like character with the advice given here to St Paul. In no other place in the New Testament is the word similarly used.

a year and six months] And beside his teaching to the Corinthians he wrote at this time the two Epistles to the Thessalonians which are the first in order of date among the Apostolic letters, and probably the earliest part of the whole New Testament.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 18:11. Ἐκάθισε, he sat, i.e. continued settled) This apostolic chair (cathedra) of Paul at Corinth is better attested than that of Peter at Rome.—ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ μῆνας ἓξ, a year and six months) A long time: but in the present day how little the gain (how few are the souls converted) in the same space of time! The teachers and the hearers are in fault (are to blame for this).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Dwelt for continued, A.V. Dwelt; literally, sat down, as Acts 13:14, etc., and hence to "remain quietly" (Luke 24:49). A year and six months. It is not clear whether these eighteen months are to be measured to the end of St. Paul's stay at Corinth, or only to the rising up of the Jews related in vers. 12-17. Renan is doubtful. Howson does not go into the question. But Lewin rightly measures the eighteen months down to Gallio's arrival. And so does Meyer, who also notices the force of ἐκάθισε, as indicating a quiet, undisturbed abode, and calls special attention to the ἔτι of ver. 18, as showing that the "many days" there mentioned were additional to the year and a half of ver. 11. The only longer residence we know of was that of three years at Ephesus (Acts 20:31). Acts 18:11