Acts 18 verses 5 - 11

Acts 18 verses 5 - 11

5   And when both Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was pressed by the Spirit, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

6   But they having resisted, and blaspheming, having shaken his garments, he said to them, Your blood be on you head. I am pure from it; from now on I will go to the Gentiles.

7   And moving from there, he went into the house of one name Justus, one worshipping God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

8   And Crispus, the synagogue ruler, believed the Lord along with all his household. And hearing, many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized.

9   And the Lord said to Paul through a vision in the night, Do not fear, but speak, and do not keep silence; 

10   because I am with you, and no one shall set on you to oppress you; because there is much people to Me in this city.

11   And he remained a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

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Retranslation (5): . . .  Paul, the one who is shown the light, and, therefore, no longer believes that he lives in matter, is pressed by the Spirit.

What does it mean to be “pressed” by the Spirit? To be held together; to be arrested, like a prisoner; to be compelled.

Paul is a prisoner of God, his Beloved One, in the sense that he is completely helpless to do ought but God’s asking,----he is held together in such harmony with God, such love, that he is completely compelled by this love. Paul has no will to do otherwise. Here, in this harmony called God, there is no other will.

With all sincerity, Paul tells the Jews that Jesus, or the Self-Existent, Saving Principle is the Messiah, the Savior, the Christ, the anointed one.

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NOTE on verse 8 and the meaning of the Greek word “believe” or pisteuo:  

In verse 8, we read that Crispus and many of the Corinthians “believed” and were baptized.  Believe or pisteuo means to have faith in. Faith, according to Webster, primitively signified a rope or cable that bound or made fast. 

What is it that “binds” us to God? Isn’t it God Itself?  God’s great love for us; Her power; Her unutterable tenderness?  Her all-knowingness. Are these attributes the things that bind us together with God?  That make us believe? 

Are these attributes the Christ? Is the Christ what God shares with us? The meaning of Christ in Greek is the anointed, the thing which is in contact, the thing which is loaned, the thing which furnishes what is needed.  Mind can loan everything it has and not be reduced one iota. It can furnish mind! life! truth! love! soul! spirit! principle!  It can furnish all that is necessary to everything that It creates, and still . . . still . . . It cannot be diminished. 

I can see into Its height, . . . Its depth, . . . Its power, . . . Its satisfaction and this does not diminish the experience of It for another; on the contrary, It is magnified to all when people pray Its praise!

Think about Paul and Silas “singing God’s praise” in prison. Think about those prisoners ‘listening intently’.  Wouldn’t they have caught the joy of praising God, the great Good, the all-loving Creator?  While they were magnifying God, an ‘earthquake change’ touched the whole town!

What is the Christ?  Was Paul telling them about a man who could heal disease and raise the dead? Or was he telling them about a form of consciousness that could clothe each individual in his audience?  A form of divine consciousness, loaned by God, furnished to each precious idea?  A consciousness that covered one like a garment, giving one a sense of being new-born into Spirit, into the kingdom of heaven, into the All of God? Giving one power hear divine communications, and the willingness,--- born-of-love-for-God,----- to do good, to do God’s will, to do . . . God’s . . .  work?

What binds us to God? What gives us faith? I believe when we catch a whiff of the love God experiences as God,---- for Itself, and for us, Its precious reflection of Itself, inseparable from Itself, a part of Itself,--- we will give God credit for being God, i.e. we will feel that love, we will feel that power, we will feel that tenderness, and we will spiritually understand that we are a part of It, that It is all that has ever been, and all that can ever be. The strength and power of spiritually understanding something, I believe, is the rope and cable of faith that binds us to the Source of that strength, the Mind that causes all things to be.

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When 5613

Silas 4609

and Timothy 5095

came down 2718

from 575

Macedonia 3109

Paul 3972

was pressed 4912 synecho, from 4862 and 2192; to hold together, i.e. to compress (the ears, with a crowd or siege) or arrest (a prisoner); fig. to compel, perplex, afflict, preoccupy:-----constrain, hold, keep in, press, lie sick of, stop, be in a strait, straiten, be taken with, throng.

by the Spirit 4151

earnestly testifying 1263 diamartyromai (1223+3140), to attest or protest earnestly, or (by implication) hortatively:----charge, testify (unto), witness.

to the Jews 2453

(that) Jesus (is) 2424  Iesous of Hebrew origin [H3091]; Jesus(i.e. Jehoshua); the name of our Lord and two (or three) other Israelites:-----Jesus.

H3091 yehosua, from H3068 and H3467; Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua), the Jewish leader:----Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua. Compare H1954, H3442.

H3467 yasa, a primitive root; properly to be open, wide or free, i.e. (by implication) to be safe; causatively to free or succor:----saviour, save, salvation, bring salvation, be safe, get victory, deliver, deliverer, help, preserve, rescue, defend, avenging.

Christ 5547 Christos, from 5548; anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus:----Christ.

5548 chrio, probably akin to 5530 through the idea of contact; to smear or rub with oil, i.e. (by implication) to consecrate to an office or religious service:-------anoint.

5530 chraomai, middle of a primary verb (perhaps rather from 5495, to handle); to furnish what is needed; (give an oracle, “graze” [touch slightly], light upon, etc.), i.e. (by implication) to employ or (by extension) to act towards one in a given manner:----entreat, use. Compare 5531, 5534.

5531 chroa, probably the same as the base of 5530; to loan:------lend.

5534 chre, third person singular of the same as 5530 or 5531 used impersonally; it needs (must or should) be:------ought.

But they 846

having resisted 498 antitassomai, from 473 and the middle of 5021; to range oneself against, i.e. oppose:------oppose themselves, resist.

and blaspheming 987 blasphemo, from a derivative of 984 and 5345; scurrilous, i.e. calumnious (against man), or (specifically) impious (against God):------blasphemer, blasphemous, railing.

having shaken 1621 ektinasso, from 1537 and tinasso (to swing); to shake violently:----shake (off).

his garments 2440

said 2036

to 4314

them 846

The blood 129

of you 5216

on 1909

the head 2776

of you 5216

clean 2513

I 1473

from 575

now 3568

to 1519

the nations 1484

will go 4198

And moving 3327

from there 1564

he went 2064

into 1519

house 3614

of one 5100

named 3686

Justus 2459 Ioustos, of Latin origin (“just”).

(one) worshipping 4576 sebomai, middle of an apparently primary verb; to revere, i.e. adore:------devout, religious, worship.

God 2316

of whom 3739

the house 3614

was 2258

being next door to 4927 synomoreo, from 4862 and a derivative of a compound of the base of 3674 and the base of 3725; to border together, i.e. adjoin:----join hard.

the synagogue 4864 synagoge, from (the reduplicated form of) 4863; an assemblage of persons; specifically a Jewish “synagogue” (the meeting or the place); by analogy a Christian church:-----assembly, congregation, synagogue.

4863 synago, from 4862 and 71; to lead together, i.e. collect or convene; specifically to entertain (hospitably):----accompany, assemble (selves, together), bestow, come together, gather (selves together, up, together), lead into, resort, take in.

4862 syn, a primary preposition denoting union; with or together (but much closer than 3326 or 3844), i.e. by association, companionship, process, resemblance, possession, instrumentality, addition, etc. In compounds it has similar applications, including completeness:----beside, with.

71 ago, a primary verb; properly to lead; by implication to bring, drive (reflexive) go, (specifically) pass (time), (figuratively) induce:-----be, bring (forth), carry, (let) go, keep, lead away, be open.

And Crispis 2921 Krispos, of Latin origin; “crisp”.

the synagogue ruler 752 archsynagogos, from 746 and 4864; director of the synagogue services:----(chief) ruler of the synagogue.

believed 4100  pisteuo, from 4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ):---believe, believer, commit (to trust), put in trust with.

4102 pistis, from 3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:-----assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

3982 peitho, a primary verb; to convince (by argument true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexive or passive to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty):-----agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) confident, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.

4103 pistos, from 3982; objectively trustworthy; subjectively trustful:-----believe, believing, believer, faithful, faithfully, sure, true.

faith n. (1828 Dict.) [L. fido, trust; Gr. to persuade, to draw towards any thing, to conciliate; to believe, to obey. In the Greek Lexicon of Hederic it is said, the primitive significance of the verb is to bind and draw or lead, as [Gr. word] signifies a rope or cable, as does [Gr. word]. But this remark is a little incorrect. The sense of the verb, from which that of rope and binding is derived, is to strain, to draw, and thus to bind or make fast. A rope or cable is that which makes fast.]

the Lord 2962

with 4862

all 3650 

the house 3624

of him 846

and many of 4183

the Corinthians 2881

hearing 191

believed 4100 

and were baptized 907 

And the Lord 2962

said 2036

to Paul 3972

through 1223

a vision 3705

in 1722

(the) night 3571

Do not 3361

fear 5399 phobeo, from 5401; to frighten, i.e. (passive) to be alarmed; by analogy to be in awe of, i.e. revere:---- be (+ sore) afraid, bear (exceedingly), reverence.

but 235

speak 2980

and do not 3361

keep silence 4623

because 1360

I 1473 ego, a primary pronoun of the first person; only expressed when emphatic:-----I, me.

am 1510 eimi, first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist:-------am, are, come, is, lust after, please well, there in, to be, was.

with 3326 meta, a primary preposition (often used adverbially); properly denoting accompaniment; “amid” (locally or causally); modified variously according to the case (genitive association, or accusative succession) with which it is joined; occupying an intermediate position between 575 or 1537 and 1519 or 4314; less intimate than 1722, and less close than 4862.) Often used in compounds, in substantially the same relations of participation or proximity, and transfer or sequence:--------after, afterward, that be again, against, among, and, follow, hence, hereafter, in, of on, upon, our, and, setting, since, to unto, together, when with, without.

you 4675

and no one 3762

shall 2007

set on you 4671

to oppress 2559

you 4571

because 1360

much 4183

people 2992

is 2076 esti, third person singular present indicative of 1510; he (she or it) is; also (with neuter plural) they are:-----are, be, belong, call, can, canot, come, consisteth, dure for a while, follow, have, (that) is (to say), make meaneth, must needs, profit, remaineth, wrestle.

to me 3427 moi, the simpler form of 1628; to me:----I, mine, me, my.

in 1722

this 5026

city 4172

And 5037

He sat 2523 

a year 1763

and six 1803

months 3375

teaching 1321

among 1722

them 846

the word 3056

of God 2316