And Paul, having yet stayed [there] many days, took leave of the brethren and sailed thence to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow;
Paul's long stay in Corinth ends, and Luke adds one puzzling detail: a shaved head and a vow at the port of Cenchrea. Why would the apostle who preached freedom from the law leave with an old Jewish rite? And was the vow even his?
The case the Jews brought against Paul had collapsed before Gallio, the Roman governor.
It is interesting to note that the apostle did not leave Corinth at once. The failure of the Jews before the governor left him free… He wrote the two letters to the Thessalonians during his stay at Corinth. There was a gap between them, short but enough to show what damage could come upon the saints in a brief time. So those who think it took centuries before error was able to enter are quite mistaken.
Scripture never states what prompted it. One suggestion links the vow to a woman commended later for her care of Paul.
Who this last remark refers to has been much questioned. We believe Luke meant Paul. We know no reason why he should not have made a vow, since we do not know the circumstances in which he made it. Romans 16:1-2 may throw a little light on the matter. Notice how the apostle there writes of Phoebe, a servant of the assembly at Cenchrea… "a helper of many and of myself as well," he says. It may well be that some illness overtook him, and that he owed much to Phoebe's care. In gratitude to God for his recovery, he then made a vow.
Commentators differ. Aquila's name stands nearest, so some read the clause as about him. Others hold that it is Paul.
The ancients do not seem to have doubted that Paul himself is meant. They read the words just before as a parenthesis. Others, in more recent times, have been more willing to attach the vow and the shaved head to Aquila. But the great apostle went a long way in going along with Jewish forms, and in stooping to them, in cases that left the grace of the gospel untouched. What roused a storm of feeling in him, and unanswerable argument, was the effort to force the law on Gentiles who believed.
The other case rests less on grammar than on the nature of a vow.
A vow was a voluntary act between the person and God. No one was required to make one. So not keeping it could give no offence, and not taking it up broke no law. Aquila might have taken it before he became a Christian. He would then let it run to its end, and honour Moses in something that to him as a Christian was a matter of indifference. But Paul taught that we are "dead to the law through the body of Christ" (Romans 7:4). How could that fit with choosing to take up something no one else's conscience required?
What sort of vow was it? There is little to go on.
The New Testament records only two vows. One is the vow at Cenchrea by Paul (or Aquila, as some judge), which is wrapped in mystery. The other is the vow of the four men at Jerusalem. Acts 18:18; Acts 21:23. Both were probably Nazirite vows, since the head was shaved. According to the law the final shaving had to be at the tabernacle or temple. Numbers 6:18.
The timing of the shaving matters.
Paul did not let his hair grow, and that is the opposite of a Nazirite. It was when the vow was over that the head was shorn.
Whoever made the vow, it opens a window on Paul and his own nation.
The opposition of the Jews does not take away his attachment to his nation. It does not take away his faithfulness in preaching the gospel to them first, or his recognition of all that belonged to them in grace before God. He even submits to Jewish ordinances. Perhaps habit had some influence over him which was not of the Spirit. But according to the Spirit he had no thought of denying what the patient grace of God granted to the people… Liberty that stoops to prejudices and habits is not the same thing as being subject to them.
Another writer puts the accent on love rather than on habit.
In his own mind, and as led by the Spirit, we feel sure he was far above and beyond a religion of feasts and vows, but he stooped in grace to the customs of his nation. To the Jew he became a Jew. Their constant opposition to his teaching, and their violent persecution of him, never weakened his affection for his beloved people.
The order of the couple's names is worth noticing.
Priscilla's name comes before her husband's — an unusual thing at that time and in that part of the world. We see the same order in Romans 16:3… We can only conclude that the wife was spiritually more devoted, and the leader in the things of the Lord.
- Freedom. Gallio's refusal to act left Paul free. He stayed on at Corinth, wrote the two Thessalonian letters there, and left when he chose.
- Gratitude. One reading links the vow to Phoebe of Cenchrea, who cared for Paul. The vow may have been thanks for recovery from illness.
- Dispute. Commentators differ over whose head was shaved. The case for Aquila is that a vow is voluntary, and that Paul taught believers are dead to the law.
- Ending. The shaving marks a vow completed, not begun — the opposite of a Nazirite letting his hair grow.
- Affection. Whoever took it, the record shows an apostle of grace who never turned from his own people. Stooping to old customs is not the same as being bound by them.
and he arrived at Ephesus, and left them there. But entering himself into the synagogue he reasoned with the Jews.
Paul makes a short stop at Ephesus. He leaves his friends there and goes into the synagogue alone, which raises two questions: why the synagogue first, and why the hurry to move on?
Ephesus was a major city known for idol worship. Paul still found people there who knew the Scriptures.
He stopped at Ephesus, the capital of the province called Asia, and reasoned with some Jews in the synagogue there. The Scriptures — that is, the ones the Jews had at the time, what we call the Old Testament — were clearly known and taught even in that centre of idol worship. Those in that small group already knew God as Creator and Lawgiver, and the Messiah as the hope of Israel.
This was not a one-off. Paul argued the case with Jews in city after city, from his earliest days as a preacher.
Paul was also allowed to speak in the synagogue at Damascus, where he showed the Jews that Jesus was the Son of God (Acts 9:20). Often afterwards he "reasoned" or "disputed" (in Greek, dialegomai) with the Jews in their synagogues (Acts 18:4, 19; Acts 19:8).
Paul carried the gospel to the nations, yet the synagogue is still his first door. One writer links this to the order Paul sets out in Romans.
God gave the apostle Paul a special call to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Even so, he never lost sight of the unique place God had given to Israel, His earthly people. So he wrote to the believers in Rome, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). In line with this testimony of God's ways, when Paul arrived at Ephesus, he went into the synagogue himself and reasoned with the Jews.
The friends Paul leaves at Ephesus are Aquila and Priscilla. One writer calls them "two quiet people, but faithful and consecrated to the Lord" (J. N. Darby). Their stay mattered, because a gifted preacher came to Ephesus after Paul had gone.
Apollos was a gifted speaker by nature — he was a master of words. Careful study had made him "mighty in the Scriptures." Yet when he came to Ephesus, he did not know much about what God had done in Christ. He knew only what had happened up to the time when John's baptism introduced Jesus. What he did know, he taught faithfully in the synagogue. Aquila and Priscilla heard him and saw at once what he was missing. They gladly welcomed him into their home, so they could teach him more fully about what had happened through Christ. So God used these believers, who had no public gift of their own, to launch a very gifted man into his life of service.
The Jews at Ephesus wanted to hear more, but Paul would not stay. He promised to come back if God willed it. Commentators differ on how to read this. Some note that he did come back: "we see in the next chapter that God did so will" (F. B. Hole). Others find the episode puzzling.
They welcomed him so warmly that they would gladly have kept him longer, so he could meet their need. But it is strange to find that he is not ready to stay… Whatever the reason, Jerusalem is in his heart, as what follows shows. He says nothing about keeping the feast. He hurries up from Caesarea, greets the believers there, and does not stay. We are not shown what, if anything, came of it. The visit he wanted so much leaves a strange sense of something missing.
So how should a reader treat what looks like a fault in a servant of God? One writer answers with a warning.
Nothing is easier than this. People who are only half aware of their own serious faults are quick to point, with eagerness and self-satisfaction, at anything Paul did that came from his excessive attachment to the ancient people of God — and Paul was a servant of Christ, deeply taught and devoted… Is it not wiser and holier to see instead how the sweetest affections can entangle even the most faithful and spiritual? Then we watch ourselves, so that lesser affections do not drag us into far worse wrongdoing. We are far behind him in self-denial, in tireless work, and in suffering for Christ.
- Arrived. Ephesus was the capital of Asia and full of idol worship. Even there, the Old Testament was known and taught.
- Reasoned. The word means he argued and discussed with them. This was his steady method with Jewish hearers.
- First. He carried the gospel to the nations, yet he goes to the synagogue first — "to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
- Left. Two quiet believers stayed behind. Through them God later launched a gifted preacher into service.
- Returned. He would not stay, but promised to come back if God willed it. The next chapter shows God did. Commentators differ over how to read the short visit.