Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 18:18-28, A vow at Cenchreae and Apollos of Alexandria
Paul has his hair cut at Cenchreae because of a vow and sails for Syria by way of Ephesus. In Ephesus Priscilla and Aquila teach the eloquent Alexandrian Apollos more accurately, and the believers write ahead to Achaia to welcome him.
Acts 18:18-28, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul sails east with Priscilla and Aquila, cutting his hair at the port of Cenchreae because of a vow, stops briefly at Ephesus, and then travels on to Judea, Antioch and the churches inland. While he is away, Apollos, a learned Jew from Alexandria with a deep grasp of Scripture, arrives in Ephesus teaching about Jesus but knowing only John's baptism. Priscilla and Aquila take him aside and fill out his understanding. With letters of recommendation he goes on to Achaia, where he argues publicly and powerfully that Jesus is the Messiah.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/oaths-and-vows\/","n":"Oaths and vows","s":"Calling God, or something holy, to witness that you speak the truth or will keep your word. People swore by lesser things to keep God's name safe if they broke it.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/diaspora-jews\/","n":"Jews of the dispersion","s":"Most Jews of the first century lived outside the land, in cities from Parthia to Rome. They kept the law and their own synagogues, spoke Greek or Aramaic, and came up to Jerusalem for the feasts when they could.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/letters-of-recommendation\/","n":"Letters of recommendation","s":"A traveler often carried a letter from someone his hosts trusted, vouching for him and asking them to receive him. Such letters opened homes, synagogues and churches.","r":""}
Jews shaved the head at the end of a vow, normally in Jerusalem, but Diaspora practice may have been looser (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). Cenchreae, Corinth's port on the Aegean, had temples of Isis, Artemis, Aphrodite, Asclepius and Poseidon, and some priests of Isis shaved their heads (Keener; the ESV Study Bible); its church later had Phoebe as deacon (Romans 16:1; Wright). Who made the vow is debated: the CSB Study Bible says the Greek seems to point to Aquila, though it is uncertain, while Keener, the cultural backgrounds notes, the ESV Study Bible and Wright take it as Paul; Wright suggests he let his hair grow from the night he was told to stay in Corinth and cut it on leaving. Alexandria may have been a third Jewish, and its Jews were mostly shut out of the city's citizenship (Keener and his notes). Letters of recommendation were standard and could be carried by the person recommended (Keener and his notes), and one from Priscilla and Aquila would carry weight in Corinth (the ESV Study Bible). Corinth prized public speaking, so being refuted in public was a humiliation (the cultural backgrounds notes).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 18:18, 18:24, 18:27 and 18:28
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 18:18, 18:24 and 18:27-28
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Acts 18:18 and 18:27
- CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 18:18
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Acts 18:18-28
