Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 18

There can be no doubt that the vow was that of the temporary Nazarite, as described in Numbers 6:1-21. It implied a separation from the world and common life (this was the meaning of the word Nazarite), and while under the vow the man who had taken it was to drink no wine or strong drink, and to let no razor pass over his head or face.

When the term was completed, he was to shave his head at the door of the Tabernacle, and burn the hair in the fire of the altar. It will be noted that the Nazarites in Acts 21:24, who are completing their vow, shave their heads. Here a different word (shorn) is used, which is contrasted with shaving in 1 Corinthians 11:6. It was lawful for a man to have his hair cut or cropped during the continuance of the vow, and this apparently was what St. Paul now did. But in this case also the hair so cut off was to be taken to the Temple and burnt there, and this explains the Apostle’s eagerness by all means (Acts 18:21) to keep the coming feast at Jerusalem.

We cannot exclude from the probable motives the strong feeling of thankfulness for deliverance from danger, following fear, which, as in nearly all phases of the religious life, has been the chief impulse from which vows have grown. We have seen the fear, and the promise, and the deliverance, in the record of St. Paul’s work at Corinth, and the vow of self-consecration, for a season, to a life of special devotion was the natural result. St. Paul had not learned to despise or condemn such expressions of devout feeling.

We may add to this motive the principle on which St. Paul acted of being all things to all men, and, therefore, as a Jew to Jews (1 Corinthians 9:20). A Nazarite vow would testify to all his brethren by blood that he did not despise the Law himself nor teach other Jews to despise it. (See Notes on Acts 21:21-24.) Such a vow, involving, as it did, for a time a greater asceticism than that of common life, furnishes a link in the succession of thoughts in 1 Corinthians 9:22–25, between the Apostle’s being made all things to all men and his keeping under his body, and bringing it into subjection.

So far we have found reasons for the vow. But taken by itself, the vow would seem to have involved a continuous growth of hair rather than cropping it. How was that act connected with the vow? A probable answer to the question is found in the Apostle's language regarding social customs in matters of this kind, in 1 Corinthians 11:14. He condemns long hair as effeminate. But the Nazarite vow led to long hair as its natural consequence, and there was, therefore, the risk that while practicing a rigorous austerity, he might seem to outside observers to be adopting an unmanly refinement. At Corinth men would perhaps know what his act meant, but in the regions to which he was now going it was wise to guard against the suspicion by a modification of the vow, such as Jewish law allowed.

Cenchreae was, as has been said, the eastern harbor of Corinth on the Saronic Gulf. Romans 16:1 indicates the existence of an organized Church there. The warm language of gratitude in which St. Paul speaks of Phoebe, the deaconess of the Church there, is best explained by supposing that she had ministered to him as such when he was suffering from bodily pain or infirmity, and this, in its turn, may afford another probable explanation of the vow.

And when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia.—We learn from 1 Thessalonians 2:18 that Timothy had come to Saint Paul at Athens but had been almost immediately sent back to Thessalonica to bring further news about the converts, for whose trials the Apostle felt so much sympathy and anxiety.

They brought a good report of their faith and love (1 Thessalonians 3:6), possibly also fresh proofs of their personal regard, and that of the Philippians, in the form of gifts (2 Corinthians 11:9). This may, however, refer to a later occasion. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians was probably sent back by the brethren who had accompanied Silas and Timothy on their journey to Corinth.

The reader will note the parallelism:

1. Between the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, which discusses the Second Advent, and the teaching of 1 Corinthians 15:51–52;
2. And between the few words regarding spiritual gifts in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21, and the fuller treatment of the same subject in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

Paul was pressed in the spirit.—The better manuscripts state, “he was constrained by the Word.” The words describe something of the same strong emotion as the “paroxysm” of Acts 17:16. The Word was within him as a constraining power, compelling him to give utterance to it. His heart was hot within him, and while he was musing the fire kindled (Psalms 39:4).

Whether there was any connection between the arrival of Silas and Timothy and this strong feeling is a question for which there is insufficient data to answer. It is hardly satisfactory to say, as has been suggested, that they probably brought financial supplies from Macedonia (2 Corinthians 11:9), and that he was therefore relieved from the obligation of working for his livelihood and able to devote himself more fully to the work of preaching. There is no indication of his giving up tent-making, and 1 Corinthians 9:1 is decidedly against it. A more probable explanation may be found in the strong desire—of which he says in Romans 15:23 that he had cherished it for many years—to see Rome and preach the gospel there. Now he found himself brought into contact with those who had come from Rome, who formed, in fact, part of its population, and the old feeling was stirred to a new intensity.