Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 18:19

"And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews." — Acts 18:19 (ASV)

Boarding a ship at Cenchrea, Paul crossed to Ephesus, the major commercial center and capital of the Roman province of Asia. With him were Aquila and Priscilla, his hosts at Corinth, who were either transferring their business from Corinth to Ephesus or leaving their Corinthian operation in charge of a manager in order to open a new branch at Ephesus. What happened to Silas and Timothy during this time, we do not know. They may have remained at Corinth to carry on the ministry there. Or perhaps they went with Paul to Jerusalem, then to Antioch in Syria, and back to Ephesus.

On arriving at Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla set up their business in the city.

There they were to remain for four or five years, hosting a congregation of believers in their home and sending their greetings back to their Corinthian friends in one of Paul’s letters (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:19). They were probably there during Demetrius’s riot (cf. 19:23–41), even risking their lives to protect Paul (cf. Romans 16:4). Sometime after Claudius’s death in A. D. 54, they returned to Rome (cf. Romans 16:3). Paul, having wanted earlier to minister at Ephesus (cf. 16:6), went to the synagogue and “reasoned” with the Jews gathered there. Though it was not the Sabbath, he knew he could find an audience in the synagogue and probably desired to “test the waters” in anticipation of his later return.