Acts 18:26 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

And he began to speak boldly (or 'with freedom') in the synagogue This seems to imply that the And he began to speak boldly (or 'with freedom') in the synagogue. This seems to imply that the 'speaking and teaching' of the previous verse had been at more private meetings, and that having thus cautiously felt his way, he afterward began to discourse in the synagogue.

Whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard. The proper order here, we think, is, 'Priscilla and Aquila' (see the note at Acts 18:18). [The majority of manuscript, it is true, concur with the Received Text; but 'Aleph (') A B E have Priscilla first, with the Vulgate, etc. So Lachmann and Tregelles, though Tischendorf abides by the received order. Meyer and Lechler think the reversed order was transferred to this verse from Acts 18:18; but internal evidence-founded on the usage of other uudoubted passages, and seeming to point to some superiority in Priscilla-appear to us to turn the scale in favour of her name being first here also.]

They took him unto them (privately) - that is, to their own house; joying to observe the extent of Scriptural knowledge and evangelical truth which he displayed, and the fervency, courage, and eloquence with which he gave it forth.

And expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly - opening up those truths, to him as yet unknown, on which the Spirit had shed such glorious light. One cannot but observe how providential it was that this couple should have been left at Ephesus when Paul sailed thence for Syria; and no doubt it was chiefly to pave the way for the better understanding of this episode that the fact is expressly mentioned by the historian in Acts 18:19. Nor can one help admiring the humility and teachableness of so gifted a teacher in sitting at the feet of a Christian woman and her husband.

Acts 18:26

26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.