189 INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL PERSONS AND PLACES IN THE CONTINUOUS HISTORY. APOLLOS, native of Alexandria. i. His name first appears in that digression assigned to it, of five verses, A. xviii. 24....28., which carries him from Ephesus into Achaia, ii. Where after being for some time a faithful minister in watering, 1 COR. iii. 5., where Paul had planted, displeased with the faction at Corinth, to which the eloquence of his preaching had given rise in the church there, Appendix D. s. 1. p. 153. ; iii. That he might be no longer the cause of religious division (1 Cor. i. 12.) he took the opportunity, apparently, of that deputation from Corinth to St. Paul at Ephesus, to pass over into Asia, intending (as 1 Cor. xvi. 12. seems to show) not to return to Corinth for some time at least. Though "greatly desired" by St. Paul, he would not then return, with the brethren; nor does it appear that he ever did so. iv. Probably indeed he now remained at Ephesus permanently nor is any thing heard of him, either there or elsewhere, : v. Till in the Epistle to TITUS, iii. 13., and engaged in some Christian service under the apostle; whom, according to our idea of the Fourth Progress, he might have very recently seen at Ephesus. N.B. On the name of Apollos, as possibly requiring to be connected with the Epistle to the Hebrews, vide Appendix G, pp. 187, 8. AQUILA and PRISCILLA, Remarkable Jews of the dispersion. i. Aquila, A. xviii. 1. ...born in Pontus, afterwards settled at Rome, But driven from thence with his wife Priscilla by the edict of Claudius, and settled in Corinth, where Paul abode and wrought with them, being tent-makers. ii. A. xviii. 18, 19. Paul, on leaving Corinth, took them with him to Ephesus; where, after Paul's departure, they had the opportunity, ibid. 26., to instruct Apollos in the Christian revelation, which he had known but imperfectly before. iii. They stayed there till Paul's second visit to that city, A. xix. 1., when in writing to the Corinthians, 1 COR. xvi. 19., he says, " Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house." 66 iv. After that date, and during the interval (H. P. 17, 18.) of Paul's travelling elsewhere, A. xx. 1, 2., there appears time quite sufficient for them both to have gone to Rome and to have been heard of as resident there; v. When Paul at Corinth, A. xx. 2, 3., in writing to the Romans, Rom. xvi. 3., mentions them with particular kindness. "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus," &c. pp. 68, 9. of this work. vi. Finally, it seems probable, that they settled at Ephesus or near that city; as may be gathered from the salutation to them, 2 TIM. iv. 19., along with Onesiphorus's household certainly at Ephesus; which Timothy, on his then arranged visit to Ephesus, was instructed to deliver. When we survey these different movements, in the personal history of Aquila and Priscilla, it is obvious to remark, that by means such as these a very extensive intelligence would easily be carried on through different parts of the Roman world; while to the intercourse of Christian brethren and Christian churches, that facility and frequency of communication must have proved highly favourable. The readiness with which Aquila and Priscilla in particular moved from one distant place to another, and the thanks which "all the churches of the Gentiles," ROM. xvi. 4., gave to them, taken together, may seem to indicate, that Aquila's working with his own hands, A. xviii. 3., was only a temporary exigency, to a man otherwise not poor and most certainly generous. ERASTUS, the Corinthian. The name of Erastus occurs in the following passages, i. To account for Erastus, A. xix. 22., being now found in Asia, it is fairly supposed, at A. xviii. 18. p. 52., that on St. Paul's then leaving Corinth, both Timothy and Erastus (as being mentioned conjointly, A. xix. 22.) bore him company from thence, A. xviii. 22., to Jerusalem and to Antioch, and so, on his Third Progress, xix. 1., to Ephesus also. This opinion of the early day at which Erastus first joined the apostle, I now consider as marked with the highest probability: the notion of his having afterwards been one in the deputation from Corinth, pp. 61, 2., is highly improbable. However that may be, Erastus along with Timothy was now sent from Ephesus by Paul on a preparatory mission to Philippi; and as it appears (2 COR. i. 1.) that Timothy was still in Macedonia when Paul arrived, Erastus also might still be there. In that case, they would both minister (Timothy certainly did) unto the apostle, during his travels in the northwest of Greece, A. xx. 2., till on his return he reached the capital of Achaia. ii. Roм. xvi. 23. At all events, when Paul, soon after writing from Corinth, concludes his Epistle to the Romans, "Erastus, the chamberlain of the city," he says, "saluteth you:" which upon the whole may more probably be interpreted to mean, that he had been chamberlain, than that he was so then. In either case, it sufficiently shows the respectability and rank, which Erastus held among his fellowcitizens. iii. 2 TIM. iv. 20. Paul here, in the retrospect of his Fourth apostolic Progress, says, that "Erastus abode at Corinth;" which intimates, that Erastus had been in his company, before they arrived at that city. Probably enough, when Titus summoned from Crete took Corinth on his way to Nicopolis, he was joined by Erastus from thence. And if so, he may have become the companion of Paul when the apostle passed the winter in Nicopolis and preached the gospel in that neighbourhood. TIT. iii. 12. GAIUS of Derbe, As distinguished from Gaius, the Macedonian, mentioned, A. xix. 29., along with Aristarchus, and like him, A. xx. 4. xxvii. 2., probably a Macedonian of Thessalonica. The other GAIUS, A. xx. 4., was clearly a native of Derbe, quite remarkable (H. P. 182.) as the only city in which Paul suffered no persecution or trouble; whereas in each of the three cities through which he had previously passed, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, and Lystra, he had been persecuted grievously. We afterwards find this same Gaius at Corinth, apparently settled there as a rich householder, and denominated by Paul when he wrote to the ROMANS, xvi. 23., "my host and of the whole church." If then he was thus "wealthy and benevolent" in character, and had enjoyed opportunity to hear the preaching of Paul at Derbe either on the occasion, A. xiv. 21., or that of xvi. 1...3., or on both occasions; then might he easily find the means from Derbe to visit Corinth, and settling there be known (1 COR. i. 14.) as one of the few converts whom Paul had baptized with his own hands. All this becomes the more probable from the contiguity of Lystra to Derbe, and from the association of Gaius's name so directly with that of Timothy, A. xx. 4. And under the several circumstances fairly put together, we may even conclude, that it was the personal influence of Gaius, from such wealth and such benevolence, that (humanly speaking) secured for Paul, when in Derbe, an exemption from hostility and ill usage which he experienced no where else. pp. 21, 2. ILLYRICUM, If viewed as at p. 67., on ACTS xx. 2., becomes an important region in the apostolic history. From Roм. xv. 19. it appears, that St. Paul had on that occasion completed his visitation of Macedonia towards the north-west where it joins on Illyricum. At pp. 122, 3., on TIT. iii. 12., it is seen, that he had planned, after preaching in other parts, to winter at Nicopolis: And in 2 TIM. iv. 10., p. 127., we find Titus to have been recently despatched into the southern part of Illyricum, into Dalmatia. Thus the gospel may seem to have spread somewhat extensively along the eastern coast of the Adriatic and to have afforded large occupation, however imperfectly now known to us, both to the zeal of the apostle and to that of his missionary Titus. JERUSALEM. In two of the three recorded Progresses of Paul, before he returned to Antioch, he included in the plan of his movements a visit to the Holy City, at one or other of the great feasts. After his second Progress, in A. xviii. 21, 2. |