Teks -- Acts 18:3 (NET)

18:3 and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade).

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Act 18:3 - Because he was of the same trade

Because he was of the same trade ( dia to homotechnon einai ).

Same construction with dia as above. Homotechnon is an old word (homos , technē ), though here alone in N.T. Rabbi Judah says: "He that teacheth not his son a trade, doth the same as if he taught him to be a thief."So it was easy for Paul to find a home with these "tentmakers by trade"(skēnoipoioi tēi technēi ). Late word from skēnē and poieō , here only in the N.T. They made portable tents of leather or of cloth of goat’ s hair. So Paul lived in this home with this noble man and his wife, all the more congenial if already Christians which they soon became at any rate. They worked as partners in the common trade. Paul worked for his support elsewhere, already in Thessalonica (1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8) and later at Ephesus with Aquila and Priscilla (Act 18:18, Act 18:26; Act 20:34; 1Co 16:19). They moved again to Rome (Rom 16:3) and were evidently a couple of considerable wealth and generosity. It was a blessing to Paul to find himself with these people. So he "abode"(emenen , imperfect active) with them and "they wrought"(ērgazonto , imperfect middle), happy and busy during week days.

Vincent: Act 18:3 - Of the same craft

Of the same craft ( ὁμότεχνον )

It was a Rabbinical principle that whoever does not teach his son a trade is as if he brought him up to be a robber. All the Rabbinical authorities in Christ's time, and later, were working at some trade. Hillel, Paul's teacher, was a wood-cutter, and his rival, Shammai, a carpenter. It is recorded of one of the celebrated Rabbis that he was in the habit of discoursing to his students from the top of a cask of his own making, which he carried every day to the academy.

Vincent: Act 18:3 - Tent-makers

Tent-makers ( σκηνοποιοὶ )

Not weavers of the goat's-hair cloth of which tents were made, which could easily be procured at every large town in the Levant, but makers of tents used by shepherds and travellers. It was a trade lightly esteemed and poorly paid.

Wesley: Act 18:3 - They were tent makers by trade

For it was a rule among the Jews (and why is it not among the Christians?) to bring up all their children to some trade, were they ever so rich or noble.

JFB: Act 18:1-4 - came to Corinth

Rebuilt by Julius Cæsar on the isthmus between the Ægean and Ionian Seas; the capital of the Roman province of Achaia, and the residence of the proconsul; a large and populous mercantile city, and the center of commerce alike for East and West; having a considerable Jewish population, larger, probably, at this time than usual, owing to the banishment of the Jews from Rome by Claudius Cæsar (Act 18:2). Such a city was a noble field for the Gospel, which, once established there, would naturally diffuse itself far and wide.

JFB: Act 18:3 - tentmakers

Manufacturers, probably, of those hair-cloth tents supplied by the goats of the apostle's native province, and hence, as sold in the markets of the Levant, called cilicium. Every Jewish youth, whatever the pecuniary circumstances of his parents, was taught some trade (see on Luk 2:42), and Paul made it a point of conscience to work at that which he had probably been bred to, partly that he might not be burdensome to the churches, and partly that his motives as a minister of Christ might not be liable to misconstruction. To both these he makes frequent reference in his Epistles.

Clarke: Act 18:3 - He abode with them, and wrought

He abode with them, and wrought - Bp. Pearce observes that it was a custom among the Jews, even of such as had a better education than ordinary, which was Paul’ s case, Act 22:3, to learn a trade, that, wherever they were, they might provide for themselves in case of necessity. And though Paul, in some cases, lived on the bounty of his converts, yet he chose not to do so at Ephesus, Act 20:34; nor at Corinth or other places, 1Co 4:12; 2Co 9:8, 2Co 9:9; 1Th 3:8; and this Paul did for a reason which he gives in 2Co 11:9-12. While he was at Corinth he was supplied, when his own labor did not procure him enough, "by the brethren which came to him there from Macedonia."It appears that the apostle had his lodging with Aquila and Priscilla; and probably a portion of the profits of the business, after his board was deducted. It was evidently no reproach for a man, at that time, to unite public teaching with an honest useful trade. And why should it be so now? May not a man who has acquired a thorough knowledge of the Gospel way of salvation, explain that way to his less informed neighbors, though he be a tent-maker, (what perhaps we would call a house-carpenter), or a shoemaker, or any thing else? Even many of those who consider it a cardinal sin for a mechanic to preach the Gospel, are providing for themselves and their families in the same way. How many of the clergy, and other ministers, are farmers, graziers, schoolmasters, and sleeping partners in different trades and commercial concerns! A tent-maker, in his place, is as useful as any of these. Do not ridicule the mechanic because he preaches the Gospel to the salvation of his neighbors, lest some one should say, in a language which you glory to have learned, and which the mechanic has not, Mutato nomine, de Te fabula narrator

There are different opinions concerning that is meant here by the σκηνοποιος, which we translate tent-maker. Some think it means a maker of those small portable tents, formed of skins, which soldiers and travelers usually carried with them on their journeys; others suppose that these tents mere made of linen cloth. Some think that the trade of St. Paul was making hangings or curtains, such as were used at the theatres; others think the σκηνοποιος was a sort of umbrella-maker; others, a weaver, etc., etc. In short, we know not what the trade was. I have generally preferred the notion of a carpenter, or faber lignarius . Whatever it was, it was an honest, useful calling, and Paul got his bread by it.

Calvin: Act 18:3 - They were of the same trade

3.They were of the same trade This place teacheth that Paul, before he came to Corinth, was wont to work with his hands; and that not upon pleasure, but that he might get his living with his handiwork. It is not known where he first learned his occupation; notwithstanding it appeareth by his own testimony that he wrought principally at Corinth. And he showeth a reason, because the false apostles taught freely without taking any thing, that they might craftily creep in, therefore the holy man would not give place to them in that point, lest he should cause the gospel of Christ to be evil spoken of, ( 1Co 9:12.) But we may easily gather out of this place, that whithersoever he came, (until he was occupied in the continual labor of teachings) he wrought of his occupation, that he might get his living. When Chrysostom saith that Paul was a cordiner he doth no whit dissent from Luke, because they were wont at that time to make tents of skins. −

Defender: Act 18:3 - occupation

Paul, in accordance with the practice of many of the Jewish scribes and rabbis, normally tried to provide his own material needs in order not to give occasion for complaint by the churches to whom he was ministering (Act 20:34; 1Co 4:12; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8)."

TSK: Act 18:3 - and wrought

and wrought : Act 20:34, Act 20:35; 1Co 4:12, 1Co 9:6-12; 2Co 11:9; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8, 2Th 3:9

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Act 18:3 - Of the same craft // And wrought // Tent-makers

Of the same craft the most learned amongst the Jews did always learn some handicraft, and it was one of those things which they held a father was bound to do for his child, viz. to teach him some trade. And one of their rabbi’ s sayings is, That whosoever does not teach his child a trade, does as bad as if he did teach him to play the thief.

And wrought St. Paul wrought with his hands, not so much because as yet there was no church there that could maintain him, but:

1. Because he would not be burdensome unto them, they being probably most mean persons that believed there, as appears, 1Co 1:26 . Or:

2. That he might show how that he did not covet theirs, but them, and to gain nothing but souls amongst them. Yet he asserted his right, and the right of ministers, by Divine appointment, to live of the gospel, 1Co 9:6,11,12 .

Tent-makers tents were used by soldiers, and in those hot countries by others also, being usually made of skins sewn together to keep off the violence of the weather.

Haydock: Act 18:3

Critics are divided in their opinion about the nature of St. Paul's employment: but it is generally supposed to be making tents of skins, such as were formerly used by travellers and soldiers. (Tirinus) ---

Hence the expression, esse sub pellibus. The apostle submitted to this labour, that he might be no burden to those whom he preached the gospel. (St. Augustine, tract. in Joan.) ---

The Jews, with their characteristic good sense, in matters of this kind, made it the first duty of parents, to teach their children some trade, by which they might gain their livelihood. To neglect this was supposed to be equivalent to teaching them to steal. Hence their learned men were likewise practitioners in some laborious trade. They were ignorant of the distinction between low, and honourable professions, which refinement and vanity have introduced among us. Every employment was honourable, which was conducive to the good of their neighbour, and compatible with virtue and modesty; and the more so, in proportion as the wants of mankind made it more necessary. See Fleury's Manners of the Israelites. (Passim.)

Gill: Act 18:3 - And because he was of the same craft // he abode with them // and wrought // for by their occupation they were tent makers

And because he was of the same craft, Art, occupation, or trade:

he abode with them; in the same house in which they were:

and wrought; with his own hands, to support himself, for he was a stranger in this place; and as yet here was no church to minister to him; and when there was, he would take nothing of them, that the false teachers, who rose up among them, might not make any handle of it against him, and to the prejudice of the Gospel; though otherwise he thought it his just due to receive a maintenance from the churches; and insisted upon it as an ordination of Christ. He learned a trade whilst among the Jews, with whom it was common for their greatest doctors to be brought up to some trade or another; See Gill on Mar 6:3.

for by their occupation they were tent makers; either for the soldiers, and which were made of sack cloth of hair, or of leather, and of the skins of various animals ^f, sewed together; hence the phrase, "sub pellibus", "under the skins", is used for to lie in tents ^g: or those tents they made, were canopies made of linen, and other things, which were erected in the summer season to shade and screen from the heat of the sun; though others take them for a sort of tapestry, or hangings, which they made for theatres, palaces, and stately rooms; and according to the Syriac version, they were horses' trappings which they made: perhaps they were of the same occupation with Menedemus the philosopher, who was σκηνορραφος, "a sewer of tents" ^h.