Before we get into the text, I want to emphasize this point. You cannot be saved by obeying man! Men can be wrong; they can deceive; they can teach error – usually sincerely, but sincerely wrong.
Jesus teaches us in John 3:3-5 that we have to be born again “by the Spirit” in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Paul was guided by the Holy Spirit when he wrote in Romans 8:14: “all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
One more passage… Paul wrote in Galatians 5:25: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
SCENE #1 – 18:1-4:
It was common among Jews to train their sons in some skill they could use to make their living, even if they wanted to be a Jewish rabbi. Jesus, of course, was trained as a carpenter. Paul was trained as a leather-worker. I have been trained as a biology teacher. Greek culture, however, despised manual labor and philosophers and teachers should live on the generous donations of others, especially specific patrons.
Paul would speak often of his working with his own hands in order to share the gospel of Christ with others: Acts 20:33-35; 1 Cor. 4:12; 9:3-18; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 These. 2:3-9; 2 These. 3:6-8.
SCENE #2 – 18:5-8:
Here is where hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is extremely relevant and important. In 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul writes that no one knows the mind of God except the Spirit of God. So the Spirit was working through the apostle Paul as he preached the Gospel in Corinth. He was preaching that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, the Savior of mankind. Everything Paul could teach had to have been guided by the Holy Spirit. Crispus and these others, from his household and others who lived in Corinth heard that message and they trusted that message.
Paul will write about the miracles he performed in Corinth while he was there (1 Cor. 12:3) and those miracles gave those people reason to believe that what Paul was saying was true, the truth of the Gospel. The Corinthians trusted Paul’s message and then they obeyed it. Before I go any further, it is obvious that when Luke writes that Crispus’s “household” was baptized, he was not talking about children. Children who do not understand the nature of sin and the salvation available in Jesus Christ are not eligible to become Christians. Far too many people think they become Christians when they are young, but all they’re doing is obeying mom and dad; they really don’t understand what the Holy Spirit teaches about salvation. You have to be old enough to understand what the Holy Spirit teaches about salvation before you can become a Christian.
Now, these Corinthians, including Crispus, heard the gospel preached and they trusted that message and then they were baptized. I can assure you that Crispus did not believe he was a Christian simply by trusting Jesus. There was nobody on earth at that time who taught that. Nobody at that time taught the so-called “Sinner’s Prayer.” I know that Crispus did not believe that because nobody taught that. Nobody guided by the Holy Spirit taught that. What did they teach? I’ll just give three examples:
Acts 2:38 – ““Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” It is clear from this verse that the Holy Spirit does not teach that someone is a Christian before he or she repents or before he or she is baptized. If someone teaches that, he or she is not guided by the Holy Spirit. Crispus was taught by the apostle Paul and Crispus understood that his baptism was for the forgiveness of sins and that he would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit because that’s what the Spirit teaches.
Romans 6:3-4 – “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” If Crispus was saved at the moment he believed – if he was made alive spiritually at the moment he trusted, then at his baptism, Paul would have been burying a live person! But, you don’t bury a live person and you don’t baptize someone who is already saved!
Galatian 3:26-27 – “you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” The Holy Spirit here clearly teaches that you put Christ on, when you are baptized into Christ. When men teach that someone is saved at the moment of faith, then he is teaching that someone can be saved without putting Christ on. And that’s when we know that that person is not being led by the Holy Spirit of God.
You can’t be saved by obeying man. Crispus obeyed the Holy Spirit as He revealed the truth through the apostle Paul.
SCENE #3 – 18:9-11:
God tells Paul He has many people in that city, a theme introduced in Acts 15:14 – where words from Exodus 19:5 are applied to those in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ.
When you hear the Gospel preached, trust the message from the Holy Spirit, and obey that message.
Paul Holland
