Focus: Vow of Consecration

Text: Act.18:18

"And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow."

Serving God demands our utmost consecration and highest devotion. Paul was unreservedly and passionately committed to the heavenly vision of Christ, and I believe that part of that vision was his mission to Corinth. I believe Paul felt something about his next move to Corinth, and given what he knew about the city he decided to take a nazarite vow of consecration.

This vow involved leaving one's hairs uncut until mission was completed within a set time. Act.18:1 says, "After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth." I believe Paul entered into this nazarite vow right at this point of leaving Athens for Corinth.

Our text relates to Paul leaving Corinth after completing his mission, and then stopping at Cenchrea, a port of Corinth, to have a haircut, signaling the end of the vow he had made to the Lord.

Someone may ask, Why the vow? I believe it had something to do with the city of Corinth and the work he was going to do there. Corinth was an important Greek city and a Roman colony. It was the commercial capital of all Greece. The city was the point of entry to all places in Greece. It was regarded as the bridge to everywhere in Greece. It boasted of great industry and learning. It served as the center of the Isthumian games second only to the Olympics. The temple of Aphrodite was located there, and women in their numbers served the goddess as the temple harlots. It was a city given to abundant worldliness and immense immorality. The city had a reputation for every kind of wickedness and moral filth that even the name of Corinth signified moral corruption. It was so bad that people who traveled there were said to have gone to 'Corinthianize,' that is, to corrupt themselves. It was a city of booze and sex.

I believe that was why Paul committed himself to a nazarite vow of consecration.

Paul wanted nothing to do with the moral madness of Corinth, but to focus only on fulfilling the mandate of Christ. He later wrote a letter to his Corinthian converts, in which he said, "Unto the CHURCH of God which is at Corinth, to them that are SANCTIFIED in Christ Jesus, called to be SAINTS…" In his second letter, he says, "Unto the CHURCH of God which is at Corinth, with all the SAINTS which are in all Achaia." His consecration paid off. He made converts and built churches in the corrupt city of Corinth. He left Corinth after 18 months with his name untarnished and his testimony unquestioned. He was like Daniel, who "purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank…" Paul was also like Ezra, who had "prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." Indeed his mission to Corinth was a huge success. In the company of a Christian couple, Aquila and Priscilla, he excelled. By his life and work he glorified Christ. In the worst of places he lived above boards and preserved his purity.

What is your consecration like in view of your holy, heavenly and high calling? How well do you keep your vow of faith, purity and devotion, and all other vows? Is your word your bond? Understand that a man will never truly succeed in touching lives unless he is, first and foremost, touching God by his own life. Make your vow of consecration now and keep it.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter