By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS: There are three men named Justus in the Bible. Each one only gets a mention. Let’s find out about one of them, the Justus of Acts 18.
Acts 18:7, Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
There are two other, different men named in the New Testament ‘Justus’. Herbert Lockyer explains-
1. A surname of Joseph or Barsabas, the disciple who was the unsuccessful candidate for apostleship (Acts 1:23).
2. The surname of a Jew called Jesus from whom Paul sent a salutation to the Colossian Church (Col. 4:11).
3. [Titius Justus] A godly man of Corinth, whose house was next to the synagogue (Acts 18:7).
Source- Lockyer’s All the Named Men of the Bible
It’s the third man I’m interested in today. He is called Titus Justus or Titius Justus. He lived in Corinth. Though he is mentioned only once, here are several things we can glean from the verse.
He is a Gentile. Notwithstanding, he wasn’t worshiping any of the false gods of Corinth! He was a God worshiper. Like Lydia and Cornelius, he worshiped the one true God.
He lived adjacent to a synagogue, a big one. This is an important fact. The Greek word in the verse is a compound word that means border on, or join hard. So either his home was attached or extremely close to the synagogue.
Now, there were Jews, born and bred. And there were proselytes, Gentiles who had converted to Judaism. And thirdly there were ‘God worshipers’, people who worshiped God in the synagogue but had not converted. Justus was the latter.
This is convenient, because Justus was familiar to the Jews, having mixed with them in the synagogue, so a Jew may be more likely to enter a house such as Justus’ to hear Paul preach than they would entering a pure Gentile’s home. And since Justus wasn’t a total convert to Judaism, Gentiles might feel more comfortable in his home as well.
Paul had been preaching in Corinth for some time but of course as they always did, the Jews began to oppose Paul and in the end, abused him. So Paul in verse 6, said,
But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.‘”
This is an important turning point in Paul’s preaching career.
Paul had been lodging with Aquila and Priscilla. He had been preaching in the synagogue. When the end came for Paul in the synagogue, Paul took his ministry next door to a home adjacent to the synagogue, at Justus’ house. How providential that a God-worshiper would have a house large enough to host the gathered Christians and be so close to the synagogue!
Matthew Henry says of Acts 18:7,
Here we are told,
That Paul changed his quarters. … He departed out of the synagogue, being driven out by the perverseness of the unbelieving Jews, and he entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, v. 7. It should seem, he went to this man’s house, not to lodge, for he continued with Aquila and Priscilla, but to preach.
When the Jews would not let him go on peaceably with his work in their meeting, this honest man [Justus] opened his doors to him, and told him he should be welcome to preach there; and Paul accepted the proposal. It was not the first time that God’s ark had taken up its lodging in a private house. When Paul could not have liberty to preach in the synagogue, he preached in a house, without any disparagement to his doctrine.
But observe the account of this man and his house.
–That Paul might give the less offence to the Jews, though he had abandoned them, he set up his meeting in this man’s house.
–That Paul presently saw the good fruit of his labours, both among Jews and Gentiles. 1. Crispus a Jew, an eminent one, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord Jesus, with all his house, v. 8. —end Matthew Henry Commentary
Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household; and many of the Corinthians, as they listened to Paul, were believing and being baptized. (Acts 18:8).
What wonderful news! The ruler of the synagogue, Crispus, and his household, believed! I am sure that Justus was one of the people who Paul baptized, too.
It’s an amazing work of the Lord to have a man in the middle of depraved Corinth who wanted to worship only the True God. It’s amazing that providentially this God-worshiper owned a house large enough to house the Corinthian Church. Providential this house was perfectly positioned to have the word of God reach the Jews even though Paul had removed himself from the synagogue. Crispus believed, his whole house, AND many others in Corinth, says the verse.
In Acts 18:10 God told Paul in a vision to keep on preaching, ‘for I have many people in this city’. Unbeknownst to Paul and even to Justus and Crispus themselves, God had them before they even knew it.
Justus’ act of hospitality opened the door, literally, for Jews and Gentiles to come through the door of Jesus. It might have seemed like a small act for Justus to say to Paul, “Hey, use my house, it’s right next door…” but God used it for His glory. The beginning of the Corinthian church was born there. The beginning of Paul’s mission to the Gentiles was born there too. And many Gentile babes in Christ were born there, too.
We might never know which small act of hospitality, fellowship, or generosity would be something that the Lord turns from a mustard seed to a towering tree of faith.
Other articles in this series:
Little Known Bible characters #10: Zilpah and Bilhah
Little Known Bible Characters #9: Gehazi- The Man Who Should Be Better
Little Known Bible Characters #8: Tryphena and Tryphosa
Little Known Bible Characters #7: Salome
Little Known Bible Characters #6: King Chedorlaomer
Little Known Bible Characters #5: Harbonah the Eunuch
Little Known Bible Characters #4: Eutychus
Little Known Bible Characters #3: Trophimus
Little Known Bible Characters #2: ‘The List of Offenders’
Little Known Bible Characters #1: Iddo
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