Paul, the tentmaker, Acts 18

In researching and teaching the book of Acts, I have discovered that we often have an inordinate affection for digging out, believing, and declaring things that God chose not to reveal. Is it an aspect of unbelief for us to so continuously do so? Or just curiosity? Here is an example of what I mean.

• Acts 18:3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers (σκηνοποιοὶ).

Many seek to determine the exact type of tents that Paul made, as well as where he learned the trade. According to Todd D. Still, “There is scholarly dispute, however, regarding the precise nature of the apostle’s handcraft.”[i] Was Paul a weaver who made tent-cloth from goat’s hair? Was he a leatherworker who crafted tents from leather? Or maybe he was skilled working with both? All three of these possibilities (and probably more) have been posited as the answer.

Concerning where Paul learned the trade, Still writes,

“...There are at least three viable options. Paul could have learned his trade from his father as a child in Tarsus (so Hock, Social Context, 24; see also C. J. den Heyer, Paul: A Man of Two Worlds [trans. John Bowden; Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000], 30), as a rabbinical student under Gamaliel (see Polhill, Paul, 9), or at some point after his conversion/call prior to his far-flung missionary travels (so Klaus Haacker, ‘Paul’s Life,’ in The Cambridge Companion to St. Paul [ed. James D. G. Dunn; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003], 19-33, here 25; and Murphy-O’Connor, Paul, 86; see also Riesner, Paul’s Early Period, 149)...”[ii]

Concerning the when and where of learning of the trade, Still concludes (which might also be applied to the what):

“Despite scholarly speculation, it is now impossible to determine when, where, and from whom Paul learned his craft.”[iii]

While such diversions of study can be intriguing, we would do well to understand they are not very important. If God wished us to know, he could have revealed it. Of course, there are “hidden nuggets” placed in the Scripture that God intends for us to unearth (Isaiah 48:6; Matthew 11:25; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10). However, if the answer is not placed in the Bible itself, once we realize that we ought to stop digging. After all, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and so designed to throughly furnish us unto all good works.

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[i] p. 781. Still, Todd D. “Did Paul Loathe Manual Labor? Revisiting the Work of Ronald F. Hock on the Apostle’s Tentmaking and Social Class,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Volume 125, Number 4, (Winter, 2006), pp. 781-795.
[ii] p. 785.
[iii] p. 785.