Acts 18:5

When Silas and Timotheus were come. Or, “when Silas and Timothy came down,” that is, “from Macedonia.” 1 Thess. 3:2 indicates that Timothy, who apparently came to Paul at Athens, was sent back almost immediately to Thessalonica for further news of the church there. He returned with a good report of their faith and love (1 Thess. 3:6). It was perhaps at this time also that “the brethren which came from Macedonia” (2 Cor. 1:9) brought fresh proof of regard and love for Paul in the form of gifts. Pressed in the spirit. Textual evidence attests (cf. p. 10) the reading “he was constrained [or “hard pressed”] by the word [or “message”].” The RSV is less emphatic; Paul “was occupied with preaching.” Knowing God’s Word, Paul felt impelled to give utterance to it (cf. Ps. 39:3). It is not certain whether there was any relationship between the arrival of Silas and Timothy and this impulse to preach. There is no indication that the gifts they may have brought made Paul less busy at his trade, and 1 Cor. 9 is against this idea, though it is possible that the gifts enabled him for a time to devote himself constantly to preaching. He was already under a compulsion to preach, and doubtless encouraging words from Silas and Timothy only strengthened that compulsion. Testified ... Jesus was Christ. Or, “testifying ... Jesus to be the Christ,” emphasizing that Jesus was the suffering Messiah, the Saviour, a truth that the Jews greatly needed to learn.