Achaia

Achaia is a region Paul keeps coming back to, usually in the same breath as Macedonia. In Acts, Paul plans to pass through both on the way to Jerusalem. In his letters, he calls the household of Stephanas “the firstfruits of Achaia”, the first to come to Christ there. And in Romans he mentions that the churches of Macedonia and Achaia were glad “to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.” Paul also tells the Corinthians their zeal “hath provoked very many.” Romans 15:26 is a short place to start.

6 verses

Acts

Acts 19:21

After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

Romans

Romans 15:26

For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.

Romans 16:5

Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 16:15

I beseech you, brethren,(ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 9:2

For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

2 Corinthians 11:10

As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

The name originally of a narrow strip of territory in Greece, on the north-west of the Peloponnesus. Subsequently it was applied by the Romans to the whole Peloponnesus, now called the Morea, and the south of Greece. It was then one of the two provinces (Macedonia being the other) into which they divided the country when it fell under their dominion. It is in this latter enlarged meaning that the name is always used in the New Testament (Acts 18:12, 27; 19:21; Rom. 15: 26; 16:5, etc.). It was at the time when Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles under the proconsular form of government; hence the appropriate title given to Gallio as the “deputy,” i.e., proconsul, of Achaia (Acts 18:12).

Read the full entry

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(trouble) signifies in the New Testament a Roman province which included the whole of the Peloponnesus and the greater part of Hellas proper, with the adjacent islands. This province, with that of Macedonia, comprehended the while of Greece; hence Achaia and Macedonia are frequently mentioned together in the New Testament to indicate all Greece. (Acts 18:12; 19:21; Romans 15:26; 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; 2 Corinthians 7:5; 9:2; 11:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:7,8) In the time of the emperor Claudius it was governed by a proconsul, translated in the Authorized Version "deputy," of Achaia. (Acts 18:12)