Acts 18:12-17 – While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. 13 “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” 14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” 16 So he drove them off. 17 Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.
“While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.” Marcus Annacus Novatus was a brother of the famous Stoic philosopher Seneca (an instructor to Caesar Nero) and he was the son of a Spanish orator. He received the name Gallio by being adopted by Roman Senator Lucius Junius Gallio. A proconsul was someone who had moved up from the lower magistrate position of praetor to become a proconsul. Proconsul is someone who is in a position between consul and praetor, it is the position just before becoming a consul. They are all different levels of being a judge. It appears that upon receiving this new proconsul the Jews thought they saw the opportunity to bring charges against Paul before Gallio.
““This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” If Paul had been allowed to speak he would likely have said that he was not teaching the breaking of the law but was revealing the fulfillment of the law in Jesus Christ.
Notice that the Jews did not bring the same false charges that Jews had previously brought. Previously they had accused Paul of speaking blasphemy against Caesar in calling to worship another God (Jesus). If they had they accused Paul of treason or sedition as in the past that would have fallen in the hands of the proconsul. But they did not and so their case was not something for Gallio to consider.
“Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves.” Paul was not allowed to speak because Gallio found no reason for the case to be before him. He viewed it as an internal squabble. It is likely that he considered the Christians a sect of the Jews and therefore this made it all something not to be under his jurisdiction. It would be like two contemporary pastors of a denomination disagreeing about doctrine and one taking the other to a government court to settle the matter. The government courts settle matters of law and not religious disagreements.
To Gallio, it was all about “words and names and your own law.” Yes, indeed it was, and he did not know the great importance of the words and names. The Words were prophecies about the Messiah. The name was Jesus. This was about Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies of who the Messiah would be. It was about the fact that Jesus was the Messiah and the teachers of the Jews rejected that.
“So he drove them off.” Gallio ended the trial. He sent them away. His ruling was that he was not the one to decide the issue at hand. He was right. God has declared and the pronouncements of God cannot be overturned by any man, though men do try. Gallio just wanted this mess away from him. All people must decide for themselves who Jesus is. Is He Messiah and Lord, or not. Individual decisions do not change who Jesus was and is, as if that depended on mankind, but rather they just reveal what, if not changed, their eternal address will be.
We see that the transfer of Gallio to that region was part of the prophecy of Verse 9-10 being fulfilled. God is amazing!
“Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.” After Crispus, the previous synagogue leader, left the synagogue Sosthenes took his place as the new leader. Here we see that Sosthenes was beaten. By whom and for what is debated. Some think the Greeks beat him for wasting the proconsul’s time. Some think the Jews beat him for losing the case against Paul. Some think that he had already become interested in Christianity, or had already become a Christian, and so he was beaten. We know that he did become a Christian at some point as we see in 1 Corinthians 1:1 that he was with Paul when Paul wrote that letter.
The Lord had told Paul that he would not be harmed because Jesus was with him. And the Word came true. But what does that mean about the times that Paul was ministering and he was beaten, stoned and left for dead? Was Jesus not with him? No, not at all. We must remember that before coming to Corinth Paul had been through much. He later, in 1 Corinthians 2:3 wrote that he had come to Corinth “in weakness with great fear and trembling.” If not for his learned reliance upon the strength of Jesus, it is amazing that he had continued on at all. Paul knew that the Lord had been with him at all times and nothing separated him from the love of God. In Romans 8:31-39 Paul wrote that God did not spare Jesus His sufferings and He would not spare us, not every time, of the sufferings and trials that we must go through in our service for the Lord. Jesus is with us all. Many times will be hard, other times the Lord gives us smooth sailing. Who decides when we will go through these? It is Jesus, our Savior and Sanctifier, who is with us through the good and bad, the second person in the Godhead, the Son of God, it is He who decides. Who better than God? None! We are satisfied that He who knows all things makes the right decisions about these things, every time. We trust God! Yes, we trust God and not ourselves! Lord, Your will and not ours! Yes! If You Lord, determine hard times, then it is hard times we accept, and even want. Such is our confidence in you! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”