{"id":1912,"date":"2019-11-10T09:11:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T17:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2019-11-10T09:11:41","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T17:11:41","slug":"devotion-acts-1812-17-god-said-it-and-so-it-was-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1912","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 18:12-17 God Said It And So It Was Done"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Acts 18:12-17 –<\/b>\u00a0While Gallio was proconsul\u00a0of Achaia,\u00a0the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.\u00a013\u00a0\u201cThis man,\u201d they charged, \u201cis persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.\u201d\u00a0\u00a014\u00a0Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, \u201cIf you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you.\u00a015\u00a0But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law\u2014settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.\u201d\u00a016\u00a0So he drove them off.\u00a017\u00a0Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes\u00a0the synagogue leader\u00a0and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Gallio was proconsul\u00a0of Achaia,\u00a0the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Marcus 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.\u00a0\u00a0He received the name Gallio by being adopted by Roman Senator Lucius Junius Gallio.\u00a0\u00a0A proconsul was someone who had moved up from the lower magistrate position of praetor to become a proconsul.\u00a0\u00a0Proconsul is someone who is in a position between consul and praetor, it is the position just before becoming a consul.\u00a0\u00a0They are all different levels of being a judge.\u00a0\u00a0It appears that upon receiving this new proconsul the Jews thought they saw the opportunity to bring charges against Paul before Gallio.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cThis man,\u201d they charged, \u201cis persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0If 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.<\/p>\n

Notice that the Jews did not bring the same false charges that Jews had previously brought.\u00a0\u00a0Previously they had accused Paul of speaking blasphemy against Caesar in calling to worship another God (Jesus).\u00a0\u00a0If they had they accused Paul of treason or sedition as in the past that would have fallen in the hands of the proconsul.\u00a0\u00a0But they did not and so their case was not something for Gallio to consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, \u201cIf you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you.\u00a015\u00a0But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law\u2014settle the matter yourselves.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Paul was not allowed to speak because Gallio found no reason for the case to be before him.\u00a0\u00a0He viewed it as an internal squabble.\u00a0\u00a0It 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.\u00a0\u00a0It 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.\u00a0\u00a0The government courts settle matters of law and not religious disagreements.<\/p>\n

To Gallio, it was all about \u201cwords and names and your own law<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Yes, indeed it was, and he did not know the great importance of the words and names.\u00a0\u00a0The Words were prophecies about the Messiah.\u00a0\u00a0The name was Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0This was about Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies of who the Messiah would be.\u00a0\u00a0It was about the fact that Jesus was the Messiah and the teachers of the Jews rejected that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he drove them off.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Gallio ended the trial.\u00a0\u00a0He sent them away.\u00a0\u00a0His ruling was that he was not the one to decide the issue at hand.\u00a0\u00a0He was right.\u00a0\u00a0God has declared and the pronouncements of God cannot be overturned by any man, though men do try.\u00a0\u00a0Gallio just wanted this mess away from him.\u00a0\u00a0All people must decide for themselves who Jesus is.\u00a0\u00a0Is He Messiah and Lord, or not.\u00a0\u00a0Individual 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.<\/p>\n

We see that the transfer of Gallio to that region was part of the prophecy of\u00a0Verse 9-10\u00a0<\/b>being fulfilled.\u00a0\u00a0God is amazing!<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the crowd there turned on Sosthenes\u00a0the synagogue leader\u00a0and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0After Crispus, the previous synagogue leader, left the synagogue Sosthenes took his place as the new leader. Here we see that Sosthenes was beaten.\u00a0\u00a0By whom and for what is debated.\u00a0\u00a0Some think the Greeks beat him for wasting the proconsul\u2019s time.\u00a0\u00a0Some think the Jews beat him for losing the case against Paul.\u00a0\u00a0Some think that he had already become interested in Christianity, or had already become a Christian, and so he was beaten.\u00a0\u00a0We know that he did become a Christian at some point as we see in\u00a01 Corinthians 1:1<\/b>\u00a0that he was with Paul when Paul wrote that letter.<\/p>\n

The Lord had told Paul that he would not be harmed because Jesus was with him.\u00a0\u00a0And the Word came true.\u00a0\u00a0But what does that mean about the times that Paul was ministering and he was beaten, stoned and left for dead?\u00a0\u00a0Was Jesus not with him?\u00a0\u00a0No, not at all.\u00a0\u00a0We must remember that before coming to Corinth Paul had been through much.\u00a0\u00a0He later, in\u00a01 Corinthians 2:3<\/b>\u00a0wrote that he had come to Corinth \u201cin weakness with great fear and trembling.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0If not for his learned reliance upon the strength of Jesus, it is amazing that he had continued on at all.\u00a0\u00a0Paul knew that the Lord had been with him at all times and nothing separated him from the love of God. In\u00a0Romans 8:31-39<\/b>\u00a0Paul 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.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus is with us all.\u00a0\u00a0Many times will be hard, other times the Lord gives us smooth sailing.\u00a0\u00a0Who decides when we will go through these?\u00a0\u00a0It 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.\u00a0\u00a0Who better than God?\u00a0\u00a0None!\u00a0\u00a0We are satisfied that He who knows all things makes the right decisions about these things, every time.\u00a0\u00a0We trust God!\u00a0\u00a0Yes, we trust God and not ourselves!\u00a0\u00a0Lord, Your will and not ours!\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 If You Lord, determine hard times, then it is hard times we accept, and even want.\u00a0 Such is our confidence in you!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 18:12-17 –\u00a0While Gallio was proconsul\u00a0of Achaia,\u00a0the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.\u00a013\u00a0\u201cThis man,\u201d they charged, \u201cis persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.\u201d\u00a0\u00a014\u00a0Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, \u201cIf you Jews were making…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,94,1874,2483],"class_list":["post-1912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-romans-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1912"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1913,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions\/1913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}