Acts 18:17, commentary and pictures

At Corinth the Jews tried to get the proconsul Gallio to condemn Paul, but he dismissed their charge as a dispute about their own religious law with no bearing on the public interest. When the case was thrown out the Greeks who had sided with the Jews turned on the accusers and seized Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue and leading accuser, and beat him before the judgment seat while Gallio looked on without intervening. It was the first time in Europe that a mob took the side of Paul as a minister of truth, and Christianity won a signal victory. The victory preserved the work at Corinth, for if Paul had then been driven out by Jewish malice the whole company of converts would have been placed in great danger of extermination. Gallio was a man of integrity who would not be made the dupe of the jealous Jews and, unlike Pilate, would not do injustice to a man he knew to be innocent, standing among the heathen magistrates who recognized and declared Paul's innocence.

Setting and Incident

The scene is first-century Corinth, a leading city of Greece and of the wider world, a major commercial center where Greeks, Jews, Romans, and travelers from many lands gathered. It was a city of pleasure-loving merchants, and there Paul preached the gospel, a labor already accomplished before his release from Rome and his last interval of freedom working among the churches. The passage of Acts 18:1-17 belongs to that Corinthian work, which involved confusion and strife spread among the church there by opposers. Paul later told the elders at Jerusalem about this Corinthian work as part of what God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry, speaking with great gentleness and courtesy, avoiding everything that would needlessly wound his brethren, and dwelling especially on topics where they could harmonize.

Acts 18:12-17 records the Jews' unsuccessful and foiled attempt to secure Paul's condemnation by Gallio at Corinth. That attempt took place five years before Paul's later change of plan to leave Corinth by way of Macedonia. Since that failure the Jewish opposers had been unable to arouse the people or the rulers against him, while the spread of his preaching that Jews were released from distinctive observances and Gentiles were admitted to equal privileges as children of Abraham continued to enrage them.

The Jewish religion stood under Roman protection, and Paul's accusers hoped to fasten on him a charge of violating its laws so he would be handed over to them for punishment and death. Gallio immediately dismissed the case as a dispute about their own religious law having no bearing on the public interest. That dismissal was watched for eagerly by both Greeks and Jews.

After the dismissal the baffled and enraged Jews withdrew. The Greeks who had been abetting the Jews then turned against Paul's accusers. Under the very eye of the proconsul and without interference from him, the crowd violently seized Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue and most prominent accuser who had brought charges against Paul, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio ignored it and did not intervene.

Vindication and Significance

The dismissal turned the crowd against Paul's accusers, and for the first time during his work in Europe the mob sided with him as the minister of truth, giving Christianity a notable and signal victory in Corinth. The Greeks who had been abetting the Jews seized Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue and most prominent accuser, and violently beat him before the judgment seat under the very eye of the proconsul and without interference from him while he ignored it. That attack exposed the unjust and vindictive conduct and spirit of the accusers, which even the ignorant rabble could see. Christianity's survival there at that moment was a signal victory, for if Paul had then been driven out by Jewish malice the whole company of converts would have been placed in great danger. The Jews would have followed up their advantage, as was their custom, with further efforts even to the extermination of Christianity in that region.

Gallio was a man of integrity who would not be made the dupe of the jealous Jews and who, unlike Pilate, refused to do injustice to a man he knew to be innocent. He is counted among the heathen magistrates who recognized and declared Paul's innocence, in contrast with Jewish tribunals that condemned him without proving his guilt. His refusal to involve himself in the dispute meant he would not let the Jewish leaders use Roman authority to pursue Paul. He thus supplies the comparison for Festus's conduct, as a ruler who would not let pressure from accusers, Jewish hostility, or religious accusations dictate a Roman legal decision. Festus likewise refuses to sacrifice justice to gain popularity.