Acts 18:12-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 18:12-17

We have here an account of some disturbance given to Paul and his friends at Corinth, but no great harm done, nor much hindrance given to the work of Christ there. I. Paul is accused by the Jews before the Roman governor, Acts 18:12, 13. The governor was Gallio, deputy of Achaia, that is, proconsul; for Achaia was a consular province of the empire. This Gallio was elder brother to the famous Seneca; in his youth he was called Novatus, but took the name of Gallio upon his being adopted into the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 18:12-17

18:12-17 When Gallio was proconsul of Asia, the Jews got together to make an attack on Paul. They brought him to the judgment seat and said, "This man seduces men to worship God contrary to the Law." When Paul was going to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "You Jews, if this were a matter of crime or of wicked misbehaviour I would of course listen with patience to you; but if this is a question of talk and words and a law observed by you, see to it yourselves. I have no wish to be judge of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 18:12

And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia ,.... This province, which was now become a Roman one, Pliny the younger F17 L. 8. Ep. 24. calls true and mere Greece; it went by the name of Aegialus F18 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 5. Pausanias, l. 7. p. 396. , and now it is called Livadia: it has on the north the country of Thessaly, and on the west the river Acheloo, or Aracheo, on the east the Aegean sea, and on the south Peloponnesus, or the Morea. Gallio, who was now deputy of it, was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 18:13

Saying, this fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. Meaning either to the law of the Romans, which forbad the bringing in of any new gods, without the leave of the senate; See Gill on Acts 16:21 ; or rather to the law of Moses: the Arabic version reads, "our law"; though this was false, for Moses in his law wrote of Christ, and ordered the children of Israel to hearken to him. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 18:14

And when Paul was now about to open his mouth ,.... In his own defence, and plead his own cause, and answer to the charge exhibited against him: Gallio said unto the Jews, if it was matter of wrong ; of injury to any man's person or property, as murder, theft, &c.; or wicked lewdness ; as fraud, forgery, perjury, treason, &c.; O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you : his sense is, that it would be according to right reason, and agreeably to his office as a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 18:15

But if it be a question of words ,.... "Or of the word", what the Jews called the word of God, which Gallio did not pretend to understand: "and names"; as the names of God, of Jesus, and of Christ, whether he is God, and the Messiah: and of your law ; concerning circumcision, whether these Christians, and the proselytes they make, are obliged unto it: look ye to it ; suggesting that this was a matter that lay before them, and they were the proper judges of, and might determine for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 18:16

And he drave them from the judgment seat. He would not hear, and try the cause; but dismissed them with threatening them, if ever they brought an affair of that kind to him any more. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 18:17

Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes ,.... These were not the Greeks or Gentiles that were devout persons, or converted to Christianity, and were on the side of Paul, and fell foul on Sosthenes, as being his chief accuser; for this is not agreeably to the spirit and character of such persons, but the profane and unconverted Greeks, who observing that Gallio sent the Jews away, with some resentment and contempt, were encouraged to fall upon the principal of them, and use him in a very ill... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 18:12

When Gallio was the deputy of Achaia - The Romans comprehended, under the name of Achaia, all that part of Greece which lay between Thessaly and the southernmost coasts of Peloponnesus. Pausanias, in Attic. vii. 16, says that the Romans were accustomed to send a governor into that country, and that they called him the governor of Achaia, not of Greece; because the Achaeans, when they subdued Greece, were the leaders in all the Grecian affairs see also Suetonius, in his life of Claudius, cap.... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 18:13

Persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law - This accusation was very insidious. The Jews had permission by the Romans to worship their own God in their own way: this the laws allowed. The Roman worship was also established by the law. The Jews probably intended to accuse Paul of acting contrary to both laws. "He is not a Jew, for he does not admit of circumcision; he is not a Gentile, for he preaches against the worship of the gods. He is setting up a worship of his own, in opposition... read more

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