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Matthew Henry

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

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

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 18:12

Verse 12− 12.When Gallio. Either the change of the deputy did encourage the Jews to wax more proud and insolent, as froward men use to abuse new things that they may procure some tumult, or else hoping that the judge would favor them, they brake the peace and silence at a sudden, which had continued one whole year. And the sum of the accusation is, that Paul went about to bring in a false kind of worship contrary to the law. Now, the question is, whether they spake of the law of Moses or of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 18:1-17

Paul at Corinth. I. HIS WORK AT CORINTH . 1. Its humble and self-denying beginning . ( Acts 18:1-4 .). 2. Courageous progress. ( Acts 18:5-8 .) When Timothy and Silas came, Paul, instead of throwing the work upon their shoulders, only redoubles his activity. How useful and how happy "the tie that binds" men's hearts in Christian love and work ( Philippians 2:22 )! tie continues to witness to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. The previous work in the synagogue... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 18:4-17

The testimony. The kernel of the gospel is the truth that Jesus was the Christ. He was the Person spoken of by all the prophets as to come. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary, born in the reign of Augustus Caesar, and crucified in that of Tiberius; known to his contemporaries in Judaea and Galilee as a Teacher and a Prophet, known to later ages by the Gospels which record his life and death and resurrection from the dead; is God's Christ. He came into the world, in accordance with the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 18:12

But for and, A.V.; proconsul for the deputy, A.V.; with one accord rose up for made insurrection with one accord, A.V.; before for to, A.V. Gallio. Marcus Annaeus Novatus took the name of Lucius Junius Annaeus Gallio, on account of his adoption by L. Junius Gallio. He was the elder brother of Seneca, and a man of ability, and of a most amiable temper and disposition. His brother Seneca said that he had not a fault, and that everybody loved him. He was called "Dulcis Gallio"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 18:12-17

Fanaticism, pride, calmness, short-sightedness. I. JEWISH FANATICISM . ( Acts 18:12 , Acts 18:13 .) The Jews could not or would not understand that Paul was not against the Law, but only against their interpretation of it; that Christianity was not so much the abrogation as the fulfillment of the Law, its reinstitution in another and a better form, the one and only thing which could perpetuate and immortalize it. They regarded the apostle as a renegade, as an iconoclast, as a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 18:12-17

Contrasts in the attitude of men towards the gospel. I. LEGALISM . The whole idea of the opponents of Paul was his inconsistency with the Law. 1. It was not reverence for God's Law, but for men's traditions. 2. It was a form of self-worship. "He followeth not with us." 3. It was moral pedantry, a common sin; questions about words, names, and law, hiding realities. II. SECULARITY . Gallio an amiable and wise man, but doubtless influenced by the prevailing Roman spirit,... read more

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