Paul & Gallio

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

April 6, 2021

Paul & Gallio

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. 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.”

Acts 18:14-15

Read: Acts 18:12-17       

There are two very important insights about the early church included in today’s passage. First, is the name of Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, for which Corinth was the capitol. (Achaia was the Roman province on the southern tip of Greece.) With this name, historians can date the time Paul was in Corinth, and from that date, put together the chronology of Paul’s missionary journeys. It was probably sometime in the fall of the year 51 AD when Paul appeared before Gallio, which means Paul had been in Corinth since late in the year 49, or early 50 AD.

The second insight is in the acceptance the Roman government gave to the Christians. This would last for about fifty years before the Romans considered the Christians as an offense and began to intensely persecute them. The Romans were very jealous of their gods and idols with Caesar being the centerpiece of their worship. However, they had seen how steadfastly the Jews held to their allegiance to their God. So, the pragmatic Romans granted the status of ‘another’ religion to the Jews, provided that the Jews agreed to pray for Caesar, if not to him. In effect, Gallio was including the Christians as a sect within the Jewish faith and thus acceptable as ‘another’ religion.

This ruling troubled the Jews for two reasons. First, they were greatly offended by the Christians not only accepting the Gentiles, but actively proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah to the Gentiles. Secondly, the Jews feared that eventually the Christians would offend the Romans by their insistence that Jesus was not only King of the Jews, he was Lord of all. If the Christians were considered a sect of the Jews, then when the Romans turned against the Christians the Jews would also lose their recognition as ‘another religion.” History would prove their fears were well-founded.

My Takeaway: The Apostle Paul proclaimed to the Athenians that God is actively working in the affairs of the world. In our reading today, we see God used Gallio to open opportunities for Paul and his friends to build His Kingdom on earth. May God grant us wisdom and discernment to see the opportunities He is providing for us in our time as His Kingdom builders.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.