Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 18:14

"But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked villany, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:" — Acts 18:14 (ASV)

The word “law” (GK 3795) in v.13 is somewhat ambiguous. Undoubtedly when it was first used by Paul’s antagonists in their synagogue, it referred to God’s law against which they were convinced Paul was speaking. But at the proconsul’s forum, they meant “law” to be understood as Roman law, which they charged Paul was breaking. Gallio, however, after hearing their charges, was not at all convinced that this was true. For him the squabble was an intramural one about “a word [NIV, words; GK 3364] and names and their own law”—which doubtless means a squabble concerning “a message,” “names” (having to do with an expected Messiah), and particular interpretations of the Jewish law. Gallio’s responsibility was to judge civil and criminal cases, not to become an arbitrator of religious disputes. What Paul was preaching, in his view, was simply a variety of Judaism that did not happen to suit the leaders of the Jewish community at Corinth but which was not for that reason to be declared religio illicita. Thus he did not need to hear Paul’s defense but ejected the plaintiffs from the forum as not having a case worth being heard by a proconsul. The importance of Gallio’s decision was profound. Luke highlights it in his account of Paul’s ministry at Corinth and makes it the apex of all that took place on Paul’s second missionary journey. No Roman authority had yet repudiated Christianity’s claim to share in the religio licita status of Judaism—neither in Macedonia nor in Athens. If Gallio had accepted the Jewish charge and found Paul guilty of the alleged offense, provincial governors everywhere would have had a precedent, and Paul’s ministry would have been severely restricted. As it was, Gallio’s refusal to act in the matter was tantamount to the recognition of Christianity as a religio licita; and the decision of so eminent a Roman proconsul would carry weight wherever the issue arose again. Later, in the sixties, Rome’s policy toward both Judaism and Christianity changed. But for the coming decade, the Christian message could be proclaimed in the provinces of the empire without fear of coming into conflict with Roman law.