During the apostle's stay at Corinth occurred: un event which was of interest enough for the Holy Ghost to claim a place in the inspired narrative as carrying on the design of the work given to Luke for accomplishing.
“But when Gallio was pro-consul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul, and brought him before the judgment-seat, saying, This [man] persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If indeed it were some wrong, or wicked villainy, O Jews, with reason should I have borne with you; but if they are questions about a word and names and your own law, ye shall look yourselves: I do not intend to be judge of these things. And he drove them from the judgment-seat. And having all laid hold on Sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue they beat [him] before the judgment-seat. And Gallio cared for none of these thing's. And Paul, having remained yet many days, took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow” (ver. 12-18).
The testimony went forth fearlessly; the vision answered its purpose. Paul was not afraid but spoke and held not his peace; and while much people came forth to the Lord's name, none else was allowed to do His servant harm. If not a sparrow falls on the ground without our Father, if the very hairs of our head are all numbered, if the Lord Himself will confess before His Father him that confesses the Son before men, there is ground for good courage, not for fear of man. And the impotence of the most exasperated was proved in an unexpected way and quarter, but not without the Lord.
Gallio was notoriously one of the most amiable of men. “None of mortals,” said the famous Seneca of him, “is so sweet to one man, as he to all men.” This no doubt expressed the admiring affection of a brother; but the general character of the Roman governor is indisputable. And the Jews hoped to profit for their rancorous hostility by his pliant temper and love of approbation against the uncompromising witness of the one true God the Father, And of one Lord Jesus Christ. But malice defeats itself against grace and truth whenever God is pleased so to order it; and here, as He had distinctly promised to be with Paul, and that none should injure him, so it came to pass in a way strikingly different from the apostle's experience elsewhere.
It may be well to notice again the precise position of Gallio. He was “pro-consul” of Achaia. It is the more striking, because the province under both Tiberius and Caligula had been imperial, and hence under the authority then of a pro-praetor. Claudius, the reigning emperor, had restored Achaia to the senate, which involved the change of its former government to that of a pro-consul. Accordingly at this time Luke speaks accurately, not of a pro-praetor, but of a pro-consul. We saw a similar instance in Sergius Paulus the pro-consul of Cyprus, which had been, like Achaia, under imperial authority, but was afterward transferred to the Senate, and thus became pro-consular. The inspired historian made no mistake in these details, where it was exceedingly easy if he had not been under divine guidance; and the more so, as the early Christians notoriously kept aloof from all meddling with political administration. But in scripture we are entitled to look for the truth in things small and great; and this should be recognized by giving as exactly as possible the reproduction of its meaning. In fact Luke had been supposed in one at least of these instances to have erred by applying the term erroneously according to the state of things which had existed before the transfer to the senate, till a passage was found in a historian not read generally which confirmed the change, and coins with the new title made it still more evident. Had there been no coins, no statement in Dio Cass., extraneous evidence would have failed, yet the truth would have remained all the same in scripture: only even Christians would have trembled, because history did not speak in support of scripture. It is such incredulity which is so deplorable, and this among not heathens or Jews only but the baptized. But how sad that men bearing the Christian name should be swayed in a moment by human testimonies, after sheaving their readiness to doubt when they had the inspired word for it! Can anything evince more clearly that men naturally distrust God and His word? These things ought not so to be.
The Jews then with one accord rose up against Paul, and brought him to the well-known seat of the governor whence they counted on a sentence favorable to their desires. “This [man], said they, “persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.” Gallio saw through the case in a moment and needed no defense. “The law” in their mouth meant the law of Moses. This was enough for the Roman, whose pride was roused for his own. “And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews,” &c. He had heard enough to be sure that neither state law, nor public morality, nor private rights, had been violated; and it was no business of his to inquire farther. The contempt in which Jews were generally held no doubt strengthened his decision, of which the accused reaped the benefit. His amiable indifference did not wish to be troubled with what the apostle had to say. Religious opinion or the worship of God, as a question between the Jews and one they blamed, did not concern him or his office; God was in none of his thoughts, and he preferred to hear no more. The time would come when Christ's servants would be brought before governors and kings for His sake, for a testimony to them and the Gentiles, when it should be given them in that hour what was to be spoken. Here it was not the time to speak, though Paul was arraigned before the bema. The Lord guarded the interests of the gospel, and of its blessed witness, through employing providentially the careless amiability of the judge; who assuredly could not be accused of any real partiality for the apostle, and the less if he entertained views akin to those of his philosophic brother. Seneca's Stoicism was as far from appreciating the faith and humility of the Christian as from receiving the revelation of the Father and the Son, or the eternal life and redemption which the Holy Spirit now makes the known portion of the believer.
The Roman left the Jews to settle their religious questions in their own way. Gallio declined to have his hand forced: he had no mind to be a judge of these things. “Were it indeed some wrong, or wicked villainy, O Jews, with reason I should have borne with you; but if it be questions about a word and names and your own law, look to it yourselves: I am not minded to be a judge of these things.” The kindest and most courteous may be contemptuous enough when the truth is concerned, of which he knows nothing. “And he drove them from the judgment-seat” (ver. 16). Even if physical force was not used, there is implied at the least peremptoriness.
Such an issue on the part of an official so exalted would unavoidably act on an impressionable people who shared the prevalent scorn of the heathen towards Jews disappointed of their prey. It is not needful to specify that “all were Greeks,” who assailed the prominent Jew who complained in the case, though there is large and good authority for this addition, adopted in the Text. Rec. Certainly the reading of some cursives, which attributes the assault to “all the Jews,” refutes itself as intrinsically worthless and absurd. Had not Sosthenes but Crispus been said to be the object of animosity, such a reading could be understood. But Sosthenes would seem to have succeeded Crispus in that office, without a hint of his conversion as yet, though he may have been the one who is later spoken of as a brother. The best, though not the most considerably authenticated, variant is that which is found in the Sinaitic, Alexandrian, and Vatican Uncials, and some of the most ancient versions. These witnesses simply say that they “all” laid hold of Sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue, and were beating him before the judgment-seat, and that gait) gave himself no trouble about the matter. Thus did God in His providence bring to naught the malicious attack of the Jews on Paul, while manifesting the unbelieving easiness of Gallio.
It is interesting to note also that the apostle did not quit Corinth at once, as indeed the failure of the Jews before the governor left him free, “And Paul having remained yet many days took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence unto Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow” (ver. 18). It was during his stay at Corinth that the Epistles to the Thessalonians were written, with an interval between them, short but sufficient to show what mischief could befall the saints in a brief time; so mistaken are those who think it was only after centuries that error was able to enter. So it was, as we know, among the assemblies of Galatia in a more fatal way, and on a subject yet more fundamental. And both occasions were where the saints had the inestimable benefit of an apostolic, planting, which Rome had not any more than other places, which vaunted as proudly as with scanty reason. Indeed Corinth itself was to manifest the same liability to go astray, though it was chiefly in ecclesiastical truth and order, though by no means confined to it; and yet there Paul stayed many days before the charge before Gallio, and as we are told, “yet many days” after. But at length he bade the brethren adieu, and sailed thence unto Syria, and with him his beloved companions, Priscilla and Aquila.
There is a clause at the end of ver. 18 which has afforded matter for debate. The ancients do not seem to have doubted that Paul himself is in question, the preceding words being parenthetical. Others, especially of late, as Wieseler and Meyer, have been more willing to attach the vow, and shaving of the head, to Aquila. But the great apostle went far in compliance with, and in condescension to, Jewish forms in certain circumstances which left the Face of the gospel untouched. It was the effort to impose the law on the Gentiles who believed, which roused a tempest of feeling and irresistible argument, as indeed his whole soul was engaged with burning zeal at once for the cross of his Master, and for the liberty of the souls imperiled by, that effort. Some ancients indeed, not the Aethiopic Version only, gave the sense that more than one shaved the head according to vow; but I see no sufficient reason to doubt that it was Paul; for he is the one before the mind of the inspiring Spirit, rather than to speak of Aquila.