Acts 18:15

But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. BUT IF IT BE A QUESTION - or, rather 'questions' (according to what is evidently the true reading) OF WORDS AND NAMES, AND OF YOUR LAW, [ peri (G4012) logou (G3056) kai (G2532) onomatoon (G3686) kai (G2532) nomou (G3551) tou (G3588) k...

− 15._Of words and names. _These words are not well packed together. Yet Gallio speaketh thus of the law of God by way of contempt, as if the Jewish religion did consist only in words and superfluous questions. And surely (as the nation was much given to contention) it is not to be doubted but that many did trouble themselves and others with superfluous trifles. Yea, we hear with what Paul hitteth them in the teeth − (328) in many places, especially in the Epistle to Titus, ( Titus 1:14, and Titus 3:9.) Yet Gallio is not worthy to be excused who doth mock the holy law of God together with their curiosity. For as it behooved him to cut off all occasion of vain contentions in words, so we must, on the other side, know that when the worship of God is in hand, the strife is not about word

12-17 Paul was about to show that he did not teach men to worship God contrary to law; but the judge would not allow the Jews to complain to him of what was not within his office. It was right in Gallio that he left the Jews to themselves in matters relating to their religion, but yet would not let them, under pretence of that, persecute another. But it was wrong to speak slightly of a law and religion which he might have known to be of God, and which he ought to have acquainted himself with. In what way God is to be worshipped, whether Jesus be the Messiah, and whether the gospel be a Divine revelation, are not questions of words and names, they are questions of vast importance. Gallio spoke as if he boasted of his ignorance of the Scriptures, as if the law of God was beneath his notice. Gallio cared for none of these things. If he cared not for the affronts of bad men, it was commenda...

Verse Acts 18:15. _BUT IF IT BE A QUESTION OF WORDS_] περι λογου, Concerning _doctrine and names_ - whether the person called _Jesus_ be the person you call the _Messiah_. _And_ of _your law_ - any particular nicety, concerning that _law_ which is _peculiar_ to _yourselves: Look_ _ye_ to it - settle the business among yourselves; the Roman government does not meddle with such matters, and I will not take upon me to - decide in a case that does not concern my office. As if he had said: "The Roman laws give religious liberty to Jews and Greeks; but, if controversies arise among you on these subjects, decide them among yourselves, or dispute about them as much as you please." A better answer could not be given by man; and it was highly becoming the acknowledged meekness, gentleness, and benevolence of this amiable man. He concluded that the state h...

OF WORDS - A dispute about words, for such he would regard all their controversies about religion to be. AND NAMES - Probably he had heard something of the nature of the controversy, and understood it to be a dispute about names; that is, whether Jesus was to be called the Messiah or not. To him this would appear as a matter pertaining to the Jews alone, and to be ranked with their other disputes arising from the difference of sect and name. OF YOUR LAW - A question respecting the proper interpretation of the Law, or the rites and ceremonies which it commanded. The Jews had many such disputes, and Gallio did not regard them as coming under his cognizance as a magistrate. LOOK YE TO IT - Judge this among yourselves; settle the difficulty as you can. Compare...

EXPOSITION ACTS 18:1 _He _for _Paul, _A.V. and T.R. AFTER THESE THINGS, etc. No hint is given by St. Luke as to the length of Paul's sojourn at Athens. But as the double journey of the Beroeans, who accompanied him to Athens, back to Beraea, and of Timothy from Beraea to Athens, amounted to above five hundred miles, we cannot suppose it to have been less than a month; and it may have been a good deal more. His reasonings in the synagogue with the Jews and devout Greeks, apparently on successive sabbaths, his daily disputations in the Agora, apparently not begun till after he had "waited" some time for Silas and Timothy, the knowledge he had acquired of the numerous temples and altars at Athens, and the phrase with which this chapter begins, all indicate a stay of some length. CAME TO CORINTH. If by land, a forty

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 themselves, since they had the free exercise of their religion, and a right of judging of everything that respected that within themselves, and for which they were best furnished, as having a more competent knowledge of them; as the Arabic version renders it, "and ye are more learned in these things"; and most conversant with them: FOR I WILL BE NO JUDGE OF SUCH MATTERS; and it would be well if every civil magi...

Paul had been preaching the gospel at Athens to the most famous men of that city gathered at Areopagus. Acts 18:1. _After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth:_ Another most important city of Greece, where he struck at the very center of the country by preaching the gospel, since these were the centers of commerce, and also of literature. Acts 18:2. _And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them._ Lodged with them. Acts 18:3. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their

CHAPTER 18 _ 1. In Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla. His Testimony and Separation from the Jews (Acts 18:1)._ 2. Encouragement from the Lord in a vision (Acts 18:9). 3. Paul and Gallio (Acts 18:12). 4. From Corinth to Ephesus and Antioch. The second journey ended (Acts 18:18). 5. Establishing disciples in Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23). 6. Apollos, the Alexandrian (Acts 18:24). Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned here for the first time.

GALLIO AND PAUL. Gallio's proconsulship is fixed by an inscription at Delphi which came to light in 1905; and gives an absolute date in Pauline chronology (p. 655). He had not been proconsul when Paul came to Corinth (Acts 18:12); his arrival in Achaia is found to have been after midsummer (A.D. 51), while Paul came there early in 50. Gallio was the brother of the philosopher Seneca, who describes him as sweet (_dulcis),_ and was a man of the highest culture. After his arrival the Jews brought Paul before him on the same charge as that made at Philippi (Acts 16:21) and at Thessalonica (Acts 17:7), that he preached an illegal religion. Gallio at once decides that as no punishable act is alleged, he will not enter on discussion as to