¹²But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, ¹³saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” ¹⁴But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; ¹⁵but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.” ¹⁶And he drove them away from the judgment seat. ¹⁷And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

Paul’s eighteen months in Corinth provided much opportunity for teaching, with relatively little opposition—that is, until the end. But in this short section, Luke, the author of Acts, includes important historical detail. The dating of Paul’s time there is associated with a certain appointed governmental official named Gallio. We know from comparative historical records that Gallio was the nephew of the famous philosopher, orator, and senator Seneca the Younger. His appointment would have been made before his uncle’s falling out of favor with Emperor Nero and forced suicide in 65 A.D. Historians place Gallio’s appointment at around 53 A.D., and he came into power at the end of Paul’s stay there when the Jews felt they could appeal to the new proconsul.

Paul’s critics tried to twist the facts of his ministry, presenting the charge of unlawfulness. Gallio was no novice to political maneuvering and cut across their argument; the issue had nothing to do with Roman law but had everything to do with Jewish religious law. He would not allow such distortion of words for their ulterior purposes. So he washed his hands of the matter and kicked them out of the court.

In response to being turned away from the Roman official, the Jewish mob now turned on one of their own leaders, Sosthenes (although some commentators believe it was a Greek mob reacting to the disturbance caused by the Jews). Their head of steam needed a target. Sosthenes may have been more sympathetic to Paul’s teaching than to the mob’s objections to that teaching. No less than a public flogging resulted, and that in front of the Roman judgment seat.

This is probably the same Sosthenes who joined Paul in writing back to the Corinthians (see 1 Cor. 1:1), though we can’t know for sure. He and his fellow synagogue leader, Crispus, who came to faith, were no ignorant men, but they were willing to suffer the outrage of the unbelieving Jews. Their faith was forged in the face of opposition, and they were willing to pay the price.

Lord, help me stand up for Christ, even if it costs me a position of respect.