Acts 18:12

Acts 18:12-13 . When Gallio was the deputy — Greek, Γαλλιωνος ανθυπατευοντος , Gallio being proconsul; of Achaia — Of which Corinth was the chief city. This Gallio, the brother of the famous Seneca, is much commended both by him and by other writers, for the sweetness and generosity of his temper, and easiness of his behaviour. Yet one thing he lacked! But he knew it not, and had no concern about it! The Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul — His great success at Corinth, and in Peloponnesus, in converting the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, provoked the Jews to the highest pitch of rage, especially when they found he led his converts to despise the institutions of Moses, by assuring them that they might be justified and saved through faith in Christ, without the use of these institutions: and brought him to the judgment-seat — Of Gallio; saying, This fellow — The author of insufferable mischiefs, here and all over the country; persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law — It seems Paul had taught that, the law of Moses being now abrogated, men were no longer bound to worship God with sacrifices and washings, and other bodily services, but in spirit and in truth.

And this doctrine being deemed contrary to the law of Moses, the unbelieving Jews, in this tumultuous manner, brought Paul, the teacher of it, before the proconsul, in order to have him punished, as one who, by opposing the law of Moses, had acted contrary to the laws of the empire, which tolerated the Jews in the exercise of their religion.

This Gallio was brother to that deservedly famous Seneca, (who was tutor to Nero), and hath great commendations given him, as being a man of excellent disposition, beloved by all men, an enemy to all vice, and especially a hater of flattery. Deputy of Achaia; this man was proconsul, governing Achaia and all Greece absolutely, or with the power of a consul. With one accord; wicked men in their evil deeds are unanimous, for Satan knows that his kingdom would not stand if it were once divided.

Acts 18:12 . Γαλλίωνος ) This Gallio was brother of Seneca, and was commended by Seneca and others for his yielding disposition and sweet temper. The action of Gallio in this passage is in accordance with such a character.— ἀνθυπατεύοντος ) Achaia was then strictly a proconsular province [ ἀνθυπαος = proconsul ].—’Αχαΐας, of Achaia ) of which Corinth was the metropolis.

{5} And when Gallio was the deputy of {f} Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, (5) The wicked are never weary of doing evil, but the Lord wonderfully mocks their endeavours. (f) That is, of Greece, yet the Romans did not call him deputy of Greece, but of Achaia, because the Romans brought the Greeks into subjection by the Achaians, who in those days were Princes of Greece, as Pausanias records.

Verse 12. - But for and , A.V.; proconsul for the deputy , A.V.; with one accord rose up for made insurrection with one accord , A.V.; before for to , A.V. Gallio. Marcus Annaeus Novatus took the name of Lucius Junius Annaeus Gallio, on account of his adoption by L. Junius Gallio. He was the elder brother of Seneca, and a man of ability, and of a most amiable temper and disposition. His brother Seneca said that he had not a fault, and that everybody loved him. He was called "Dulcis Gallio" by Statius. It is unfortunately not known exactly in what year Gallio became either Consul or Proconsul of Achaia. Had it been known, it would have been invaluable for fixing the chronology of St. Paul's life. Lewin puts it (his proconsulate) in the year A.D. , and so does Renan; Howson, between A.D. and A.D. . The circumstantial evidence from secular writers corroborating St. Luke's account is exceedingly curious. There is no account extant either of his consulate or of his proconsulate of Achaia. But Pithy, speaking of the medicinal effect of a sea-voyage on persons in consumption, gives as an example, "as I remember was the case with Annaeus Gallio after his consulate," and seems to imply that he went to Egypt for the sake of the long sea-voyage; which would suit very well his going there from his government in Achaia (Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.,' 31. cap. 6:33).

And that his proconsulate was in Achaia is corroborated by a chance quotation in Seneca's Epistle 104, of a saying of "my lord Gallio, when ha had a fever in Achaia and immediately went on board ship," where the phrase "domini met," applied to his own brother, seems also to indicate his high rank. Profane history also shuts up the probable date of Gallio's proconsulate between the year A.D. and the year A.D. or 66, in which he died. There is a diversity of accounts as to his death. Ernesti, in his note on Tacitus, 'Auual.,' 15. 73, where Tacitus speaks of him as frightened at the death of his brother Seneca, and a suppliant for his own life, says, "quem Nero post interfecit," and refers to Dion Cassius, 58,18, and Eusebius. But Dion is there speaking of Junius Gallio in the reign of Tiberius, not of our Gallio at all; though afterwards, speaking of the death of Seneca, he says, "and his brothers also were killed after him "(62, 25). As for Eusebius, the passage quoted is not found in the Greek or Armenian copies of the 'Chronicon,' but only in the Latin of Jerome. But, as Scaliger points out, there is a manifest blunder here, because the 'Chronicon ' places the death of Gallio two years before that of Seneca, whereas we know from Tacitus that Gallio was alive after his brother's death. Moreover, the description "egregius declamator" clearly applies to Junius Gallio the rhetorician, and not to Gallio his adopted son.

Acts 18:12-13 . Achaia ( i.e . according to the Roman division of provinces, the whole of Greece proper , including the Peloponnesus, so that by its side Macedonia, Illyria, Epirus, and Thessaly formed the province Macedonia , and these two provinces comprehended the whole Grecian territory), which originally had been a senatorial province (Dio Cass. liii. p. 704), but by Tiberius was made an imperial one (Tacit. Ann. i. 76), and was again by Claudius (Suet. Claud . 25) converted into a senatorial province (see Hermann, Staatsalterth . § 190, 1–3), and had in the years 53 and 54 for its proconsul ( ἀνθύπατος , see on Acts 13:7 ) Jun. Ann. Gallio, who had assumed this name (his proper name was M. Ann. Novatus) from L. Jun. Gallio, the rhetorician, by whom he was adopted. He was a brother of the philosopher L. Ann. Seneca (Tacit. Ann . xv. 73, xvi. 17), and was likewise put to death by Nero. See Lipsius, in Senec. prooem . 2, and ep . 104; Winer, Realw . κατεπέστ .] they stood forth against him , is found neither in Greek writers nor in the LXX. παρὰ τ . νόμ .] i.e. against the Jewish law . See Acts 18:15 .[79] To the Jews the exercise of religion according to their laws was conceded by the Roman authority. Hence the accusers expected of the proconsul measures to be taken against Paul, whose religious doctrines they found at variance with the legal standpoint of Mosaism. Luke gives only the chief point of the complaint.