What does Acts 18:17 mean?
It's rare for Paul to spend much time in the cities and towns where he plants churches. Corinth is different. Not only does God tell him to stay, He also tells him he would not come to harm. God has chosen to save many people in Corinth and Paul needs time to reach them. In fact, Paul winds up staying a year and a half (Acts 18:9–11).Paul is used to local Jews and Gentiles driving him out of town, beating him, and even stoning him (Acts 13:45–51; 14:5–7, 19). But then synagogue leadership brings him before the proconsul Gallio, charging him with encouraging the worship of a foreign god. Gallio judges that the issue is one of religion, not civil law, and dismisses the charges (Acts 18:12–16).
When the Jews in the synagogue drove Paul out, after several weeks of showing Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, the synagogue ruler Crispus followed him (Acts 18:8). Sosthenes is apparently Crispus' replacement and the head of the group that brings Paul to trial. It's unclear who "they all" are—presumably Gallio's guards who want to make sure the Jews understand not to waste the proconsul's time.
In Paul's introduction to his letter to the Corinthian church, he writes, "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes" (1 Corinthians 1:1). There's no way we can know for certain, but it appears the Jewish synagogue leader so irritated with Paul that he brought him before a Roman court eventually becomes a Christ-follower. If so, there's no doubt Paul thought his tense encounter with Gallio was well worth it.
Acts 18:12–17 describes the relatively mild resistance Paul meets as he builds the church in Corinth. Paul spends eighteen months in Corinth teaching about Jesus' offer of forgiveness and establishing the church. The Jews who reject his message bring him to court and accuse him of teaching a new religion that isn't authorized by the Roman government. Gallio, the proconsul, doesn't see any socially relevant difference between the Jews and the Jesus-followers. So, he dismisses the charges. A crowd responds by seizing the leader of the synagogue and beating him, but Gallio does not give it any attention.
Acts 18 recounts the end of Paul's second missionary journey. He leaves Athens for Corinth, in southern Greece, and works with Priscilla and Aquila as a tentmaker until Silas and Timothy rejoin him. The team stays eighteen months with no significant pressure. Eventually, Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila sail east to Ephesus. Paul leaves a short time later for Judea and Syrian Antioch before returning to Galatia for his third missionary journey. Meanwhile, Priscilla and Aquilla host the church in Ephesus and train a talented speaker named Apollos to be a minister of Christ.