Acts 18:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”

NIV: This man,' they charged, 'is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.'

NASB: saying, 'This man is inciting the people to worship God contrary to the law.'

CSB: "This man," they said, "is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law."

NLT: They accused Paul of 'persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to our law.'

KJV: Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

NKJV: saying, “This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”

At least since the time of Jeroboam, rulers have known that if you can control what gods people worship, you can keep the people united (1 Kings 12:26–29). The Romans knew this, too. About a hundred years before Paul ministered in Corinth, Cicero wrote a fictional dialogue about natural law and the religious law of Rome. In De Legibus ii.8, he writes, "…let no one have private gods—neither new gods nor strange gods, unless publicly acknowledged, are to be worshipped privately…" By this, he means it should be against the law to worship gods not endorsed by the Roman government.

So, when the Jews of the synagogue in Corinth can't get Paul to stop teaching that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah who offers reconciliation with God, they bring him before Gallio, the proconsul. There, they accuse him of breaking the Roman law that forbids the teaching or worshiping of a god Rome has not authorized. If they succeed, they will have won a great victory; a proconsul, under the authority of the Roman Senate, has the power to control where Paul can go throughout the Empire.

Unfortunately for the Jews, Gallio doesn't care. He doesn't see the difference between the God Paul preaches and the God the Jews worship. Or, at least, he does not see that the differences are meaningful with respect to Roman law. The Roman government already authorized the Jews to worship their God, so Gallio tells them, "since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things" (Acts 18:15).

Gallio not only refuses to charge Paul, he does nothing when a crowd grabs the leader of the synagogue and beats him in the middle of the court. Paul stays in Corinth for eighteen months, building up the church he has planted, knowing that when God makes a decision (Acts 18:9–10) He can use whatever means He wishes to fulfill 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.

Acts 18 covers the last half of Paul's second missionary journey and the first part of the third. He and his team have traveled down the east coast of Macedonia and Greece to Corinth (Acts 17) where they will spend eighteen months. Paul will stop briefly in Ephesus on their way back to Judea before visiting Jerusalem and Syrian Antioch. From there, Paul will return to Galatia in modern-day Asia Minor before returning to Ephesus for an extended stay (Acts 19). He will revisit the churches in Macedonia and Greece before facing arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.