Acts 18:15

If we read the plural ζητήματα we may regard it as expressing contempt: “a parcel of questions,” Alford; but if they are questions of word (teaching) not deed (opposite ἔργον, factum) and of names not things, verba, opposite πράγματα (Blass); i.e., the arguments as to whether Jesus could rightly or not claim the title of Messiah, see also Page's note. νόμου τοῦ καθʼ ὑμᾶς : of your law not Roman law; with the phrase cf. Acts 17:28 (Acts 16:39 [321]), Acts 24:22. It is used only once elsewhere in N.T., by St. Paul, Ephesians 1:15 (cf. Acts 26:3). ὄψεσθε αὐτοί, cf. Matthew 27:4; Matthew 27:24; pronoun emphatic, Acts 13:18-19; so in LXX, Numbers 13:19; Judges 7:17; Judges 21:21, etc. Blass quotes two passages from Epictetus, ii., 5, 30, and iv., 6, 41. κριτὴς γὰρ ἐγὼ : omit γάρ; pronoun more emphatic; they could determine their matters according to their own law; so Lysias, xxiii., 29, Festus, xxv., 19. οὐ βούλομαι : “I am not minded,” R.V.; the decision while it testifies to the strength of Gallio's character, since unlike Pilate he would not allow himself to be influenced against his better judgment, expresses at the same time his sovereign contempt for the Jews and their religion; to him as to his brother Seneca the Jews were only sceleratissima gens (Aug [322], De Civ. Dei, vi., 10). The decision shows no favourable inclination to Christianity itself, but this does not take away from its importance as proving that so far as the Roman authorities were concerned the freedom of speech thus granted would enable the religion of the Christ to make its way through the civilised, i.e., the Roman world; cf. Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 260, who sees in his residence at Corinth an epoch in Paul's life not only as regards his doctrine and his presentation of it but also as regards his aim that Christianity should be spread throughout the empire, an aim made more clear by the imperial policy of which Gallio was the exponent.

[321] R(omana), in Blass, a first rough copy of St. Luke.

[322] Augustine.