Ep 430 – Acts 18:12-18

In Acts 18:12-19, Paul will attempt to give his defense to the Roman proconsul, Gallio, refuting the false accusations of the Jews. But before he can get a word out, Gallio will shut down the proceedings, refusing to hear what he deems to be the internal squabbles of the Jews. He has neither the time or interest to listen to what they have to say, instead, kicking them out of his court and allowing Paul to walk free and get back to his business of sharing the gospel. All Paul had been guilty of doing was attempting to persuade the people of Corinth to believe in God and His offer of salvation made possible through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. The Jews were not interested. At least some of them. They saw Paul as a heretic and a nuisance. And they had hoped to persuade the Roman government to see him as a dangerous troublemaker and a potential threat to the Roman way of life. But Gallio actually found them to be more irritating than Paul. And what we need to see in all of this is the sovereign hand of God, working in unforeseen and unpredictable ways, to accomplish His divine will. Nothing escapes His notice. Nothing happens outside His divine purview. It’s interesting to note that the Jews accused Paul of persuading the people to worship God contrary to the law. In fact, he was. He was teaching a means to have a right relationship apart from the keeping of the law. But the Jews would have nothing to do with it. Yet, God won the day.