Acts 18:12 "And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, 13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. 14 And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: 15 But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. 16 And he drave them from the judgment seat."Gallio ( Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus) was a real person in the Roman government judging a Roman citizen, Paul, who was guilty of killing Christians, and also of loving another king: Jesus Christ! The Jews never bothered with him when he killed Christians. That was of no concern to them. He was one of them and a Pharisee. However, when he spoke things contrary to their understanding, their pride could not handle it. They colluded, as a mob, and took him to be judged.
What was his crime? "This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law"! What was Paul doing that was so criminal? He was teaching love and that Jesus Christ is God. It was out of ignorance that the Jews condemned him because the Law is all about Jesus who said:
Galatians 5:14 "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."Jesus said that he came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17). How so? One word: "love". The Pharisees were great "keepers of the law", but yet had no love. What Jesus (and Paul) taught is this simple formula:
10 = 1 (The Ten Commandments equals love)Love is the derivative and it's operationalized by the Law. The Greatest Commandment and the one like unto it, is the "what" and the Law is the "how"! We're told to love God and we demonstrate our love by loving others. (And some Calvinists think that the Law is of no concern!) We show that love by fair treatment:
- honoring our parents
- recognizing the sanctity of life
- honoring the sanctity of marriage
- appreciating property rights
- valuing another's reputation
- not being jealous of another
The Jews did these things quite well, but for wrong reasons. They obeyed the Law to keep their lousy skins out of hell. It was for their own salvation that they did what they had to do, but they missed the point; they failed to love others, which is demonstrative of loving God!
- Worship no other
- Material things provide no salvation
- Revere God
- Set aside one day to honor God
Jews were really good at honoring the Sabbath. That was a day they didn't have to work! They even failed at that because they made "not working" a chore. They wrote so many do's and don'ts for the Sabbath that little time was left to worship! They revered God through prayer and fasting, but it was for their own aggrandizement. They did it in public so that all could see! As such they worshiped another god, who just happened to be each of their own "selves"!
I'll give them some credit: throughout history they learned the hard way. At one time the Jews were always syncretic, worshiping other gods and building idols to other gods. They learned their lesson with the destruction of the temple, their nation fallen and the dispersion of their people. Because of their knee-jerk reaction, they failed to recognize their own Messiah, believing he claimed godhood. They denied Christ because they saw him as another god! Because of their own spiritual blindness they failed to see the hand in front of the face. Judaism IS "all about Jesus" and they missed the entire point of their own religion!
In short, the Jews failed to love God who came as Jesus, and they failed to do lawful things out of love, but only duty! Now comes Jesus and Paul, pointing this out to them! The Jews handled it two different ways: 1) Some applied it and changed or 2) most rejected it. Does that sound familiar? It should! I'm sure that others took another route. 3) apathy!
When preachers preach now in modern times, if they preach whole truth, parishioners who all sin in some manner, should be convicted of their sin and feel guilty! Some think "They all (others) need to hear that!" but fail to apply it to themselves! They walk out without repentance. These folks are self-righteous.
Others hear truth and think "I do those things and the preacher is pointing at me!" They reject the word and walk out in anger!
The third response to truth is "That's me. I sinned. Lord, forgive me!" That's the road least taken and is the path to salvation.
The Jews, for the most part, were the hard-hearted "I won't change for anyone!" or worse yet "I don't believe what Jesus did and who he is." That's why Paul turned to the Gentiles. They weren't bound by all the rituals and meaningless works and were ripe to fill longings within the soul which myths could not quench!
So it was this situation that the Jews indicted Paul: he was guilty of preaching "love", they failing to see that the Law as all about love (and they still fail to see that). They wanted Paul to stop so they went to Gallio. He judged fairly! Isn't that ironic that a pagan would be more fair than a righteous (sic) Jew!
Gallio kicked the back-biters out. He said in effect "Don't bother me with your doctrinal differences!" and recused himself from harsh judgment as Christians are called to do out of love:
Luke 6:37 "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:"Yes, we can have opinions, but the Jews took it to the extreme; they condemned Paul, but God still had a purpose for him and God put a fair judge there to prolong his purpose. Gallio's legacy is that act of grace which was fair, the epitome of what Christians should be!
There is a judicial lesson here as well! Our own court system and unfair judges should stay out of religious quarrels and stick to legal ones. To be as fair as the judge Gallio, the Ameican Civil Liberties Union should be ejected from civil courts. Judges can rightfully judge what is theirs to judge. They need to be as Gallio and be fair and recuse themselves from religious arguments!
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