Acts 18:15

15 but if there are 1questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling * to be a judge of these matters."

Acts 18:15 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 18:15

But if it be a question of words
"Or of the word", what the Jews called the word of God, which Gallio did not pretend to understand: "and names"; as the names of God, of Jesus, and of Christ, whether he is God, and the Messiah:

and of your law;
concerning circumcision, whether these Christians, and the proselytes they make, are obliged unto it:

look ye to it;
suggesting that this was a matter that lay before them, and they were the proper judges of, and might determine for themselves, since they had the free exercise of their religion, and a right of judging of everything that respected that within themselves, and for which they were best furnished, as having a more competent knowledge of them; as the Arabic version renders it, "and ye are more learned in these things"; and most conversant with them:

for I will be no judge of such matters;
and it would be well if every civil magistrate would act the same part, and not meddle with religious affairs, any further than to preserve the public peace.

Acts 18:15 In-Context

13 saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you;
15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters."
16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat.
17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Acts 23:29; Acts 25:19
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