Gallio’s Bema – Acts 18:12-17

In what two books does Paul talk about the Judgment Seat of Christ?

First, Romans, which was written while Paul was at Corinth.

Romans 14:10 – “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

And II Corinthians 5:10 – “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Do you suppose that these Corinthian related references to the Judgment Seat of Christ are at all related to the day that Paul stood before the Roman judgment seat which was in Corinth?

I was surprised to learn that the word “bema“ (judgment seat) is found ten times in the New Testament.

I expected it to be a number much smaller than that.

In Acts 25 Paul was once again before a “bema.”

And it is said that Paul’s Saviour had been in front of a “bema,” just as He will one day be upon a “bema.”

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the day that they would stand before the Lord’s “bema,” how much of what he had personally experienced do you think that Paul was visualizing?

This evening I’d like us to think about what these five verses tell us historically, but at the same time, I’d like you to keep the Lord’s “bema” in the back the our minds.

Consider the JUDGE in this case.

“And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat.”

This Gallio is an interesting character.

Secular history tells us that he was the brother of the famous philosopher Seneca.

Seneca was not only famous in his own right, but he was the tutor of Nero, before he became Emperor.

I doubt that we can charge him with what Nero became, because Seneca was very different from his pupil.

He may have been the most famous Stoic of his day.

And if you will remember, this was the group that believed that pleasure, passion and pain were to be ignored as much as possible.

Nero loved illicit, immoral, pleasure and passion, and enjoyed the infliction of pain.

This Gallio was the brother of Seneca, and had other important relatives as well.

And a variety of secular historians say that he was man of an extraordinarily high character.

He was modest, mild and gentle; his brother called him “sweet Gallio.”

One quote said, “No mortal man is so sweet to any SINGLE person as he is to ALL mankind.”

Seneca said, “Even those who love my brother Gallio to the utmost yet do not love him enough.”

Someone else described him as “a Roman with all a Roman’s dignity and seriousness, and yet with all the grace and versatility of a polished Greek.”

Do you remember how I described the morality of Corinth? It was an evil and licentious place.

John Gill quotes Seneca as saying that when his brother was deputy in Corinth, he got sick with a fever,

“and when as soon as it took him he went aboard a ship, crying, that it was not the disease of the body, but of the place.”

His nature and character put him at odds with the graft, crime and general sin of the city of Corinth.

Nevertheless, that was the post to which the Roman government had sent him.

If these things be true, then it’s a shame the way that many Bible commentators have interpreted what we read here in Acts 18.

Gallio is generally considered to be a typical, inconsiderate, uncaring, arrogant Roman politician.

Was that really the case? Maybe there is an explanation for his behaviour here in these verses.

Now, just for fun compare Gallio with the Judge of the greatest of all “bemas.”

Seneca might have said that there was no better man on earth than his brother Gallio.

But the Word of God says that there has never been a better man than the Lord Jesus.

Who was more gentle and sweet? Gallio or Jesus?

Who was more wise or more familiar with the litigants and defendants?

Whose judgment chamber will eventually be judged more holy?

Perhaps there could be some justification in comparing Gallio with the Lord Jesus.

Nevertheless, Jesus was and still is, by far, the better man.

Okay, now think about the CHARGES that were laid against Paul.

“And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.”

Ah, what fools those particular Jews were.

They sure could have used their cousins from Thessalonica right about then.

Those Macedonian Jews knew how to lay charges and how to get Paul into trouble.

For all the bad things that can be said about lawyers,

one thing for which you have to give them credit, is their attention to detail.

They generally do their best to avoid any semblance of confusion or inaccuracy.

When these Jews charged Paul with breaking the law, to which law were they referring? Roman / Mosaic?

Their inaccuracy cost them the argument.

When Paul was arrested in Philippi, the charges were that he was breaking Roman law.

“These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.”

And Jews in Thessalonica based their attack against Paul upon Roman law:

“These all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar.”

It was the same in Berea.

But this time it appears the Gallio understood the Jews to be talking about their law, not Roman law.

On the other hand, there WAS something similar to what happened in Philippi and Thessalonica:

An uproar and insurrection.

These verses contain the the suggestion of a sudden seizing of Paul,

with perhaps a beating and physically dragging him into the judgment hall,

all of which took place in a matter of minutes.

There was a sense of furor and pandemonium about this case, as there had been in Philippi.

But this time the judge is a seasoned professional, not a bully who had won the popular vote of his drinking buddies.

This man was not going to be confused or misled by the excitement of a mob.

Perhaps the charge that they laid against Paul was more honest than those made earlier, but as a result it was also useless.

Paul was being accused of persuading people, both Jews and Gentiles, that Jesus was the Christ.

He was teaching people to repent of their sins and to worship and trust Jesus.

He was teaching that Gentile converts didn’t have to be circumcized.

It was heresy to those Jews, but it was nothing to the Roman deputy of Achaia.

Now, think about YOUR judgment before Christ Jesus.

Remember that the Lord’s “bema” will not be a judgment of your salvation.

The Lord will not judge something in you that only He can accomplish.

When you stand before Christ at the Judgment Seat, it will, in a sense, be about the law – contrariness or agreement to the law.

It will be about what you’ve done in your body, good and bad, to glorify, or shame, the Lord,

and of course, the standard of that judgment will be the Word of God – or in other words “the law.”

Yes, there are some parallels between this “bema” and our future “bema.”

Now, notice the WISDOM of the judge.

As Roman deputy, it was the responsibility of Gallio to hear the really important cases within his jurisdiction.

I’m sure that smaller matters were handled by lesser judges and minor officials.

But on this occasion, one of the most important Jewish leaders of the community was at the head of this mob, and Paul was in tow.

And the counselors and secretaries to the Deputy weren’t exactly sure what was going on.

Immediately they were ushered in before the “bema.”

And when Gallio motioned to them, the Sosthenes or one of his servants declared, “This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.”

Instantly Gallio saw the situation for what it was, and he was convinced that it had nothing to do with the Roman government.

Then when Paul got ready to defend himself, Gallio cut him off by speaking to his accusers.

“If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: 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.”

The word “wrong” is talking about some sort of injury to someone or to the state.

The words “wicked lewdness” refer to more slimy, treacherous crimes like fraud, forgery or perjury.

And Gallio, who knew about such things, recognized that Paul wasn’t a threat to the society of either Rome or Corinth.

There once was a day when Paul stood before another the Deputy – a Proconsul of this rank.

Do you remember who that was? Sergius Paulus, Deputy of Cyprus.

Paul had not often been arraigned before men of this caliber; in fact the Roman Empire didn’t have that many men of this rank.

What is the likelihood that those two Proconsul’s had met; that they knew each other; that they had even talked about the Apostle Paul?

Sergius Paulus had become a Christian during Paul’s first missionary journey several years earlier.

Might it be possible that at a Proconsul’s meeting in Rome these two men had spent some time together?

Could Sergius Paulus have even shared the gospel with his counterpart from Corinth?

I’m not telling you that it happened, but there is room to wonder.

Now, I don’t think for a moment that Gallio was indifferent to Paul and his case.

In fact, if he had been indifferent, he might not have cared what the Jews did with Paul, except for the fact that he was a Roman citizen.

I think that Gallio showed exceptional wisdom.

But, of course, his wisdom couldn’t touch the hem of the garment of the Lord Jesus’ wisdom.

Biblically speaking, the Son of God is the incarnation of Wisdom.

When Paul next stands before a “bema” the Judge will be greater, more fair and infinitely more knowledgeable than Gallio.

And you and I are going to be standing there with Paul, the next time.

Lastly, there was the JUDGMENT.

Gallio, dismissed Paul.

“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. And he drave them from the judgment seat.”

Then something very strange occurred.

“Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue,

and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.”

This is where Gallio is tagged with being inhuman or unjust.

Sosthenes was the apparent successor to Crispus, as the chief ruler of the Jewish synagogue.

Sosthenes apparently was the man who instigated and directed this attack on Paul.

He probably had a vested interest in “getting” Paul,

and it would certainly solidify his position in the synagogue, if he could have Paul condemned.

Unfortunately for Sosthenenes – he failed.

Now, things get a little muddled.

Some scholars think that the Greeks of verse 17 were Jewish proselytes, who beat Sosthenes because he failed to get Paul convicted. They beat their own synagogue leader.

Others think that they were not proselytes, but just common citizens of Corinth.

Some go so far as to say that they were Christians, who were angry that their pastor had been attacked like this.

As to this idea, besides the fact that the scriptures don’t say that these were Christians,

that this is behaviour so unbecoming the saints, I refuse to consider it at all.

That idea is ridiculous.

Does Luke tell us that the attackers were Greek proselytes?

Although that is a possibility, he doesn’t say that.

And so I’m not inclined to think that they were.

One explanation for this beating is that when Gallio dismissed the case, the Greeks took it as tacit permission to vent the hatred that they had against the Jews generally on this one man in particular.

But if that was the case, then it implies that Gallio was not as good, sweet and just as so many of his contemporaries have said that he was.

But I have another possible explanation:

This is not something that I have read in any commentary, nor is it something that I’ve heard preached.

So you know what you can do with it, if you don’t like it.

What is your opinion about frivolous lawsuits?

What should be done to people who claim to trip in store parking lots, in order to sue those stores for hundreds of thousands of dollars?

What should be done to the prison inmate who, after creating dozens of frivolous law suits, costing the state thousands of dollars, sued himself, for permitting himself to get drunk, break the law and get tossed into jail?

What should be done to people who poke themselves in the eye, so that they can sue someone else for bodily injuries?

Could it be that Gallio permitted this beating of Sosthenes because that man needed to be lawfully punished for trying to manipulate the Roman legal system for his own benefit?

Could this have been legal punishment for a fraudulent lawsuit?

I’m not claiming that I fully understand what happened in Gallio’s judgment hall, but I have a possible explanation.

When it comes to our day in court, you can be sure that whatever judgment is given, it will be just.

II Corinthians 5:10 – “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.“

I Corinthians 3:11 – “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

As Christians our Christian lives are going to examined and judged at the Lord’s “bema”.

We are going to be rewarded for those things which we have done to bring glory to the Lord.

And in some way we are going to suffer loss for our neglected responsibilities and opportunities.

And you can be sure that the judgment handed down at the Lord’s “bema” will be absolutely perfect.

And now we come to the post-script of the message

What if what happened to Sosthenes somehow awakened him and was a part of God’s plan to bring him to his knees before the cross?

Is that a dumb idea?

Can anyone quote the first verse of I Corinthians?

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours

Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Is there any likelihood that the saint whom Paul called Sosthenes;

The saint about whom he referred when he was writing his first letter to the church in Corinth;

Is there any chance that this was the same Sosthenes?

Every commentary that I consulted said that there was a very good chance that this was the same man.

So this beating may have been bad for Sosthenes, and might have made Gallio look even worse,

But it may have been a part of the providence of God to bring another chief-ruler of the synagogue to Christ.