Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 18:16
And he drove them from the judgment seat.
16. And he drave them from the judgment seat ] The description given by St Luke makes it probable that the seat of Gallio was in some open public place, where all might come and bring their plaints. The proconsul would be attended by his lictors and other officials, and those he now commands to clear the place of these troublesome cavillers about words and names. The new magistrate found perhaps enough to do in matters which came within his jurisdiction in the busy mercantile life of Corinth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And he drave them … – He refused to hear and decide the controversy. The word used here does not denote that there was any violence used by Gallio, but merely that he dismissed them in an authoritative manner.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. And he drave them from the judgment seat.] He saw that their accusation was both frivolous and vexatious, and he ordered them to depart, and the assembly to disperse. The word , which we translate he drave, does not signify here any act of violence on the part of Gallio or the Roman officers, but simply an authoritative dismission.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He commanded them to be gone, having dismissed their case; and, if need were, added threatening and force.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. drave them, &c.annoyedat such a case.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he drave them from the judgment seat. He would not hear, and try the cause; but dismissed them with threatening them, if ever they brought an affair of that kind to him any more.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He drave them ( ). First aorist active indicative of , old word, but here alone in the N.T. The Jews were stunned by this sudden blow from the mild proconsul and wanted to linger to argue the case further, but they had to go.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And he drave them,” (kai apelasen autous) “And he expelled, chased or drove them away from the tribunal, the Bema, or judgement seat, as unworthy accusers at that place of civil and criminal judgement. He ordered the lictors, or sergeants at arms, to remove them, to take them out of his presence, as Gamaliel had done in a similar meeting against the apostles, Act 5:34.
2) “From the judgement seat.” (apo tou Bematon) “From the tribunal,” located near the synagogue in Corinth, where he had been brought by the accusing Jews, Act 18:12-13. He ordered them out of the court, with annoyance and an indication of contempt for their wanting him to take part in an illegal trial of Paul. He used prudence and discernment regarding his moral and ethical values, such as becomes righteous judgement, Deu 27:19; Pro 31:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(16) He drove them from the judgment seat.The words imply a magisterial act. The order was given to the lictors to clear the court, and the Jews, who did not immediately retreat were exposed to the ignominy of blows from their rods.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Drave them Bid them clear the room so peremptorily as indicated ready compulsion by officers.
It is by no means so clear, as commentators represent, that Gallio does not here display more impatience than becomes his office. The tedium of a regal discussion is no good ground of a nonsuit. Perhaps he is already nervous from the climate, which ultimately sent him home an invalid. It certainly was a prima facie question whether Paul had not deserted from his national creed, requiring a discussion.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he drove them from the judgment-seat.’
And the result was that he drove them all from the place of judgment. He was having none of it. There is an impression here of rather forceful dealings, as the next verse confirms. The authorities did not take kindly to spurious cases which simply wasted their time.
The ‘judgment seat’ was a large raised platform that stood in the marketplace in front of the pro-consul’s residence and from which he would try cases in public.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 18:16-17 . ] he dismissed them as plaintiffs, whose information it was not competent to him to entertain. Comp. Dem. 272. 11. 1373. 12.
Under the legal pretext of the necessity of supporting this of the proconsul, all the bystanders ( , partly perhaps Roman subordinate officials, but certainly all Gentiles , therefore is a correct gloss) used the opportunity of wreaking their anger on the leader and certainly also the spokesman of the hated Jews; they seized Sosthenes , the ruler of the synagogue, even before the tribunal, and beat him.
is by Theodoret, Erasmus, Calvin, and others, also Hofmann, heil. Schr. d. N.T . II. ii. p. 4 f., very arbitrarily (especially as this name was so common) considered as identical with the person mentioned in 1Co 1:1 ; hence also the erroneous gloss added to has arisen from the supposition that he either was at this time actually a Christian, or at least inclined to Christianity, and therefore not sufficiently energetic in his accusation. Against this may be urged the very part which Sosthenes, as ruler of the synagogue, evidently plays against Paul; [80] and not less the circumstance, that the person mentioned in 1Co 1:1 was a fellow-labourer of Paul out of Corinth; according to which, for the identification of the two, a more extended hypothesis would be necessary, such as Ewald has. Chrysostom considers him even identical with Crispus .
.] Whether he was a colleague (see on Act 13:15 ) of the above-named , Act 18:8 , or successor to him on his resignation in consequence of embracing Christianity (Olshausen, de Wette, Baumgarten, Ewald, and others), or whether he presided over another synagogue in Corinth (Grotius), remains undetermined.
. . . ] and Gallio troubled himself about none of these things , which here took place; he quite disregarded the spectacle. The purpose of this statement is to exhibit the utter failure of the attempt. So little was the charge successful, that even the leader of the accusers himself was beaten by the rabble without any interference of the judge, who by this indifference tacitly connived with the accused.
[80] According to Hofmann, be was so linked with his people, that, although inwardly convinced by the preaching of the apostle, he yet appeared at the head of the furious multitude before the proconsul against Paul, because he could not forsake the synagogue. What a character would thus be the result! And what reader could from the simple words put together for himself traits so odious! How entirely different were Joseph and Nicodemus!
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
16 And he drave them from the judgment seat.
Ver. 16. And he drave them from the tribunal ] As so many Vitilitigatores, qui de lana saepe caprina rixantur, that contended for trifles, and such as deserved the whipping post, which is the punishment that the Turks put such among them to as are litigious. a
a
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Act 18:16 . : probably by his lictors who would be commanded to clear the court. This interpretation of the word is in accordance with the next verse, which describes the crowd of Greeks as prepared to follow up the decision of Gallio by similar treatment of a leading Jew on their own account. See critical note.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
drave. Greek. apelauno. Only here. They probably persisted in their charges and so the liotors were ordered to clear the court.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 76:10, Rom 13:3, Rom 13:4, Rev 12:16
Reciprocal: Act 18:12 – the judgment
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
Act 18:16. This verse means that Gallio dismissed the case and cleared the court room of the complainants. This judge set a precedent that should be observed today. No secular court has any business meddling in religious controversies, and professed disciples of Christ ought to know better than to bring religious disputes into such courts.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 18:16. And he drave them from the judgment-seat. The language shows that some force had to be used to induce these importunate accusers to leave the court.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 14