Acts 18:15-17

18:15 but since it concerns points of disagreement¹ about words and names and your own law, settle² it yourselves. I will not be³ a judge of these things!” 18:16 Then he had them forced away⁴ from the judgment seat.⁵ 18:17 So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue,⁶ and began to beat⁷ him in front of the judgment seat.⁸ Yet none of these things were of any concern⁹ to Gallio.

¹tn Or “dispute.”

²tn Grk “see to it” (an idiom).

³tn Or “I am not willing to be.” Gallio would not adjudicate their religious dispute.

⁴tn Grk “driven away,” but this could result in a misunderstanding in English (“driven” as in a cart or wagon?). “Forced away” conveys the idea; Gallio rejected their complaint. In contemporary English terminology the case was “thrown out of court.” The verb ἀπήλασεν (aphlasen) has been translated as a causative since Gallio probably did not perform this action in person, but ordered his aides or officers to remove the plaintiffs.

⁵sn See the note on the term judgment seat in 18:12.

⁶tn That is, “the official in charge of the synagogue”; ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “leader/president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93).

sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

⁷tn The imperfect verb ἔτυπτον (etupton) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

⁸sn See the note on the term judgment seat in 18:12.

⁹tn L&N 25.223 has “‘none of these things were of any concern to Gallio’ Ac 18:17.”

sn Rome was officially indifferent to such disputes. Gallio understood how sensitive some Jews would be about his meddling in their affairs. This is similar to the way Pilate dealt with Jesus. In the end, he let the Jewish leadership and people make the judgment against Jesus.