Acts 18:12

Paul Before the Proconsul Gallio

18:12 Now while Gallio ¹  was proconsul ²  of Achaia, ³  the Jews attacked Paul together ⁴  and brought him before the judgment seat, ⁵ 

Acts 18:27

18:27 When Apollos ⁶  wanted to cross over to Achaia, ⁷  the brothers encouraged ⁸  him ⁹  and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he ¹⁰  assisted greatly those who had believed by grace,

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¹ sn Gallio was proconsul of Achaia from a.d. 51-52. This date is one of the firmly established dates in Acts. Lucius Junius Gallio was the son of the rhetorician Seneca and the brother of Seneca the philosopher. The date of Gallio’s rule is established from an inscription (W. Dittenberger, ed., Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum 2.3 no. 8). Thus the event mentioned here is probably to be dated July-October a.d. 51.

² sn The proconsul was the Roman official who ruled over a province traditionally under the control of the Roman senate.

³ sn Achaia was a Roman province created in 146 b.c. that included the most important parts of Greece (Attica, Boeotia, and the Peloponnesus).

⁴ tn Grk “with one accord.”

⁵ tn Although BDAG 175 s.v. βῆμα 3 gives the meaning “tribunal” for this verse and a number of modern translations use similar terms (“court,” NIV; “tribunal,” NRSV), there is no need for an alternative translation here since the bema was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time.

sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a familiar item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city. So this was a very public event.

⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Apollos) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ sn To cross over to Achaia. Achaia was organized by the Romans as a separate province in 27 b.c. and was located across the Aegean Sea from Ephesus. The city of Corinth was in Achaia.

⁸ tn Grk “encouraging [him], the brothers wrote.” The participle προτρεψάμενοι (protreyamenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. This was the typical letter of commendation from the Ephesians to the Achaeans.

⁹ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

¹⁰ tn Grk “who, when he arrived.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was replaced with the pronoun “he” and a new sentence begun in the translation.