Acts 18:8
Context18:8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, 1 believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it 2 believed and were baptized.
Acts 18:17
Context18:17 So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, 3 and began to beat 4 him in front of the judgment seat. 5 Yet none of these things were of any concern 6 to Gallio.
1 tn 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).
2 tn Or “who heard him,” or “who heard Paul.” The ambiguity here results from the tendency of Greek to omit direct objects, which must be supplied from the context. The problem is that no less than three different ones may be supplied here: (1) “him,” referring to Crispus, but this is not likely because there is no indication in the context that Crispus began to speak out about the Lord; this is certainly possible and even likely, but more than the text here affirms; (2) “Paul,” who had been speaking in the synagogue and presumably, now that he had moved to Titius Justus’ house, continued speaking to the Gentiles; or (3) “about it,” that is, the Corinthians who heard about Crispus’ conversion became believers. In the immediate context this last is most probable, since the two incidents are juxtaposed. Other, less obvious direct objects could also be supplied, such as “heard the word of God,” “heard the word of the Lord,” etc., but none of these are obvious in the immediate context.
3 tn 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.
4 tn The imperfect verb ἔτυπτον (etupton) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.
5 sn See the note on the term judgment seat in 18:12.
6 tn 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.