Having Deep Roots

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HAVING DEEP ROOTS

Acts 18:12-17

12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court. 13 "This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law." 14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law — settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things." 16 So he had them ejected from the court. 17 Then they all turned on Sosthenes the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio showed no concern whatever.

NIV

A very interesting turn of events is happening here. First, we remember that Crispus had been the ruler of the synagogue, however, he and his whole family believed in the Lord and most likely were among the many on Corinth who believed and was baptized. Of course, he was removed from his position as ruler of the synagogue as well as ejected from their assembly. Now we see their new ruler Sosthenes bringing a group of Jews to Gallio, the Roman proconsul who ruled over the Roman territory or region of Achaia, which included all of the Greek Islands. Corinth was within this region so it would have been he who the Jews wanted Roman justice to settle their religious dispute with Paul. Perhaps, and this is just supposition, they heard about the Roman governor Pilate doing the bidding of the Jews who opposed Jesus, and now they wanted Roman justice to do their bidding regarding Paul. But this Gallio would have nothing to do with their petty arguments over their God, whom he could care less about. Their complaint had nothing to do with the Roman way of life, so he ordered them to leave his court. However, before leaving they turned on their own synagogue ruler and beat him. Some older manuscripts refer to these Jews, as Greeks who were proselytes, and thus they turned on a true Jew who was their leader in the synagogue. That might have been the reason for their actions because they were not born a Jew and had no real history of Judaism and the God of the Jews. Their history was that of a Greek who lived in a city, which we would think was much like Athens. This might imply that Corinth also had idols of various gods. So these converted Greeks would not have deep roots of faith and when faced with opposition by this Roman proconsul they turned their backs on a true Jew and beat him right in front of Gallio, who we are told cared nothing of their actions. But here is the lesson we think is for us within this narrative. It is important to have our deep roots in the truth of the Word of God. We may or may not face the type of opposition or a lack of concern for what we believe, but if we do face any opposition, having our roots in Jesus we would be able to stand our ground. The second truth is that we should never turn our attention to doing harm or bringing accusations against our fellow believers, which in some sense gossip is just that. Gossip is never rooted in truth, but merely a vehicle by which we can cause damage, as by beating them in front of others. None of the actions of these Jews fell in line with the truth about Jesus’s teachings about loving each other as He loves us. This is how we must live, using Jesus as our example, as well as seeing how life is without having our roots deeply attached to the vine, Jesus.