What does Acts 18:17 mean?
It's rare for Paul to spend much time in the cities and towns where he plants churches. Corinth is different. Not only does God tell him to stay, He also tells him he would not come to harm. God has chosen to save many people in Corinth and Paul needs time to reach them. In fact, Paul winds up staying a year and a half (Acts 18:9–11).Paul is used to local Jews and Gentiles driving him out of town, beating him, and even stoning him (Acts 13:45–51; 14:5–7, 19). But then synagogue leadership brings him before the proconsul Gallio, charging him with encouraging the worship of a foreign god. Gallio judges that the issue is one of religion, not civil law, and dismisses the charges (Acts 18:12–16).
When the Jews in the synagogue drove Paul out, after several weeks of showing Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, the synagogue ruler Crispus followed him (Acts 18:8). Sosthenes is apparently Crispus' replacement and the head of the group that brings Paul to trial. It's unclear who "they all" are—presumably Gallio's guards who want to make sure the Jews understand not to waste the proconsul's time.
In Paul's introduction to his letter to the Corinthian church, he writes, "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes" (1 Corinthians 1:1). There's no way we can know for certain, but it appears the Jewish synagogue leader so irritated with Paul that he brought him before a Roman court eventually becomes a Christ-follower. If so, there's no doubt Paul thought his tense encounter with Gallio was well worth it.
