74
Sketches from the Life of Paul
of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And
he drove them from the judgment-seat.”
The decided course of Gallio opened the eyes of the clamorous
crowd who had been abetting the Jews. For the first time during Paul’s
labors in Europe, the mob turned on the side of the minister of truth;
and, under the very eye of the proconsul, and without interference
from him, the people violently beset the most prominent accusers of
the apostle. “Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the
synagogue, and beat him before the judgment-seat. And Gallio cared
for none of those things.”
Gallio was a man of integrity, and would not become the dupe of the
jealous and intriguing Jews. Unlike Pilate, he refused to do injustice
to one whom he knew to be an innocent man. The Jewish religion was
under the protection of the Roman power; and the accusers of Paul
thought that if they could fasten upon him the charge of violating the
laws of their religion, he would probably be given into their hands for
such punishment as they saw fit to inflict. They hoped thus to compass
his death.
Both Greeks and Jews had waited eagerly for the decision of Gallio;
and his immediate dismissal of the case, as one that had no bearing
upon the public interest, was the signal for the Jews to retire, baffled
and enraged, and for the mob to assail the ruler of the synagogue. Even
the ignorant rabble could but perceive the unjust and vindictive spirit
which the Jews displayed in their attack upon Paul. Thus Christianity
obtained a signal victory. If the apostle had been driven from Corinth
[109]
at this time because of the malice of the Jews, the whole community of
converts to the faith of Christ would have been placed in great danger.
The Jews would have endeavored to follow up the advantage gained,
as was their custom, even to the extermination of Christianity in that
region.
It is recorded that Paul labored a year and six months in Corinth.
His efforts, however, were not exclusively confined to that city, but
he availed himself of the easy communication by land and water with
adjacent cities, and labored among them both by letter and personal
effort. He made Corinth his headquarters, and his long tarry and
successful ministry there gave him influence abroad as well as at
home. Several churches were thus raised up under the efforts of the
apostle and his co-laborers. The absence of Paul from the churches