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Context No. 3873 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 18:14-21: in context

14But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you; 15but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.” 16So he drove them from the judgment seat. 17Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things. 18Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow. 19He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he declined; 21but taking his leave of them, he said, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

When Paul's opponents drag him before Gallio, the Roman proconsul, hoping to have him condemned, Gallio refuses to get involved, dismissing the case as a matter of their own religious law, and driving them from the court. Without Gallio ever intending it, his ruling protected Paul and left him free to keep preaching.

Behind the scenes, God was guarding his servant and his mission through the decision of a Roman official who did not even care about the gospel. Two things are worth noticing. God's providence often works through people and circumstances that have nothing to do with faith; here a disinterested magistrate becomes, unknowingly, the shield of God's work. And Paul's own posture as he travels on: when the Ephesians ask him to stay longer, he declines but promises, I will return to you if God wills. He held his plans loosely, submitting them to God's will. We can trust that God guards his purposes through unexpected means, and we can hold our own plans, as Paul did, always subject to if God wills.

Do I trust that God can guard his purposes through unexpected people and circumstances, and do I hold my own plans loosely, submitting them, as Paul did, to God's will?

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