The Gospel is How Different our Savior is, Not How Different our Churches Are
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
Acts 18:12–17 ESV Read More
A few years ago there were at least 250 churches in the Evansville phone book. I counted them. In Paul’s day there temples to various Greek and local gods all over the place, but when it came to synagogues, they weren’t divided. Any division that happened at the synagogue was usually inside and happened behind closed doors.
From a marketing perspective, places always want to differentiate themselves to show how they stand out. This restaurant is different because they use organic food. This hair salon is different because they are appointment only. This accounting firm is different because they only do taxes after April 15th, etc.
Sometimes when we talk about churches we put people in the position of Gallio in Corinth. When faced with the details of the differences between the Jewish teaching and what Paul was teaching, Gallio didn’t care. When we talk to somebody that doesn’t go to church about this church or that church disagreeing, or why we don’t go to the Last Baptist Church any more, we are setting them up to say “since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things,” and in the end they “paid no attention to any of this.”
The folks on the fringes are not interested in our fights about Calvinism no matter how much we think it’s the truth. The men of Corinth seized and beat Sosthenes because they were so passionate about their ideas, but Gallio still didn’t care. Passion over confusing details is not the Good News.
Later in his life, Paul would go before Roman officials that wanted to hear the Gospel. It could be that Gallio might have been interested, but he never got there. Let’s preach the Gospel about Jesus and not argue in the public arena about details of rules. Let’s not make our faith about words and names and our own laws. (Romans 14:22) Paul would sum up the Gospel to Timothy later (1 Tim 1:15) and get straight to the point:
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
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