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Selected Verse: Acts 18:15 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ac 18:15	King James	But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
if it be a question of words and names, and of your law . . . I will be no judge, &c.--in this only laying down the proper limits of his office.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

if it be a question of words and names, and of your law . . . I will be no judge, &c.--in this only laying down the proper limits of his office.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Of words - A dispute about words, for such he would regard all their controversies about religion to be. And names - Probably he had heard something of the nature of the controversy, and understood it to be a dispute about names; that is, whether Jesus was to be called the Messiah or not. To him this would appear as a matter pertaining to the Jews alone, and to be ranked with their other disputes arising from the difference of sect and name. Of your law - A question respecting the proper interpretation of the Law, or the rites and ceremonies which it commanded. The Jews had many such disputes, and Gallio did not regard them as coming under his cognizance as a magistrate. Look ye to it - Judge this among yourselves; settle the difficulty as you can. Compare Joh 18:31. For I will be no judge ... - I do not regard such questions as pertaining to my office, or deem myself called on to settle them.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

Of words - A dispute about words, for such he would regard all their controversies about religion to be.

And names - Probably he had heard something of the nature of the controversy, and understood it to be a dispute about names; that is, whether Jesus was to be called the Messiah or not. To him this would appear as a matter pertaining to the Jews alone, and to be ranked with their other disputes arising from the difference of sect and name.

Of your law - A question respecting the proper interpretation of the Law, or the rites and ceremonies which it commanded. The Jews had many such disputes, and Gallio did not regard them as coming under his cognizance as a magistrate.

Look ye to it - Judge this among yourselves; settle the difficulty as you can. Compare Joh 18:31.

For I will be no judge ... - I do not regard such questions as pertaining to my office, or deem myself called on to settle them.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]
Question The best texts read the plural, questions. See on Act 15:2. Judge In the Greek the position of the word is emphatic, at the beginning of the sentence: "Judge of these matters I am not minded to be."

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]

Question

The best texts read the plural, questions. See on Act 15:2.

Judge

In the Greek the position of the word is emphatic, at the beginning of the sentence: "Judge of these matters I am not minded to be."

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
But if it be - He speaks with the utmost coolness and contempt, a question of names - The names of the heathen gods were fables and shadows. But the question concerning the name of Jesus is of more importance than all things else under heaven. Yet there is this singularity (among a thousand others) in the Christian religion, that human reason, curious as it is in all other things, abhors to inquire into it.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

But if it be - He speaks with the utmost coolness and contempt, a question of names - The names of the heathen gods were fables and shadows. But the question concerning the name of Jesus is of more importance than all things else under heaven. Yet there is this singularity (among a thousand others) in the Christian religion, that human reason, curious as it is in all other things, abhors to inquire into it.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
But if it be a question of words - Περι λογου, Concerning doctrine and names - whether the person called Jesus be the person you call the Messiah. And of your law - any particular nicety, concerning that law which is peculiar to yourselves: Look ye to it - settle the business among yourselves; the Roman government does not meddle with such matters, and I will not take upon me to - decide in a case that does not concern my office. As if he had said: "The Roman laws give religious liberty to Jews and Greeks; but, if controversies arise among you on these subjects, decide them among yourselves, or dispute about them as much as you please." A better answer could not be given by man; and it was highly becoming the acknowledged meekness, gentleness, and benevolence of this amiable man. He concluded that the state had no right to control any man's religious opinion; that was between the object of his worship and his own conscience; and therefore he was not authorized to intermeddle with subjects of this nature, which the law left to every man's private judgment. Had all the rulers of the people in every country acted as this sensible and benevolent Roman, laws against liberty of conscience, concerning religious persecution, would not be found to be, as they not are, blots and disgraces on the statute books of almost all the civilized nations of Europe.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

But if it be a question of words - Περι λογου, Concerning doctrine and names - whether the person called Jesus be the person you call the Messiah. And of your law - any particular nicety, concerning that law which is peculiar to yourselves: Look ye to it - settle the business among yourselves; the Roman government does not meddle with such matters, and I will not take upon me to - decide in a case that does not concern my office. As if he had said: "The Roman laws give religious liberty to Jews and Greeks; but, if controversies arise among you on these subjects, decide them among yourselves, or dispute about them as much as you please." A better answer could not be given by man; and it was highly becoming the acknowledged meekness, gentleness, and benevolence of this amiable man. He concluded that the state had no right to control any man's religious opinion; that was between the object of his worship and his own conscience; and therefore he was not authorized to intermeddle with subjects of this nature, which the law left to every man's private judgment. Had all the rulers of the people in every country acted as this sensible and benevolent Roman, laws against liberty of conscience, concerning religious persecution, would not be found to be, as they not are, blots and disgraces on the statute books of almost all the civilized nations of Europe.

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