Acts 18:17

"They all" evidently refers to the Gentile audience at this trial. Encouraged by Gallio’s impatience with the Jews, they vented their own anti-Semitic feelings. They beat up Sosthenes who had either succeeded Crispus as leader of the synagogue (Acts 18:8) or served with him in this capacity (cf. Acts 13:15). This Sosthenes may have become a Christian later and served as Paul’s amanuensis when the apostle wrote 1 Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:1), or he may have been a different Sosthenes. Gallio did not interfere, probably concluding that this demonstration might discourage the Jews from bothering him with their religious differences in the future.

Gallio’s decision resulted in the official toleration of Christianity that continued in the empire until A.D. 64 when Nero blamed the Christians for burning Rome. It may also have encouraged Paul to appeal to Caesar when he felt the Jews in Palestine were influencing the Palestinian Roman officials against him too much (Acts 25:11).