To Gallio the accusations of these Jews seemed to involve matters of religious controversy that entailed no violation of Roman law. He was responsible to judge criminal cases, not theological disputations. Consequently he refused to hear the case and ordered the Jews to settle it themselves. The AV translation, "Gallio cared for none of these things," is misleading. It implies that Gallio had no interest in spiritual matters. That may have been true, but it is not what the text means. Really he was absolutely impartial and refused to involve himself in a dispute over which he had no jurisdiction. He refused to mix church and state matters. [1] Gallio"s verdict effectively made Christianity legitimate in the Roman Empire. However it is going too far to say that Gallio"s decision made Christianity an officially recognized religion in the Roman Empire. [2] Officially hereafter for many years the Romans regarded Christianity as a sect within Judaism even though the Jews were coming to see that it was a separate faith. As a proconsul, Gallio"s decision in Paul"s case was much more important than the judgments that the local magistrates in Philippi and elsewhere had rendered. [source][source][source]