‘We must obey God, not human beings!’13 There was something subversive, even world-upending, about the Church’s message that ‘Jesus Christ . . . is Lord of all’ and Jesus is ‘king’.14 Plus, for every benevolent and believing proconsul like Sergius Paulus, there was one like Gallio who turned a blind eye to mob violence by Greeks against Jews; or a Felix who wanted to release Paul from imprisonment but only if Paul paid him a bribe.
