proconsul (Proh-kon´suhl)

A former Roman consul who served in consular rank as the governor of a province or in command of an army. The proconsul Sergius Paulus became a Christian when he heard and saw what Paul and Barnabas were about (Acts 13:7-10), and it was when Gallio assumed his duties as proconsul of the Roman province of Achaia (modern Greece) that some of Paul’s opponents leveled charges against him before that Roman official (Acts 18:12-17).