Paul at Rome

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Wintering on Malta

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Chapter 28, the last chapter in the book of Acts, deals with three things:

1. Wintering on the Isle of Malta.
2. Paul finally getting to Rome.
3. An Epilogue.

Verses 1 thru 10 record what happened while they were on the Isle of Malta. God works in wondrous ways to bring His plans to completion. It is not likely that Paul, on his own, would ever have gone to Malta, but we see here that God had work for Paul to do there.

The natives of Malta were barbarians. They posed a serious threat to these shipwrecked people but God had promised that none would be loss and neither these natives nor the cold nor hunger could stay God from keeping His promise. Paul had faith in God's promise but he still seemed surprised at the kindness of these barbarians. They were wet, cold and hungry. The natives immediately built a large fire to warm them, and sense it continued to rain, they built shelters for them.

As usual, Paul was not one to set down and let others take care of him, so he helped gather wood for the fire. In the process of doing this, he gathered up a poisonous snake with the wood and as he started to place the wood on the fire, the snake bit his hand. The term "viper" is used in the Bible for any kind of poisonous snake. This snake was probably an Asp which was very poisonous and common to that area. By shaking his hand, Paul was able to get the snake to let loose of his hand and fall into the fire where hopefully he perished.

Now by all the laws of nature, Paul should have died a very painful death. Normally the bit of that snake caused the person to swell to the point that their bodies would burst open. It would happen very quickly. The natives knew this and I suspect, so did everyone else, so all just set back and watched for what they believed was going to happen.

Now the natives were barbarians and very suppositious. When they saw the snake bit Paul they assumed that it was the vengeance of the gods, he was undoubtedly a murderer or some other evil person and even though he had been allowed to escape the storm at sea, justice had triumphed and now he would surly die. This belief in the ultimate justice of the gods undoubtedly accounted for their warm welcome of these people for they believed that they had to be good for the gods to deliver them from what would surly would be a death at sea. For them the snake bit had to be punishment for some evil deed. This was the reasoning of the "friends" of Job.

But nothing happened. They waited for what they believed was inevitable, but it did not happen. Why? There was only one answer for them. He had to be a god. He didn't swell, he didn't scream in pain and he didn't die. Surly he had to be a god. But we know that this was not true. God saved Paul because he still had work for him to do.

There was a man on the Island by the name of Publius. He is believed by many to have been the Governor of the Island. He was rich, owned much of the land and is here called the "Chief man of the Island". When he heard of these shipwrecked people, he was very generous and invited them to stay with him. Publius had a father who was ill with the fever and dysentery. This was "ulcerated colitis". It is called in the K.J., "a bloody flux". Few people, in those days, recovered from it. Surly Providence had ordered this meeting.

When Paul found out about the man's illness, he went to see him. He put his hands upon him and prayed and the man was healed. Word spread around the island and many came to be healed by Paul. For three months, they stayed on the island. They were treated like kings and given many gifts and when the weather was good enough to set sail, the natives located a boat and supplied all that they needed. It would appear that other boats had wintered there on Malta and one was obtained for them to continue their journey to Rome.

Rome at Last

Verses 11 thru 16 record their trip. Three months had passed. They had enjoyed their stay on Malta. They had been treated very well, but now it was time to go to Rome. Notice the new ship was also one from Alexander in Egypt. Luke was fascinated by the ships figurehead and made a note of it. He called it in the R.S.V. "The Twin Brothers", they were pagan deities named Castor and Pollux. Strangely enough, they were said to reside over storms and protected seafaring men.

They first docked at Syracuse, on the Island of Sicily. They stayed there three days to unload some of their cargo. It does not appear that there were any Christians there. From Syracuse they went to Rhe'gium, on the toe of the "boot" called Italy. There they stayed one day. Roman Catholic history records a legend which says that Paul went ashore and preached and that even the fish came ashore to hear him. It also says that while he was there he set fire to a stone column with a candle and by this miracle, he convinced the people to accept Christ. He then was supposed to have ordained a man by the name of Stephen to be their first Bishop. Some how he was able to do all of this in one day.

From Rhe'guim they went to Pute'oli about 200 miles up the western coast of Italy. This apparently was the port for which the ship was bound. Here Paul finds some Christian Brothern and stayed with them for 7 days. We can only be astonished at the attitude and cooperative spirit of the Centurion assigned to deliver Paul to Rome. From Pute'oli they go on foot to Rome a distance of some 200 miles. Along the way, they pass through Appius and Three Taverns. By now the Christians in Rome had heard of Paul's coming and they came out of the city to join him as he made his way to Rome.

This show of support by the believers in Rome gave Paul courage and he thanked the Lord for them. When they arrived in Rome, Paul was put under house arrest with one soldier as a guard.

Paul and the Roman Jews

Verses 17 thru 28 record an encounter that Paul had with the Roman Jews. (If you use the K.J. version, you have a verse 29 which was not in the original manuscripts but was later added by tradition, and is not in the later translations such as the R.S.V.)

These verses relate a very sad story. They record Paul's last attempt to bring Christ to the Jews. Notice that he had only been in Rome three days when he called the local leaders of the Jews together. His plan was two fold. First, he wanted an opportunity to explain why he had arrived in Rome in chains. Secondly, he also wanted to preach to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Notice, he was very respectful of them, calling them his "Brothern". Now most of these Jews were probably "proselytes" and Jew only by religion, so Paul was being very humble in calling them Brothern.

First he declared to them his innocence. "I have done nothing against the people or against the Fathers." Now it was true that Paul never imposed Jewish customs upon Gentile believers, but it was also true that he never opposed them when Jewish believers continued to observe them, as a matter of fact, when he was with the Jews, he conformed the their customs and traditions as they did.

"In spite of my innocence, they delivered into the hands of the Romans, who, when they examined me, wanted to set me free, but when the Jews objected, I had no recourse but to appeal my case to Caesar." "Because of the circumstances, I have asked to speak to you, for it is because of the "Hope of Israel" that I am bound with these chains." What was the Hope of Israel, it was the Messiah, the One that all Jews hoped for. "They would have you think that He is yet to come, but I tell you that He has already come."

Notice how they responded to Paul's message. "Well, we haven't heard anything bad concerning you." No one had received any correspondence from the Brothers in Jerusalem or elsewhere proclaiming any evil that he had done, nor had anyone who had come from Judea to Rome, said anything evil about him. Now this was very unusual considering that the Jerusalem Jews had succeeded in stirring up the people everywhere else that Paul had gone. Some scholars believe that these Jews were lying and that in fact they had heard the lies that some of the leaders in Jerusalem were spreading about Paul but they were afraid to acknowledge this because they were not on very good terms with Caesar and Paul being a Roman Citizen, was. Either way, they could see that Paul was seeking a court in which to present his case that was not prejudice like the Jews.

Well, what good did it do for Paul to speak to these Jews? Very little, it would appear. As they were leaving some were heard to say that they would come back to hear more about his "views", others, said that they had heard some things about the "sect" that Paul spoke about and people everywhere spoke against it. They looked upon Christianity as a "offshoot" sect of the Jews and it would appear that the only people that they had talked to were unbelieving Jews.

Notice a time was set for them to come back and Luke says that they did come back in great numbers. He expounded to them from morning to evening. He sought their salvation more than he did his vindication. He sought to show them, by using the Books of Moses and the Prophets, how Jesus fulfilled all that had been prophesied concerning the Messiah.

Notice the results of his efforts with these Jews. Some believed and some did not. This caused much disagreement and turmoil in the meeting so it had to be closed, but before they left, Paul struck one last blow. In utter discuss and disappointment, he quoted the prophesy of Isaiah, prophesying the unyielding position that the Jews would take at the time of the coming of the Messiah and the resulting offer that would be made to the Gentiles.

Notice how he described their condition. They heard but they never understood. They could see but they could not perceive. They had a "dull" heart. They had ears but could not hear. They seemed to be afraid that they would hear and understand so they hardened their hearts to the truth. Paul said, that this was the condition of most of the Jews so he went to the Gentiles. Wasn't this a sad commentary on the Jews. "He came to His own and His own received Him not."

Epilogue Without a Conclusion

Luke ends his book by telling us that Paul lived under these conditions for two more years and supported himself by making tents. He welcomed all who came to him and he preached Christ "openly" and "unhindered".

Matthew Henry fills in some interesting things about those two years that I think bear repeating. With the end of the Book of Acts, we leave all that we know about the history of Paul. It was God's will that we know nothing about his death. It is difficult to leave Paul in bounds for Christ with no evidence that he was ever set free. Two whole years in confinement with apparently no inquiry made by those whose prisoner he was and by those into whose hands he had places his judgment. He had appealed to Caesar in hopes of a speedy and just disposition of his case, knowing that the Roman Governors in Judeah had signified that he had done nothing, in their minds, worthy of bonds or confinement.

Yet perhaps there had been some activity on his case during those two years, suggested by Philippians 1:13, Paul says that he was brought before Nero where his case was reviewed but in Second Timothy 4:16 Paul says that "no man stood by him", probably meaning that he had no council and where it seems that he barely escaped out of the Emperor's hands with his life. In Second Timothy 4:17 he calls this "a deliverance out of the mouth of the lion". It would also appear from these references that he later had a second chance in which he did some better, yet was not discharged.

During these two years Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, his second letter to Timothy, and those to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and to Philemon, and lastly some believe it was during this time that he wrote the letter to the Hebrews, if in fact he did write that letter which most believe he did not.

Tradition says that at the end of the two years, Paul was set free and went to Spain. He left Spain, returned to Crete and with Timothy, returned to Judeah. From Judeah he returned to visit the churches in Asia and then back to Rome where he was beheaded in the last year of Nero's reign. Nero was the first of the Roman Emperors to persecute the Christians, making laws against them. The Church at Rome was greatly weakened by this persecution and this was why Paul returned to Rome the second time. It would seem that while there, Paul converted one of Nero's prostitutes and this angered Nero to the extent that he ordered Paul imprisoned and later killed.

Yet there is great joy in knowing that during the two years on imprisonment covered by this book, Paul was at work for the Lord. He was granted a great deal of freedom to witness to the Jews and the Gentiles. Devine Grace give him the liberty and the ability to preach the Gospel and though his hands were bound, his mouth was not.

THUS ENDS THE BOOK OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

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