Acts 28:17-31
So today we finish the Book of Acts, on the 218th day after we read Acts 1:1. What a wonderful journey it has been, interspersing the Epistles with Paul’s traveling, preaching, and teaching. But we’re not through with Paul just yet; we’ve still got six more of his Epistles to read – Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastoral Epistles to Timothy and Titus. We’ve got Paul in Rome now, at least for his next two years. Many scholars argue that Paul left Rome after some time and traveled to Spain, Asia Minor, Crete, and Greece. We’ll cover more on this claim of Paul’s “Fourth Missionary Journey” when we read I Timothy. Stay tuned!!
I am surprised that the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem had not sent word forward of Paul’s coming to Rome. Here are the Jews from Rome speaking: And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you.” (v. 21) Since they did not have a predisposition to hate or harm Paul, they seemed to be open to listening to him, much like other Jews in synagogues had been during Paul’s first two missionary journeys. In fact, verse 23 tells us that Paul spoke, From morning till evening… What a change that must have been for Paul!
Paul appears to be under house arrest: …it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain (v. 20b), but he also seems to have quite a bit of freedom. He was allowed to have visitors (vv. 17, 23, 30) and was living in a rented house instead of a jail cell, and he is allowed to continue his preaching and teaching. Verse 31 is especially clear about Paul’s relative freedom: …proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. I daresay that we, ourselves, could preach and teach “without hindrance”, but most of us lack Paul’s “all boldness”. We all need more Holy Spirit fire!
Slava Bohu!