Paul in Rome
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 12 May 2024
We’ll be looking at the end of Acts 28:17 - 31. Now, the paragraph that we’re going to look at is the end of Acts in the history of the church. In the beginning the book began when our Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit, and said “You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.” And that was the format for the book of Acts.
The gospel began in Jerusalem, then throughout all Judea, and then to Samaria, and finally to the uttermost part of the earth. Now, at this point, the record ceases, but the story does not end. The story of the church will go on throughout all eternity, for it does not end. In fact, right now in 2024, we are writing the continuation of Acts, as the Spirit of God continues to build the church.
Acts is in a real sense, an unfinished book. It ends without an ending. Verse 30-31 says, “Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house, and he welcomed all who visited him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God, and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, with all boldness, without hindrance.” And there it ends. We don’t know what happened at the end of the two years.
It is the story that has no end. The record just ceases to be written; but the story goes on. Finally, we arrive in the city of Rome. All the way from the three thousand who were saved at Pentecost to those who will believe right here in the last paragraph of Acts 28. We saw the unity of the church as it was born in Acts 2. We saw the fellowship of the church as it was exhibited in the world.
We saw then the reaction of the Jewish leaders and the consequent persecution that broke out, which resulted in the spread of the gospel and the conversion of the apostle Paul. We’ve seen how the church has spread, and finally reached the city of Rome. It is incomplete, in a sense, but enough has been written to reveal the source of power for the church, who is the Holy Spirit.
And now, we come to the last page. The church has spread to Rome, and Paul finally has arrived there, after many years of longing. Now, as we approach verse 17, let’s just give a little bit of a background on what Rome is like when Paul arrives. Verse 16 tells us that he came to Rome. And the saints welcomed him; they met him, and they came out as far as 43 miles from the city to greet him.
Rome was on the way down by this time. The dictators of Rome had usurped the power of the people, and what had begun as a republic was now dead. The emperors had ceased more power, and this emperor Nero was maybe the worst of all. In fact, when Paul arrived, Nero would have probably been 25 years old, but already his hands were bloodied with the murder of his own mother.
Into this melee of depraved and deprived humanity came the apostle Paul, the messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his interest in Rome was not sociological, it was not economic, it was not cultural; it was purely evangelism. He desired to win them to Jesus Christ and to mature the Christians. Now, in the middle of those two million people, this apostle continued to minister in chains.
Verse 17 – 20, “After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18 After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.
19 Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; even though I had no charge to bring against my people. 20 For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.” The leaders are not one person; there are many of them. There were anywhere from 7 to 12 synagogues operating in Rome at this time.
Because he was chained he couldn’t go to a synagogue to speak to them, so he had to have them come to him. And it’s interesting that they did come. By now he was a popular person in the Roman world. But he was a very unpopular person in the Jewish world; in about every synagogue he won some people to Jesus Christ, and the word had certainly reached these Jews at Rome.
They were interested in what he had to say about Messiah. He was the one who was going around with all this Messianic information, and certainly the Messianic issue was interesting to them. And so, they were willing to meet with him. Remember in Acts 18, the Jews had been banished from Rome. Apparently under Nero and they were allowed back in, because they’re there.
So, Paul must explain his circumstances as a prisoner. He must show that he is innocent of any charges that have been laid against him by the Jews, and at the same time, he must not alienate his Jewish audience. How? He says: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.”
This is the sixth defense since his arrest in Jerusalem. He had not violated Jewish law, he had not injured the Jewish people. The Jews had accused him of sedition; that he was a reactionary against the Roman government. They accused him of sectarianism by saying that he was a leader of the Nazarenes. They also accused him of sacrilege in that he profaned the temple, therefore blaspheming God.
He was taken before Felix, and found to be innocent. He was then taken before Festus, and found to be innocent. He was then brought before the king, Agrippa, and again found to be innocent. All of the trials that he endured proved his innocence, even the melee in front of the Sanhedrin, which ended up in a fight, because they were split right down the middle. He was innocent.
What he is saying is, “This is a Jewish problem. The Jewish people have sent me here, but in the eyes of the Roman law, as I faced it there, I am innocent.” He says, “Even though I was innocent, the Jews kept the pressure on me. So much so that my only escape was to appeal to Caesar and have this thing transferred to Rome, with the hope that I might get a fair trial.”
Verse 20, “For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.” It was the hope of Israel which got him into all this trouble. The hope of Israel was the Messiah. And with that came the resurrection. And for preaching that Jesus rose from the dead and provided a resurrection that was the real issue that got him into trouble.
The Jews knew that God had promised a Messiah, and that that Messiah would bring the kingdom. In order for the Jews who had already died to share in the kingdom, there would have to be a resurrection. Isaiah 26:19 says, “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.”
So Paul says in Acts 28:20, the reason that I am in chains is because I have been declaring that the Messiah has arrived, He has risen from the dead, and the resurrection has been provided for. Repeatedly Paul refers to the chains that he had, which bound him to a Roman guard for a two-year period. What Paul prayed for was a basic openness, a willing ear from these Jews to begin with - and it came.
Verse 21-22, “Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you. 22 But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.” All we hear are bad things about his Christianity; so please go ahead and defend it.
The Roman government looked very harshly on somebody who prosecuted a case without strong evidence. So it would have been difficult to prosecute Paul, who was a Roman citizen. And then, there was favorable information from Festus and Felix; there was no way the Jews were going to come to Rome. There was no way they were going to make a stand against this man.
They actually knew all about Christianity. The church had already been established in Rome. They were playing a little diplomacy here. Paul then proceeds to give them the gospel and an invitation. All the Jewish leaders gather to hear him speak. This is kind of a fulfillment of Romans 1:14, “I am debtor to the Greeks, and the Barbarians; to the wise, and to the unwise.”
Verse 23, “After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.” Paul wanted to get a hearing with all the leadership that Jesus is the Messiah. And the persuasion he used was Old Testament prophecy, the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus told them the kingdom was theirs, if they would accept the King. And Jesus authenticated the kingdom by signs and wonders. Look at the response in verse 24-25, “Some believed the things he said, but others did not believe. 25 Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah.”
There never was that national acceptance. There was always only the small remnant that believed. This is called inversion which means reversal. The gospel came to the Jew first, but tragically, it is reversed right here. The Spirit of God speaks for the fourth time a prophecy from Isaiah beginning in verse 25 – 29, “Go to these people and say, you will always be listening, but never understanding;
And you will always be looking, but never perceiving. 27 For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. 28 therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”
Acts is the story of God’s final striving with the Hebrew people. From the time that God called Abraham and founded the nation, He has been striving with Israel. Throughout all of the Old Testament, Israel failed to live up to the information and the revelation that they had. They grieved the heart of God, they wounded His heart, and judgment after judgment after judgment came.
Then, Christ came first to Israel. Then, at the day of Pentecost, when the church was born, the Spirit of God was sent to the midst of Israel. As the church scattered, the apostle Paul went into town, and he went first to Israel, into the synagogues. And finally, now we come to Rome. It was only 10 years later that the Roman eagles stormed into Jerusalem, and destroyed Judaism for good.
What we have today that is called Judaism is only a faint shadow of what Judaism was. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. This is the last solemn, biblical warning to Israel. This is the last time God ever went to the Jew first. Now, the words that Paul quotes in this passage are taken from Isaiah 6. Our Lord Jesus spoke them in Matthew 13, showing the kingdom would be taken from Israel.
Jesus came into the world, born of a virgin, God incarnate, lived in humility among men at Nazareth. After 30 years, He announced to Israel that He was God, Messiah, the living Christ, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, and all of these titles are given to Him in the gospel of John. He substantiated all those claims by miracles. And what was the response of Israel?
They doubted Him, they denied Him, they rejected Him, and finally, they wanted Him dead, and they executed Him. And here’s the sovereign side: “In order that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, ‘Lord, who has believed our report? To whom the arm of the Lord been bared?’” The Jews didn’t believe. Therefore they could not believe.
In other words, the Gentile is the wild olive tree grafted into the trunk of God’s blessing; the Jews are the ones cut off. But Israel will be re-grafted in if they believe. “For God is able to graft them in again. Blindness in part has happened to Israel, only until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved.” Listen, God will graft in Israel again. He’s not ultimately through with them.
Paul wrote the book of Colossians, he wrote the book of Philemon, he wrote the book of Ephesians, and he wrote the book of Philippians. In Colossians, he tells them that Aristarchus is with him, Luke is with him, Mark is with him, Justus is with him, Epaphras is with him, Demas is with him. He was having a terrific time. In Philippians, he tells about the salvation that’s going on.
In his final imprisonment, he wrote 1-2 Timothy and Titus. Probably about four years later, and on the road to Ostia, he was finally beheaded. For two whole years he preached, verse 30 – 31, Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” Let us pray.