PAUL THE APOSTLE 5
PAUL THE APOSTLE 5
The next day Paul reported his ministry to the Gentiles to James and the elders of the church at Jerusalem (CP V 18-19). They informed him of the tension his presence created among the Jews because of reports that he was teaching his Jewish converts to forsake the law of Moses, not to have their children circumcised, nor follow Jewish customs (CP V 20-22). In the hope of placating the Jews, and without compromising Paul, they proposed that he should join with four others, take a Jewish vow, purify himself with them, and pay their expenses in having their heads shaved (CP V 23-24). Paul did so, but his attempt to pacify the Jews proved futile. When the unbelieving Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, they incited a riot, accusing him among other things of polluting the temple by taking a Gentile into it. The mob dragged Paul out of the temple and were about to kill him when he was rescued by Roman soldiers (CP V 26-36). Paul was bound hands and feet with chains, fulfilling Agabus' prophecy in V 10-11 (CP V 10-11). As he was being led away Paul got permission to talk to the mob (CP V 37-40). Paul then gave his testimony of how he first persecuted Christians, and was then converted to Christ after encountering Him on the road to Damascus. The Jews listened in silence until he spoke of his commission to the Gentiles, then they rioted again (CP Ac 22:1-23).
The captain of the Roman guard ordered that Paul be interrogated by scourging to find out why the Jews were so hostile toward him but he was afraid to proceed when Paul declared his Roman citizenship (CP V 24-29). The next day Paul was set before the Sanhedrin (CP V 30). Great dissension arose among the Jews after Paul proclaimed his belief in the resurrection, and fearing that the mob would tear him apart, the Roman captain sent the soldiers in to rescue him and take him to their quarters (CP Ac 23:1-10). The following night Jesus appeared to Paul and praised him for his faithful witness in Jerusalem and told him that he would also be his witness in Rome (CP V 11). The Jews were so intent on killing Paul that more than forty bound themselves under a curse and conspired with the chief priests and elders to have him brought before the council, where they would attack and kill him. When the captain of the guard was informed of the plan, he sent Paul to Felix, the Roman Governor, in Caesarea (CP V 12-35). It was clear to Felix that the charges against Paul were spurious, but not wanting to antagonise the Jews he postponed a decision, and because Paul made no offer of a bribe for his release, kept him in custody for two years, until the new Governor, Festus, took office (CP Ac 24:1-27).
After talking to the Jewish leaders, Festus indicated that he might send Paul to Jerusalem to be tried by the Jews. But Paul, knowing the outcome of such a trial, exercised his Roman citizenship rights and appealed to Caesar. After a moving interview before King Agrippa and his wife Bernice, Paul was sent under guard to Rome (CP Ac 25:1 - 26:32). Paul was put on a ship bound for Rome with other prisoners. He was accompanied by Luke and Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica (CP Ac 27:1-2). After changing ships on the way, they were caught in cyclonic weather which they battled for fourteen days before the boat was wrecked on the island of Melita - present day Malta. Although the boat was totally wrecked, not one life was lost (CP Ac 27:3-44). The centurion in charge of Paul overruled the soldiers who wanted to kill the prisoners lest any should swim away and escape. This fulfilled God's purpose for Paul to be his witness in Rome.
Paul and the other victims of the shipwreck had to stay on Melita for three months until winter ended before they were able to resume their journey to Rome. During this time Paul was bitten by a highly venomous viper without being affected in any way, confirming Christ's promise in scripture to every believer (CP Ac 28:1-10 with Mk 16:17-18; Lu 10:19). Paul healed many who were sick and diseased, including the father of the chief of the island, Publius. At the end of the three months they resumed their journey to Rome. On the way Paul and Luke and Aristarchus fellowshipped with some Christian brethren for seven days, and then were met in Rome by other brethren (CP Ac 28:11-15). Paul lived in his own rented house in Rome with only one soldier to keep guard over him (CP V 16). After three days Paul called the leaders of the Jews together and outlined his reason for being there. They had heard nothing detrimental against Paul and listened to his preaching. Some believed, others did not (CP V 17-29). Paul spent the next two years openly preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. No one forbade him (CP V 30-31).
This now brings the book of Acts, or Acts of the apostles, to a close. It leaves the question of Paul's trial and release unanswered. The abrupt ending points to Luke completing his work on Acts while Paul was still under house-arrest awaiting his trial. There is no record of the trial or its outcome anywhere in scripture. Nothing certain is known of what happened to Paul after this. It is generally thought that he was released after his two years of house-arrest was completed, and then spent the next few years preaching in various places. It was during that time he wrote his first epistle to Timothy and his epistle to Titus (CP 1Ti 1:1-3; Tit 1:4-5). Some time after this Paul was re-arrested and taken back to Rome from where he wrote his second epistle to Timothy (CP 2Ti 1:16-17; 2:9). Tradition says that after he wrote this epistle Paul was martyred by beheading, under the emperor Nero. During the two years he was under house-arrest Paul wrote his epistles to the Ephesians (CP Eph 3:1; 4:1; 6:20-21), Philippians (CP Php 1:7, 12-16; 4:22), Colossians (CP Col 4:3, 10, 18), and his epistle to Philemon regarding Onesimus, his runaway slave (CP Phm 1:1, 9-10, 23-25). Paul's epistles together with the gospel, became the foundation of the Christian movement. They are a study of the Christian faith. Time and space does not permit their inclusion here in all their detail, but a summary of the subject matter of each is included.