The Survivors Discover That the Island Is Malta

Acts 28 opens immediately after the destruction of the Alexandrian grain ship and the fulfillment of the promise that every person aboard would survive. Luke writes that once they had been brought safely through the wreck, they learned that the island was called Melita, identified with Malta in the UASV footnote. The wording is important because Acts 27:39 had already stated that the sailors did not recognize the land when daylight first revealed the coastline, so the name became known only after the survivors reached shore. Paul, Luke, Aristarchus, Julius, the soldiers, sailors, prisoners, and the other passengers therefore emerged from the sea exhausted, wet, and deprived of the vessel and cargo that had carried them through the Mediterranean. The ship had broken apart exactly as Paul had announced, yet all 276 people had reached land alive exactly as Jehovah had revealed through the angel during the storm. Their arrival on Malta was consequently not the destination Paul had originally intended, because Rome still lay ahead and Christ had already stated that Paul must bear witness there. Malta became an unplanned stopping point within the Roman journey, but Paul’s imprisonment did not prevent him from serving people wherever circumstances placed him. Luke’s continuing use of the first-person plural also confirms that he remained among those who personally experienced the wreck, the reception on the island, and the later departure toward Italy.

The Maltese Islanders Show Extraordinary Kindness

Acts 28:2 says that the people of the island showed the shipwreck survivors “extraordinary kindness” by kindling a fire and welcoming them because rain was falling and the weather was cold. The UASV renders the Greek term barbaroi in a way that requires explanation, because the word originally referred broadly to people who did not speak Greek rather than functioning necessarily as an insult meaning uncivilized or savage. Luke’s description of their behavior immediately destroys any contemptuous interpretation, since these islanders responded to strangers from a wrecked vessel with generosity rather than suspicion or hostility. They had no obligation to shelter hundreds of unexpected survivors, yet they provided fire and warmth when the exhausted company needed immediate physical assistance. Their kindness also reminds the reader that Acts does not portray every non-Christian Gentile as personally cruel merely because pagan religious ideas remained mistaken. People can display commendable human compassion while still requiring accurate knowledge of Jehovah and Christ. Paul had repeatedly encountered violent mobs, corrupt officials, hostile religious opponents, and assassination conspirators, but on Malta he first encountered ordinary people doing something humane for suffering strangers. The Christian account can acknowledge that kindness truthfully without converting pagan religion into acceptable worship or treating moral decency as a substitute for faith in Christ. Luke’s praise is therefore concrete and deserved: these Maltese islanders acted generously toward people who had just survived a terrifying disaster.

Paul Gathers Wood and a Viper Fastens Onto His Hand

Acts 28:3 gives a small detail that reveals Paul’s practical character even while he remained a prisoner and apostle. He gathered a bundle of sticks and placed them upon the fire rather than standing apart and expecting others to serve him because of his age, apostolic authority, or recent role during the storm. As the wood was exposed to the heat, a viper came out and fastened onto Paul’s hand. Luke describes the animal plainly as a viper and then reports the reaction of the islanders, who expected serious physical consequences from the bite. Paul’s position suddenly changed in their judgment because they had just seen him survive the sea only to encounter another danger immediately upon reaching land. The accident was not described as punishment sent by Jehovah, nor does Scripture connect it with a divine attempt to determine Paul’s faithfulness. It was another physical danger within an imperfect world in which storms, shipwrecks, disease, poisonous creatures, violence, and human mortality remain realities. The remarkable element comes not from the bite itself but from what happened afterward when Paul suffered none of the consequences the Maltese observers expected.

The Islanders Misinterpret the Snakebite as Divine Justice

When the islanders saw the creature hanging from Paul’s hand, Acts 28:4 records them saying to one another that he must certainly be a murderer who had escaped the sea only to be overtaken by Justice. The UASV footnote explains that the Greek word dikē in this setting refers to the pagan conception of an avenging goddess who personified justice and pursued guilty people. Their reasoning therefore reflected a religious worldview in which unusual misfortune could be interpreted immediately as supernatural punishment for hidden wrongdoing. Paul’s biography made the irony especially striking because he had once participated in deadly persecution, yet his present imprisonment had not resulted from murder and repeated Roman investigations had found nothing deserving death. Claudius Lysias, Festus, and Agrippa had all recognized that the legal accusations against Paul did not establish a capital crime, while the Maltese islanders knew nothing of that history. They interpreted an accidental encounter with a snake as evidence of secret guilt because their religious assumptions supplied the framework through which they understood the event. Scripture does not commend their conclusion merely because it sounded morally serious. Circumstances alone cannot reveal with certainty whether a person is righteous or wicked, because suffering may arise through natural dangers, human imperfection, Satanic opposition, or the actions of a wicked world rather than divine punishment for a specific hidden sin. The islanders would reverse their conclusion just as rapidly when Paul remained unharmed, demonstrating the instability of interpreting theology from immediate circumstances rather than from revealed truth.

Paul Suffers No Harm From the Viper

Acts 28:5 says that Paul shook the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. The simplicity of Luke’s description is notable because he does not depict Paul performing a ritual, speaking an incantation, applying a secret medicine, or demanding that observers admire his spiritual power. Paul simply removed the snake and remained unharmed despite the consequences expected by those watching him. The incident belongs within the apostolic period when miraculous signs authenticated specially commissioned servants during Christianity’s foundational expansion. Nothing in Acts transforms Paul’s experience into a command for modern Christians to handle poisonous snakes or deliberately expose themselves to danger as a demonstration of faith. Paul himself had repeatedly avoided unnecessary danger when lawful and reasonable means allowed him to do so, proving that biblical courage never requires reckless behavior. The snake came upon him unexpectedly while he was serving others, which differs completely from intentionally seeking contact with venomous animals in order to produce a religious spectacle. Jehovah protected Paul because his work was not finished and Christ had already declared that he must stand before Caesar. The miracle therefore serves the continuing historical narrative of Paul’s preservation on the way to Rome rather than establishing a permanent Christian ritual.

The Islanders Swing From Condemnation to Deification

Acts 28:6 says that the Maltese observers expected Paul to swell up or suddenly fall dead, so they watched him for a considerable time. When nothing unusual happened, they changed their minds and began saying that he was a god. Their second interpretation was as mistaken as their first because Paul had moved in their thinking from condemned murderer to deity without either conclusion being based upon accurate revelation. Luke therefore presents two opposite pagan judgments arising from the same flawed method of reasoning about circumstances. A snakebite meant Paul must be guilty, while survival meant Paul must be divine, yet neither judgment reflected the truth about who he actually was. Paul was a human servant of Christ whose preservation resulted from Jehovah’s power rather than his own divine nature. Acts had already recorded a comparable danger in Lystra, where people attempted to worship Paul and Barnabas after witnessing a miraculous healing, and the missionaries rejected the worship and directed attention toward the living God. Christianity never encouraged the elevation of apostles into gods, because miraculous power remained God’s activity through chosen human servants. The Malta incident therefore reinforces the biblical distinction between the Creator, Christ whom He appointed, and human messengers who remain creatures regardless of the extraordinary works Jehovah performs through them.

Publius Receives the Travelers Hospitably

Acts 28:7 introduces Publius, whom Luke identifies as “the chief man of the island.” The expression is historically significant because the uploaded apologetics material notes that inscriptions from Malta preserve comparable terminology for an important local official, strengthening confidence in Luke’s accurate familiarity with the island’s administrative setting. Publius possessed lands in the neighborhood and received Paul’s company hospitably for three days. Luke does not state that Publius was already a Christian or that his hospitality resulted from conversion, so the narrative should not be expanded beyond what Scripture supplies. His generosity nevertheless continued the pattern of kindness that had greeted the shipwreck survivors from the moment they reached land. The involvement of a prominent island figure also meant that Paul and his companions moved rapidly from desperate survival on the beach into contact with people capable of providing meaningful assistance. Paul remained technically a Roman prisoner under Julius, but imprisonment did not prevent him from interacting with households or serving people encountered during the journey. Publius’s hospitality soon became the setting for another apostolic miracle when serious illness affected his father.

Publius’s Father Suffers From Fever and Dysentery

Acts 28:8 says that the father of Publius was lying sick with fever and dysentery. Luke’s medical description is specific enough to distinguish the symptoms rather than merely saying that the man felt unwell, which fits the careful observational style seen throughout Luke-Acts. The fact that Luke himself was present and elsewhere identified as the beloved physician does not lead the narrative to reduce the event to ordinary medical treatment, because the healing that follows is attributed to Paul’s prayer and laying on of hands. Paul went in to see the sick man, prayed, laid his hands upon him, and healed him. Prayer came before the laying on of hands, making clear that Paul understood the power as coming from God rather than from himself. The apostle who had survived the shipwreck and viper incident now became the human instrument through whom Jehovah restored another person physically. Nothing in the passage states that Publius’s father had earned the healing through previous faith or contributed money in exchange for it. The action was gracious apostolic ministry rather than commercial religious performance.

The Healing of Publius’s Father Belonged to the Apostolic Period

The healing must be understood within the same first-century setting as the extraordinary miracles previously recorded through Paul in Ephesus. During the apostolic establishment of Christianity, Jehovah authenticated the proclamation through miraculous acts performed by apostles and others specially empowered during that foundational period. Paul did not create a permanent healing institution on Malta, teach later Christians to expect the same ability from every congregation, or claim that physical healing would remain the defining sign of genuine Christianity after the apostles died. The New Testament itself shows faithful Christians experiencing illness despite apostolic faith, and Paul’s later letters contain practical references to sickness without promising that every Christian could command immediate healing. The miracle on Malta therefore demonstrates Jehovah’s power and validates Paul’s apostolic ministry at a particular historical moment rather than establishing charismatic theology for later centuries. Christians today rely upon the Spirit-inspired Word produced during the apostolic period rather than upon supposed modern successors claiming identical miraculous authority. The historical-grammatical method requires the reader to preserve the function of the event within Acts rather than extracting it from its setting and converting description into a universal command. Paul prayed and healed Publius’s father because extraordinary apostolic activity remained operative while the Christian congregation and New Testament revelation were still being established.

Others on Malta Come to Paul and Are Healed

Acts 28:9 says that after the healing of Publius’s father, other people on the island who had diseases came and were cured. The first healing therefore became widely known enough for additional suffering people to seek assistance, expanding the effect beyond the household of Publius. Luke does not provide the names, illnesses, or number of those healed, so a responsible account should not manufacture dramatic stories for individuals Scripture leaves unidentified. What Luke does affirm is comprehensive enough: people suffering diseases came, and they were cured. The miracles would naturally distinguish Paul sharply from the magical and pagan religious practices common throughout the Mediterranean world because his ministry involved prayer to God rather than manipulation of supernatural formulas. Paul did not demand worship from the islanders, despite the fact that some had earlier called him a god after the viper incident. Nor does Acts say that he converted the healing activity into personal wealth. The resulting response was respect and practical generosity toward the traveling company rather than the creation of a cult centered upon Paul.

The Islanders Honor the Travelers and Supply Their Needs

Acts 28:10 says that the islanders honored Paul and his companions with much respect and supplied whatever they needed when the time came to sail. Their response forms an appropriate contrast with the frightened and mistaken judgments made immediately after the snakebite. The islanders had first interpreted Paul as a murderer and then as a god, but their later conduct is described in practical terms of respect and provision rather than continuing deification. The travelers had reached Malta having lost their ship and cargo, so assistance before another sea journey would have been practically valuable. Luke does not say that Paul demanded payment for healings or charged people according to their ability to give, and the sequence should not be transformed into a commercial exchange. The inhabitants provided necessities voluntarily after experiencing the benefit of Paul’s ministry and observing the character of the shipwreck survivors. Their generosity also meant that the company could eventually resume its journey with practical supplies despite the catastrophic destruction that had brought them to the island. Jehovah’s promise to preserve Paul did not eliminate dependence upon ordinary hospitality, food, clothing, transport, and assistance from other human beings. Christian history in Acts repeatedly joins divine action with ordinary human kindness rather than treating them as competing explanations.

Three Months Pass on Malta

Acts 28:11 says that after three months the travelers departed, meaning the company remained on Malta long enough for the dangerous winter sailing season to pass. Their original vessel had been destroyed during a voyage already made hazardous by worsening seasonal conditions, and the survivors therefore could not simply board another ship immediately after reaching shore. Scripture does not provide a detailed record of Paul’s daily activities during those three months, so the narrative should not be filled with invented sermons, congregation meetings, conversions, or missionary routes that Luke does not describe. What is recorded establishes significant Christian activity through Paul’s survival, the healing of Publius’s father, and the curing of other sick islanders. Paul remained under Roman custody throughout the period because his appeal to Caesar had not been cancelled by shipwreck. Julius still had responsibility to deliver the prisoner onward when travel became feasible. The delay therefore changed the schedule without changing the legal destination or Christ’s declaration concerning Rome. Malta became a place where the unexpected interruption itself provided opportunity for Paul to serve people before the imperial journey resumed.

Another Alexandrian Ship Carries Them From Malta

The new vessel had wintered on Malta and was also a ship of Alexandria, showing that the travelers resumed their journey aboard another vessel connected with the Egyptian shipping system. Luke adds the incidental detail that the ship bore the figurehead of the Twin Brothers, identified in the UASV footnote as the Greek gods Castor and Pollux. The presence of a pagan figurehead did not mean Paul approved worship of those gods or treated the ship’s religious symbolism as compatible with Christianity. Transportation within the Roman world inevitably brought Christians into contact with pagan names, imagery, institutions, and customs that they could encounter without participating in worship. Paul’s willingness to sail aboard the vessel therefore cannot be turned into endorsement of Castor and Pollux any more than his appearance before Roman officials endorsed emperor worship. Christian separation from idolatry requires refusal to worship false gods, not refusal to use every object or public service upon which pagan imagery appears. The ship provided lawful transport toward Italy, which remained Paul’s required destination as a prisoner appealing to Caesar. Luke’s inclusion of the figurehead again displays the kind of incidental detail characteristic of a participant who remembers the actual vessel rather than merely saying that another ship carried them away.

Syracuse and Rhegium Mark the Final Maritime Route

Acts 28:12 says that the travelers put in at Syracuse and remained there three days. They then moved onward and reached Rhegium, after which a south wind arose and carried them to Puteoli on the second day according to Acts 28:13. Luke’s route continues the detailed geographical sequence that characterized the voyage before the shipwreck, moving from Malta toward Sicily and then the Italian mainland. The contrast with the previous voyage is striking because the journey now proceeded under favorable conditions rather than through a storm destroying the vessel. Paul nevertheless remained under the same legal constraint, traveling where Roman custody required rather than exercising ordinary missionary freedom. Each named stop brought him physically closer to the city Christ had promised he would reach. The uploaded historical material emphasizes that Luke’s sequence of Malta, Syracuse, Rhegium, Puteoli, the Market of Appius, the Three Taverns, and Rome reflects the expected successive stages of an actual journey. These details reinforce the geographical concreteness of Acts without replacing the theological significance of the journey itself. Paul’s witness was moving into Italy through ordinary ports and roads even though the entire sequence had begun through extraordinary events of persecution, appeal, storm, and preservation.

Paul Finds Christian Brothers at Puteoli

Acts 28:14 says that at Puteoli the travelers found Christian brothers who invited them to remain for seven days. The existence of believers there demonstrates that Christianity had already reached Italy before Paul personally arrived in Rome, which is consistent with Paul’s earlier letter addressed to a congregation already existing in the imperial capital. Paul therefore was not bringing Christianity into an untouched Italian world for the first time. Other Christians had already carried the gospel westward, establishing relationships and communities before the apostle’s arrival as a prisoner. Julius evidently permitted the seven-day stay, showing again that Paul enjoyed a degree of supervised freedom within his custody. Scripture does not specify everything Paul did during the week, but fellowship with Christians after months of danger would naturally have provided substantial encouragement. The brothers likewise had opportunity to meet the apostle whose letter to Roman Christians and wider missionary reputation had already made his ministry known. Paul’s journey toward Caesar therefore became simultaneously a movement into an already developing Christian network.

Christians Travel Out From Rome to Meet Paul

News of Paul’s approach reached Christians in Rome, and Acts 28:15 records that brothers traveled out to meet him as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Taverns. The UASV footnote places the Three Taverns approximately thirty miles south of Rome, meaning these Christians traveled a substantial distance simply to welcome and accompany Paul. Some apparently came even farther to the Market of Appius, demonstrating the strength of their desire to meet the imprisoned apostle before he reached the capital itself. They did not treat Paul’s chains as evidence that Jehovah had rejected him or that his ministry had ended in disgrace. Christians understood enough about his circumstances to recognize him as a faithful servant whose imprisonment resulted from his testimony concerning Christ. Their journey also transformed the final approach to Rome from a lonely prisoner transfer into a visible experience of Christian fellowship. Paul had written to Roman believers earlier expressing a strong desire to visit them and enjoy mutual encouragement through their shared faith, and now that desire was being fulfilled under circumstances very different from ordinary missionary travel. The brothers came toward him before he could reach them freely.

Paul Thanks God and Takes Courage

Acts 28:15 says that when Paul saw the brothers who had come to meet him, “he thanked God and took courage.” This brief statement reveals something important about Paul’s humanity because even an experienced apostle who had survived extraordinary dangers benefited deeply from encouragement supplied by fellow Christians. He had seen Christ, received apostolic revelation, endured decades of missionary service, survived stoning, imprisonment, assassination conspiracies, a fourteen-day storm, shipwreck, and a viper bite, yet he was not beyond needing the strengthening effect of Christian companionship. Paul did not interpret personal courage as emotional self-sufficiency. Jehovah could strengthen His servant through the visible love and presence of ordinary brothers who simply came to meet him on the road. Their arrival demonstrated that Paul was entering Rome not only as a prisoner approaching Caesar but as a Christian joining believers who already regarded him as their brother. The gratitude Paul directed toward God shows that he recognized such fellowship as something for which Jehovah deserved thanks. Christian strength therefore includes receiving encouragement humbly rather than pretending mature faith means never needing support from others.

Paul Finally Enters Rome

Acts 28:16 records the moment toward which years of planning, imprisonment, prophetic warning, legal appeal, and dangerous travel had been moving: Paul entered Rome. Jesus had stood beside him after the violent Sanhedrin hearing and said that just as Paul had testified in Jerusalem, he must also testify in Rome. The angel during the Mediterranean storm had repeated that Paul must stand before Caesar, assuring him that the sea would not prevent that destination. Now Paul physically arrived in the imperial capital, proving that neither the Jerusalem murder conspiracy nor the violent storm had cancelled the work Christ said remained ahead. His arrival did not occur in the manner Paul might have planned years earlier when he wrote of his desire to visit Roman Christians, because he entered under guard rather than as a free missionary traveler. Yet chains could restrict movement without preventing testimony. Rome represented the political center toward which his appeal had been directed and also a major setting from which Christian teaching could continue spreading. Paul’s journey demonstrates that circumstances can change the form of Christian service without changing the obligation to remain faithful within whatever lawful opportunities remain available.

Paul Is Allowed to Live Under Guard Rather Than in an Ordinary Prison

Acts 28:16 says that Paul was permitted to stay by himself with the soldier guarding him. This arrangement differed substantially from confinement in a common prison and gave Paul enough freedom to receive visitors and conduct extensive teaching from his lodging. He remained a prisoner, however, because the presence of a soldier represented continuing Roman custody while his appeal awaited resolution. The exact administrative procedures governing every aspect of his confinement are not described in Acts, so unnecessary reconstruction should be avoided. What Scripture establishes is that Paul had private lodging, was guarded, and retained considerable access to people who wished to see him. His legal restraint therefore created a stable environment from which the apostle could continue Christian ministry despite being unable to travel freely through the city or empire. The same Paul who once crossed provinces voluntarily to preach would now receive people where he lived and reason with them concerning the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ. Roman custody unintentionally provided a prolonged setting for Christian proclamation in the very capital toward which Paul had long wanted to travel.

Paul Quickly Calls Together the Leading Jewish Men

Paul did not wait for the outcome of his imperial appeal before beginning Christian witness in Rome. Acts 28:17 says that after only three days he called together the local leading men of the Jews. His action followed the missionary pattern visible throughout Acts in which he repeatedly sought Jewish hearers first and reasoned with them concerning the Scriptures before extending the proclamation more broadly. Years of violent opposition from particular Jewish leaders had not turned Paul into an enemy of Jewish people or caused him to abandon concern for their salvation. He remained himself a Jew, loved his fellow Israelites, and understood Christianity as fulfillment of the promises Jehovah had given through Moses and the Prophets. Paul therefore did not enter Rome announcing that his Jewish opponents in Jerusalem had made him hostile toward every Jewish community elsewhere. Instead, he initiated contact with Roman Jewish leaders and addressed them respectfully as brothers. His first priority was to explain why he was in chains and prevent false assumptions concerning either his conduct or his attitude toward his people.

Paul Explains That He Had Done Nothing Against His People

When the Jewish leaders gathered, Paul told them that although he had done nothing against the Jewish people or the customs of their forefathers, he had nevertheless been delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into Roman hands. This statement summarized the central defense Paul had maintained throughout every hearing since the temple riot. He had not desecrated the temple, organized sedition, or launched an ethnic attack upon Jewish identity. His theological teaching that Christians were no longer under the Mosaic covenant did not mean that he hated Jews or campaigned against every ancestral cultural custom. Paul had entered the Jerusalem temple peacefully, participated in a purification arrangement intended to counter false accusations, and been found without a crowd before Jews from Asia stirred up violence. His Roman hearings repeatedly failed to prove the allegations brought against him. Paul therefore arrived in Rome still maintaining the same factual distinction: Christian conviction concerning Jesus did not make him guilty of the political and religious crimes his opponents claimed. The first meeting with Roman Jewish leaders allowed him to establish that distinction before hostile reports could shape their understanding of his case.

Paul Explains Why He Appealed to Caesar

Acts 28:18 says that Roman authorities who examined Paul wanted to release him because they found no reason for the death penalty in his case. Paul’s statement agrees with the judgments already preserved throughout Acts, including Claudius Lysias’s conclusion that the accusations involved Jewish religious questions rather than crimes deserving death or imprisonment. Festus likewise admitted that he had found Paul guilty of nothing deserving death, while Agrippa concluded that Paul could have been released if he had not already appealed to Caesar. Paul therefore did not exaggerate his innocence when speaking to Roman Jewish leaders. Acts 28:19 explains that continued Jewish objection compelled him to appeal to Caesar, not because Paul wanted to accuse his nation before Rome but because the appeal protected him from transfer back into circumstances where opponents had repeatedly planned his death. His citizenship provided a lawful route for resisting political favoritism and assassination. Paul wanted the Jewish leaders in Rome to understand that his appeal was defensive rather than retaliatory. He had no accusation to bring against his nation and was not attempting to use Roman imperial power to punish Jewish people collectively for what certain opponents had done.

Paul Says His Chain Is Because of the Hope of Israel

Acts 28:20 gives the theological center of Paul’s explanation: “because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” The statement gathers together the resurrection theme that had appeared repeatedly during Paul’s hearings in Jerusalem and Caesarea. Paul believed that Jehovah had fulfilled Israel’s messianic hope through Jesus Christ, whom He had raised from the dead and appointed as King and Judge. The Christian message was therefore not a rejection of the genuine promises made through the Hebrew Scriptures but their fulfillment in the Messiah. Paul’s chains resulted from proclaiming that fulfillment, especially the resurrection of Jesus and the extension of salvation to Gentiles through Him. The “hope of Israel” therefore involved far more than political independence from Rome, because Paul’s gospel pointed toward resurrection, forgiveness, Christ’s Kingdom authority, and Jehovah’s future purpose. His claim also placed the Roman Jewish leaders before a scriptural question rather than merely a legal controversy. If Jesus was indeed the resurrected Messiah, then Paul’s chains were the consequence of witnessing to Israel’s genuine hope rather than betraying it.

The Roman Jewish Leaders Have Received No Hostile Report About Paul

Acts 28:21 records the Jewish leaders answering that they had received no letters from Judea concerning Paul and that none of the Jewish brothers arriving from there had reported or spoken anything evil about him. Their response is historically important because it meant Paul did not begin his Roman discussion before men who had already accepted the Jerusalem accusations as established fact. Whatever had happened in Judea, no formal hostile report had reached these particular leaders before Paul called them together. Paul therefore possessed an unusual opportunity to present his own position before prejudice connected with his individual case had hardened their judgment. Their statement also confirms the wisdom of Paul’s rapid decision to meet them only three days after arriving in Rome. Rather than waiting for rumors to develop, he addressed the facts directly and explained both his innocence and the reason for his appeal. Christian apologetics benefits from such clarity because misunderstanding grows easily when false assumptions are allowed to circulate without an accurate answer. Paul did not fear scrutiny from these men because he was prepared to explain both what had happened legally and what he believed the Scriptures taught concerning Christ.

The Jewish Leaders Want to Hear Paul’s Christian Teaching

Acts 28:22 says that the Jewish leaders wanted to hear Paul’s views because they knew that the Christian movement was spoken against everywhere. Their statement acknowledges widespread controversy surrounding Christianity without assuming that widespread opposition proved Christianity false. A message can be unpopular because it is wrong, but it can also be opposed because it challenges deeply rooted religious and moral commitments. Paul himself had once spoken and acted violently against Christianity, making him uniquely qualified to understand how sincere opposition could rest upon serious misunderstanding. The Roman Jewish leaders therefore chose the proper course by asking to hear Paul directly rather than judging his beliefs solely from hostile reports about Christians in general. Their willingness opened the way for a much larger meeting in Paul’s lodging, where he would spend an entire day explaining the Kingdom of God and trying to persuade them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. The next stage of Paul’s Roman ministry would therefore continue the same historical-grammatical method that had characterized his preaching from Damascus onward: Scripture would be opened, Christ would be presented as fulfillment, and hearers would be called to respond to evidence rather than tradition alone. Some would be persuaded and others would refuse to believe, but Paul’s chains would not stop the Word from being proclaimed in the capital of the Roman Empire.

You May Also Enjoy

From Persecutor to Preacher: Saul’s First Years as a Christian

About the Author

CLICK LINKED IMAGE TO VISIT ONLINE STORE

CLICK TO SCROLL THROUGH OUR BOOKS