Acts 28:16-29

(Acts 28:16-29)

And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.  And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me.  But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Cæsar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.  For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.  And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judæa concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.  But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.  And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.  And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,  Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.  And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.

When Paul first started sailing to Rome, Paul was just a prisoner nobody noticed, but at the end of the voyage Paul was respected by the people. It was not because Paul was a man of noble status or status, but because of Paul's faith in walking with God and listening to God's words in times of crisis and disaster.

Luke writes, "The fact that Paul received a generous measure of being arrested in a foreign home with only one guard." However, according to the customs of the time, Paul would have been handed over to the captain of the emperor's guard first, and the captain's captain would have imprisoned the prisoner, Paul, in the prison of the emperor's demonstrator. Then, after some time, Paul would have been separated from other prisoners and set aside in a regular house outside the pretorium.

Thus, it was a very generous treatment to live relatively freely in a rented house outside the military camp while being watched separately by soldiers. Perhaps the reason Paul was given this prejudice was the report written by the centurion-general Julius, who sent Paul, along with the favorable letter of the governor, Vestus, about Paul's experience. However, even as such, life as a prisoner was very limited and difficult. Paul did not deviate beyond a certain distance around the military camp, and given the Roman law, which required that prisoners and guards always be bound together, there was always a limit to all activities under the control of the guards. Nevertheless, Paul did not give up preaching the gospel in such circumstances. Rather, he preached the gospel more actively.

In a Roman pension, he confessed in a letter to Philippi Church:『But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;  So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;  And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.』(Philippians 1:12-14) God made Paul make his journey to Rome this way he longed to go. He brought the word of God to Rome in a very different way than people thought. 『And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him』

Luke's statement compactly illustrates Paul's life as an evangelist. Paul constantly preached and taught the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ to those who sought him.

By the way, both tenses of "preached and taught" used in the text both indicate the meaning of the process with the present participle. It was because the apostle Paul's ministry was not as described in the book of Acts. He testifies that his pastoral letter, including 2 Timothy, was again imprisoned after a further evangelism journey after two years of pension life in Rome. Paul's history did not end because the book of Acts was over. Luke says in the last sentence of the book of Acts, the record of the book of Acts ends by selecting the present participle, but the history of the book of Acts never ends. In this way, the history of Acts extends beyond Paul to the Saints today.