Paul's Seven Year's in Rome - His First ten days
“SUCH A ONE WAS PAUL THE AGED”
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
June 2/2015, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
“Go in peace, Preacher of good tidings, and Guide of the salvation of the just”.
It is alleged these were the parting words of Peter to Paul. Legend and history record that Peter and Paul were both executed in A.D. 67 by Nero in Rome when Nero turned against the Christians.
The quest of this
study is to follow Paul’s seven years in Italy. This teaching covers his first ten days in Italy.
Paul’s announced his purpose of going to Rome in Romans 1: 15-16:
“”I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
The gospel power of the all powerful name of Jesus of Nazareth was the watchword and the life-motto of this great soldier of the cross, from the hour he first lifted his sword, until the hours in this city of his closing years, he laid that armor down and the good fight was finished.
He nobly redeemed his pledge, upheld his testimony, and fulfilled his commission:
Acts 23:11: “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome.”
Let us begin our quest of Paul’s ministry in Rome with Acts. 28:13: “From there we brought a compass, and came to Rhegium; and after one day the south wind blew and we came the next day to Puteoli. There we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days; and so we went toward Rome.”
Rhegium (now Reggio), Italy, is at the toe of the Italian boot. From there it was only 6 or 7 miles to Sicily and 150 miles to Puteoli, Italy.
It is of interest that Christians were found in Puteoli---another evidence of the wide spread of the Gospel by A.D. 60. As Paul was invited to stay with them, his ministry in Italy began there. We have no idea what faithful Christian started the church there---possibly one of the disciples who fled Jerusalem at the time of the persecutions.
Paul was a prisoner of Julius, a centurion of the Augustus band. He had favor with Julius, who had previously allowed Paul liberty in Malta and now again in Puteoli. Julius gave Paul permission to spend the seven days with the believers there.
Apparently that time was needed to get a response to a dispatch sent to Rome and outfit his soldiers with new equipment to replace that lost in the ship wreck. It was mandatory that all military units enter Rome in full regalia.
All agree that Luke was with Paul on this journey because everything is written in the pronoun “we” and all indication is that Luke continued with him during most of his years in Rome.
Luke anticipates the longed for goal: “And so we went toward Rome.”
The wait in Puteoli would have allowed time for messengers to announce the coming of the apostle. Paul had prepared the church for his coming years before by writing his Letter to the Romans. The Christians in Rome set out on the Appian Way to welcome the apostle. One party waited for him at Three Inns, which was thirty miles from Rome. Another party made it to the market town of Appi Forum, 10 miles further.
28:15: “From there, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appi forum, and the three taverns; whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.”
Paul had written to the Roman Christians that he didn’t know how they would receive him. Now his heart is warmed by their effort in coming this distance to greet him and escort him to the city. It gave him new courage to face the work he has to do for Jesus in that great city. It could not have been easy for him to arrive in chains.
Christians always consider encouraging the ministers of the gospel who are trampling out the Word of God. We all fight the good fight of faith and we take courage by the love and kindnesses of the saints. It is surely a “mark” against those Christians, especially in leadership, who do not extend the right hand of Christian fellowship to one another.
28:16: “When we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was allowed to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.”
Again the Lord gave Paul favor and a dwelling from which to minister the Gospel of Christ. This great favor was arranged by the Lord, but could have been due to the letter which king Agrippa drafted for procurator Festus. It is believed he was not allowed to leave his quarters to visit the synagogues or work at his trade, but he was able to write letters to friends in other cities and counsel those who came to him. It was during this time that he wrote his prison epistles.
Note the “We” has been dropped from this point on. While Luke was nearby for much of the imprisonment, he was unable to serve as an intimate companion.
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon are believed to have been written during this two year period of imprisonment from A.D. 60 – A.D. 62. Hebrews, Titus, I Timothy, are believed to have been written from 64 A.D. – 65 A.D. ---after his first imprisonment. The final epistle is II Timothy from 64 A.D. to 67 A.D.
Just three days after his arrival in Rome, Paul summoned all the local Jewish leaders to his quarters for a meeting. When they were assembled, he said to them: “My brothers, even though I have never done anything against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was seized by those in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans as a prisoner. The Romans questioned me and had a mind to release me because there was no capital charge against me. But the Jews objected and I was forced to appeal to Caesar, even though I have no complaint against my own nation. As you can see, I am a prisoner. This is why I asked you to come, that I might talk with you and explain that it is because of the ‘Hope of Israel’ that I am wearing this chain.”
Bearing in mine the exhaustion and deprivation Paul suffered, I marvel that he moved so fast to begin his ministry in Rome. Only two days are spent getting settled in a place to live. On the third day, he summoned Rome’s leading Jews to his quarters. The invitations were probably carried by Luke, Timothy or Demas, who were known to be with him. Other friends had perhaps also traveled to Rome once they knew Paul was headed there for a trial.
I am amazed that he was able to command such a turn out from so many. Obviously the Jews in Rome had heard of Paul. He was probably the chief topic of conversation among Jews everywhere. Paul was careful to remember that his commission was to the Jew first. (Ro. 1:14, 16)
Paul was anxious to make his defense to the Roman Jews. They knew he had arrived as a prisoner and had appealed to Caesar. He gave his defense on four counts:
- He was not a prisoner because of any crime against the people of Israel or their customs.
- He had appealed to Caesar as a matter of self-defense since the Jews at Jerusalem has protested his release when the Romans found him innocent of any capital crime.
- He had no counter charges to bring against his own countrymen.
- The reason he was a prisoner was because he believed in the Messiah as prophesied by the Hebrew Scriptures. When he says the “Hope of Israel”, he is quoting the prophet Jeremiah concerning our Savior.
The Jews denied receiving any word from Jerusalem with specific charges against Paul. Neither had anyone been sent to Rome to press any charges against him. They had no instructions to present the case for the accusers.
28: 21-22: “They said to him, We have not received letters out of Judea’ concerning you, nor any of the brethren that came showed or spoke any harm of you. But we desire to hear of you what you think; for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.”
The high priest and his colleagues must have realized the hopelessness of seeking an adverse sentence in Rome when they had failed in Caesarea. The elders however wanted to hear the truth about the Nazarene sect.
Because of the slow growth of the Christian church in Rome in the past 60 years, and the frequent decrees of expulsion against the Jews, there was probably little contact either way between the two communities in Rome.
28: 23: “When they had appointed 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 to evening.”
The Jewish leaders flocked to Paul’s house. The place was packed. Obviously it must have been a large structure. He preached Jesus from Exodus to Malachi. According to his written epistles and this verse, we know he spoke of the Kingdom of God. This was the great hope of the Jews. However, they had to accept entrance into the Kingdom was contingent upon the atonement and the arrival of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ.
When he began to link the rejected and crucified Jesus of Nazareth with the atonement, the atmosphere changed.
We think we have preached after an hour.
Paul preached from dawn to dusk. Paul’s presentation of the gospel to the Jews has been considered in Acts 12:16 and 17: 2, 3, etc. and his method is unchanged. This constituted a solemn testimony to the Kingdom of God which depended on the recognition of the rightful king. When the Lord gives us a message, we have but one message to preach. Both Jesus and the Apostles preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus was with Paul first, last, foremost, midmost, upmost, and without end. Wherever he went, the theme was the same; to the astute philosophers of the Areopagus; the uncultured peasants in the wilds of upper Asia; the Ephesian elders on the sea beach; sailors in the midst of the Adriatic storm; or to the warriors of this ancient capital.
A hundred times over in the course of his Epistles, is that name mentioned, which is above every name. We never hear of him but once in tears and that was weeping over the enemies of the cross.
He again tells the story once more at Rome; ---the theme of all themes---the power of all powers---the gospel of the grace of God to dying men and a dying world!
In one of his letters written from Rome, this is his watchword and manifesto, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).
Though Rome is the world’s metropolis, he declares that he is not ashamed to preach even there the Gospel of Christ, “for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Thus we have Romans, Jews and Greeks---all specially named and grouped together. This moral hero knew his weapons. He had ranged against him the powers of man; but he was conscious of “a power” mightier than all, and which out of weakness made him strong. Christian when the Lord sends us into battle, know your weapons and how to handle them.
The propagators of the Gospel were scorned and vilified as revolutionary fanatics. In the words of the chief of his own nation, who visited him in his Roman lodging, “as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.”
News Flash---- If we preach the power of God through the Blood and Gospel of Jesus Christ in the 21st century ---nothing has changed. We are still considered as the fanatics on the fringe. They just aren’t killing us “yet” in the United States.
What was the sum of Paul’s theme? That the world, the proud world, in the haughty zenith of its glory, should come and lay that glory at the foot of a cross of shame; and confess that, for salvation, its millions were indebted from first to last to a dying Redeemer!
Their poets, philosophers and soothsayers had dimly foreshadowed the advent of some great Prince, who was to descend on the earth and inaugurate an era of peace and blessing. Could these dreams possibly have so poor a fulfillment as in the incarnation of the Christ of Nazareth, the son of a lowly woman of Galilee?
What! The proud Roman! He who never imagined any of his heroes could die---who dreamt of them as translated into palaces of glory or changed into constellations in the firmament. One mightier than all his gods or demi-gods, the Savior of sinners, was a crucified Man, who perished on a felon’s cross!
What was perhaps more insulting to a Roman and by this apostolic expounder and interpreter is the “POWER”. Who dared mention such a rival word in a Roman ear? Their empire was the embodiment and apotheosis of Power.
Again – The Jew! Is it possible he can bid farewell to all his revered and time-honored rites? Is the temple and all its lofty pageants, the pomp of his solemn feasts, the pride of his ritual, all to pale before the reputed Son of a carpenter? Can he receive as King of the royal nation, a crucified Nazarene? And that too, when his own law utters the words---“Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree?”
The Greek! Is he to part with all his divine philosophy to accept the teaching and doctrines of one who perished by a cruel death among a nation he esteems as barbarian? Amid the beautiful dreams of his mythology, that peopled every wood, grove and stream with a deity, must he say, with St. Paul, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified?”
Not was it only old Romans, Jews and Greeks, who opposed the Gospel---human nature to this hour remains unchanged and the offence of the cross will never cease. What! Says the pride of intellect, reason, pride and self-righteousness, am I to stand indebted for salvation to a crucified Man?
“The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to them that are saved, it is the power of God.” Roman pride may scorn it and Jewish bigotry may frown on it. Greek philosophy may discard it; yet the day is coming when Roman, Jew, Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, will own that throne-crowned MAN as “King of kings and Lord of lords!”
“This Gospel of Christ is the power of God.
Of the dominant power at present in our nation, we have reason to be “ashamed”; ---the power of brute force---the monster-power of war---the power associated with paganism and the savage ages. Let us confront the demon-power with the angel-power---the power which has proved earth’s greatest blessing---the power of guilty man to destruction, with the power of Almighty God “unto salvation”. Without this gospel of Christ, the world does not have one ray of light to be saved from the guilt and dominion of sin.
Oratory, poetry, philosophy, taste, intellect, and reason, are all baffled and confounded; professing themselves on this great mystery to be wise, they become fools.
The world had tried for ages and generations to solve the problem; but every oracle was dumb on the great question, “What must I do to be saved?”
Acts 28: 25-26: “When they could not agree among themselves, they departed, after Paul had spoken one word, Well spoke the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, Saying, Go to this people, and say, hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and not perceive; For the heart of this people has waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; less 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.”
To be continued next week – St. Paul in Rome
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of C.S. Lovett’s Lights on the Book of Acts; John Ross MacDuff, St. Paul in Rome and F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary by: E. H. Trenchard. – Comments and conclusions are my own. The quest for this study came by a “quickening”.