Luke's purpose in recording Paul's ministry in Rome included vindicating God's promises to Paul that he would bear witness there (23:11; 27:24). Even though a church already existed there, Paul's ministry in Rome was significant in Luke's purpose because he was the apostle to the Gentiles. The apostle to the Gentiles was now able to minister in the heart of the Gentile world.
Paul was a Roman citizen who had appealed to Caesar and had gained the respect (to say the least) of his centurion escort. Therefore he was able to reside in a private rented residence with a Roman guard (v. 30).
This is the end of the last "we"section of Acts (16:10-40; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16). We know that Luke and Aristarchus remained with Paul for some time, and Paul had other visitors including Timothy, Tychicus, and Epaphroditus. Luke and Aristarchus were with him when Paul wrote his epistles to Philemon and to the Colossians (Phile. 24; Col. 4:14), which he composed during his detention in Rome. This imprisonment probably lasted from 60 into 62 A.D. (cf. v. 30).
28:17-20 Paul began immediately to prepare to witness. He wanted to see the leaders of the Jewish community soon for two reasons. He wanted to preach the gospel to them as Jews first. He also wanted to take the initiative in reaching out to them with an explanation of why he was in Rome. He wanted to do so before they arrived at false conclusions concerning his reasons for being there.971Undoubtedly before sending for them he satisfied himself that they were not antagonistic to him already. He would hardly have invited to his house men who just might have been as hostile as the Jerusalem assassins. Paul may have been unable to go to the synagogues because of his prisoner status. On the other hand he may have chosen to explain his situation to a small group ofJewish leaders on his own turf. He could have done this to preclude another riot that would have complicated his formal acquittal. So, only three days after his arrival in Rome, Paul sent for these men.
"Paul's statement in 28:17-20 is a summary of the preceding trial narrative and imprisonment speeches in Acts 22-26. It presents what the narrator most wants readers to retain from that long narrative."972
Paul emphasized these points in his explanation. He had done nothing against the Jews or their customs (v. 17). The Roman authorities in Judea had already declared him innocent (v. 18). He had appealed to Caesar because the Jews in Judea challenged the Romans' verdict, not because Paul had any grievance against the Jews (v. 19). His present condition grew out of the promises God had given Israel (i.e., concerning her Deliverer and deliverance, v. 20; cf. 23:6; 24:21; 26:6-8).
28:21-22 It may be that the Jewish leaders were being completely honest and straightforward with Paul in what they said. If so, God had miraculously kept these Jews from hearing about Paul's case since Jews in Jerusalem and Rome communicated frequently with each other.
"Very possibly the Jews in Rome preferred to remain ignorant of the case; they would not have forgotten that earlier disputes over the Messiah had led to their temporary expulsion from the city (18:2 note)."973
Perhaps the Jewish leaders realized that Paul's release was inevitable since the Jews had no real case against him in Roman courts. They may have decided to start from scratch in their campaign to do away with him. In any case, they were eager to hear what Paul had to say.
28:23 Luke's concern in this pericope was to emphasize what Paul preached to these men and their reaction to it. The term "kingdom of God"probably means the same thing here as it usually does in the Gospels, namely Messiah's rule on earth during the millennial kingdom (cf. 1:3-8; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:31).
"He [Paul] was seeking a communal decision, a recognition by the Jewish community as a whole that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish hope. The presence of significant opposition shows that this is not going to happen."974
"Is there any example of undefeatable hope and unconquerable love like this act of Paul when, in Rome too, he preached first to the Jews?"975
28:24-27 Luke recorded for the third and last time what had become the Jews' characteristic response to hearing the gospel (v. 24; 13:46; 18:6; cf. Rom. 11:7-10). Paul's parting word was a quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10 in which God told the prophet that his Jewish hearers would not believe God's message through him (cf. Matt. 13:14-15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40-41). Paul saw that this word to Isaiah was as applicable in his own day as it had been in Isaiah's. He also regarded it as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
28:28-29 Verse 28 is probably the ultimate climax of Acts. It summarizes the main theme of the book. Having presented the gospel to the Jews in Rome, and having witnessed their rejection of it, Paul now focused his ministry again on the Gentiles (cf. 13:46-52; 18:6; Rom. 1:16). Until "the times of the Gentiles"run their course and Messiah's second advent terminates them, Gentiles will be the primary believers of the gospel (cf. Rom. 11:19-26).
"Luke-Acts is basically a story about a mission. Acts 28:28 comments on the mission's future. The narrative prepares for this comment by reports of the Gentiles' friendly response to Paul on the voyage and the Roman Jews' contrasting response. When we recognize the careful reflection on the possibilities of mission among both Gentiles and Jews in Acts 27-28, the impression that the ending of Acts is abrupt and unsuitable is considerably reduced."976
Paul's innocence of anything worthy of punishment is clear from his living a relatively comfortable life in Rome for the following two years (60-62 A.D.).977Paul was able to preach (Gr. kerysso, to proclaim as a herald) the kingdom of God and to teach (didasko, to instruct others) about the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 23 clarifies this verse. Preaching the kingdom of God involves solemnly testifying about it, and teaching concerning Christ includes persuading people about Him. Paul could do this openly and without hindrance by the Roman authorities. This was Luke's final testimony to the credibility and positive value of the Christian gospel.
"With this expression [i.e., unhindered], which is literally Luke's last word in Acts, he is saying that largely through Paul's activities, the Church is now on the march, and nothing can stop it [cf. Matt. 16:18]. Paul has built the vital bridge from Jerusalem to Rome. The Cross is in the field."978
"In seeming to leave his book unfinished, he [Luke] was implying that the apostolic proclamation of the gospel in the first century began a story that will continue until the consummation of the kingdom in Christ (Acts 1:11)."979
These verses contain the last of Luke's seven progress reports (2:47; 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20).
"What is the one outstanding impressionmade by the study of the life and work of the Apostle of the Gentiles? Is it not this:--The marvelous possibilities of a wholly-surrendered and Divinely-filled life?"980
What happened to Paul following the events recorded in Acts? There is disagreement among scholars, as one might expect. Some believe the Roman authorities condemned Paul and put him to death. However most believe they released him and he left Rome. In support of the latter view are references in other New Testament books to Paul's activities. These are difficult to incorporate into the events of his life that Acts records. We can explain them if he continued his ministry. Also Eusebius, the early church historian who died about 340 A.D., wrote the following.
"After pleading his cause, he is said to have been sent again upon the ministry of preaching, and after a second visit to the city [Rome], that he finished his life with martyrdom."981
While Paul was in Rome during the two years Luke mentioned (28:30), he evidently wrote the Prison Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon). After his release and departure from Rome, he wrote the Pastoral Epistles. He probably wrote 1 Timothy between 63 and 66 A.D. to Timothy who was ministering in Ephesus, but we do not know from where he wrote it. He spoke of meeting Timothy in Ephesus later (1 Tim. 3:14; 4:13). Paul also wrote the Book of Titus probably from Illyricum or Macedonia during the same period to Titus who was on Crete (cf. Titus 3:12; 2 Tim. 4:10). Perhaps Paul visited Spain as he longed to do between 62 and 67 A.D. (Rom. 15:23-24) though there is no Scriptural record that he did or did not do so. From Rome he wrote 2 Timothy to Timothy in Ephesus shortly before his martyrdom in 68 A.D. (2 Tim. 1:16-18; 4:14, 19; 1 Tim. 1:20).
". . . the end of Acts directs attention to the missionary situation that Paul leaves behind and to Paul's courage and faithfulness as example for the church. It points to the opportunity among the Gentiles. It underscores the crisis in the Jewish mission. It presents Paul continuing his mission by welcoming all, both Jews and Gentiles, and speaking to them with all boldness' in spite of Jewish rejection and Roman imprisonment. This is the concluding picture of Paul's legacy."982
"What almost seems like the unfinished character of the book of Acts, from a merely literary standpoint, is doubtless intended to teach us that until the fulfillment of the angels' prophecy that this same Jesus' shall return even as He went away, the work of evangelization for this age will not be completed. We are to heed the Word--'Occupy till I come.'"983
