Rome
The tenth (last) in a series of talks on the Acts of the Apostles at Nedlands Anglican Church 12 May 2024
The Story So Far
We are almost at the end of our journey and should review where we have come from. The story begins in Jerusalem with Jesus and his disciples reunited after his death and resurrection. Jesus is teaching them about the kingdom of God, and promises the Holy Spirit will soon come upon them. To their question about Israel’s restoration Jesus clarifies that history is still to run its course. An age of witness lies before them, at the end of which he will surely return. They devote themselves to prayer, and attend to the business of restoring the twelve-fold apostolic band.
At Pentecost the Spirit comes as promised: Jews from many nations hear the apostles speaking their languages. Peter addresses them with the first of Acts’ great evangelistic speeches, and the Jerusalem church is born. Another speech follows. Luke wants those who listen to Acts being read, to hear the gospel over and over, and learn how to respond. As opposition arises the community grows; the movement is unstoppable—it is driven by the Holy Spirit. The community shows all the marks of being God’s creation.
Godly leaders are chosen to ensure the fairness of its social program; among them is Stephen, who soon distinguishes himself as a teacher, and finds himself in conflict with the Jews of a Greek-speaking synagogue. His defense before the Sanhedrin makes clear that the followers of Jesus are in no way turning away from the faith of Israel, and becomes an attack on the leadership for their hard-hearted resistance. As Stephen dies, the young Saul enters the story as an official at the stoning.
Saul then leads an attack on the new movement, forcing most of the followers of Jesus to flee from Jerusalem; the apostles remain and maintain their leadership, and Philip now enters the story announcing the gospel in Samaria and baptizing many Samaritans. Even their famous magician believes. Apostles come from Jerusalem, and lay hands on them, ensuring the Christian community remains one. Philip then explains to an Ethiopian official returning from Jerusalem with a newly purchased scroll of Isaiah, that the promised suffering servant of the Lord is Jesus. Another baptism takes place.
Two incidents from Peter’s ministry on the coastal plain is now recounted, marking him out as Jesus’ undoubted apostle. There follows a fateful encounter with the Gentile Cornelius in Caesarea. God makes clear to Peter that Gentiles are no longer to be viewed as “unclean.” The Holy Spirit falls on Cornelius and his family as we overhear yet another presentation of the gospel. They are baptized and Peter remains several days in their home. A protest arises in Jerusalem over Peter doing what was illegal, and Peter gives an account of how God led him to something which, though once against the law, had now changed because of the gospel. The legitimacy of Jews and Gentiles fellowshipping together is now established, Luke reports on a mixed-race church that came about in Syria as a result of the exodus of Jesus’ followers from Jerusalem. When it was reported in the capital, Barnabas visited Antioch and approved of what he saw as clear evidence of the grace of God. He fetched Saul from Tarsus and together they spent a year instructing the new church.
After an account of the clash between the church in Jerusalem and the Jewish king, Luke turns again to the church in Antioch. Responding to a word from the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul are commissioned to take the gospel among the Gentiles, and sail with John Mark to Cyprus.
The ministry in Cyprus culminates with the conversion of the Roman proconsul, Saul begins to use his Roman name, and the missionary party cross to the mainland and journey to Antioch in Pisidia. Here Paul, who is now leading the party, delivers his first major evangelistic speech in a Jewish synagogue, and a church is born. After visiting churches in Galatia, the party returns to Syria and reports to the sending church in Antioch.
Trouble now erupts over whether Gentiles can be saved without first being circumsized and admitted to the Jewish family. Paul and Barnabas travel to Jerusalem and a conference is convened under the leadership of James, the brother of Jesus. After a report by Barnabas and Saul, and an account on the part of Peter of what happened to him in Caesarea, James sums up and provides the Scriptural justification. Circumcision is not to be required of Gentiles; they may seek the Lord in their own ethnic culture. Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch with an official letter, and later resolve to return to the new churches in Galatia. Unable to agree on whether to take John Mark they part company, Barnabas and Mark heading for Cyprus, Paul and Silas to Galatia.
After strengthening the churches in Galatia, they turn towards the Province of Asia, but are stopped by the Holy Spirit and led to a “divine encounter” with Luke at Troas. Together they cross the Aegean Sea to Europe, where Luke has his first experience of mission with Paul, in the Macedonia city of Philippi. When Paul, Silas, and Timothy are forced to leave, Luke remains, possibly to pastor the new church. They visit Thessalonica and Beroea, leaving Silas and Timothy to continue the ministry, and Paul is brought to Athens. There he debates in the Jewish synagogue and the market place, and is required to present his views in the Council of the Areopagus. There we hear his first major speech to philosophically literate Gentiles.
We skipped over Paul’s two-year action-packed ministry in Corinth, followed by four more exciting years in Ephesus, climaxing in a riot caused by the damage his preaching was doing to the trade in silver idols. He returns to Greece for another three months, and sets sail for Jerusalem from Philippi with Luke and other representatives of the churches. In Miletus they meet with elders of the church of Ephesus, and Paul delivers his only speech in Acts addressed to Christian leaders.
They sail on to Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea, and from there travel overland to Jerusalem. There is opposition to Paul in Jerusalem, resulting in a riot, where he is snatched by the Roman military from death at the hands of an angry mob. Surprised that Paul speaks fluent Greek, the commander allows him to address the crowd, who listen until he speaks about God sending him to the Gentiles, and then begin to demonstrate violently.
There follows an appearance before the Sanhedrin, and when it becomes clear that Paul’s life is in danger in Jerusalem, he is dispatched to the governor in Caesarea. There he remains for two years, in the course of which he has opportunity to address the procurator Felix, another delegation of accusers from Jerusalem, the next procurator, Porcius Festus, and the Jewish king, Agrippa II and his consort Berenice. To escape being sent to Jerusalem where his life was not safe he appeals to Caesar, and we come to where we begin our last study.
What’s it All About?
Of course, Luke wishes to tell the story of the birth of Christianity, and its spread all the way to Rome. In particular, he wants to relate some of Paul’s exploits, particularly those in which he was personally involved. But along the way he will also establish matters that were to him of great importance. First, he wishes to make absolutely clear that Jesus is truly Israel’s promised Messiah. Second, he will show that the community which resulted from the message about Jesus was God’s work. Third, he will describe how the gospel came to the Gentiles, and how that movement was intended by God, who led Peter to see that the old barrier separating Jew and Gentile had been demolished by the gospel. It was now right for Jews and Gentiles to fellowship together and eat each other’s food. The fifth issue he confronts is circumcision. Is it required of Gentiles. The Jerusalem Council under James decides no; Gentiles do not have to become Jews, they can be saved in their own nation’s culture. The sixth issue, which takes up the second half of the book of Acts is Paul. Is he genuinely called by God to ministry to the Gentiles, or a heretic, and an enemy to the traditions of the Jews. In multiple ways Luke makes clear that Paul’s ministry is as much a part of God’s salvation of the world as was Moses’ or David’s.
Luke’s Motive
What is Luke wishing to achieve with all this? I have argued that he is writing as part of the Pauline mission, about the year A.D. 63, when Paul is still in Roman custody. He writes this second book to his patron, Theophilus, in the hope that it will be copied and circulated to Christian pastors, who will read it to groups of believers and unbelievers—Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and free—in the hope that they will understand the gospel, believe, and be saved. He deals with the Christian life, and the nature of Christian ministry, as well as the issues of the day that prevented people from faith: the question of Jesus, the question of the church, the question of Jew and Gentile, and the question of Paul. Luke intended his Gospel and Acts as resources for ministry for the Christian teachers of his time.
The Voyage
We come to the last two chapters. Paul is handed over with a group of other prisoners to a centurion to be escorted to Rome. Luke accompanies him, probably as his private physician and friend. Great respect is shown him as his Roman citizenship required. The report which follows is said to be the best account of a sea voyage in ancient literature. We have Homer’s fictional and poetic sea voyage of Odysseus returning home after the defeat of Troy, but it does not compare with Luke’s detailed matter-of-fact story. The author of Acts claims to have been there, and every detail supports that claim. Listen to this:
Keep in mind that Luke has no atlas, nor internet. What he must have had was eyes and a notebook. He loved travel and kept notes on his experiences. His geography is accurate. His account is also packed with nautical language he probably learned on his various trips. Even his comments on the weather are realistic. Sailing was too dangerous in the winter months so the Mediterranean closed to shipping. The party changed ships in Myra, a major port for the grain ships travelling from Egypt to Rome. With luck and good management a grain ship could do two journeys in a year. The ship on which Paul embarked was probably on its second trip, and the time was near when, unless they were lucky, sailing would be too risky. Luck was against them, and the ship made slow progress, reaching “a place” named Fair Havens, which the ship owner and captain thought was not suitable for spending the winter.
The Day of Atonement is now, past and Paul warns the centurion against continuing, but is overruled by the ship’s owner and the pilot, who sail on in the hopes of reaching Phoenix in Crete. They never get there. As they round a cape a hurricane force wind hits them from the north-east and they are unable to turn the ship to face it. The “euriquilo” is the Latin name of a well-known north-east wind.
The description that follows is full of technical nautical language that Luke could only have learned from the sailors; it is a nightmare for students of Greek. Finding temporary shelter in the lea of the small island of Cauda, the crew take measures to secure the ship: with difficulty they manage to get the lifeboat on board. Normally it would trail behind the ship. They then undergird the ship, fastening ropes around the bottom of the ship to strengthen the hull. The sailors are afraid they will be driven across the sea and onto the Greater Syrtis, a notorious stretch of sandbanks, that was feared by sailors. They lower all but a small storm sail—or is it a sea-anchor?—which gives them enough steerage to avoid this danger, and they continue to be driven by the storm.
After many days the crew and passengers have given up hope. Paul speaks to them and says an angel has told him he must appear before the emperor, and God has granted him the lives of all on the ship, though the ship itself will be lost.
Finding themselves at the mouth of a bay they make for the beach, but the ship runs aground on a reef, and is in danger of breaking up under the force of the waves. They abandon ship, clinging to whatever they could, or swimming, and reach the shore of the island of Malta. There they must spend the rest of the winter, while Paul engages in ministry and wins the affection of the chief of the island.
The nearest seaport to Rome is Puteoli. Interesting to find a church there. The Christians in Rome come out to greet him. It is the last time in Acts that we hear anything about Christians.
The Meaning of the Voyage
What then is the point of the account of this journey. It is the longest single section of Acts, and the least theological. Apart from the appearance to Paul of an angel, and perhaps his failure to die of snakebite, there is nothing miraculous. It is all about Paul. Luke is impressed, and wants us to be, with his performance as a man of God; he is hardly depicted as a miracle-worker. The one verse that stands out above all others is the revelation that he must stand before Caesar. Much of the detail is superfluous. It clearly attests the presence of an author for whom this journey was an adventure. The surprising thing is that he never intrudes on his narrative. For most authors the desire to recount something they did or said or especially observed would be overpowering; but Luke is the invisible man behind the camera. He is evidently a man of great humility, whose one desire is to show us Paul.
But there is another thing: Colin Hemer draws attention to the immediacy of the narrative. If Luke were writing ten years after the event, in his mind would have been Paul’s trial and its outcome, Nero’s persecution, Paul and Peter’s death, and the great war between the Romans and the Jews. The account of the voyage would surely have become less vivid. Add to this the view of some that Acts did not need to recount Paul’s trial because Luke has already given us a kind of death and resurrection account in the voyage. But if this was his intention, it was because he had no story of Paul’s death. The story of the voyage then, indicates once more that Luke completed Acts not long after the time when the Acts account breaks off.
Rome
“And so we came to Rome,” says Luke. Paul is a prisoner of the state, but is allowed to live in his own hired accommodation, with only a single guard. People can come and go. The end of Acts is important. The way an author concludes his narrative should tell us a lot about his purpose. There are a few things in this last passage, then, which are puzzling. First, though he has free contact with visitors, and judging by his letter to the Philippians, Christians were in no danger, there is no mention of them. Surely Luke would want us to see the church in Rome. Second, if Rome was the great climax we expect it to be—Paul arrives in the capital of the Roman world—surely Luke would show us Paul preaching the gospel there, or at least discoursing with some of Rome’s citizens, but no. Third, his whole account is taken up with an interaction with Jews. And fourth, it breaks off with no account of his standing before Caesar, which has been promised us, nor of the outcome of his trial, nor of his death.
The reason for the anticlimactic ending I have already said, is that Luke had no more to tell; he finished writing before all these things happened. This is hotly debated, since the majority of scholars hold that Luke wrote ten or twenty years later. Luke tells us Paul remained in custody two whole years.
Luke appears to look back on a completed period of time, but what brought it to an end? Paul’s release or Luke’s departure are two possibilities.
Luke and the Jews
As I have said, this is curious. Here is the missionary to the Gentiles at the climax of his career wanting to address the Jews. Luke still wants to exonerate Paul from any suspicion of being a traitor to his people, or out of line with the faith of his Jewish fathers. It is because of Israel’s hope—resurrection—that he is a prisoner.
Here we have a possible explanation for Paul’s long imprisonment. No letters have been received from Jerusalem. No trial could take place until accusers arrived to press the charges. To be sure, the bad weather may have affected others than Paul, but there may be a further reason. With Paul out of the way, the High Priest in Jerusalem may have had more important things to worry about. The movement was flourishing which would lead to war. Assassinations were commonplace. A High Priest had been assassinated. James, the leader of the Jerusalem church was stoned to death;, the High Priest who ordered his execution was deposed. It was a turbulent time, and it may have been convenient for the authorities in Jerusalem to let the Paul thing drop. We do not know whether the accusers ever arrived; Paul’s case may have been finally dismissed.
What a controversial ending! The great German commentator, Ernst Haenchen, says that God has given the Jews one last chance, and now Luke writes them off. Christianity will no longer concern itself with mission to the Jews; it will be a purely Gentile thing. Some have followed this line, but it has been hotly disputed, and rightly so. At several points in the Acts story Paul has preached to Jews and been rejected, and then turned to the Gentiles, but in no case did it mean a final rejection of the Jews. Besides, Luke himself writes that some of the Jews believed. The prophecy of Isaiah was not meant for them, but for those who were hard-hearted; they are to know that the rejection of the gospel by the majority of Jews does not disprove it. This rejection was foretold by the prophets. This scripture was a favourite in the early church for dealing with this problem. It did not mean the Jews were cut off. It was meant to challenge them.
There is also a translation problem. If you read, “They will listen,” it sounds like a contrast is being made: Jews don’t listen, Gentiles will. But the word “listen” is better translated “hear.” “They also will hear,” is, I believe, the correct translation, and does not carry any negative connotation. Luke wants the Jews to go on hearing; it is one of reasons he wrote.
The kingdom of God is open to all, Jew and Gentile alike. And Luke is especially concerned to convince the Jews that Jesus is their true Messiah. Acts begins with Jesus teaching his apostles about the kingdom of God. It ends with Paul preaching to all comers about Jesus and the kingdom.
The mission continues. Acts is open-ended. The invitation is there to this day, not only to believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved, but to engage in the work of the kingdom, which is ongoing until the day of his coming to restore all things.