Acts 28

Miracles on Malta

The islanders, steeped in an animistic worldview, thought of the gods as using the forces of nature, especially storm and sea, for retributive justice. They interpreted Paul’s snakebite as the work of the goddess “Justice” against Paul, who must be a murderer.

The islanders were following the conventional wisdom: “bad things happen to bad people
Malta today. It contains a population of about 335,000. Every year on February 10, the island celebrates the shipwreck of the apostle Paul.

Luke has convinced us that Paul sailed under God’s protection every nautical mile of this journey, and the viper incident confirms that. In fact, despite two weeks of battering and darkness, the ship was scarcely 60 or 70 miles off course, and we can imagine 276 happy people warming themselves around what must have been a very large fire.

The local natives put immediate spiritual meaning to the event and argued that this man (Paul) had obviously only escaped the terror of the sea in order to meet death on land since Justice has not allowed him to live.

Why doesn’t Paul rebuke these people as he did those at Lystra (14:15–18)? Perhaps because though they said he was a god, they made no attempt to worship him, the acquiescence of the islanders who, in reality, observed God’s protection.

Publius served as the chief official of the island, literally, “the first man of the island.”

These courteous barbarians not only took care of their “guests” but furnished them with supplies for the next and final leg of their journey. Toussaint suggests that “these supplies were no doubt given in gratitude for Paul’s services”

The time was probably nearing February of 61 A.D. The storm had driven their ship six hundred miles west from Crete to Malta.

They spent the winter months (November through January) on that island. Also on the island for those non-navigable months was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux were the patron saints of sailors, the Gemini, twin sons of Zeus. Ancient mariners considered seeing the Gemini constellation during a storm a good omen for the journey.

They Were Welcomed Along the Way

The first stop after only ninety miles is Syracuse on Sicily,

Finally a trip of about seventy miles landed them on Italy itself, at Rheggium on the very toe of the boot. Then they sailed on up the west coast of Italy to Puteoli, yet another 210 miles. Still 130 miles from Rome, Paul had reached the Bay of Naples.

And so we came to Rome, indicating that in Luke’s view, arrival at Puteoli was almost the same as arrival at Rome itself.

Paul Speaks Jesus to the Jews

Paul never surrendered the pattern—first the synagogue, then the streets. he called the Jewish leaders of Rome together. He presented his case with special focus on the reason for his imprisonment, because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain. Paul was under house arrest and, therefore, unable to meet with the Jews in some place of their choosing.

The central theme of this first encounter with the Jews focused on Paul’s innocence.

Not only were the charges against Paul groundless, but Paul had no counter charges to bring against the Jews. In this “clean slate” atmosphere he wanted to discuss with the Roman Jewish leaders his status as a prisoner and the hope of the resurrection.

Paul had no martyr complex; he had not come to Rome to die. Everything continued to center on the hope of Israel which, was more than a resurrection; it meant fulfillment of the Old Testament promises to Israel. Paul firmly believed Jesus is the Messiah of Israel who will return some day and establish Himself as the King of Israel and Lord of the Nations .

We need to remember that the Jews had been expelled from Rome approximately ten years earlier (A.D. 50) Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome.

Their lack of communication with the mother country and general fuzziness regarding Christianity can be accounted for, to some extent, by their own insecurity in the city of Rome. Nevertheless, it is somewhat surprising that they didn’t show greater awareness of events and issues surrounding Paul’s appearance in Rome. Perhaps they knew more than they felt comfortable saying in light of their shaky status in the city.

Remember that Paul’s ship was among the first to arrive after winter, so Jews in Jerusalem and Caesarea had had little chance to communicate with their counterparts in Rome since this whole trial sequence began during the riot at the temple in chapter 21.

28:23–24. A large group came to visit Paul and stayed all day. Paul preached Jesus from the Old Testament. His view of the kingdom dealt with the origin, death, resurrection, and coming reign of the Lord.

We’ve seen it before, and so had he. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. Perhaps the former group was only convinced of Paul’s innocence, but more likely they actually accepted the gospel and became Christians though Luke does not precisely tell us that. In either case, a divided synagogue following proclamation of the gospel has become a staple in Acts.

The Gospel to the Gentiles

Luke seems to want us to understand that though this argument continued, no one actually got up to leave until Paul began to quote Isaiah 6:9–

Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.f 24 Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.g
25 Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah 26 when he said,

Go to these people and say: You will always be listening, but never understanding;
and you will always be looking, but never perceiving. 27 For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. 28 Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

In doing so Paul affirmed again the inspiration of the Old Testament text by the Holy Spirit. His reference to my own people in verse 19 now changed to your forefathers as he began to distance himself from these unbelieving Jews. This quotation from Isaiah 6 had been used by Jesus

Jesus had employed this text to explain to the disciples why he spoke in parables. Here Paul used it to demonstrate Israel’s stubbornness and their unwillingness to understand how God’s providence brought redemption. This warning not only applies to Israel as a nation but to individuals then and now.

Encounter with Jewish Leaders

The Jewish community at Rome in mid-first century is estimated to have numbered forty to fifty thousand, most being slaves and freedmen.

Paul is innocent before the Jews (28:17b, 19c)

They can bring no sustainable charges against him, and he has none to bring against them. The charges won’t stick, because Paul always acted for and not against his people (26:17, 23) and always respected Jewish customs Paul does not view his nation as at odds with himself

Luke leads us to understand that Paul does not deserve to be a prisoner. The mystery of why he remains a prisoner after the Romans declared him innocent: I was compelled to appeal to Caesar.

The Romans and Jews had opposite dispositions toward Paul

The Romans wanted to release him. It was their plan, maybe when Festus first considered the case as he entered the governorship of Judea. By bringing charges and insisting on a trial in Jerusalem, a ploy for their deadly ambush, the Jews objected to Paul’s release.

The one affirmation was not guilty of any crime deserving death. Paul is innocent before the Roman state.

To be actually innocent by Jewish standards seriously undercut the Jewish arguments against Paul’s gospel. This is important for Theophilus’s and his fellow seekers’ receptivity to the gospel. Innocence before the state would strongly commend the faith to the law-abiding Roman.

Paul’s speech climaxes by answering the question:

“Why do the Jews oppose the Christian message and me?”

It is still the same today, you can talk to religious people all day about God and all is well, but when you bring up Jesus, everything changes.

The leaders respond to Paul’s witness to his innocence in a very politic manner. They have heard nothing bad about Paul, whether by letter or by word of mouth, officially or unofficially. They have heard nothing good about this sect but would like to hear Paul’s views on it. The scope and effect of the gospel witness—it is spreading everywhere—has been matched by opposition to it everywhere (17:30; compare Lk 2:34; Acts 13:45).

Explaining the Gospel to Jews

As the Jewish leaders requested, Paul explained the Christian faith to them. But it was not his views about a sect that he expounded. Rather, he declared, about the kingdom of God. And the good news was that God’s reign was in their midst in the victorious life, death and resurrection-exaltation of Messiah Jesus and his salvation blessings.

Today utopias of the left and the right are in shambles. People are uncertain, even apprehensive, whether the kingdoms of this world can manage the present, let alone the future. They are ready for the good news about the kingdom of God.

The Jewish leaders’ acceptance of this good news hinged on the answer to several important questions: Had the Messiah already come? If so, who was he? So Paul in his exposition also entered into reasoned discourse, “persuading them from the Scriptures, from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, about Jesus (. He is indeed the Messiah whose earthly mission and resurrection-exaltation had brought in the kingdom of God and made it visible to the eyes of faith. Any witness for Christ will involve not only bold declaration but also clear reasoning,

“God’s Word brings the diagnosis of sin, which is painful to hear and accept, but at the same time it wounds in order to heal. Once a person deliberately refuses the Word, there comes a point when he is deprived of the capacity to receive it. It is a stern warning to those who trifle with the gospel.” Marshall

Obviously, Rome was in no hurry to deal with this trial, so Paul, using his own resources, ministered to all who came to see him. During this time Paul wrote four epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

30 And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him, 31preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, none forbidding him.