The Early Church · c. AD 60–62
Chapter 31
Rome
Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house and received all who were coming to him,preaching God’s Kingdom and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, without hindrance.
After we had escaped, they learned that the name of the island was . The people who lived there showed us a kindness far beyond the usual. They lit a fire and welcomed every one of us, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.
gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire. The heat brought out a viper, a poisonous snake, and it fastened onto his hand.
The islanders saw the creature dangling from his hand. “This man must be a murderer,” they said to each other. “He has escaped from the sea, but Justice won’t let him live.”
But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and was not harmed.
They expected him to swell up, or to drop dead all at once. But they watched for a long time, and nothing bad happened to him. Then they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
The chief man of the island was named , and he had lands near that place. He took us in and was a kind host to us for three days.
Publius’ father was sick in bed with fever and dysentery, a bad sickness of the bowels. Paul went in to see him. He prayed, laid his hands on him, and healed him.
After this, everyone else on the island who was sick came too, and they were cured.
They honored us in many ways, and when we set sail, they put the things we needed on board.
After three months we set sail in a ship from . It had spent the winter at the island. Its figurehead, the carved figure on the front of the ship, was “The Twin Brothers.”
We stopped at Syracuse for three days. From there we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium. One day later a south wind came up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli.
We found brothers and sisters there, and they urged us to stay with them for seven days. That is how we came to .
Brothers and sisters from Rome heard about us and came out to meet us, as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and felt encouraged.
When we entered Rome, the handed the prisoners over to the captain of the guard. But Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.
Three days later Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. Once they had come, he said to them, “Brothers, I had done nothing against our people or against our ancestors’ customs. Even so, I was taken from as a prisoner and handed over to the .
“They questioned me and wanted to let me go, because there was no reason to put me to death. But when the Jews spoke against it, I had no choice but to appeal to . It wasn’t that I had anything to accuse my own nation of. That is why I asked to see you and speak with you. I wear this chain because of the hope of .”
“No letters about you have reached us from ,” they answered, “and no brother has come here and given a bad report of you or spoken badly of you. But we would like you to tell us what you think, because we know that people everywhere speak against this group.”
They set a day to meet with him, and many people came to him where he was staying. He explained things to them from morning until evening. He testified about God’s Kingdom, and he made his case to them about from the law of and from the .
Some believed what he said, and some did not.
They did not agree among themselves. Before they left, Paul said one more thing to them: “The spoke rightly through the prophet to our ancestors, saying,
‘Go to this people and tell them,you will hear and hear,but you will never understand.You will see and see,but you will never take it in.For this people’s heart has grown hard.Their ears are slow to hear.They have closed their eyes.Or else they would see with their eyes,hear with their ears,understand with their heart,and they would turn back,and then I would heal them.’
“Know this, then: the salvation of God is sent to the nations, and they will listen.”
When Paul had said this, the Jews went away, having a great argument among themselves.
Paul stayed on for two whole years in a house he rented, and he welcomed everyone who came to him. He preached God’s Kingdom and taught them about the Lord Jesus with all boldness, without hindrance.