Acts 28:1-31 - Corps Notes - January 27, 1977
Publication Date: 01-27-1977
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
Acts 28:1-31
January 27, 1977
It is really significant that he writes in Acts 1:1-2:
The former treatise [meaning the Gospel of Luke] have I made, O Theophilus [beloved
of God], of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
Until the day in which he was taken up [which is the ascension], after that he through
the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
I believe that not only those commandments included going back to Jerusalem, but I believe
they included perhaps many of the things that are recorded in the Book of Acts that we have
studied and worked very minutely.
Jesus in his teaching, if you’ve studied the gospels, is very sharp; he gives one line and he
doesn’t always explain it. He just tells the truth and then goes on to something else. Those
apostles and the rest, who were spiritually wise enough to see it, were tremendously blessed.
Students have asked me at times, “Should I take Classical Greek in order to be able to do Greek
in the New Testament.” I hardly ever answer it. I usually say, “Well, that’s up to you.” But
when I’m real honest with myself; Classical Greek is nice but it’s totally unnecessary if you
really want to handle the Word and yet I’m grateful that Walter Cummins had it. It broadened
him. I’m grateful that a man learns anything that he does well. That will broaden him, to be
able to receive God’s Word. So I’m real grateful that Walter had a lot of this training.
All together there are 97,921 words that are used in Classical Greek. One of the conjugations
has 1,000 varieties in it of one word. God’s men; I’m not speaking of the original men who
received the revelation. I’m speaking of the men of God and I think the men who translated
from Estrangelo Aramaic into Greek were real men of God; real dedicated men. God’s men, in
the New Testament translation, used 5,857 Greek words. That’s all. In other words; there are
92,064 Greek words that are never used in the New Testament. So, they used 1 Greek word out
of 16. Less than almost 6% of Greek words in the total Greek vocabulary are used in the New
Testament.
Now, some of these words that are used in the New Testament are used in a higher sense than
the Greek classical men used them. Some are used in a new sense and some of them, God just
had these men to coin, like; nincompoop, I would coin. God had these men to just “coin,” as
these men of God believed Him. I was thinking how words are like coins; words in living
languages are like coins. They differ in value between different countries. The value that you
understand of one word, in your language, may vary somewhat in the usage of another country.
Because they are living words, they change value at different periods in the same country.
You can study any living language you want to study and the words in that living language, as
it goes on, are always uniformly brought down in one direction. That’s always a change for the
worse, in every language. Never have I found a word in any language where the meaning has
increased. It’s always been degrading; just like every man is a degradation, so he brings all the
words of his vocabulary lower and lower in their usage. In other words; man just drops down,
with him, the meanings of the words that he uses.
The illustration that I want to use is I Thessalonians 4:15:
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
The word “prevent” originally meant; precede. Yet when you think of the word “prevent,” it
means exactly what man has done to the Word. You “prevent” someone from doing something.
It means; to hinder; to obstruct; to stand in front of him. It means; to hurt; where one individual
“prevents” another one from doing so-and-so. That’s the degradation of it. Originally it meant
simply; to precede.
The word “apology,” originally meant; defence; where you present the logic of your defence
for the position that you hold. Man has taken that word, because of his lousy human nature, and
because he always apologized for every wrong mistake he made, and today the word “apology”
means nothing more in our language than “excuse.” We talk “apologize” to someone; that
simply means; you make an excuse for why you hit them in the face with your fist.
“Censure” is another word. The word “censure” originally meant; to judge. When you censure
something, you judge it. Because man’s degradation, he brought the word “censure” down to
“blame.” The word today; when you “censure” someone, you blame him; you criticize him;
you raise hell with him. That’s what the word censure means. Originally it meant; a right
judgment.
The word “story” is interesting. I’ve heard some of our people say that we should never refer to
the Bible “stories.” The reason we can’t refer to them as Bible stories, is because the word
“story” has been degraded. The word “story” is the abbreviated form of “history.” They just
dropped the “hi” and said, “story.” To us, if it’s a story, it spells “lie.” That’s how man has
degraded all this stuff.
Another interesting one is the word “knave.” A knave was an obedient, dedicated, servant boy.
Paul calls himself a servant; a knave; a slave, in the Word. Because of man’s degradation, he
brought it down. When you talk about a man being a knave, you say, “He’s stupid. He’s just a
no-good fellow.”
Cunning is another word. In old English, when a man was cunning, he was knowledgeable.
Like the hunter is cunning, means “a knowledgeable hunter.” Today when we think of
“cunning,” we think of someone who is sly; slippery; sort of “he’s a sharpie in his field.”
Villain is another one. A villain in the original was a servant of the villa. That’s how he got his
name. A servant of the house; a servant of the city, the villa, the establishment, the group of
people; he was a servant. Today when we think of a villain, we think of someone who draws
his six shooter on you, or his knife. He’s a villain.
Then there’s a very interesting one called “parasite.” The word “parasite” means basically; a
sacred granary where the special grain was kept that was offered to the gods. It was like “holy
water,” blessed by the bishop. The men in Greece, who served at the top echelon of distributing
justice, were called parasites. Their position was paid for by the state. Man in his degradation
read the words “paid for by the state,” into a parasite as “someone who lives off of the state.
That’s how we got the current meaning of the word “parasite.” Someone who feeds on
something at the expense of the other party or the other thing; like an orchid; an orchid is a
parasite, because an orchid lives off of the strength of another tree.
Every time man gets a hold of something, he’ll always degrade it. Whenever God and God’s
people get a hold of something they lift it up. Man, the natural man, the intellectual man, the
smart-cookie, the guy with all the brains; every time he gets a hold of something, like words
like these, he’ll make them less and less.
I think it was Coleridge who did a fantastic piece of work that I read years ago, where he had
over 500 words just listed and showing what the original meaning was and then how man
through the centuries has degraded those words to mean something almost entirely different.
Take the word “villain.” Who would ever think that that meant a servant of a villa? Who would
ever think that the word “parasite” was the most revered and honored and respected word
among the Greek senators? For, if you were a parasite, then you sat at that place were you made
the decisions on the spiritual program of the state.
Well that takes me to Acts 28. I was thinking about man’s words today and how man’s words
usually degrade. Yet the Word of God always lifts up. The Word of God always inspires us.
The Word of God always makes us better than what we were before we heard it. The Word of
God lifts us up and whenever men speak the Word of God it lifts somebody else up. Look at
Paul’s record in Acts. Paul spoke the Word and the Word lifted up those 276 souls. The whole
group was saved because of a man who spoke the Word and lifted them up out of the
degradation in which they were.
The closing chapter, of course, sits here in Acts and it just all at once seems like it drops the
whole thing. I think it basically is because the original revelation of God’s greatness started in
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, then it moved to Samaria, then it moved to other cities. It
moved from city to city across the then known world. Then it moved from province to province
and finally ends up in the greatest of all the metropolitan cities of its day and of its time; in
Rome, with the greatest man of God perhaps the world has never seen as a born again son of
God; Paul. Some thirteen to fifteen years before he gets to Rome he writes the epistle that you
and I have read in the Bible, the Book of Romans. So when we come to this 28th chapter of
Acts which is the history of the rise and the expansion of the Christian Church, He just gets him
to Rome and that’s the end of it. Once God gets it to Rome, here in the Book of Acts, He just
stops it. God had quite a time getting him there but he finally ended up there.
Acts 28:1
“when they were” - it’s a participle form; having
“they” - we
“Melita” - today it is called Malta
Perhaps it will be interesting to you to know that the Maltese peoples were basically
Phoenicians. The Phoenicians, of course, were the first great seagoing peoples. They built the
ships and kept them afloat. This island is 65 miles or so south of Sicily, or what is referred to in
the Bible at times as, Cilicia. The island is about nine miles wide and 17 miles long.
Acts 28:2
“barbarous” - In the Greek language anybody who did not speak Greek fluently was a
barbarosi; he was a barbarous person. That did not mean he was stupid. That simply means he
was stupid of Greek. If they would have translated it, “foreign,” it would be much more
accurate, because that’s what the word barbaroi, the old Greek word, means. It means a foreign
people who did not speak Greek. For years we’ve called everybody “heathen” that didn’t think
of accepting Christian missionaries. Having observed Christian missionaries, I sometimes
wonder who were the heathens. We sent missionaries to the “heathens.” It would have been
better, maybe, if we’d have sent them to the local church, or to the neighbors.
Well, it’s always people. You’ll see again; the people of Rome didn’t like the Jews. They drove
the Jews out. The Jews didn’t like the Christians; they drove them out. Everybody is always
driving everybody out. You don’t agree with them. The Romans thought they were the greatest,
the Jews thought they were the greatest. It all depends on who is in control; they are always the
greatest. Then they will persecute everybody else until they come to the greatness of God’s
Word and renew their minds and see the love of God and then allow all people to live.
“no little” – no ordinary; a lot. They went beyond just putting a dry towel on them.
“kindness” – philanthrōpia which is transliterated into our word, philanthropy. Philos is
translated; love; human love.
“They showed us no ordinary love,” just regular love; they just didn’t put a towel on them.
They gave them clothing; they gave them shoes; they blessed them abundantly.
“received us every one” - there was a variation of culture, of prestige, and everything else in
that group and yet those people of Melita received every one without any respect of persons to
them. They gave them no ordinary love. They loved them.
“because of the present rain, and because of the cold” - because of the rain storm and because
that rain was fantastically cold.
Acts 28:3
“bundle” – plēthos - pleroō means; full only, plētho means; to overflowing. He didn’t gather a
bundle of sticks. He got an armful, brought them in; he got another armful; he “overflowed” it.
That’s Paul! He just didn’t contribute a stick to the fire. That was the law, the custom of Old
Testament times; that whoever wanted to warm himself at the fire had to contribute some
firewood. He not only contributed firewood, he went out and got more and more. I love that
word plēthos there. It seems to me that if anyone should have been gathering, it should have
been everybody else but Paul.
Paul’s the guy that really told them God’s Word. He’s the one who saved them all because he
demanded that so and so happen. Yet when it came down to supplying wood for the fire, Paul
worked right along with the rest. Previously he had worked on casting out the unnecessary stuff
in the ship.
In the Bible the men of God aren’t lazy. If there were sewers to be cleaned, they cleaned them.
If there were septic tanks to be cleaned, they cleaned them. If there were toilets to be cleaned,
they cleaned them. If there was garbage to be hauled, they hauled it.
“came a viper out of the heat” – the viper came out because of the heat
Acts 28:4
“barbarians” – the foreign people
“venomous” – there is no “venomous” here
It is interesting how in the negative side of human nature, human nature has always believed
that there is some type of justice and that that justice is administered some way or other, that if
you have “blown it” you get injured. All through the centuries this has happened. At the time of
the witch hunts in America, didn’t they give them poison and if they didn’t die from it then
they weren’t witches? This is the same principle. It’s like putting a hot fire under you and if
you don’t burn you’re a Christian. Somehow or other the degradation of man has always been,
in spite of his degradation, that there has to be justice, but he always goes the wrong route. If he
saw the side; that God is the just one and he saw; that Christ was, then he’d be on the road. But
these fellows didn’t know. So they figured he was a murder. But somehow or other he didn’t
get killed in the storm but now he is going it. “God’s justice is vengeance,” so they say, “It
always has to always be there.”
Acts 28:5
The text reads, “and he then indeed shook off the beast in the fire and felt no harm, no evil,
nothing bad.”
“beast” – in verse 4 & 5 – thērion – creature - they called him a beast because he “wopped”
people I guess
The reason the word “venomous” is in italics in verse 4 is because of the old Greek translation.
In the Greek classical literature they refer to this creature as a venomous serpent or viper. They
use the word “venomous.” It is interesting that an associated Greek word is the word treacle,
which literally means “stickiness.” At times in classical Greek it is translated “molasses.”
This thērikē was an antidote that was compounded from the flesh of this viper, called beast
here, or creature.
Acts 28:6
“howbeit” – but
“they looked when he should have swollen” - When they saw this particular viper bite Paul, or
fasten itself to his body they said, “Oh my God, he’s going to die.” They looked for him to
swell up because, in a short period of time after a fellow was bitten by one of these, the poison
would go through his body and he would swell. Then he would just fall down suddenly dead.
So “they looked.” You can just see their eyeballs like hen’s eggs.
“looked a great while” - they watched and they watched and they watched and nothing swelled
on Paul
“harm” - evil
“Nobody but a god can live through that,” they said. They didn’t miss it too far. They just
missed the word “son.” If they would have said, “Well, he must be a son of God,” they’d have
been right on. But they thought he was one of the gods, because nobody ever lives through that
without being a god.
Quite a man, this Paul; had his opportunities too, oodles of them. Yet you never heard him
complain about all this stuff.
Acts 28:7
“quarters” - area
“possessions” – lands; property
“chief man” - the boss man of the island; the ruler of the island
“courteously” - with all courtesy
Acts 28:8
“bloody flux” - dusenteria – transliterated into our word, dysentery
Who healed him? Paul and the reason he entered in was because of revelation; God told him.
I’m sure there were other men and women sick on the island. Paul never had any “go sign”;
never went in. But in this instance he did have revelation. He went in, he prayed, laid hands on
him, which identified him for revelation and he healed him.
Acts 28:9
“so” – but
“others” – the rest
I do not believe that it’s indicated here that everybody in the island came.
“others also” – not everybody but the rest of those who came and they believed, in that Island
and they were healed. They were healed because of their believing.
The deliverance of the father of Publius raised the believing on that pagan island called
“foreigners,” who were the Maltese people, who were Phoenicians, who were not even born
again. They were healed.
Acts 28:10
“also” – follows the word “honours”
“departed” – loosed; sailed
“when we departed” – at the time we were getting ready to sail
“laded us” - laid on us
“necessary” - needs
That must have been an exciting time on that little island. Three days, isn’t that how long they
were there? Where was that three days? verse 7 He lodged them three days, and then they
stayed on that island.
Acts 28:11
“ship of Alexandria” - he had started on a ship of Alexandria in Caesarea; a grain ship. This is
also a grain ship but this ship had wintered in the island there at Malta.
The time here had to be late February or early March. Late February would be the earliest that
this grain ship would leave the harbor.
“Castor and Pollux” - are the twin sons of Zeus. In verse 13 it talks about this “Rhegium.”
Coins that have been found in the Rhegium in excavation have had Castor and Pollux on them,
the twins that Zeus fathered. This was the ship’s logo. It is interesting that these two, Castor
and Pollux, are two major stars in the Gemini constellation to this day in the astronomy field.
When they named some of the stars in the constellations they had to get it from the astrology
field.
Acts 28:12
“Syracuse” – about 80 miles north from Malta and it is still a city in Sicily. I suppose that’s
how the one in New York got its name. There must have been a lot of people from Sicily that
came to the state of New York and called it Syracuse. I’ve never checked it out but I’m pretty
sure that’s what it is. It was THE city of the island of Sicily.
Acts 28:13
“fetched a compass” – it simply means they made a circuit – a compass goes in a circle:
circular
“Rhegium” – this is in the Italian side of the Straights of Messina
“Puteoli” – this distance was about 180 miles. This Puteoli was the destination for the
Alexandrian wheat ships; grain ships. This place was the final destination for these ships. This
city was south of Rome. When they came to this city, Paul could see the whole bay of Naples.
When he looked off to the right he could see the mount Vesuvius which boiled over one time.
Acts 28:14
“we found believers” - this is the only other city in Italy outside of Rome that’s mentioned as
having believers at this time.
“desired” - entreated; asked; requested
“went” - came
What he is simply saying here is: They had started out at Caesarea, had all these things to
happen and so now they finally arrive at the final destination of this grain ship at Puteoli and
“so we came toward Rome.” From here on out it has to be horseback or foot or motorcycle.
Acts 28:15
I think it would have been fantastic had they put a chapter at the 15th verse. I sometimes think
they ought to put verses 11, 12, 13 & 14 in one chapter and 15 in another chapter, because
whole thought contents are laid resident in these verses
“when the brethren heard of us” – in other words; they arrived in Puteoli and they spent seven
days there, but somebody carried the message to Rome that they had landed.
“Appii forum and The three taverns” - In order to get there they came down the Appian Way
which is still in existence in Rome. It is cobblestone and you can still see the road on which
Paul walked with the brethren. You can see how the steel wheels cut into the rocks. It is all
visible. This Appian forum is about 43 miles south of Rome. One group met them there. Then
another group met them at The three taverns and that was about 33 miles from Rome.
“he thanked God, and he took courage” – that blessed him. It blessed him that the believers
came out to meet him from the city of Rome. That was just something. It’s beautiful.
Acts 28:16
“delivered the prisoners” – not only Paul, but all the other prisoners
“the captain of the guard” – the man who was in charge of the Praetorian guard. This had to
happen before the year 62 A.D.
“suffered” - allowed.
“that kept him” - to whom he was chained. The law was that during the day the prisoner had to
be chained to a soldier, one soldier. At night they could put him into “holds” so to speak, and
then two soldiers had to stand guard. That was, at least, the Roman situation.
Acts 28:17
“after three days” - after they had settled in; three days
“chief of the Jews” – these were the heads of the synagogue in Rome. According to Josephus
there were seven major synagogues in Rome at this time.
“though I have committed nothing against the people”--they knew he was a prisoner because he
was chained to a soldier. You know how the grapevine works, even then as it does now. They
must have heard a lot about him.
“people” – in other words; the Romans. He had done nothing wrong as far as the Roman law
was concerned.
“customs” - or traditions
Acts 28:18
“examined” - judged; listened to what the testimonies were
“no cause of death in me” - they had said he ought to be executed but there wasn’t any reason
for execution.
Acts 28:19
“it” – i.e. my freedom
“constrained” – is a biblical orientalism. Example: they constrained Jesus on the road to
Emmaus [Luke 24:29] - three or four arguments why he should do this.
“not that I had ought to accuse my nation of” – he had nothing he wanted to accuse the Jews of
Acts 28:20
He called them hoping and believing that they would listen, understand, and change. I read
things like this and I think where in Peter it says a dog returns to its own vomit. [II Peter 2:22]
I often think of this: I just never had any idea that my ministry would ever be outside of the pail
of the organized systems of Christianity. I never had any idea. For 15 or 16 years I just bled my
heart out in that denomination. I tried to teach; tried to share; tried to show them the greatness
of what we were seeing at least. They didn’t change. But I guess this is sort of drilled in your
heart and life and you always want to help or you think there’s hope there.
After all these years I can still see where the organized system would have the system to do the
greatness of the outreach of God’s Word, but they don’t have God behind it. That’s why the
system will not produce it.
I really felt sorry for Paul here in Acts 28; knew all the time what they were going to say.
“for this cause...to see you and to speak with you” - i.e. to clarify, to share with you
“the hope of Israel” - What’s the hope of Israel? The Messiah: that’s the hope.
Within ten years after this record here in Acts 28 the whole Israeli system is destroyed. All
Jerusalem is destroyed and was never a nation since and has never been one since except what
we established, which is not Israel. Within ten years of this, the city of Jerusalem is totally
annihilated; destroyed. They wouldn’t listen: the hope of Israel is the Messiah. Had they
believed the Word Israel would have not have been destroyed. They were destroyed because
they did not believe the Word. They did not believe God. They did not believe that Jesus Christ
was the Messiah. Paul knew that he was the Messiah because he rose again from the dead and
he spoke in tongues. He says, “because that for the hope of Israel, the Messiah, you fellows
ought to all believe Him too, because you are of that background. I am bound with this chain.”
Acts 28:21
“harm” - evil
“neither received letters” - they never received an official document from the Sanhedrin giving
the charges against him is what it says
Acts 28:22
“sect” - heresy
They had heard about the way. They had heard that they were first called Christians in Antioch
of Syria, but to these Jews it was heresy. It was a sect. They had also heard that this leader,
called Paul, had been won over to this sect and that wherever this sect was moving it was being
spoken against and was being criticized. So they said, “We desire to hear of thee what thou
thinkest; we want to hear your thinking.”
Acts 28:23
“they had appointed him a day” - Those Jewish leaders decided among themselves as to when
they would come back because they were so busy sending in their reports to their denomination
and keeping all their financial records, so they had to figure out when they could give Paul a
day where they could come for an hour or two and hear what “he thinkest.”
“expounded” - not the word, hegeomai; not the word we use in “expounding the scriptures.” It
the word that means he, “set forth the matter.”
“testified the kingdom of God” – That’s why I know he talked about the Messiah, the hope of
Israel. He talked about what Jesus Christ did; what he accomplished; how he died and his
resurrection. He talked about Pentecost. The kingdom of God includes, within it, this coming of
the Messiah for Israel.
“morning till evening” - all day long he taught his heart out. He shared with them.
Acts 28:24-25
“they” - this is not the “some that believed” but “some [who] believed not” – they argued
among themselves; the unbelievers argued among themselves.
“they departed” – the text literally reads, “they were asked to leave.” In other words, somebody
said to them, “Look, get out of here. If you want to fight among yourselves get going.”
“after that Paul had spoken one word” - They did not leave until Paul had the last word of God
to them. Paul spoke more than “one word.” It’s in the sense of, “I’ll speak a word to you.” It
doesn’t mean one word. It’s a figure, meaning he was going to “lay it on them.”
“Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet” – this is a quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10.
This is quoted more than any other Old Testament quotation in the New Testament. It’s quoted
in Matthew 13:14, Mark 4:12, Luke 8:10, John 12:40 and here in Acts.
“well” - rightly
“the Holy Ghost” - the Holy Spirit; God
“our” – your
Acts 28:26
“not understand” - They heard it with their “ear balls” but they really didn’t believe what they
heard, so they never understood
“not perceive” – “You’re going to see with your physical eye but you’ll never really see it to
the end that you’ll perceive”
Here is the reason for it:
Acts 28:27
“heart” - where the issues of life are decided which means; in your mind; in the real in-depth
soul of your mind
“waxed gross” - grown fat
They had a lot of good times. Prosperity was there. At this particular moment the Jews were
allowed to live in Rome. They held positions of influence and prestige, so their hearts had
grown fat. “We don’t need God. I did it by my own strength. I’m my own saviour. I educated
myself. I worked for this. This belongs to me.” Sounds real familiar, doesn’t it? The Bible says,
“The heart of this people is fat.”
You know what a big fat man is like if he has to run two miles in twelve minutes. It’s quite a
figure, isn’t it? The “fat” simply means excess weight. It’s not strength. People get fat
spiritually. They have a good life and everything seems to go hunky-dory. They really “don’t
need the greatness of God’s Word.” That’s what God said about His people, “They hear but
they don’t hear. They see but they don’t see. Why? Because their heart is fat.”
“dull of hearing” – literally means; closed; stopped up; they can’t hear.
How this applies even in our day; at times you talk to people until you’re blue in the face. They
hear you but they don’t really hear. They see what you’re saying but they really don’t
understand. Their ears and their eyes have they closed.
“be converted” - turn again; turned about again; a complete turn about
“heal” - deliver
This is the last quotation of record, that I know of, that the Apostle Paul gave to Israel, the
people, and he quoted it from Isaiah. Because they had the freedom of choice, they refused to
see with their eyes, to hear with their ears. They refused to understand within the innermost part
of their being. They refused to turn about; that’s to be converted. Therefore God could not heal
them. I said to you, “ten years from this time all Jerusalem was just ravished, destroyed.” This
would never have occurred had they, even as late as this, believed the teaching of the Word that
Paul gave.
Acts 28:28
“is sent” – was sent
I would almost like to paraphrase this to say, tonight, “Be it known therefore unto the so-called
Christian church of our day that the salvation of God is sent to the sinners in the clubs, to the
dope addicts, the sex fiends. It’s sent there and they will hear it.” Because the ears of the socalled
Christian church are stopped up. The heart of the Christian church is fat. They have no
understanding of God’s Word.
I honestly believe that’s why God is by-passing the organized system. God is reaching out
again, just by people’s commitment to God and His Word, down into the low levels of human
need, where people are, who still have ears to hear, who are looking and who will understand
and respond.
Acts 28:29
Verse 29 is omitted in the Stephen’s Critical Greek Text, but it is included in some of the old
texts. I think it’s in Aramaic. It’s okay with me to leave it. It’s pretty kosher.
“said” – spoken
“words” - things
“the Jews departed” – those fellows who had been asked to leave; the unbelievers arguing
among themselves
“great reasoning among themselves” – they fought with each other all the time
I believe the rest of them continued to stay with Paul and he continued to teach them and
instruct them. He had to get rid of the loud-mouthed unbelievers who were deeply religious but
totally wrong.
Acts 28:30
“hired” = rental.
“two whole years” – he had been in prison for two years in Caesarea. Then he took that trip
over to Rome and was in prison two more years, a little more than four years altogether.
“hired house” – a rented house. Whether this was made available to him by believers in Rome,
could be. I’m not sure. I know he wasn’t able to run around taking abundant sharing offerings
because he was hand-cuffed to a soldier and had to stay at that location.
The people must have come to see him and for two years he ministered to those who came.
What a two years that must have been. Can you imagine; he being in jail, handcuffed during the
day, and these believers coming and bringing him bread and possibly paying for the rent on
Paul’s house? One morning they come in about 9:00 and Paul says, “Last night God showed
me something and I wrote the following: [Ephesians 1:1-4]
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus,
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ: according as he
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love.
Imagine what that did to those believers in Rome. I’m absolutely confident that he read them
Ephesians before he sent it to Ephesus, because he wrote it in jail. Well, what would you do? If
I wrote a chapter tonight and I was in jail and you all came back tomorrow, I’d read it to you.
I’d share it. I think the great letter to the Ephesians was first read to the people in Rome when
he was in jail. He wrote Ephesians at this time.
He wrote Philippians and Colossians in these two years, too, and that great letter to Philemon,
the great epistle. Can you imagine Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians being read to those
people who came to visit him? In that working that we did of the people close to Paul (pg
318ff.), a lot of them are these people here in Rome. A lot of them are mentioned in that last
chapter of the book of Romans. The book of Romans was written and perhaps sent to them
already, twelve to fourteen years before this occurred.
Luke and Aristarchus were there and some of the rest of the people are mentioned. Can you
imagine sitting in that little group with not too many who had come to visit Paul and he would
read them a chapter of what we today know as Ephesians, read them Philippians, Colossians,
the beautiful letter to Philemon?
It must have been really exciting and yet he was hand-cuffed to a soldier. So it’s not the handcuffs
that enslave a man. It’s the heart and soul of a man that enslaves him.
Bunyan wrote Pilgrims Progress, I guess, when he was in jail. A lot of other things have
happened by men who were in prison. They wrote. Paul wrote the great epistle of Ephesians,
the greatest of all revelation, when he was in jail.
Acts 28:31
“confidence” - boldness
“no man forbidding him” - no man curtailing his freedom to speak to those who came to his
house
“preaching” – kērussō - it’s the name of a long horn that people blow, calling the assembly
together. Today we kērussō when we have a horse race, like the Kentucky Derby where they
come out with their long horns and then they blow and then they parade out. The
Mohammedans use it at their hours of prayer where the guy stands up on the mosque and he
blows the big long horn. That means kērussō; make noise; make sound; speak forth.
“teaching” – to instruct in righteousness; instruction; to instruct
He held forth; he preached the kingdom; he kērussō -ed; made the noise about the kingdom and
then he instructed them concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and he did this with all boldness.
Well, that’s the end of the Book of Acts. It just stops.
Clement, who was a disciple and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, wrote that Paul left Rome
after this period of time and went to the boundaries of the west. Spain? England? I don’t know.
Eusibius, the historian, said the same thing, but added that Paul was caught and brought back to
Rome as a prisoner and that he was martyred under Nero. I think this is the common consensus
held among most Bible scholars; that he was returned to Rome as a prisoner; a second
imprisonment under Nero, and was martyred and that it was during the second imprisonment
that he wrote II Timothy.
An English writer, speaking of Paul, said Of him that he was a man who was wonderfully
cultivated, refined, heroic, versatile, and magnetic; a leader of men and an epoch-making
genius. I think that is an admirable description of a wonderful man of God who gave us, by
God’s mercy and grace, the greatness of the revelation that means so much to us today in the
ministry to which we have been called.