Bible Commentaries

On land new perils threatened. While gathering sticks for a fire, a viper fastened on the apostle's hand. Shaking it off, he was unharmed. This convinced those who watched that he was divine, and they sought to worship him. Necessarily, Paul refused such homage. Three months Paul and his companions sojourned there, during which time they received kindness from the inhabitants, and Paul wrought healing, beginning in the house of the governor.

After this long and tedious journey was accomplished, interest naturally centers in the actual arrival at Rome. It may be interesting here to group some statements which cover the movement. "I must also see Rome" (19: 21) ; "So must thou bear witness also at Rome" (22: 11) ; 'Unto Caesar shalt thou go" (25: 12) ; "So we came to Rome" (28: 14).

Met by some of the brethren outside Rome, Paul thanked God and took courage. Then presently he was actually in Rome, and his great opportunity had come. The apostle seems to have had no consciousness of being a prisoner, or, at any rate, he knew that he was "a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ." When Paul reached Rome a great day dawned for the Gentile world. It is arresting to see Paul's loyalty to his brethren after the flesh. Unable to visit the synagogue because of his chains, he called together the elders, and spoke to them of their Messiah, declaring that his chain was worn for "the hope of Israel."

The ending of the Book of Acts is characterized by a lack of finish. Nevertheless, it is illuminative. The apostle dwelt in his own hired house, thus suggesting the Church's independence of all the patronage of the nations of the earth. The burden of his preaching was the Kingdom of God. The closing words are historic and prophetic, "none forbidding him." They tell the wonder of how the overruling Lord made a prisoner in the imperial city for two years an apostle of the King and city yet to be manifested.