SUMMARY
After enduring a long, arduous voyage toward Rome to appeal his case to Caesar, PaulThe Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, was the author of several New Testament letters and the founder of many Christian communities. arrives in Italy and continues to speak the good news concerning God’s saving work through Jesus Christ.
ANALYSIS
When prisoner Paul finally arrives in Italy, he is escorted up the western coast along the Appian Way from Rhegium to Puteoli to the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to Rome. Before reaching Rome, he discovers a group of believers in Puteoli and stays with them for a week. Notably, the gospel had reached Italy years ahead of Paul’s arrival.
In Rome, Paul is permitted to live under house arrest, monitored by Roman guards, awaiting his trial before Caesar (28:16, 23, 30). Two years pass, however, and Acts ends without narrating the trial (or Paul’s subsequent execution). Acts focuses on Paul’s ongoing mission amid his imprisonment. Paul regularly meets with the local Jewish leaders, “testifying to the kingdom of GodThe kingdom (reign) of God is a central theme of Jesus' teaching and parables. According to Jesus this reign of God is a present reality and at the same time is yet to come. When Christians pray the Lord's Prayer, they ask that God's kingdom... and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets” (28:23‒24). As often throughout Acts, the gospel provokes divided responses: some Jewish leaders accept Paul’s witness, while others reject it. But nothing deters the inexorable work of the HolyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine Spirit through Paul, advancing the “kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance”—“unhinderedly” (akōlytōs)—literally the last word in Acts!
