Since he was under house arrest, the Jews set a day where they
came to Paul’s quarter to hear him out. Verse 23 tells us that a large number
of them came to him and he explained and solemnly testified to them about the
Kingdom of God. Using the Old Testament (Law of Moses and the Prophets), Paul
was seeking to persuade them concerning Jesus. He did not just share a brief
sermonette, he kept at it from morning to evening. Of course the result was like
everywhere he went. Some were persuaded and believed, while others simply wouldn’t
believe. When the unbelieving Jews were leaving, Paul quoted from Isaiah
6:9-10, the same passage that Jesus quoted in Matthew 13:13-15, where He
described His hearers’ hardened hearts that made them unreceptive to the
teaching from the parables He taught.
In Isaiah, the quotation was spoken by God after the prophet
had the vision of the Lord and was cleansed and sent to speak to the people. As
the ancient Israelites who hardened their hearts toward Isaiah’s preaching, similarly,
those unbelieving Jews in Rome were hardening their hearts against Paul’s teaching.
Paul’s approach had always been to reach the Jews first before he went to the
Gentiles. Since many of the Jews in Rome had closed themselves up towards the
Gospel, they had inadvertently opened the door for the Gentiles to be reached.
For sure Paul would also continue to minister to those Jews who had responded
to his teaching, although Luke remained silent concerning this.
The last two verses of Acts simply mention Paul’s ministry
for two years. The brevity of the account did not mean that Paul was inactive.
In fact these two years were eventful for Paul. He was allowed to live in his
own rented house where he ministered to all who came to him. While he would be
guarded by a soldier, he had the liberty to move freely about. We are not told
the outcome of these two years of Paul’s life. He could have been set free
after the two years because the charges brought against him were baseless. It
could also be that he was freed because no formal charge was brought against
him in that period. Some believe that Theophilus could have concluded his treatise
before a final decision was made against Paul. Others had suggested that Paul
was martyred after the two years and Luke couldn’t bring himself to write it. Any
conclusion at best would only be a postulation.
However,
we know that Paul was not curtailed by the fact that he could not go to the
synagogue or the temple for worship. He did not allow the restriction to keep him
from preaching and teaching. We are told that a steady stream of people came to
his quarter frequently and he preached and taught them. He brought the salvation
message in his preaching and in his teaching he built their lives in Christ. And
from his letter to the Philippians we also learnt that he had opportunities to preach
to every soldier sent to guard him. He had in fact impacted the whole Praetorian
Guard.
Paul did not just minister through preaching and teaching, he
also ministered through his writings. During those two years, he wrote the Prison
Epistles - Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and the Pastoral Epistles - 1
& 2 Timothy and Philemon. During this period Paul also shared with Onesimus,
the runaway slave and sent him back to Philemon, his master.
Acts closes with this statement about Paul, “…preaching the kingdom of God and teaching
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered”. What an appropriate caption for Paul’s epitaph! In fact this
should be the caption of every believer’s life.
What an enriching life Paul had. He not only lived for the
Lord, he gave all to serve Him. The last verse of Acts is indeed an appropriate
caption for his tombstone. What about us? If there must be a statement that
sums up our life and walk with Christ, what would it be? We know that it can be
written by how we live and serve the Lord now. Why not start right away?
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