The End of the Beginning

As we expound the gospel to others, we’re not merely trying to transfer information from our brains to theirs. Instead, we should evangelize from our hearts to the hearts of others, always seeking to persuade our hearers to bow the knee to King Jesus—the One who loves them and desires that they too become citizens of his kingdom (cf. 2 Cor 5:11).

In verse 25 the Jews were “disagreeing among themselves,” and they began to leave after Paul made one final statement based on Isaiah 6:9-10.

The point that caused the dispute began with an introductory comment in which Paul affirmed the inspiration of Isaiah, a section of Old Testament Scripture. Throughout the book of Acts, biblical citations are introduced with references to the Spirit (cf. 1:16; 4:25). Also, Paul distanced himself from the Jews by saying “your ancestors” rather than sticking to his initial approach of calling the Jews his “brothers” (v. 17). The point here is that Paul’s faith in Christ has separated him from the Jews, who rejected the Messiah, as Isaiah “was right in saying.”

Paul cited Isaiah, who highlighted hearing, seeing, and the heart. If the people who listened to Paul’s message would actually act on what they saw and heard and understood in their hearts, then they would repent and be healed.

Hearing the word of God always has an effect on people, but the same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay. Either people are melted and moved by Jesus when they hear the word, or they reject him and become increasingly hard-hearted toward him as a result. No one can listen to the gospel and remain neutral to it. That’s why we must warn unbelievers that they must respond positively to God’s word, or the Lord may give them what they want—eternal separation from him and from his grace.

Sadly, in this passage the Roman Jews heard the message about Jesus, but many refused to respond to it. The concept of “hearing” appears throughout these meetings with the Roman Jews (cf. 28:22,26-28). The last time Paul uses this verb in verse 28, he says that Gentiles will “listen” and respond appropriately to God’s message of salvation.

Paul’s words here remind us of Jesus’s emphasis on the proper hearing of God’s Word. In his parable of the Soils, he too quoted Isaiah 6 (cf. Matt 12:39-40; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10). Isaiah 6:9-10, in fact, appears in various places in the New Testament (cf. John 12:39-40; Rom 11:8)—always in contexts of unbelief and hardness of heart.

In Romans 11 Paul discusses the Jews’ failure to hear the gospel (11:8; citing Isa 29:10 and Deut 29:4)—a rejection that’s something of a riddle. Paul suggests that the Jewish rejection may be temporary. During this temporary rejection, many Gentiles will believe, and in the end, in the mystery of God’s purposes, there will a great turning of Jews to Christ. Here in Acts 28 Paul simply notes the tragedy of the Jewish rejection of Jesus. A message of salvation was foretold by Jewish prophets, fulfilled in a Jewish Messiah, preached by Jewish evangelists, rejected by the Jews, but embraced by the Gentiles (Polhill, Acts, 544).

Initially the conversion of Gentiles like Cornelius was the exception in Christianity, not the norm. At first the Jewish Christians wrestled with the inclusion of the Gentiles (Acts 15). But by the end of Acts, things have changed. Jewish converts are the exception, and Gentile converts are the norm. God’s kingdom encompasses the nations. Jewish evangelism must continue, but Christianity primarily involves Gentiles who place faith in Jesus.

Verse 28 is the third time in Acts in which Paul turned to the Gentiles (cf. 13:46; 18:6), and Paul’s ministry among them has been fruitful. So, is Paul at this point turning from the Jews to Gentiles in a final and definitive move (Polhill, Acts, 544)? Is Paul finished with the Jews? In one sense, no. “All” were welcome to hear the message, including Jews (28:30). John Stott notes, “The most natural explanation of this is that the ‘all’ who came to see Paul included both [Jews and Gentiles]” (Message of Acts, 400). And all along, some Jews had believed through his ministry, though not in great number (v. 24). This passage is a reminder that we too must continue evangelizing our Jewish neighbors. But in another sense we might say yes. Paul believed “official Judaism,” the Jewish people as a whole, wouldn’t embrace Jesus (Polhill, Acts, 545)—at least not at this point in redemptive history. Paul therefore turns his attention mainly to the Gentiles.

We must teach the nations about King Jesus from the Scriptures. To do this, we need the Spirit’s help.

Acts 28:30-31

In verses 30-31 Luke concludes Acts suddenly. Here we learn that since the Romans weren’t in a hurry to deal with Paul, he continued to receive all kinds of visitors throughout his house arrest (v. 30). It’s easy to picture Paul in this house, teaching the Scriptures day after day, just as he taught in the lecture hall of Tyrannus a few years earlier (19:9).

During this time Paul wrote four important letters known as the Prison Epistles: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Through studying these documents, we know of some of the people who visited him: Tychicus, Onesimus, and Epaphroditus. When these and others stopped by his rented home, Paul continued to share about the kingdom of God and about the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 31). Paul communicated this message with Spirit-empowered “boldness.”

Throughout the book of Acts, this Spirit-produced courage is highlighted as a character trait of faithful witnesses (cf. 4:29-31). Luke wrote earlier,

When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. (4:13; emphasis added)

Paul, too, was known for speaking boldly—even in his writings. Let’s ask God to grant us this same type of boldness in our evangelistic efforts (cf. Eph 6:19-20).

Acts 28:31

Luke says that Paul continued to proclaim Jesus boldly and “without hindrance” (akolutos). Perhaps this is meant only to indicate that because the Romans didn’t perceive Paul as being dangerous, they put no stumbling block in the way of his gospel proclamation. But it could also be that in using this word here, Luke was alluding to the unbound nature of the gospel; it triumphs over every worldly and spiritual barrier. Though Paul was chained, for instance, the Word of God wasn’t bound (cf. 2 Tim 2:9)! Though he was hindered from traveling beyond a set area, it was not. Consider how Luke has been tracking the triumph of the gospel in Acts:

So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. (6:7)

So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. (9:31)

But the word of God flourished and multiplied. (12:24)

So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. (16:5)

In this way the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed.(19:20)

We may now add 28:31 to the list of summary statements expressing the triumph of the Word.

We should stop and marvel at the spectacular spread of Christianity. Since the start of Acts, the gospel has taken hold in Jerusalem, in cities all over the ancient world, and has finally made it to Rome. We often assume that Jerusalem was the center of action in the ancient world, but it wasn’t. It was important to the Jews, and it was the center of the messianic hope, but the city itself was rather insignificant in many ways (Richards and O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 65). It was on the eastern fringe of the Roman Empire. Rome controlled the area, but the activities there didn’t really occupy Roman interest (ibid.). Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien note the following about the humble beginnings and the explosive growth of the Christian faith:

Pilate was more the main finance officer or tax collector than anything else. The events of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection, so important for the Jews and Christians at the time, were marginal events in a nothing town on the edge of an empire with more important matters to consider. If we fail to recognize this, we can fail to recognize just how remarkable the rapid growth of the early church really was. For the first couple of centuries, Roman writers often referred to Christians as “Galileans,” indicating how nominal and provincial they considered the early Jesus movement to be. (Ibid.)

Yet, at the end of Acts, we see the beginnings of the worldwide movement of a people who worship the risen King from Nazareth. The gospel’s progress and tenacity are breathtaking!

But nearly two thousand years after Christ’s resurrection, we who live so far away from Jerusalem and Rome can easily fall prey to our culture’s general doubts about the power of the gospel. People seem disinterested in the Bible’s message. Some mock the idea of a crucified man from Palestine dying for their sins and then returning to life in triumph. Do not let the skepticism of others take your mind off our mission. The world’s scorn is nothing new.

Kent Hughes notes that visitors to Rome can see a square of plaster cut from the wall of the barracks in the Palace of the Caesars (Acts, 344). On this plaster is a sketch of a human figure with the head of a donkey who is nailed to a cross. At the foot of the cross is the sketch of a man kneeling before it. Clearly this ancient picture was intended to mock someone who had converted to Christianity—possibly a Roman soldier. The inscription reads, “Alexamenos worships his God” (ibid.).

Now as then the gospel sounds like foolishness to some, yet we who have heard and embraced the message of Scripture know it to be the power of God (cf. 1 Cor 1:18; 2 Cor 2:16). So let’s not doubt the power of the gospel! Let’s not try to domesticate the message. If we empty the cross of its supposed foolishness, we empty it of its power (cf. 1 Cor 1:27).

Acts 28:30-31; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18

From everything we read in these last chapters of Acts, from what we can piece together from Paul’s letters (e.g., Phil 1:12-26), and from what we learn from church history (see Witherington III, Acts of the Apostles, 792), it seems that Paul was likely released around AD 62 or 63. When given his freedom, he resumed his traveling ministry. During this obscure period Paul went to various places, visited his churches, and wrote 1 Timothy and Titus before being rearrested. After this second arrest, and just prior to his martyrdom, he wrote 2 Timothy. Richard Longnecker offers a summary of Paul’s final years:

We may believe that after Paul’s release from this [first] Roman imprisonment he continued his evangelistic work in the eastern portion of the empire (at least in lands surrounding the Aegean Sea)—perhaps even fulfilling his long cherished desire to visit Spain (Rom. 15:23-24; cf. 1 Clement 5). And since 2 Timothy 4:16-18 speaks of an approaching second trial and a tone of resignation, we may conclude that Paul was rearrested about 67 and, according to tradition, beheaded at Rome by order of the Emperor Nero. (Acts, 572)

In 2 Timothy, Paul’s last letter, he concluded with these moving words to his protégé Timothy:

I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing. . . .

At my first defense, no one stood by me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that I might fully preach the word and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen. (2 Tim 4:6-8,16-18)

Indeed, the Lord delivered Paul safely to Rome, and in time he welcomed the war-torn apostle to his heavenly home.

Until we too see the King, let us follow Paul’s model of pouring ourselves out in service to the kingdom. Keep fighting. Keep running the race. When you see Jesus Christ with your own eyes, you won’t regret having served him faithfully until your dying breath. We as blood-bought Christians will be in the presence of the glorified Nazarene forever. We will be there with the saints from every tribe and tongue, including those, like Paul, who were slain for the sake of the Name. And there we will join a multitude of the redeemed in singing praises to the One who is worthy of all our adoration. The mission of Acts is to be continued until Jesus, the source of life, concludes it.