Without Hindrance - The Book of Acts
(1) The acts of the risen Lord Jesus through his followers to accomplish the will of the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit
(2) The gospel of Acts is not the prosperity gospel
(3) The urgency of Paul in spreading the message of the gospel
He spoke boldly (cf. comments on Acts 4:13). The last word in the Greek text of Acts is the adverb akōlytōs which means without hindrance. Men may bind the preachers, but the gospel cannot be chained!
(4) The sovereignty of the Trinity in protecting and proclaiming
Let’s read Acts chapter 28
At long last, the time had come for God to grant His faithful servant’s desire. After years of waiting, two years in a Roman prison, a terrifying two-week-long storm at sea, and his fourth shipwreck (cf. 2 Cor. 11:25), Paul would at last see Rome. This climactic passage records the story of the apostle’s arrival in the imperial capital.
Acts 28 opens with Paul on the Mediterranean island of Malta. He had left Caesarea more than two months earlier, bound for Rome to have his appeal heard by the emperor. In a risky attempt to reach a more favorable harbor on Crete to winter in, the apostle’s ship had been caught in the dreaded Euraquilo. That violent storm had driven the vessel for fourteen terror-filled days across the Mediterranean to Malta. There the crew attempted to beach the ship, but it ran aground and was destroyed by the pounding surf. Miraculously, all 276 persons on board managed to reach the shore safely. God had promised Paul that although the ship would be destroyed, no lives would be lost (27:22). He had also promised that the ship would run aground on an island (27:26). Both promises were fulfilled when the ship reached Malta.
They were shipwrecked on Malta, a small island 60 miles south of Sicily. Malta had good harbors and was ideally located for trade. In two weeks the storm had carried them 600 miles west of Fair Havens, Crete.
28:11. Since the crew and passengers left Crete in October or November (“after the Fast,” 27:9) and were in the storm two weeks, their three months’ stay on Malta brought them through the winter into February or March. In that time they saw another ship docked at the island. Because it was of Alexandrian origin, it too was probably a grain ship (cf. 27:6, 38) from Egypt that had spent the three months of winter, when it was too dangerous to sail, at a seaport on Malta. Probably it was at the Valletta harbor.
The twin gods Castor and Pollux on the ship’s figurehead were the heavenly twin sons of Zeus and Leda according to Greek mythology; supposedly they brought good fortune to mariners. If their constellation, Gemini, was seen during a storm it was an omen of good luck. Possibly Luke included this detail to contrast the superstition of the people of Malta, Rome, Greece, and Egypt with Christianity.
28:12–14. The journey was carefully traced by Luke: from Malta to Syracuse, Sicily; to Rhegium (today Reggio) on the “toe” of Italy; to Puteoli (today Pozzuoli), 152 miles south of Rome; and finally to Rome itself. Puteoli was an important commercial seaport halfway between Rhegium and Rome. At Puteoli Paul and his companions found some brothers. This is significant because it shows that the gospel had already spread from Rome to this Italian seaport. No doubt a church had been planted in Rome by Roman Jews who had gone to the Pentecost feast, heard Peter’s sermon, were saved, and returned home with the good news (2:10). Paul accepted the believers’ invitation to spend a week with them. Perhaps the centurion was in charge of unloading the ship or else had to spend a week in Puteoli on some other business.
28:15. The Christians at Rome soon heard of Paul’s coming, so they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius (a market town 43 miles from Rome) and the Three Taverns (33 miles from Rome) to meet him and his companions. The noun apantēsin, translated as an infinitive “to meet,” was used in Greek literature of an entourage coming out of a city to meet an official going to the city. It is also used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which speaks of believers being “caught up … to meet (apantēsin) the Lord in the air.” Like an entourage, believers will go up at the Rapture into the clouds to meet Jesus, their Savior and Lord, coming from heaven to take them to Himself. Paul looked forward to joining that group.
At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged (lit., “received courage,” tharsos; the verb tharseō is used in the LXX of people in distress who were then encouraged; cf. comments on Mark 6:50). At last God was bringing Paul to Rome. And the welcome of fellow believers, whom he had never met, uplifted his soul. So they proceeded on the Appian Way, “the queen of the long roads,” to the city of Rome.
With freedom in his own rented quarters Paul … preached God’s kingdom. This eschatological expression indicates not only that Jews and Gentiles alike are justified by faith but also that Gentiles with Jews will participate in the millennial kingdom (cf. comments on 28:23).
One question commonly raised pertains to Paul’s activities after this two-year captivity. What happened? Perhaps no charges were filed in Rome and Paul was released. The Jews would know they had no case against Paul outside of Judea and so would be reluctant to argue their cause in Rome.
Probably Paul returned to the provinces of Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia and then turned west to Spain according to his original plans (Rom. 15:22–28). Then he ministered once more in the Aegean area where he was taken prisoner, removed to Rome, and executed.
During this two-year period Paul wrote what are commonly called his “Prison Epistles”—Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians (see the chart “Paul’s Epistles, Written on His Journeys and During His Imprisonments,” at Acts 13:6–25).
While Paul was in Rome during this incarceration the gospel was not bound. He spoke boldly (cf. comments on Acts 4:13). The last word in the Greek text of Acts is the adverb akōlytōs which means without hindrance. Men may bind the preachers, but the gospel cannot be chained!
And so it was that the kingdom message under God’s sovereign control went from Jew to Gentile, and from Jerusalem to Rome.