The Apostle Paul in Rome

Stephen Terry

 

Commentary for the October 7, 2017 Sabbath School Lesson

 

“You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!” Acts 25:12b, NIV

Like Hebrew which reads from right to left rather than the customary left to right of Western culture, our lesson author begins his commentary on the Book of Romans at the end rather than at the beginning as he seeks to establish some background for Paul’s ministry in Rome, beyond the simple story found in Acts. Nothing is wrong with this approach. It is like receiving a letter from a dear friend, and looking at the bottom for the affirming signature placed there by the author before reading the letter itself. Seeing that signature may bring to mind experiences shared and pleasant memories of past joys. While we associate Paul with a grace-based theology, those who initially read his letters likely knew him personally and were able to share memories of those encounters to add to the understanding of things that perhaps the letters could only begin to impart. Lacking those living witnesses, we struggle against our impoverished experience to gain deeper knowledge of the truths Paul so deeply wished to reveal. Perhaps nothing reveals this more than the struggle over what experience is Paul referring to in Romans, chapter 7. Some feel he is referring to his pre-salvation self. Others feel that his experience is post-salvation. This becomes an important issue of perspective when dealing with issues such as perfectionism.

The controversy that has arisen over the language in Romans, chapter 9, is another example of desperate need for living witnesses who can sort out the issue of predestination for us. Are we truly predestined to be saved or lost as John Calvin would have us believe, or is there a subtle nuance that could be clearly seen with the aid of a living apostolic witness who may have also directly questioned Paul regarding his meaning? These issues may never be satisfactorily resolved, but that may be the point. Maybe we make too much of theological hair-splitting by focusing on such debates. We could be finding ourselves so sure of our position on the matter that we really don’t feel the need to ask God’s help in guiding us through the tangles so much as we once did. When we cross the line from listening to what others have to say and prefer only to listen to our own musings, we may find one day that one to those others we are no longer listening to is God. Our bombastic utterances may drive away those whom we should be reaching with God’s grace. Fortunately, God continues to help them even if we go astray, and also fortunately, He continues to help us as well.

In Romans 15:23-29, Paul writes of his desire to travel to Spain and Rome, While we have no record that he ever reached Spain, he ultimately traveled to Rome as a guest of the government. Although he was in chains, his travel to Rome was arranged without expense to him, perhaps as a special grace of God.  But it may also be an example of God’s ability to turn our intransigence into a work that glorifies Him.

Paul, while traveling to Jerusalem, was frequently warned by those who claimed inspiration from the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem because of the dangers there. Nonetheless, he ignored those prophetic warnings and stubbornly, perhaps even arrogantly, pushed forward with his agenda, proclaiming his willingness to accept whatever fate may face him. Not surprisingly considering these warnings, he was arrested and imprisoned to preserve him from those who sought to take his life. Attacked by a mob at the temple, he was with difficulty rescued from those assailants by the Romans. Initially they thought he was a radical instigator of insurrection, but once the story became clear and a nefarious plot to murder him was uncovered, he was spirited away by the Romans to the relatively greater security of the citadel at Caesarea.  His accusers, unable to substantiate the charges they leveled against him, could not prevail, so Paul languished there until the governors changed and his persecutors began to make some headway in gaining access to him. He then appealed to Caesar to hear his case.

Considering the deliverances he had previously experienced, one might question why he would trust Caesar more than God for his protection. Perhaps he felt some doubt in that area as a result of his decision to ignore the earlier prophetic messages sent to him. If that was the case, his rescue from shipwreck and from possible death from a poisonous serpent might have reaffirmed to him that God was not one to hold grudges or abandon those who serve Him. Even when we choose a less than optimal path, God continues to infuse the work of His servants with His grace and glory so that even poor choices can still produce great good. We don’t know what God’s plans for Rome and for Paul might have been had Paul listened to the warnings sent him. God apparently already had a growing work in Rome. Was this in preparation for Paul’s arrival? Or did God have another, greater work for Paul elsewhere? One day we may be able to ask Him about this. But for now, we cannot know.

When Paul arrived in Rome, he built on the foundation of the Christian church that had already been growing there. There had been persecutions and martyrdoms in Jerusalem, but they had not yet come to Rome. Here was fertile ground to further sow the gospel message without serious opposition and Paul took full advantage, in spite of his house arrest and chains. Many came to him to hear of the simple grace of the gospel and to see for themselves this quixotic challenger to the pagan status quo. We are not told what they thought of his person, but whatever their impression of him might have been, the Christian message continued to grow in influence, reaching even into the imperial household.

The Roman Empire was syncretistic. They recognized a panoply of gods both from their own pantheon and those of the peoples they subjugated. But because the Christians, like Akhenaten over 13 centuries before in Egypt, insisted there was only one God, they stirred up opposition from those who relied on the current array of deities to make their living. (Acts 19:32-41) Even the emperor was troubled by this new theology, as he relied in part on his personification as a deity to maintain power and control over his vast empire. When the faith began to make inroads in the palace, he may have felt himself surreptitiously undermined.

Ironically, once it became officially accepted in the fourth century, far from being a threat, Christianity became a unifying force that allowed the Roman Empire to continue on for over a thousand more years. Arguably, it may still be continuing today through the conduit of the Holy Roman Empire and the subsequent European states that have now come together into the European Union. Like the Romance languages derived from the Latin of Rome, the faith of that Christian empire has continued to shape the perspectives even in a Post Modern secular world. That common heritage of faith, even though heavily secularized, has kept many threats, both internal and external, at bay over the centuries. Paul might be astonished to see the results of his hard work and zeal. Perhaps we should take inspiration from this and not fret about the humble beginnings of whatever we take in hand to do for God, seeing the humble beginnings of Christianity and its ultimate fruit.