Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.
After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”
They replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.”
They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
“‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
“Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”
For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!

• Acts 28:1-31

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Acts 28:1 ‘Malta’: “An island, seventeen miles long and nine miles wide, about sixty miles south of Sicily. None of the sailors had previously been to the bay (known today as St. Paul’s Bay) where they were shipwrecked.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 28:2 ‘entertaining an angel’: “These people of Malta never dreamed they were entertaining an apostle, and it never entered into their heads that their simple act of hospitality would be recorded in the sacred Scriptures and that millions of eyes would read of this kind act of theirs on behalf of this shipwrecked company. They really entertained an angel unawares, and they had many blessings in consequence.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Acts 28:8-9 ‘blessings in a shipwreck’: “Happy island of Malta to have such a missionary driven onto its shore! The calamities of ministers are often a benediction to the people. Paul’s shipwreck resulted in blessings to that island that otherwise it would have missed. Let us, as God’s servants, leave ourselves in his hands and believe that he can sometimes use us better by means of a shipwreck than it he had given the winds and  waves charge concerning us to bear us safely to our desired haven.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Acts 28:8 ‘sick of a fever and dysentery’: “The gastric fever (caused by a microbe found in goat’s milk) that was common on Malta. Dysentery, often the result of poor sanitation, was widespread in the ancient world.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 28:11 ‘After three months’: “Since sea travel was dangerous during this period (see note on 27:9). Alexandrian ship. Probably another in the imperial grain fleet (see notes on 27:5, 6). Twin Brothers. Castor and Pollux, Zeus’s sons according to Greek mythology, were believed to protect sailors.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 28:12 ‘Syracuse’: “An important city on the island of Sicily. Tradition holds that Paul established a church during the ship’s three-day stopover there.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 28:13 ‘Rhegium’: “A harbor on the southern tip of the Italian mainland. There the ship waited one day for a favorable wind to permit it to sail through the Straits of Messina (separating Sicily from the Italian mainland). Puteoli. Modern Pozzuoli, located on the Bay of Naples near Pompeii. Rome’s main port and the most important one in Italy, Puteoli was also the main port for the Egyptian grain fleet (see note on 27:5).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

Acts 28:16 ‘centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard’: “Many Greek manuscripts omit this phrase. If part of the original text, it indicates either that Iulius delivered the prisoners to his commanding officer, or to the commander of the Praetorian Guard. dwell by himself. . . guarded. Possibly through Julius’s intervention, Paul was allowed to live under guard in his own rented quarters (cf. v. 30).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 28:17-31 ‘Paul’s Indictment of the Roman Jews’: “While under house arrest in Rome, the apostle Paul was allowed to stay by himself (Verse 16) and to have visitors who came to hear him teach.  While there, Paul called together the Jewish leaders in order to clarify the reason he had been arrested (verse 17). He pointed out that he had done nothing against the Jewish people, and that when officials examined him in a court setting, they could find no ground for putting him to death (verse 18). Therefore, he had appealed to Caesar, though he was not bringing any accusation against his own people (verse 19).
“Those listening to Paul responded that they wanted to hear about this sect of Christianity, which ‘is spoken against everywhere’ (Verse 22). Paul was given a full day to explain and testify to them about the kingdom of God, an he tried ‘to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening’ (verse 23).
“Some of the Jewish leaders were persuaded, while others rejected the message (verse 24). As a group, they could not agree with one another on the issues concerning Christ (verse 25). Paul became frustrated with their slowness of heart and rebuked them saying ‘The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers’ (quoting Isaiah 6:9-10). A future generation would hear but not understand, and see but not perceive (Acts 28:26). God said their hearts would become dull, their ears would barely hear and their eyes would be closed, ‘lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and tum so that I should heal them’ (verse 27 NKJV), Paul applied this prophecy of rejection to those standing before him, as well as to the majority of the Jews of his generation.
“Because of the spiritual hardness manifest among the Jews, the ‘gospel would go to the Gentiles, who were willing to listen (verse 28). The Jews in Paul’s house departed, arguing among themselves (verse 29). Many came to Paul, and he welcomed them, ‘preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered’ (verses 30-31).  The ‘kingdom of God’ is neither the church nor the church age, but it is the promised future messianic reign of Christ that will take place in Jerusalem and have a worldwide dominion.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Acts 28:17 ‘leaders of the Jews’: “The most prominent men from Rome’s synagogues (see … 6:9). the customs of our fathers. Paul began by denying that he was guilty of any infraction against the Jewish people or their traditions (cf. 22:3; 24:14; 26:4, 5).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 28:23-24 ‘We should all be leading people to Jesus’: “Paul sought to persuade his hearers. He entreated, he pleaded, he implored his hearers to think of Christ, to trust in Christ, and to turn to Christ. This should be our goal also. We should persuade people to read carefully and reverently the inspired life of Jesus. Faith often comes to people when they are thinking about Christ. Faith comes by hearing or reading the Word of God. The Lord says, ‘Pay attention and come to me; listen, so that you will live’ (Is 55:3). We need to persuade people to think seriously and often about the way of salvation by Jesus Christ.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Acts 28:31 ‘with all confidence, no one forbidding him’: “Helped by his loyal fellow-workers (cf. Col. 4:10; Philem. 24), Paul evangelized Rome (cf. Phil. 1:13; 4:22).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 28 ‘challenges’: “Is it not true that for most of us who call ourselves Christians there is no real experience? We have substituted theological ideas for an arresting encounter; we are full of religious notions, but our great weakness is that for our hearts there is no one there.
“Whatever else it embraces, true Christian experience must always include a genuine encounter with God. Without this, religion is but a shadow, a reflection of reality, a cheap copy of an original once enjoyed by someone else of whom we have heard. It cannot but be a major tragedy in the life of any man to live in a church from childhood to old age and know nothing more real than some synthetic god compounded of theology and logic, but having no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no heart to love.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of Man

Acts ‘Summary of the book’: “The book of Acts may or may not have been written to serve a particular purpose in relation to Paul. But the real hero of the book is of course the Jesus who was enthroned as the world’s Lord at the beginning and is now proclaimed, at the end, openly and unhindered, with all boldness and with nobody stopping him. Jesus of Nazareth continues to do and to teach, continues to announce the kingdom of God which has been decisively inaugurated on earth as in heaven.”

• N. T. Wright, Acts (from the For Everyone Bible Study Series)

My Thoughts

The final chapter of Acts starts with the people of Malta being hospitable.  They make a bonfire so that the people aboard the ship, 276 on board, could dry out.

Paul gathers some wood to throw on the fire, but as he does, a viper crawls out of the bundle of wood and bites him on the hand.  Paul quickly shakes it off, into the fire.

At first, the people of Malta think that Paul, as a prisoner, must be a hardened criminal to escape the shipwreck but die from a snake bite.  But then. Paul does not swell up.  Paul does not die.  He has no ill effects from the snake bite.  Now, the people of Malta think he is a god.

Publius, the governor of Malta, invites them to stay, but the father of Publius is ill.  Paul heals him and suddenly there is a line forming for all the people of Malta to be healed.

Three days later, an Alexandrian ship (thus one large enough to handle the shipwreck survivors) takes Paul and the others to Italy.  I like the comment by Rev. MacArthur that in the short, three-day stay in Syracuse, Paul witnessed to the people and a church was formed.  But then they sailed on until they were near Rome.

Whether orchestrated by his friend, the centurion Julius, or the fact that Paul really had no charges levied against him, Paul is given a lot of freedom to live in his own home with a guard present.  He is there two years, but one of the first groups Paul has over to the house are the Jewish leaders.  Paul convinces some of them, but not enough.  They go away more confused than when they got there.  Paul even quoted Isaiah 6:9-10 and Psalm 119:70.

Paul’s imprisonment was rather loose. He had a lot of freedom, but then again, he was a Roman citizen, and he was not charged with anything. That would change when the persecution of Christians became a bigger factor. Paul’s imprisonment and that of John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress while in prison, was in some ways similar. It is said that John Bunyan was allowed to go home on occasional weekends if he solemnly promised to be back Monday morning. With both men, their imprisonment was rather loose, but they still were restricted, unable to leave town and not allowed to go through the countryside preaching God’s Word.

It is the same with any generation since, without ears, they cannot hear.  Without eyes, they cannot see.  Without hearts for God, they cannot understand.  To a non-believer, the Bible is foolishness, but to the believer, all of nature, everything created by God, shouts of God’s existence.  And with far too many, it is that eighteen inches from the head to the heart that makes all the difference in salvation and not.

There is nothing said about what happened at the end of those two years.  Many scholars, due to hints left in the prison letters of Paul, think that Paul revisited Greece and Asia Minor.  He may have even made the trip to Spain that he wrote about desiring to make.  But Paul was eventually recaptured and sent back to Rome where he was martyred, but this comes from other writings and not the canon of Scripture.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

“Acts 28:1-10 Ashore on Malta 1. How has God used a disaster in your life for ministry? What have you learned from this?
“Acts 28:11-31 Arrival at Rome and Paul Preaches at Rome under Guard 1. What bothers your non-Christian friends about the faith? How can you help them overcome those barriers?
“2. When limitations are placed upon you by circumstances beyond your control, how do you react? How can you serve the Lord within these limits?
“3. How does verse 31 set the stage for the way your life could become a continuation of Acts 28? ln what way would you like to contribute an ‘Acts, chapter 29’ to this movement of God during the next two years?
“4. Probably within a few years, Paul was killed by the emperor Nero. How would verse 31 serve as a fitting epitaph on Paul‘s grave? What do you need to build into your life now, so that your faith in Christ will be what people remember about you at death?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Acts 28 has two sets of question(s) as noted above.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.