Acts 28
A snake bite that does nothing, a healing on Malta that opens every door, a long-anticipated arrival in Rome, a final debate in the Jewish community, and a last word — unhindered — that the book ends on deliberately.
Summary
The islanders of Malta show unusual kindness and light a fire for the survivors. Paul gathers a bundle of sticks; as he lays it on the fire, a viper comes out because of the heat and fastens on his hand. The islanders say: no doubt this man is a murderer; though he escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. Paul shakes the creature into the fire and suffers no harm. They wait for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead; when after a long time nothing happens, they change their minds and say he is a god. The chief man of the island, named Publius, receives them hospitably for three days. The father of Publius is ill with fever and dysentery; Paul visits him, prays, puts his hands on him, and heals him. All the other sick people on the island come and are healed. They heap many honours on the party and supply what they need for the voyage. They sail to Syracuse, then Rhegium, then Puteoli, where they find brothers and are invited to stay seven days. And so they come to Rome. Brothers there come to meet them at the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns. When Paul sees them, he thanks God and takes courage.
In Rome, Paul is allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guards him. Three days later he calls together the local leaders of the Jews and explains that he has done nothing against the people or the customs of the fathers, and that he was delivered into the hands of the Romans who, when they examined him, wished to set him free because there was no charge deserving death against him. He has appealed to Caesar not in order to make accusation against his own nation. They tell him: we have received no letters about you from Judea, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. We desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against. They appoint a day and come to him in great numbers. He expounds to them from morning until evening, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and the prophets. Some are convinced by what he says; others disbelieve. They disagree among themselves and depart after Paul says one more thing: the Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah: go to this people and say, hearing you will hear but never understand, and seeing you will see but never perceive. Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen. Paul lives for two whole years at his own expense and welcomes all who come to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
- Acts 1Chapter 1 is a prologue and a hinge.
- Acts 2Pentecost is the structural and theological engine of the whole book.
- Acts 3Chapter 3 is the first miracle narrative in Acts, and its structure follows a pattern the book will repeat: the sign, the crowd, the sermon, and the opposition (which comes in chapter 4).
- Acts 4Chapter 4 is the first formal opposition scene in Acts, and it establishes a pattern: arrest, interrogation, the apostles' refusal, release, prayer, and the Spirit's confirmation.
- Acts 5Chapter 5 is one of the most dramatically concentrated in the book.
- Acts 6Chapter 6 is transitional but efficient.
- Acts 7Chapter 7 is the theological and dramatic climax of the Jerusalem section.
- Acts 8Chapter 8 is the first chapter of the middle section — Judea and Samaria — and it works by juxtaposition.
- Acts 9Chapter 9 contains the first telling of Paul's conversion (the other two are in chapters 22 and 26), and it is worth reading all three consecutively to see how Luke shapes each one for its audience.
- Acts 10Chapter 10 is the structural pivot of the first half of Acts and one of the most carefully constructed chapters in the New Testament.
- Acts 11Chapter 11 has two movements.
- Acts 12Chapter 12 is the last major Peter chapter in Acts, and it works as a deliberate counterpoint to the Herod material.
- Acts 13Chapter 13 is the beginning of the long Pauline section, and it opens with a scene worth pausing over: the Spirit speaks during a worship service in Antioch — while they are worshipping and fasting — and sets Barnabas and Saul apart for a specific but unnamed work.
- Acts 14Chapter 14 completes the first missionary journey and its most memorable episode is the Lystra scene (verses 8-20).
- Acts 15Chapter 15 is the structural centre of Acts and one of the most important chapters in the New Testament.
- Acts 16Chapter 16 is one of the richest in Acts.
- Acts 17Chapter 17 covers three cities and demonstrates the range of Paul's rhetorical repertoire.
- Acts 18Chapter 18 is relatively measured in tone after the drama of chapter 17.
- Acts 19Chapter 19 is the longest account of Paul's settled ministry in any city and falls into two parts.
- Acts 20Chapter 20 is the most elegiac in Acts.
- Acts 21Chapter 21 is the beginning of the long arrest sequence that occupies the rest of the book.
- Acts 22Chapter 22 is the second telling of Paul's conversion (the first is in chapter 9, the third in chapter 26).
- Acts 23Chapter 23 is structurally a thriller: the Sanhedrin hearing (verses 1-10), the night vision in the barracks (verse 11), the assassination plot (verses 12-22), and the extraordinary military escort to Caesarea (verses 23-35).
- Acts 24Chapter 24 is the first of three formal hearings in Acts — before Felix (24), before Festus (25), and before Agrippa (26) — and it establishes the pattern the others follow: Jewish accusation, Paul's defence, Roman incomprehension of the internal religious question, and a procedurally inconclusive result.
- Acts 25Chapter 25 is a pivot chapter.
- Acts 26Chapter 26 is the third and final telling of Paul's conversion (compare chapters 9 and 22) and the most rhetorically elaborate.
- Acts 27Chapter 27 is one of the most detailed sea narratives in ancient literature and is written in the first person plural (the we-passage resumes at verse 1), which gives it its immediacy.
- Acts 28Chapter 28 is the ending the book has been building toward, and it rewards slow reading.