Acts 28 explained: Shipwrecked, Then Finally in Rome

Welcome and a snakebite (vv. 1-6)

The people of Malta took in the soaked shipwreck survivors and built them a fire in the cold rain. When a snake fastened on Paul's hand and he was unharmed, they swung from seeing him as a murderer punished by the goddess Justice to calling him a god.

Healing at Publius's estate (vv. 7-10)

Publius was the island's chief official, a title also found on ancient inscriptions from Malta. Paul prayed before laying hands on Publius's sick father, which suggests he credited the healing to God rather than himself, and the grateful islanders later supplied the ship.

The last leg to Rome (vv. 11-16)

After three months they sailed on a ship from Alexandria bearing Castor and Pollux, twin gods sailors trusted for protection. Believers from Rome walked out some 30 to 40 miles to meet Paul, and in the city he could live in his own lodging with a soldier guarding him instead of being held in a prison.

Paul explains his chains (vv. 17-22)

Paul told Rome's Jewish leaders he had done nothing against his people, and said he appealed to the emperor, a Roman citizen's right, because his accusers objected to his release, not because he wanted to bring charges against his own nation. He said he wore his chain "because of the hope of Israel"; he does not explain the phrase here, but readers often connect it to his words elsewhere in Acts about the promised Messiah and the dead rising.

A divided response (vv. 23-28)

Paul spent a whole day arguing from the Jewish scriptures that they pointed to Jesus, and some listeners were persuaded while others were not. He quoted Isaiah, a Jewish prophet lamenting his own people's deafness, and said God's rescue was now going to non-Jewish people, who would listen.

Two open years (vv. 30-31)

Paul lived in a rented house for two years, still under guard, freely teaching anyone who came. The book ends without saying how his trial turned out, and scholars are unsure why the author chose to stop here.

Key verse: Acts 28:31

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Paul's closing words about the Gentiles mean a final turning away from the Jewish people or just one more step in an ongoing pattern, since he goes on welcoming all who come.

Something to think about

The islanders decided Paul was first a murderer and then a god, all from one snakebite; when have you seen someone judged quickly by a single event, and what did it miss?