Here are some of my notes for Sunday, August 31, 2008 based on the Lifeway Explore the Bible curriculum
Reference works cited include:
1) The Acts of the Apostles: Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary by F. F. Bruce
2) The Acts of the Apostles: A Social-Rhetorical Commentary by Ben Witherington III
3) A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: Bruce Metzger
Acts 28:16
When we entered: They would have come in by the Porta Capena. This this the end of the third and last “we” portion of Acts.
Textual variant: “the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard”. This is a Western expansion that made its way into the Byzantine family and from there into the KJV. It leads into a large discussion of who the captain of the guard is:
1. Praetorium Prefect: Afranius Burrus, a military man from Gaul who made his way into power serving as a bodyguard for members of the imperial family. Agrippina, Nero’s mother and Claudius’ wife, like him and had him made sole prefect of the Praetorian Guard, the military unit that had much to do with choosing the Roman emperors. Burrus presented Nero to the Praetorians in 54 AD, cementing his becoming emperor. Because Nero was only seventeen, Burrus and Seneca, the Roman philosopher and author, were his advisers for much of his early reign, and they curbed his excesses and are typically considered the sources of the “mini-golden age” that was Nero’s early reign. Burrus died in 62 AD, which was the beginning of Nero’s imperial decline. There are suspicions Burrus was poisoned.
Witherington considers Burrus the likely captain here mentioned.
2. Princeps Peregrinorum- “Commander of Foreigners”, officer in charge of base at Rome holding troops rotated from provincial armies. Witherington opines the unit was not in existence during Nero reign.
3. Princeps Castrorum- “Commander of the Camp”- In this case, the officer in charge of the Praetorian base, Burrus’ subordinate. Witherington points out there is no official record of this office before the time of the emperor Trajan (reign 98-117 AD).(Witherington, Bruce)
The centurion is named in Acts 27:1 as Julius, likely a Roman citizen whose father or grandfather became a citizen under Julius Caesar or Augustus. Julius was perhaps an officer in a Roman auxiliary unit assigned to Caesarea Maritima under the Judean governor.(Bruce, Witherington)
stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him- Here are hints that Paul was considered a minor matter and not a serious criminal. Being left under house arrest and having only one guard instead of the standard two (Acts 12:6). This guard duty normally rotated among soldiers, in four hour shifts according to Josephus (Ant. 18.169). There are indeed hints in Paul’s prison letters that he witnessed to his guards over the two years he was in custody in Rome.(Witherington)
Acts 28:17
he called together the leaders of the Jews: Paul again sticks to his policy of speaking to a new city’s Jews first. Paul’s statements and actions as a Christian made his Jewishness open to questioning. For example, Jewish prisoners in Rome ate figs and nuts to avoid ritual contamination with unclean food (Josephus Life 14).
Jews had been thrown out of Rome by order of the emperor Claudius in 49 AD, and they only started filtering back in after Nero succeeded to the throne in 54 AD. Roman Jews kept a low profile due to strong Roman anti-Semitism, contrasting with the Jewish city districts and separate laws found in places like Alexandria and Tarsus. Jewish population of Rome probably began in 100s BC, when Jewish slaves were sent there. Roman writers and catacomb inscriptions suggest most Roman Jews were poor and illiterate. This is another reason the Jewish case against Paul likely did nothing in Rome: Jerusalem Jewish authorities felt Paul was far enough away not to bother, while the Roman Jews were too poor to fund a legal case, and uneager to draw attention to themselves. Also, Paul, a Roman citizen, had definite advantages in court against a largely non- citizen Jewish opponents.(Bruce, Witherington)
“Brothers”, “nothing against our people or the customs”- Paul starts out stressing his Jewishness and being conciliatory.
Acts 28:18
Who wanted to release Paul? Agrippa. Felix and Festus kept him on, one for money and one for political reasons.
Acts 28:19
the Jews objected: Who? Presuambly these are the chief priests, scribes, and bosses of the Sanhedrin.
any accusation against my nation: Witherington suspects Paul was addressing the possibility of a countersuit here, since Roman law took a dim view of accusing someone of a crime and then not appearing in court to follow the charges up.(Witherington)
Acts 28:20
hope of Israel: This term applied to God in Jer.14:8, 17:3. This leads back to Acts 22:2, where the hope topic is resurrection of the dead, which then links to Jesus and the Gospel. Thus it is Paul desire to witness that made him call the Roman Jews to his residence.
Acts 28:21
There are understandable reasons the Roman Jews know nothing of Paul:
1. Paul only there three days. Any messenger or letter from Jerusalem could easily be running behind Paul.
2. Paul likely arrived in Feb 60 AD, at the beginning of the normal season for sea travel.
3. Jerusalem Jews did not see the need to fight Paul once out of the region.(Bruce, Witherington)
Acts 28:22
it is spoken against everywhere: The Roman Jews had been exiled from the city due to Jewish/ Christian controversy and demonstrations in 49 AD, historically said caused by one “Chrestus”, a Latin misspelling and misunderstanding of the Greek Christos. The pagan understanding of “Christ” lead to confusion and derision, because Latin speakers and many Greek speakers had sloppy speech that made it hard to distinguish the i of Christos (anointed) from the e of Chrestos (useful, good). Chrestos was a term used of both slaves, work animals, and gods, and many donkeys and slaves were named Chrestus. Thus “Christian” could be interpreted in ancient times as “followers of a good god” or “followers of a slave or donkey”, without any notion of the Jewish background of Christos, “anointed chosen one of God”. (Witherington)
we consider it suitable: presumably “it is only fair”.
Acts 28:23
arranging a day: Which allowed Paul to prepare his speeches, assure the Romans not to get excited at a large crowd, and the Jews to gather a larger audience, and prepare rebuttals, too.
many came: The Greek a comparative, indicating a larger group than at the first meeting.
dawn to dusk: This description makes one suspects Paul had multiple groups visit him at intervals that day.
kingdom of God: Jewish shorthand for God’s action in the world, thus for Paul Jesus’ life and mission.
expounded, witnessed, persuaded- Paul presumably used scripture and rhetorical methods of logical argument to make his case. (Witherington)
Acts 28:24
some were persuaded: Though Bruce wants to translate this more as “gave heed”, in the sense of “listened but were not convinced”, most translate this as “some were persuaded/became believers”, because most people see this story as showing some Jews converted, some not. Those who see it as “no Jews converted” must translate this differently. (Bruce, Witherington)
Acts 28:25
Verses 25-28 comprise Paul’s final statement. There is an obvious switch in Paul’s language, from “our” in 25:17 to “your” here.
Jesus used this same quote from Is. 6:9-10 in Mark 4:12, Mat 13:13, Luke 8:10, and John 12:39. The point of the quote is plainly to show that the OT prophets predicted Christianity’s rejection by a large segment of the Jews. Paul’s preamble here also has a nice pointer to inspiration of scripture by saying the Holy Spirit spoke through Isaiah.(Witherington, Bruce)
Acts 28:26-27
The quote in Greek here is only slightly altered from the standard Greek Septuagint text.
Acts 28:28
The point here is not the total rejection of the Jews, but rather that Gentiles have been included in God’s chosen people. Acts, to even remotely resemble history, must necessarily document both the Gentile reception of the Gospel and the large Jewish rejection of the same Gospel.
This is the third and final announcement against the Jews and turning to the Gentiles in Acts, following Acts 13:46, and 18:6. (Bruce, Witherington)
Acts 28:29
Textual Variant: Verse 29 is bracketed by the HCSB and eliminated in many modern versions because it is only found in certain early Western manuscripts, from where it got into the manuscript family behind the KJV. It is also pretty plainly an explanatory gloss to make the transition from v. 28 to v. 30 smoother. (Metzger)
Acts 28:30
two whole years: Roman author Pliny the Younger says two years is the grace period for those convicted by a disgraced governor to get a new trial to presumably exonerate themselves. Witherington mentions one author’s evidence that two years was a common period used in rental agreements.(Bruce, Witherington)
Acts 28:31
with full boldness: Once more Luke emphasizes the believer’s boldness in proclaiming the Gospel, showing such boldness is truly a major theme of Acts.
