WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PAUL? (ACTS 28)

What was Paul's fate? The Book of Acts leaves the question up in the air. The only vague hint within that book that he will be released from the Roman imprisonment mentioned in Acts 28 is found by considering the many parallels in the book between the lives of Peter and Paul. The last major story regarding Peter in Acts before Paul takes the center stage in the book is his imprisonment in ch. 12. Just as Peter is miraculously released to continue his ministry, one may feel confident that the same will happen to Paul.

But, in fact, there are competing stories as to what really happened to Paul in the last years of his life. And W. Neil notes: “What happened to Paul after Luke's story ends is to some extent conjectural...But, whatever preceded it, Paul's martyrdom in Rome at the same time as Peter's as a result of the Emperor Nero's victimization of the Christians for the burning of the city in A.D. 64 is so firmly embedded in early church tradition that we may take it as established.” Bruce adds that Paul's death was by beheading and he was buried on a site now marked by the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. Here are the two main possibilities in summary:

A. Trial after first imprisonment during which he is found guilty and executed.

As Barclay states, “As far as we know Paul never got to Spain, for in Jerusalem he encountered the trouble which led to his long imprisonment and his death. It would seem that this was one plan of the great pioneer which never was worked out.” In agreement with Barclay's assessment is the fact that if Paul never carried out his missionary plan it would certainly not be the first time in Paul's career that God intervened and pushed Paul in an unexpected direction.

Against this view, aside from later church tradition, is the fact pointed out by F.F. Bruce that the “two year” imprisonment in Rome is an important fact since there was a roughly 18-month statutory time limit for a prosecutor to present his case before the throne. And “Roman law was apt to deal hardly with unsuccessful prosecutors, especially if their charges appeared under examination to be merely vexatious.” So that would mean that Paul's trial would have been held no later than A.D. 62. However, as pointed out above, there is a very firm early tradition connecting Paul's execution with the events of A.D. 64 instead. So this view must be considered far from proven.

B. Release from the first imprisonment in Rome, followed by a resumption of his ministry, later re-imprisonment, and execution.

John Stott asks, “Was Paul released after the 'two whole years' Luke mentions (30)? He clearly expected to be [see Philippians 1:19-26 and Philemon, written during this imprisonment]. And the Pastoral Epistles supply evidence that he was, for he resumed his travels for about two more years before being re-arrested, re-tried, condemned and executed in A.D. 64.”

As to why Paul was released, Ramsay felt that the case went default because it exceeded the legal limit before being brought to court; Sherwin-White suggested that he was casually released as an imperial act of clemency; and of course there is always the possibility that Paul was simply acquitted of all charges.

Towner reviews the evidence and concludes that “a release and second Roman imprisonment remains a possibility.” Bruce reminds us that both the early church historian Eusebius in Ecclesiastical History 2.22 (relying on even earlier reliable sources) as well as St. Jerome report Paul's second arrest, also referenced in II Timothy 1:16-18 and 4:16-18. The II Timothy references alone should be enough to answer the question definitively. And they do for those of us who feel that the Pastoral Epistles were written by Paul rather than a later imitator.

But confusing the issue even further is the question of what Paul did with the approximately two years he had in between his two imprisonments. Two possible answers have been given:

1. Ministry in Spain

The evidence for this scenario comes from several sources. In the first place, there is Paul's statement of his own intention in his letter to the Roman church written before his imprisonment there. Paul says in Romans 15:23-24a, “But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire as I have for many years, to come to you when I go to Spain.” And then a few verses later, “So, when I have delivered...to them what has been collected (i.e. the offering to the church in Jerusalem), I will set out by way of you to Spain.” (v. 28).

Of course, Paul's plans were upset when he arrived in Jerusalem and was arrested, leading to his eventual appeal to Caesar causing his detainment in Rome instead. But the mere indication of Paul's desire to continue his ministry to Spain gives us a hint as to what he might do if he is acquitted.

Clement, one of the prominent leaders of the Roman church during the latter part of the first century A.D. writes in I Clement 5.7 that Paul managed to reach “the limits of the west.” Leon Morris and many others note that to a Roman that phrase probably referred to Spain. Fitzmyer adds, “For Paul Spain represents the unconverted world of the west, the pagans in a remote part of the Roman Empire, where, it seems, Latin was the dominant language.”

Additional early Christian tradition indicates the same basic scenario. This includes the evidence from the late 2^nd century fragment written in Latin and called the Muratorian Canon. It contains, besides the earliest listing of NT canonical books, an account of Paul departing from the City (i.e. Rome) on his journey to Spain. This same picture is given in the apocryphal Acts of Peter 1.1.

2. Further Ministry in Asia

Towner points out that evidence in II Timothy is that Paul utilized that short time between imprisonments to go to Asia instead. Apparently, during the time of his first incarceration he, for some reason, changed his future ministry plans completely. Or there is possibly even enough time for Paul to have made a short, and perhaps unsuccessful ministry trip to Spain, followed by a return to Asia.

As Towner summarizes the situation, “The question in all of this is the reliability of the tradition.”