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63. The Gospel spread
to Rome.
But the most zealous
of all, it is fair to say, was Paul, the youngest of the apostles. Paul,
filled and animated by the Holy Spirit, travelled around all the
countries and in the most noble cities where there were Jews and schools
at that time, teaching the gospel among Jews and Gentiles with great
danger and founding and building considerable congregations or churches,
for example in a city called Antioch. He stayed in Antioch with his
friends and assistants for a whole year. It was also there that the
confessors of the gospel were called Christians for the first time and
have been ever since, that is, members of Christ, royal-minded people,
namely those who count themselves part of the kingdom of God and
recognise and worship Christ as their Lord and King. For Christ is
called an anointed one, that is, a king.
When the apostle had transformed the entire region he had travelled
through into a beautiful garden of Christianity, he finally returned to
Jerusalem. The Jews in Jerusalem had been waiting for him for a long
time to kill him. There was an uproar even in the council because of him.
The Roman commander, who was in the castle, marched out with the whole
garrison and led the apostle into the castle as a prisoner. At that time
the Lord said to him: "Do not be afraid, Paul! For as you have testified
of me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome." But Rome was then
the most famous and powerful city in the world and the residence of the
emperor. The Jews plotted a new assassination against him. Forty Jews
conspired not to eat or drink anything until they had killed him. It
could have been a long day of fasting. For the Qbriste had him led away
that night to Caesaria before the governor Felix with a hundred men on
foot, seventy horsemen and two hundred archers, so that it could be said
that the gospel had escaped with a Roman war party and had been rescued
and taken to Rome, the capital of the world.
Paul was imprisoned for two years and was neither acquitted nor
condemned. Yet his own were allowed to come to him and minister to him.
Nothing bad happened to him. After two years, another governor named
Festus came to the country. The Jews demanded that he bring the apostle
to Jerusalem for interrogation. For they had not yet given up their plot
to kill him. At last the new governor did not seem averse to the idea.
But the apostle made a heartfelt decision to save himself. He said: "I
stand before the emperor's court. I demand my rights from the emperor."
For he well knew the danger he would be in if he had been brought to
Jerusalem. If the apostle was quick to decide, so was the governor: ‘You
have appealed to the emperor, you shall go to the emperor.’
Around the same time, the new governor was visited by King Agrippa, who
was Jewish and from the family of Herod. The governor asked the king if
he would interrogate the prisoner a little; he understood Jewish
religious matters better than he did. Paul made a speech to the king and
proved everything to him so beautifully from the prophets that the king
said to him, ‘It is not much that is lacking, you persuaded me to become
a Christian.’ He did not become one. Little is often as much as
everything. But he convinced himself of the apostle's innocence and that
he could be released if he had not appealed to the emperor.
Paul was taken into a ship to be led to Rome before the emperor. Some of
his followers accompanied him. They did not want to leave their dear
friend and teacher. The centurion in charge of the prisoners was also
kind to him, but the voyage by sea was very dangerous. For many days and
nights neither sun nor stars appeared. They had already lost all hope of
life. Not far from the island of Melita, the ship was wrecked. But they
all made it to land safely. - At last they arrived safely in Rome. In
this way, the steadfast apostle escaped the pursuit of his enemies in
Jerusalem and the danger of death at sea through God's merciful care.
The Lord has commanded his angels over you - From six tribulations the
Lord will deliver you, and in the seventh no accident will touch you.
Nothing happened to him in Rome this time. He stayed there for two years
on his own and taught about Jesus with great joy and without being
forbidden.
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