20“For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.” 21They said to him, “We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you. 22But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.”
Proactive as usual, Paul took the initiative in taking his story to the Jewish leaders in Rome. Word had gotten around “everywhere” about the Christian movement, which the Jews now referred to as a sect. But this did not come from Jerusalem, they assert. Probably it came from the returning Jews whom Emperor Claudius had previously run out of Rome. We encountered two such, Aquila and Priscilla (a.k.a. Prisca) in Acts 18:2, where they strongly influenced the Christian movement in Corinth and Ephesus during Paul’s second missionary tour. They were now living back in Rome (Rom. 16:3) and, along with other returnees, would have brought the message of the gospel with them. The unbelieving returnees brought a different story, speaking against the Christian movement.
However, the Jewish leaders there in Rome made it clear they had heard nothing bad about Paul himself nor about any conflict he had with the Jerusalem Jews—this was news to them. Perhaps the travel time and weather conditions prevented any messengers from arriving from Jerusalem yet. Or possibly the Jews in Jerusalem were just glad to be rid of Paul and so washed their hands of him, having bigger concerns, namely the increased Roman oppression over them (indeed, in about fifteen years or so—A.D. 70—the Romans will have destroyed Jerusalem).
At any rate, those in Rome wanted to hear from this Roman prisoner whom the Christians were excited to welcome to Rome, and why, if he was so great an individual, he was in chains. Paul commandeers the narrative and turns the focus to “the hope of Israel,” referring to the promise given to Israel—the same message he explained to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 26:6–7). The message of this “sect” is not anti-Jewish. No, it is a message of the fulfillment of the hopes and aspirations of the Jewish people.
Regardless of what they had heard and what the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem thought, they wanted to give Paul a fair hearing. Paul now had no barriers to giving a full and clear testimony of the message of Jesus the Messiah. And taking advantage of this opportunity, he dove right in!
Lord, help me not waste opportunities to give my testimony of Jesus.
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