And he remained two whole years in his own hired lodging, and received all who came to him,
The book of Acts ends in a rented house in Rome, where a chained man kept an open door for two years. Two questions follow. What could God do through a prisoner who could not leave his lodging? And why does the record stop here?
The setting was not comfortable. Paul paid for the lodging himself, and a soldier never left his side.
Paul was allowed to live in his own hired house with a soldier to guard him. It was no small trial to be chained as a prisoner night and day and have no privacy.
Yet the guard also worked in his favour, and the arrest opened a new stage in his work.
He had fully and faithfully done the duty he owed to the Jews, the people God had chosen. Then he turned to the Gentiles — though not, of course, leaving the Jews out. His door was open from morning till night to all who would come and hear the great truths of Christianity. And in some ways he never had a better opportunity. He was under Roman protection, so the Jews were not allowed to trouble him.
Commentators look past the soldier and the chain to God Himself.
Although he was in captivity at Rome, the word of God was not bound. God watched over it, and Paul, living in his own hired house, received all who sought after truth, and taught them with perfect liberty the gospel that was so dear to him... Though preachers have little strength, the Lord holds the door open, and no man can shut it.
Paul could not go out to people, so people came in to him. His reach ran well past Rome.
You will recall that Paul lived two whole years in his own hired house. He received all who came in to him. He preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, and no one stopped him. So it is clear that without going out of his house, he had a very wide circle of service. But the people he reached went beyond Rome. We know of a runaway slave, perhaps from Colossae — a "useless" slave — who was blessed in that hired house.
The house was small. What came out of it was not. Paul wrote several of his letters from that address.
But the apostle, a prisoner in Rome, sent from there to the Jews the deepest message they ever received from God. From there he also sent to the saints at Ephesus and Colossae the fullest words on the body and its Head. He sent words on Christian experience to the Philippians, and a personal letter to Philemon. So fruitful was the stream that flowed through him in his captivity.
Some readers complain that Acts breaks off without telling us how Paul died. Commentators answer that the ending is deliberate.
This is the simple, solemn, and dignified close of inspired church history. Some call it abrupt, because it does not tell us of the apostle's later imprisonment and his death. The same spirit of unbelief complains about the two Gospels that do not show us the ascension. It is as if God did not know best how to reveal His own truth. Paul is a prisoner, yet not in a way that hinders the truth going out even in Rome.
The final scene carries two moods at once, and the story it closes is not over.
The ending of the book is sad, and it is joyful. Sad, to see the great apostle a prisoner, shut up in Rome with his God-given gospel. Joyful, because the last verse mentions the Lord Jesus Christ and an unhindered ministry of the gospel. The book begins with Jerusalem and ends with Rome... The book closes in an unfinished way, because the acts of Christ, the Spirit of God, and Satan recorded in it are not finished.
- Chain. Paul spent two years guarded day and night with no privacy. The chain was real, not a figure of speech.
- Door. The same confinement became an opportunity. His door stood open from morning till night, and the Lord was the One holding it open.
- Reach. He never left the house, yet his circle of service was wide. A runaway slave was among those blessed there.
- Fruit. Letters to Ephesus, Colossae, Philippi and Philemon came out of that captivity. The stream flowing through him stayed fruitful in chains.
- Ending. Acts stops with the prisoner still preaching. The silence about his death is God's choice, not an oversight. The book starts at Jerusalem and ends at Rome — sad and joyful at once.
preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, with all freedom unhinderedly.
The book of Acts ends with its greatest missionary under guard in Rome, waiting for a trial the book never reports. Yet its last word is not "prisoner" but "without hindrance" — how is a chained man still free to preach?
Paul could not travel, so his work took the only shape left to it. The city holding him was no ordinary city.
He lived two whole years in the house he had rented. He received those who came to him, since he was not free to go to them. He preached the kingdom of God and the things concerning the Lord Jesus, with all boldness, and no one hindered him. Here the history of this precious servant of God ends. He was loved and honoured by his Master, and a prisoner in Rome, the head of the fourth empire. That city was to be the seat of opposition among the Gentiles, as Jerusalem was among the Jews... Yet God was with him.
The delay in Paul's trial was not wasted time. It produced converts and letters we still read.
Paul was still a prisoner, yet he could hire a house, live there, and receive all who wished to see him. So he had chances to bear witness... God's providence delayed his trial, and that opened a door for him to speak. During this time Onesimus came to faith, and doubtless others too. He also wrote some of his letters.
The verse names two activities, not one, and the difference between them matters.
There was preaching and teaching, as there were evangelists, pastors, and teachers... At Ephesus, at Corinth, at Rome, and elsewhere, Paul kept doing both. Evangelizing increases the assembly, but some things belong to teaching and not to preaching. So if the work of God is to grow in a healthy way, we need both. Where people seek evangelizing only, the saints will not be fully taught the truth. Where people look down on it or neglect it, interest in the spread of God's work is in danger of fading.
Of all the places to proclaim another kingdom, Paul was doing it in the seat of imperial power.
Yet even under the eye of Rome, God gave Paul liberty to proclaim the kingdom of God, so high above the boasted power of the Roman empire. God also gave him liberty to teach the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with fullest confidence, and no one hindered him.
That kingdom was real, but not visible in the way his own nation wanted it to be.
The Jews looked only for the kingdom in power. The kingdom then was, and still is, on earth in mystery. That is, it is not yet openly displayed. Yet all true saints can see it now, and no one else can... The sufferings of Christ had to come before His glories. This the Jews had not seen, and would not humbly receive.
The last phrase points back to a promise the Lord made to Paul in a much darker place. Older translations render "without hindrance" as "no man forbidding him."
The Lord cared for His servant, and allowed him still to labour. ... This last chapter assures us that the Lord was keeping His promise to Paul, made in the prison at Jerusalem: "no man forbidding him." So the book ends with Paul still working. The Word of God was not bound. Long ago Paul himself entered into rest. Yet the truths he contended for and the gospel he proclaimed are, thank God, still heard on earth.
Commentators differ over whether the ending is abrupt. One insists the close is exactly right.
Such is the simple, solemn, and dignified close of inspired church history. Some speak of it as abrupt, because it does not tell us of the apostle's later imprisonment and his death... Paul is a prisoner, yet not in a way that hinders the truth going out even in Rome. To know more of the apostle we must read the word closely. Even then, nothing there feeds curiosity, superstition, or hero-worship. Everything is there so that God may be glorified in all things by Jesus Christ.
Another writer looks at where the book begins, where it ends, and why it feels cut short.
The ending of the book is sad and it is joyous. Sad, to see the great Apostle a prisoner, shut up in Rome with his God-given gospel. Joyous, because the last verse mentions the Lord Jesus Christ and an unhindered ministry of the gospel. The book begins with Jerusalem and ends with Rome... The book closes in an unfinished way. The acts of Christ, the Spirit of God, and Satan recorded in this book are not finished.
- Chained — Paul could not go to people, so he received all who came; the man was bound, the word was not.
- Opened — the delayed trial became a door. From one rented room Onesimus came to faith, letters went out, and Rome heard the witness.
- Preached and taught — the work needs both. Preaching without teaching leaves saints untaught. Teaching without preaching lets zeal for the work fade.
- Unhindered — the last phrase is a promise kept. It announces a kingdom far above the empire that guarded him.
- Unfinished — the story stops without a hero's ending. The acts of Christ and His Spirit are not finished, and the truths Paul preached are still heard on earth.