Acts 28 — The Word Unhindered

Today’s Passage: Acts 28

The last chapter of Acts opens with the survivors of the shipwreck safely ashore, learning that the island is called Malta. The people there kindle a fire and welcome them all out of the rain and the cold, and while Paul is gathering sticks a viper fastens on his hand. The islanders take it as a verdict, certain that Justice has caught up with a murderer at last, but Paul simply shakes the snake into the fire and comes to no harm, and their judgment swings the other way until they are calling him a god. Publius, the chief man of the island, takes them in, and Paul heals his father and then many others who are sick. After three months they sail on, welcomed by brothers at Puteoli, and as they near the city believers walk out from Rome along the Appian Way to meet them, so that Paul thanks God and takes fresh courage. In Rome he is held under house arrest, chained to a soldier but free to receive visitors. He calls the Jewish leaders together, explains that his chains are for the hope of Israel, and from morning to evening lays out Jesus to them from Moses and the Prophets. Some are persuaded and some refuse, and to those who turn away he speaks the hard word of Isaiah before announcing that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, who will listen. Then, for two full years in his own rented house, he welcomes everyone who comes, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, boldly and without hindrance. Read these scenes as one climb rather than four separate sermons, for Malta and Rome, Isaiah and that last sentence all rise toward a single truth: the word is unhindered.

The viper was real and the healings were real, and we must not empty them of their weight or turn them into a technique to be repeated on demand. These were founding signs, given to authenticate the apostolic mission at its beginning. We do not wait for a new Pentecost in order to have the Spirit; He was given once and dwells in every believer still.

The book simply stops with the word running free, and we need not invent a settled theory of why Luke ended it where he did, nor smuggle an end-times timetable in through the phrase “the hope of Israel.” Christ is coming, and this unfinished ending takes nothing away from the promises of Romans 8.

As you read, hold this: The word is unhindered.

Acts 28:1–10 (BSB)

¹ Once we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta. ² The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold. ³ Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he laid them on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand. ⁴ When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶ The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. ⁷ Nearby stood an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days. ⁸ The father of Publius was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after praying and placing his hands on him, he healed the man. ⁹ After this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured as well. ¹⁰ The islanders honored us in many ways and supplied our needs when we were ready to sail.

They have come safely through, and the first thing that meets them is kindness in the wet and the cold. Paul, apostle though he is, still stoops to gather sticks for the fire, and when the snake takes hold he shakes it off and remains simply a man kept safe under God’s care. Hospitality is received and healing is given, and one by one the sick of the island come and are cured. God wastes no shipwreck, and the word is still on its way to Rome.

Acts 28:11–16 (BSB)

¹¹ After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers as a figurehead. ¹² Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there three days. ¹³ From there we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day, a south wind came up, and on the second day we arrived at Puteoli. ¹⁴ There we found some brothers who invited us to spend the week with them. And so we came to Rome. ¹⁵ The brothers there had heard about us and traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and gave thanks to God. ¹⁶ When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

Twin gods ride the prow of the ship, but the true God rules the voyage. There are brothers waiting at Puteoli and brothers walking out along the Appian Way, and at the sight of them Paul thanks God and takes courage, the great encourager now encouraged himself. Rome comes at last, and it is no palace but a rented room with a guard at the door. The promise of Acts 23:11 has kept its appointment. The word has arrived, though it is not yet finished.

Acts 28:17–22 (BSB)

¹⁷ After three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was taken prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ They examined me and wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me. ¹⁹ But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, even though I have no charge to bring against my nation. ²⁰ So for this reason I have called to see you and speak with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” ²¹ The leaders replied, “We have not received any letters about you from Judea, nor have any of the brothers from there reported or even mentioned anything bad about you. ²² But we consider your views worth hearing, because we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

He still calls them brothers, still insists he has done nothing against his nation, and still names the hope of Israel as the very reason he is bound with a chain. That hope is the resurrection, and it is the same gospel he has preached all along, not a second message and not a hidden timetable. The Jewish leaders in Rome report that no dossier has arrived from Judea, only the rumor of a sect that people everywhere speak against, and they are willing to hear him out. So the pattern of the whole book holds once more: the synagogue first, and then whoever will listen.

Acts 28:23–28 (BSB)

²³ So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. ²⁴ Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. ²⁵ They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: ²⁶ ‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” ²⁷ For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’ ²⁸ Be advised, therefore, that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”

From morning to evening he opens the Scriptures to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and showing them Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. Some are convinced and some refuse, and to those who turn away he speaks Isaiah’s hard word with both grief and clarity. Salvation going out to the Gentiles is not revenge on anyone; it is the ancient plan of God breaking wide open. They will listen, he says, and already the word that cannot be chained is looking for the next open ear.

Acts 28:30–31 (BSB)

³⁰ Paul stayed there two full years in his own rented house, welcoming all who came to visit him. ³¹ Boldly and freely he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 28:31 (BSB) — “Boldly and freely he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.”

There is no verse thirty-two, no scene of martyrdom, no words that read “The End.” There are only two years, an open door, and all who come, with the kingdom of God proclaimed and the Lord Jesus Christ taught, boldly and freely and without hindrance (ἀκωλύτως) akōlytōs, pronounced ah-ko-LOO-toce. Strong's G209, unhindered, without hindrance or obstruction. This is the very last word of Acts in Greek, and it means unhindered, without prohibition, nothing standing in the way. Paul is a prisoner, but the word he carries is not, as he would later write from another cell (2 Timothy 2:9). Luke refuses to close with Paul’s death or with any tidy theory of the mission; he lets the curtain fall in the middle of the scene. It is a plain claim of history, that for two years the word ran free from a rented house, and it is not a puzzle we are meant to solve. The book stops with the word unhindered. . The soldier’s chain is real, and the freedom of the word is more real still. Luke hands the unfinished mission on to every reader who has followed the story from Jerusalem all the way to this rented room. The risen Jesus is still doing and still teaching, the ends of the earth are still waiting, and the word is unhindered.