Paul enhances his reputation, v1-6;

Miracles in Malta; v7-10;

The journey to Rome resumes, v11-16.

The report of Paul's snakebite thematically sets the frame for the final narrative of Luke's Acts of the Apostles. The "barbarians" assume for a moment that justice has overcome luck, but in truth, Paul is a righteous man innocent of any crime, and luck has nothing to do with it. Paul is certainly not "a god", but he bears the marks of a good man, a fact not only recognised by the local "barbarians", but also the wider community of Malta and the Christian community in Rome.

On the issue of Paul, the righteous man, innocent of any crime, we would have Luke nicely conclude his story with Paul's trial before Nero, but he makes no mention of the impending legal proceedings. The simple answer may be that Luke finishes his book before the trial, although Dunn argues that Luke finishes his book where he does because it didn't go well for Paul and that he was martyred, as tradition records. If the latter, then Luke is obviously not willing to end his book on such a sour note, so he leaves the trial up in the air. Irrespective of what Caesar may think, God has already declared his decision on the matter.

In this final chapter of Acts, there is a slight change in the way Luke records Paul's journey from Malta to Rome. There is no mention of Paul's preaching ministry. Paul would have obviously proclaimed the gospel in the many new situations he found himself in, but Luke makes no mention of it. What Luke does is describe Paul's warm embrace by both pagans and Christians alike.

Pagan acceptance of Paul is related to miracles. The "barbarians" of Malta are more than amazed by Paul's miraculous survival from snakebite, and wrongly assume that he is a "a god". Publius, and later the islanders in general, enthusiastically welcome Paul into their midst after experiencing miraculous healings at his hand. Although the initial "hospitality" may well extend to all those who were shipwrecked, the focus is soon on Paul and his friends, with honours upon honours flowing to them. Luke mentions no conversions, but rather a general acceptance of Christianity, and of Paul in particular. This certainly suits Luke's apologetic, and would also support a brief of evidence for Paul's trial.

The other warm embrace to come Paul's way is from the Christian community, first at Puteoli and then at Rome itself. Again, Luke is emphasising the acceptance of Paul gospel ministry by the Christian community in Rome. Paul may not have been the flavour of the month with the Jerusalem church (a fact that Luke plays down, but does not hide), but he is warmly welcomed by the Gentile Christian church.

The positive nature of Luke's account at this point is likely flavoured by its climactic intent. Rome is the centre of the world; everything comes to Rome and everything comes from Rome - carpe diem tours. Paul, under divine necessity, comes to Rome with his gospel of grace, and it is from Rome that this gospel will progress to the ends of the world.

From Malta to Rome, v1-16: i] Paul enhances his reputation, v1-6. Luke names the island Melita, obviously the island known today as Malta. The crew have no knowledge of the area where the ship founded, so they are still unsure where they are. Their knowledge of Malta would be limited to the harbour of Valletta.

kai "-" - and. Coordinating conjunction, standing with kai in 27:44 and serving in the sentence commenced with te in v43, here with a consecutive edge; "He ordered those who could swim ....... and in this way ...... and so we were brought back to safety and then learned ......"

diaswqenteV (diaswzw) aor. pas. part. "once safely on shore" - having been brought to safety [then we knew = found out]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to know"; "And so, we were brought back to safety and subsequently learned that the island is called Malta". Usually treated as adverbial, temporal, as NIV, although the main verb "to know", already carries an adverb, tote, "then"; "After we were brought safely through, we then learned .....", ESV. If Luke wanted an adverbial sense, say temporal, he could have formed a genitive absolute construction, although it is argued that the genitive absolute must be absolute, ie., possessing a different subject to the main verb. Of course, he could just use a temporal conjunction like wJV, "when", to introduce a temporal clause. Such musings make no difference to the intended sense of this clause.

oJti "that" - that [the island is called malta]. Introducing an object clause / dependent statement of perception expressing what they learnt.

The locals proselabonto, "received", the survivors, in the sense of gathering them around a fire they had prepared; they showed them hospitality - "welcomed" them to the fire is probably a bit strong, but it makes the point. When Luke uses the word barbaroi, "barbarians", he is not insulting the locals, he is simply making the point that they don't speak Greek, so "natives, locals, islanders, inhabitants, ..." In their case, they probably spoke a Phoenician dialect.

te "-" - and. Transitional, indicating a step in the narrative.

hJmin dat. pro. "us" - [the barbarians were providing = showing] to us. Dative of indirect object after the verb "to provide, cause".

ou thn tucousan (tugcanw) aor. part. "unusual [kindness]" - not the one happening = unusual [kindness]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting the noun "kindness". It is formed as a litotes by using the negation ou to emphasise the positive; "an unusual kindness".

gar "-" - for. More reason than cause, explaining how the locals showed kindness to the survivors.

ayanteV (aJptw) aor. part. "they built" - having lit [a fire they received = gathered / welcomed us all]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to receive"; "they kindled a fire and welcomed us all", ESV.

dia + acc. "because" - because of. Serving to introduce a causal clause explaining why they built the fire.

ton efestwta (efisthmi) perf. part. "it was [raining]" - [the rain] the one having set in, established [and because of the cold]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "rain"; "rain which was set it" = "because of the pelting rain and the cold", Weymouth.

Luke uses the word ecidna for a poisonous snake, probably a viper, although poisonous snakes are no longer found on Malta. The locals certainly thought the snake was poisonous, even down to the expected symptoms of the bite. Luke also makes a point of noting Paul's practical participation in the preparation of the camp-fire.

sustreyantoV (sustrefw) gen. aor. part. "[Paul] gathered" - [but/and] having gathered [a certain multitude of sticks and having laid them upon the fire]. Along with the genitive participle "having laid", the genitive participle "having gathered", and its genitive subject "Paul, forms a genitive absolute construction, probably temporal; "When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire", ESV.

fruganwn (on) gen. "brushwood" - [a certain multitude] of sticks. The genitive is adjectival, partitive.

exelqousa (exercomai) aor. part. "driven out" - [a viper] having come out. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to fasten onto"; "a viper crawled out on account of the heat and fastened onto his hand", Berkeley.

apo + gen. "driven out by" - from [the heat]. Expressing separation, "away from", heading towards a causal sense, "because of".

thV ceiroV (r roV) gen. "hand" - [fastened onto] of the hand [of him]. Genitive of direct object after the kata prefix verb "to fasten onto".

It is interesting to note how so many ancient civilisations understood the divine principle of "an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth"; the punishment fits the crime - a murderer deserves to die. The agent of the punishment is identified as hJ dikh, "Lady Justice", possibly the Greek deity Dike, or just a personification of divine justice.

wJV "When" - [but/and] when. Temporal conjunction serving to introduce a temporal clause.

kremamenon (kremannumi) pres. part. "hanging" - [the locals saw the wild beast] hanging [from the hand of him, they were saying toward one another]. The participle serves as the accusative complement of the direct object "wild beast", forming a double accusative construction and asserting a fact about the object "wild beast"; "When the locals saw the viper dangling from his hand".

diaswqenta (diaswzw) aor. pas. part. "though he escaped" - [surely this man is a murderer, whom lady justice did not permit to live] having saved [out of the sea]. The participle is adverbial, modifying the infinitive "to live", best treated as concessive, as NIV; "although he was saved from the sea".

zhV (zaw) pres. inf. "[has not allowed him] to live" - [justice did not allow] to live. The infinitive here is usually classified as complementary, completing the verb "to allow, permit", but it is probably better treated as the object of the verb, serving to introduce a dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what is not permitted, namely, "that he should continue to live (durative present tense), even though he was rescued from the sea".

It's interesting to note that in Australia, snakes, venomous or otherwise, are protected by law, and so Paul would actually be breaking the law by throwing the snake in the fire. Such laws are the product of bloated political institutions set upon regulating every aspect of human life. By the way, most bushies ignore this law, given that both tiger and black snakes can chase you up a tree; when they're in a mood, there's no hiding - the choice is either run, or defend. Thankfully, the more common brown snake usually does the running; unless you accidentally tread on him, in which case ......

men oun "but" - on the one hand therefore. For this transitional construction linked to de in v6, see men oun 17:12.

oJ "Paul" - he. Transitional, serving to indicate a change in subject from the locals to Paul.

apotinaxaV (apotinassw) aor. part. "shook [the snake] off" - having shaken off [the wild beast into the fire, he experienced no evil, bad = ill effects]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to experience, suffer, endure"; "He, however, shook the reptile off into the fire and was unhurt", Weymouth.

There is obviously something godlike in a person who is able to withstand the poison of a viper. Is Luke alluding to Lk.10:18-19? By not commenting on the response of the locals, it is possible that Luke is being a touch humorous by overstating their response.

oiJ de "-" - but/ and they. Transitional, indicating a change in subject from Paul to the locals.

mellein (mellw) pres. inf. "[to swell up]" - [they were expecting (durative imperfect) him] to be about [to swell up or to fall down suddenly dead]. Introducing an object clause / dependent statement of perception expressing what they expected; "they expected = assumed that he was about to swell up and suddenly fall down dead". The pronoun auton, "he", serves as the accusative subject of the infinitive. The infinitive mellein, "to be about", is completed by two other infinitives: pemprasqai, "to swell up" and katapeptein, "to fall down".

prosdokwntwn (prosdokaw) pres. part. "after waiting" - [but they] expecting, waiting. The genitive participle, along with the genitive participle qewrountwn, "seeing, observing", forms a genitive absolute construction, probably temporal, as NIV; "when they had waited a long time", ESV.

epi "[a long time]" - upon [much]. Temporal use of the preposition, as NIV.

ginomenon (ginomai) pres. part. "happen" - [and seeing nothing unusual] happening. The participle serves as the accusative complement of the direct object "nothing", standing in a double accusative construction and asserting a fact about the object. The adjective mhden, "nothing", serving as a substantive, is modified / limited by the adjectival use of the adverb atopon, "unusual"; "nothing out of the way happened to him", Berkeley.

eiV + acc. "to [him]" - into [him]. Culy suggests that the preposition is used here to express disadvantage.

metabalomenoi (metaballw) aor. mid. part. "they changed their minds" - having turned = changed the/their minds [they were saying]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to say"; "changed their minds and said".

einai (eimi) pres. inf. "[he] was" - [he] to be [a god]. Introducing the object of the verb "to say" / dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what they said; "that he is a god". The pronoun auton, "he", serves as the accusative subject of the infinitive.

ii] Miracles in Malta, v7-10. Luke's hJmaV, "us", does not identify who received the "hospitality", but it is presumably passengers and crew. It is not clear whether Publius is a Roman official, or a local identity, but given that he owns an estate, he is probably a leading citizen of Malta. The verb anadecomai, "to receive", may allude to the reception of the gospel, but its use in relation to the adverb filafronwV, "hospitably", means that the sense here is likely to be "to welcome".

toiV dat. art. "-" - [but/and, lands to the first man of the island, by name publius, were in] the [about that place]. The article serves as a nominalizer turning the prepositional phrase "about that place" into a substantive, serving in the local adverbial modifier introduced by en, "in"; "were in the neighbourhood".

tw/ prwtw/ adj. "belonging to [Publius] the chief official" - to the leading man. The dative is possessive as NIV; "belonging to the chief man", ESV.

thV nhsou (oV) gen. "of the island" - of the island. The genitive is adjectival, descriptive, idiomatic / local, "located on / living on the island", or if a Roman official, subordination, "over the island".

onomati (a atoV) dat. "-" - by name [publius]. Dative of reference / respect; "with respect to his name, Publius".

anadexamenoV (anadecomai) aor. part. "he welcomed" - [who] having received, accepted [hospitably, he entertained us]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to entertain".

treiV hJmeraV "for three days" - three days. The accusative is adverbial, extent of time, as NIV.

There were reports at the time of the prevalence of a gastric fever in Malta known as "Malta Fever". Note that Luke may be drawing an analogy with Jesus' healing of Peter's mother-in-law, Lk.4:38-39.

katakeisqai (katakeimai) pres. inf. "was [sick] in bed" - [but/and, the father of publius] to be lying down [being constrained by = suffering with fevers and dysentery happened]. The infinitive serves to form a nominal phrase subject of the impersonal verb "it happened, came about". The accusative subject of the infinitive is "the father of Publius". The infinitive is modified by the adverbial participle sunecomenon, "being constrained", probably causal; "laying down because he was suffering ...." = "lay sick". The participle is accusative in agreement with the accusative subject of the infinitive, and as would be expected with its sun prefix, takes a dative of direct object, in this case the datives "fever" and "dysentery"; "constrained by fever and dysentery".

eiselqwn (ercomai) aor. part. "went to see him" - [toward whom paul] having entered [and having prayed, having laid the hands to him, he healed him]. Translations head in numerous directions in the way they handle the three participles, "having entered", "having prayed", and "having laid". The problem is accentuated by the desire to associate prayer with the laying on of hands, such that the laying of of hand is but an outward expression of Prayer; see Lk.4:40, 10:30, 13:13 and Ats 16:23. None-the-less, it seems likely though that the first two participles, eiselqwn, "having entered" and proseuzamenoV, "having prayed", are adverbial, modifying the verb "to heal", best treated as temporal, and the third participle, epiqeiV, "having laid", is attendant circumstance, expressing action accompanying the verb "to heal"; "into whose presence, Paul, after he entered and prayed, put his hands on him and healed him". "Paul went and visited the old man, and after going up to him and praying, he laid his hands on him and healed him."

As with Jesus' healing of Peter's mother-in-law, when the locals hear of the healing they flock to seek Paul's help and are cured.

genomenou (ginomai) gen. pres. part. "when [this] had happened" - [but/and this] having happened. The genitive participle, and its genitive subject toutou, "this", forms a genitive absolute construction, temporal, as NIV.

oiJ ..... econteV (ecw) pres. part. "-" - [the rest] the ones having [sickness on the island]. The participle is adjectival, introducing an attributive modifier of the noun "the rest, remaining"; "After this, others who were sick on the island"

kai "-" - and [were approaching and were being healed]. Here adverbial, adjunctive, "also"; "also came and were cured". Luke used two imperfect verbs here, the first probably inceptive / ingressive, "began to come forward" and the second durative / progressive, "and were all healed".

It is again unclear who the hJmaV, "us", are, although, given the recent miracles, Luke probably now has in mind Paul and his associates. It is also unclear what being honoured with much timaiV is. The word is often used of money, and it is quite possible that financial contributions toward Paul's legal proceedings are intended; "contributions, honorarium, compensation, pay" (abstract praise is unlikely, so Keener, Kellum, .... contra Haenchen, ....). Luke also mentions gifts of practical necessities for their sea voyage.

timaiV (h) "in [many] ways" - [who and = also honoured us] in [much] contributions. The dative is instrumental, expressing means; "they honoured us with considerable financial contributions".

anagomenoiV (anagw) gen. pres. mid. part. "when we were ready to sail" - [and] being raised = set to sail [they gave the things for the needs]. The genitive participle serves to form a genitive absolute construction, most likely temporal; "and when the time came for us to sail, they provided us with everything we needed", Phillips.

iii] The journey to Rome resumes, v11-16. Having wintered in Malta, Paul, with his friends and military escort, set sail on another grain ship out of Alexandria, probably around February 61. The ship is identified by the figurehead on its prow, carved in the form of the Dioscuri, the twin sons of Zeus (or possibly some sort of insignia). The Dioscuri were often looked to for safety at sea. Given the vagaries of life at sea, sailors are superstitious by nature, and figureheads served to give some comfort to a crew. So, the ship was the Dioscuri / The Heavenly Twins out of Alexandria.

meta + acc. "after" - after [three months we set sail in a ship]. Temporal use of the preposition serving to introduce a temporal clause.

parakeceimakoti (paraceimazw) dat. perf. part. "that had wintered" - having wintered [in/on the island]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "ship", as NIV.

Alexandrinw/ dat. adj. "it was an Alexandrian ship" - alexandrian. Dative, standing in apposition to "ship"; "a ship of Alexandria", ESV.

parashmw/ DioskouroiV (oi) dat. "with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux" - figurehead / insignia dioscuri. Dative, standing in apposition to "ship". Bruce Gk, following BDF and Ramsey, tends to the view that Luke is providing us with a technical identification of the ships name. So, the sense is probably something like, "it was a ship out of Alexandria with the figurehead / insignia of = going by the name of = named / called The Heavenly Twins".

They put into the port of Syracuse on the east coast of Sicily

katacqenteV (katagw) aor. pas. part. "we put in" - [and] having brought down the sails = we put in [into syracuse, we remained three days]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to remain"; "We put in to Syracuse and stayed there three days".

To reach the port of Rhegium on the toe of Italy, they had to perielonteV, "having taken away" (variant perielqonteV, "having gone around"), probably used here to describe a nautical manoeuvre, such as tacking against a headwind; "from there we tacked round to Rhegium", Phillips. They then sailed on to Rome's main port, Puteoli. Passengers would disembark here and the ship would then sail on to the cargo port of Ostia on the Tiber, a port for the shipment of goods constructed during the reign of Claudius

o[qen adv. "from there" - from where. Adverb of place.

perielonteV (periairew) aor. part. "we set sail" - having taken away [we came into phegium]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to come to"; "we worked around and reached Rhegium", Weymouth.

meta + acc. "[the next day]" - after [one day]. Temporal use of the preposition.

epigenomenou (epiginomai) gen. aor. part. "[the south wind] came up" - [a southerly] sprung up. The genitive participle, and its genitive subject "southerly", forms a genitive absolute construction, probably causal; it is because they have a southerly wind, that they are able to run before it and arrive at Puteoli on the second day.

deuteraioi adj. "on the following day"- [we came] second [into puteoli]. Zerwick suggests that the adjective serves as a temporal adverb modifying the verb "to come"; "we arrived on the following day at Puteoli". The adjective takes the nominative case in agreement with the assumed subject of the verb "we".

Luke normally uses the noun adelfoi, "brothers", for believers, but on a few occasions he has used it to refer to fellow Jews, and that may be the sense here. If those who offer hospitality are Jews, then they have obviously not yet been influenced by the ruling clique in Jerusalem. None-the-less, given what follows, it seems more likely that they are believers.

euJronteV (euJriskw) aor. part. "we found" - [where] having found [brothers, we were invited]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to find"; "there we found brothers and were invited to stay", ESV.

epimeinai (epimenw) aor. inf. "to spend [a week]" - to stay, remain, continue [seven days]. Introducing the object of the verb "to invite" / dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what they were invited to do, namely, to stay a week. Johnson notes the variant participle, epimenonteV, "staying", probably serves to correct the impression that "Paul the prisoner had the freedom to make such decisions".

par (para) + dat. "-" - beside [them]. Here expressing association; "with them".

ou{twV adv. "[and] so" - [and] thus [we came into rome]. Adverb of manner; "and thus in this manner". Note how Cassirer brings out the anticipatory sense of this demonstrative adverb; "This is the story of our journey to Rome".

The journey from Rhegium to Rome is about a five day walk, first along the Via Campana to Capua and then along the Appin way to Rome. It seems that two groups of believers from Rome, having heard that Paul had arrived in Rhegium and was on his way to Rome, set out to meet him at Appii Forum and Tres Tabernae, to escort him back to Rome with his his military escort. Appii Forum is 43 miles from the city and Tres Tabernae 30 miles, both situated along the Appian Way. The provision of two delegations evidences an established Christian community in Rome. Paul's letter to the Romans implies a substantial Christian community in the capital, although it is worth noting that the letter is not just for the church in Rome. Romans is primarily a general letter for all Paul's missionary churches, his magnum opus, with its ascription to Rome prompted by the the knowledge that everything comes to Rome and comes from Rome.

akousanteV (akouw) aor. part. "had heard" - [from there (Rome) the brothers] having heard. The participle is adverbial, modifying the verb "to come"; "And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as ....", ESV.

ta art. "that [we were coming]" - the things [concerning us came into a meeting]. The article serves as a nominalizer, turning the prepositional phrase "concerning us" into a substantive, object of the participle "having heard". The NIV treats it as a dependent statement of perception expressing what they heard, although then the main verb "to come" would have to be an infinitive.

hJmin dat. pro. "to meet us" - with us. The dative expresses association / accompaniment.

acri + gen. "as far as" - up to [forum of appus and three taverns]. The preposition expresses extension, "up to", here of distance, "as far as".

idwn (oJraw) aor. part. "at the sight [of these people]" - seeing [whom]. The participle is adverbial, modifying the verb "to receive [courage]", probably temporal; "Paul thanked God and was encouraged on seeing them".

eucaristhsaV (eucaristew) aor. part. "thanked" - [paul] having given thanks to. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to receive [courage]"; "Paul thanked God and took courage", ESV.

tw/ qew/ (oV) dat. "God" - god [he received courage]. Dative of direct object after the verb "to give thanks to".

The Western text expands this verse somewhat, "And when we came to Rome, the centurion handed the prisoners over to the stratopedarch, but Paul was allowed to stay by himself outside the barracks, guarded by a soldier". Paul is now in the hands of the praetorian guard, under some form of house-arrest, attached by a light chain to a soldier for some two years. A prisoner would normally be chained between two soldiers, but in Paul's case, only one is assigned, so giving Paul a degree of freedom.

oJte "when" - [but/and] when [we entered into rome]. Temporal conjunction, serving to introduce a temporal clause. "with this clause the third 'we' section of Acts comes to an end", Bruce Gk.

menein (menw) pres. inf. "to live" - to remain, abide, continue [according to himself with the soldier guarding him was permitted to paul]. The infinitive forms a nominal phrase, subject of the impersonal verb "it was permitted"

Paulw/ (oV) dat. "Paul" - to paul. Dative of direct object after the epi prefix verb "to permit, allow, command".

daq (kata) + acc. "by [himself]" - according to [himself]. Here the preposition is local, expressing space, particularly with the sense of "isolation or separateness", so Culy.

fulassonti (fulassw) dat. "to guard" - [with the soldier] guarding [him]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "soldier"; "with the soldier who guarded him", ESV.

Acts Introduction

Exegetical Commentaries

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