Bible Question: I have just finished reading Acts 27 and 28. What books in the bible would I find what happened to Paul next. And was this (in Acts 28) the time in Rome when he was put to death. |
Bible Answer: Dee, I will join with Arnold and Hank to say that no scripture records the death of Paul. No Bible book or letter even mentions it. (I sway this with confidence; writing after these learned men, ’cause if it had been recorded they would have mentioned it). Luke was the one to chronicle the ministry of Paul, and he does seem to go out of his way to avoid describing the end. What we have instead are the words of Paul himself as he anticipated his death. Acts 20:24 None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 2 Cor 5:8ff We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Phil 1:20ff According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 2 Tim 4:6ff I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. It may be that those things were more important to the Holy Spirit and to Luke than the time, place, and manner of one’s death. Truly, the Bible is different from other books. The writers do not care if they leave us hanging. As far as God was concerned to tell us, Paul was “preaching the kingdom of God”; that’s all. He had fought a good fight and he had left an astonishing testimony, a legacy, an example that no one since has been quite able to match. He left, in his epistles, the word of God for the church. Thank God, we have it, and it is almost as if he has not died, for by it he being dead yet speaketh. |