Then, after spending no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea; and the next day he sat in the tribunal and ordered Paul brought in. When he arrived the Jews who had come do^ from Jerusalem surrounded him and brought many serious charges against him, which they could not prove; since Paul said in his defense: I have not sinned in any way against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar.
But Festus, wishing to store up some favor with the Jews, answered and said to Paul: Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges, before me? But Paul said: I have taken my stand at the tribunal of Caesar, and there I must be tried. I have done the Jews no wrong, as you yourself know quite well. If I am guilty and have done something that deserves death, I do not protest against dying; but if there is nothing in what they charge against me, no one give me to them as a favor. I appeal to Caesar. Then Festus, after talking with the council, answered: You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.
After a few days had gone by, King Agrippa and Ber- nice visited Caesarea to welcome Festus. And as they spent some days there, Festus referred Paul's case to the King, saying: There is a man whom Felix left behind as a prisoner; and concerning him the high priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges when I was in Jerusalem, demanding his condemnation. To these I answered that it is not the Roman way to hand any man over as a favor; not until the accused has his accusers before his face and is given some chance to defend himself against the accusation. So when they assembled here I made no delay but the next day I sat in the tribunal and ordered the man brought in. When his accusers stood up they did not accuse him of any of the evildoings I had expected, but they had against him only some questions concerning their own religiosity, and concerning one Jesus; who is dead but who, as Paul says, is alive. Not knowing what to do about investigating these matters, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges. But Paul appealed to be held for the attention of Augustus; so I ordered him held until I can send him to Caesar. Agrippa said to Festus: I would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, said Festus, you shall hear him.
So on the next day Agrippa arrived, and Bernice, with much circumstance, and they entered the audience room along with the tribunes and the men of prominence in the city; and at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. And Festus said: King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen who are here with us, you are looking at the man for whose sake the whole population of the Jews has been after me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying that he should not go on living. I myself judged that he had done nothing to deserve death; but since he himself appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him. But I have nothing definite to write to our master about him; which is why I have brought him before all of you, and above all before you, King Agrippa, so that when he has been questioned I can have something to write; for it seems absurd to me to send a prisoner without indicating the charges against him.
IThen Agrippa said to Paul: You have leave to speak for yourself. Then Paul extended his hand and began his defense, saying: I count myself most fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am to defend myself against the charges of the Jews in your presence today; for I know that you are supremely well informed in all the customs and questions which are the concern of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me with patience.
All Jews know about my life, from youth onward, both in my own country and in Jerusalem, and they know from the past, if they will admit it, that I lived according to the strictest sect in our religion, as a Pharisee. And now I stand on trial for hope in that promise which was given by God to our fathers, that expectation which our twelve tribes hope to realize by serving strenuously night and day. It is for this hope, О King, that I am being accused by the Jews. If God wakens the dead, why is that accounted incredible by you Jews?
Now, I thought to myself that I had to do much to oppose the n^e of Jesus of Nazareth. And this I did in Jerusalem, and with authority granted me by the high priests I confined many of the saints in prison, and when they were killed I cast my vote for it, and in all the synagogues by frequent punishment I tried to force them to blaspheme; and in my immoderate rage against them I even pursued them into cities abroad.
One of these was Damascus, where I was on my way with authority and a commission from the high priests when in the middle of the day on the road I saw, О King, a light surpassing the brightness of the sun which flashed about me and my fellow travelers. And as all of us fell to the gronnd I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said: Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said: I am Jesus, whom you persecute. But rise up and stand on your feet; since it was for this that I appeared to you, to choose you as my minister and my witness to the things which you have seen and to the times I shall be seen by you; choosing you out of my people and the Gentiles, to whom I shall send you, so as to open their eyes, to t^ra them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God; for them to receive remission of sins and a share among those who have been sanctified by their belief in me.
Therefore, King Agrippa, I have not disobeyed the heavenly vision, but to those in Damascus first and Jerusalem, to the whole land of Judaea, and to the Gentiles I have preached repentance and turning to God and the doing of acts to match their repentance. For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. But having been given the help of God until this day, I stand here and testify to great and small, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said must be going to happen, that the Christ must suffer, that after the resurrection of the dead he will be the first to proclaim the light to his people and to the nations.
When he made this defense, Festus said in a great voice: Paul, you are mad. Too many books are driving you mad. But Paul said: No, I am not mad, most mighty Festus; my words are those of truth and good sense. The King, to whom I speak openly, knows about these matters; I think there is not one thing that has escaped him, for it was not done in a corner. Do you, King Agrippa, believe in the prophets? I know that you believe. Agrippa said to Paul: Soon you will persuade me to become a Christian. Paul said: Late or soon, I would pray to God that not only you but all who listen to me today would become like me—except for these chains.
Then the King and the governor and Bernice and those who had sat with them got up, and talked with each other as they went out, saying: This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus: This man could have gone free, if he had not appealed to Caesar.
When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they turned Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion named Julius, from the Augustan cohort. We went aboard a ship of Adr^yttium which was to sail to places in Asia, and put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. On the next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius, who treated Paul humanely, allowed him to visit his friends and receive some kindnesses from them. Then putting out from there, we sailed nnder the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us, and crossing the open sea by Cilicia and Pam- phylia we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion fonnd an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us aboard it. Then, sailing slowly for a number of days and barely getting to Cnidus, when the wind would let us go no farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete, by Salmone, and barely managed to coast along until we came to a place called Fair Haven, with the city of Laseia near by.
Since a good deal of time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous, with the Day of Atonement already past, Paul advised them, saying: I can see, gentlemen, that our sailing will be stormy, with much damage not only to the cargo and the ship but to our own lives. But the centurion trusted the steersman and the captain more than Paul's advice. Since the harbor was unsuitable for wi
ntering. most were in favor of leaving there and, if they could somehow make Phoenix, a harbor of Crete which looks both northwest and southwest, they would spend the winter there. And with the south wind blowing gently they thought they had achieved their purpose and put out and coasted along Crete. But not much later the hurricane wind which is called the northeaster struck from the land, and the ship was caught up in it and could not face the wind, so we gave in to it and were swept along. Then, ^^ing under shelter of a little island named Cauda, we were barely able to recover the lifeboat, which they hoisted aboard, and then undergirded the ship with cables; and then, fearing that they might be driven on to the shoals of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and so were carried along. But we were battered by the storm, aid on the second day they began to jettison, and on the third they threw the ship's gear overboard with their own hands. But when neither sun nor stars could be seen for a number of days, and we were being beset by a great storm, all hope that we would survive was finally lost.
And there had been no eating for a long time. Then Paul stood in their midst and said: You should, gentlemen, have paid attention to me and not put out from Crete and so got yourselves this battering and damage. But now I advise you to be of good courage, for there will be no loss of life from among you, only of the ship. For last night the angel of God, to whom I belong, whom I serve, stood by me and said: Have no fear, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you. Therefore be of good courage, gentlemen; for I believe in God and that it will be as he has told me. But we must be driven upon some island.
And when it was our fourteenth day of being adrift on the Adriatic, in the middle of the night the sailors thought that some land was near. And they took soundings and found twenty fathom, and after a little interval they took soundings again and found fifteen; and fearing that we might be driven on rugged shores they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to break. But when the sailors tried to abandon the ship and were lowering the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were going to set out anchors from the prow, Paul said to the centurion and the solders: Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut the ropes on the lifeboat and let it drop.
Now Paul urged everyone to take some food before the coming dawn, saying: This is the fourteenth day that you have gone without food in your anxiety, tasting nothing; therefore I urge you to take some food, since this has to do with your safety. For not one hair from any of your heads shall be lost. And so saying, he took a loaf and gave thanks to God before them all and broke it and began to eat. Then all became cheerful and they also took some food. We were seventy-six souls in all on the ship. When they had eaten their fill they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they could see a bay, with a beach where they planned to get the ship safely ashore, if they could. So they cast off the anchors and let them go, and at the same time loosening the bands on the rudders and hoisting the foresail they went before the wind toward the shore. But they struck upon a shoal surrounded by water and ran the ship aground, and the prow stuck and remained fixed, but the stern began to break up in the surf. There was a plan among the soldiers to kill the prisoners, to keep any from swimming away and escaping; but the centurion wished to keep Paul alive and prevented them from that purpose; and he ordered those who could swim to plunge in first and get to shore, and the rest to use boards or anything else from the ship. And so it came about that all got safe to shore.
1 After our escape we le^ed that the island is called Malta. And the natives showed us no ordinary kindness, for they lit a fire and brought us all to it, because of the rain which had set in and the cold. And Paul had gathered a load of brushwood and laid it on the fire when a viper came out to escape the heat and fastened on his hand. And when the natives saw the creature dangling from his hand they said to each other: This man is surely a murderer; he was saved from the sea but justice would not let him live. But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no hurt; while they waited for him to begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they waited a long time and saw nothing extraordinary happening to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
In the neighborhood of this place were the estates of the chief man of the island, Publius by name, who invited us in and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius was lying sick with a fever and dysentery, and Paul went in to him and prayed and laid his hands upon him and healed him. When that happened the other people on the island who had sicknesses came to him and were treated; and they honored us with many honors, and when we sailed away they gave us all that we needed.
After three months we sailed aboard an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island. It carried the insignia of Castor and Pollux. And we went to Syracuse and stayed there three days, and removing from there proceeded to Rhegium. And after one day, with the arrival of a south wind, we reached Puteoli on the second day. There we found brothers, and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we went to Rome. And from Rome the brothers, who had heard about us, came out to meet us as far as the Appian Forum, and the Three Taverns; and when he saw them Paul gave thanks to God, and took courage.
When we entered Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.
It happened that after three days he called together those who were the chief men among the Jews; and when they were gathered together he said to them: Men and brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or contrary to the laws of our fathers, I was turned over as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans; who after interrogating me wanted to set me free because there was nothing in my case that deserved death. But when the Jews objected I was forced to appeal to Caesar, though not as one who had any charge to bring against my own people. For this reason I have invited you, to see you and to talk with you; because it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear these chains. They said to him: We have received no letters about you from Judaea, nor has any of the brothers arrived and reported or spoken any evil of you. But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that people everywhere speak against it.
Then they agreed on a day with him and came to him at his lodgings in greater numbers, and he lectured to them from dawn until evening, testifying to the Kingdom of God and trying to persuade them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets. And some were persuaded by what was said, and others would not believe; and they broke up, at variance with each other, as Paul said one thing to them: Well did the Holy Spirit speak through the prophet Isaiah to your fathers, saying: Go to this people and say: With your hearing you shall hear and not understand, and you shall use your sight and look but not see. For the heart of this people is stiffened, and they hear with difficulty, and they have closed their eyes; so that they may never see with their eyes, or hear with their ears, and with their hearts understand and tum back, so that I can heal them.
Let it be known to you that this salvation of God was sent forth to the Gentiles; and they will listen.
He remained a full two years, in his own rented place, and he received all who came to him, preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, quite openly, without any interference.
LETTERS
The Letter to the Romans
1PAUL, THE SLAVE OF JESUS CHRIST, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which God proclaimed through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was born, in the way of the flesh, from the seed of David; but who is declared to be the son of God in power, which is according to the spirit of sanctity, by his resurrection from the dead; Jesus Christ o
ur Lord, from whom we have received grace, and the rank of apostle to make the faith obeyed among all the nations for the sake of his name; among which nations you also are called by Jesus Christ; to all who in Rome are the beloved of God, chosen saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
First I thank my God through Jesus Christ concerning all of you, that your faith is proclaimed through all the world. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his son, is my witness how constantly I make mention of you always in my prayers, asking if somehow at last I may be guided by the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift for your strengthening, that is, for you to be comforted among yourselves through our faith in each other, yours and mine. I do not wish you not to realize, brothers, that I have often proposed to come to you (but I have been prevented until now), so that I may make some harvesting among you as among the rest of the nations. To Greeks and Barbarians, wise and unwise, I am indebted; thus for my part I am eager to bring the gospel to you in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, Jew and Greek; since the justice of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, as it is written: The righteous man shall live by faith.
For from heaven is revealed the anger of God against all the impiety and unrighteousness of people who in their unrighteousness suppress the truth; since what can be known about God is plain to them because God made it plain to them. Since the creation of the world, what is his and invisible, his eternal power and divinity, has been perceived by the mind through what he has made, so that they have no excuse; because, while knowing God, they did not glorify or thank him as God, but they were beguiled in their reasonings and their uncomprehending hearts were made dark. They thought that they were wise but they were fools, and they gave up the glory of imperishable God in exchange for the likeness of an image, of perishable man, or of creatures that fly and walk on all fours and crawl.
The New Testament Page 29