30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. (Acts 28:30-31 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Note here, 1. The special favour indulged St. Paul, now a prisoner at Rome, with so much freedom, and without any molestation, to preach the gospel in his own hired house for two years together.
Where observe, 1. Who preaches; St. Paul a prisoner, who scarcely had liberty to hear, rarely to preach.
2. Where he preached; even in proud, powerful, and imperious Rome, and in his own hired house there.
3. To whom he preached: To all that came unto him. He set open the doors of his house for all comers, excluding none from the gracious offers of salvation by a Redeemer, upon the condition of faith and obedience.
4. How long he continued his ministry at Rome; for two whole years at that time: he would neither be allured by flatteries, nor hectored by threats to lay down his ministry or desist from his preaching work.
5. After what manner he preached; with all confidence, boldness, openness, and freedom, with such an undaunted courage as neither a love of life, nor fear of death, could overcome.
6. The subject matter of his preaching: The kingdom of God, and things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ; not vain janglings or envious railings, but Jesus Christ, and the way of salvation by him.
Lastly, with what freedom he did all this, No man forbidding him; neither emperor, nor senate, nor magistrate, nor soldier, nor priest, nor people, though in a heathen city, devoted to idolatry, in the least hindering or forbidding him.
Where note, That Rome’s heathen of old was far less cruel and much more courteous to the preachers of the gospel than Rome’s anti-Christian since has been. Then an apostle might preach two years together without molestation in his own hired house to all comers, but now a minister of God must there have no public or private place of meeting to worship God according to his word and will without the danger of an inquisition.
To conclude: See how impossible it was at that time to hinder the progress of the gospel; even as impossible as to hinder the sun from shining or the wind from blowing. That God, who shut the mouths of the hungry lions, that they hurt not Daniel, did open the mouth of the apostle that neither Nero nor the Jews could stop it; yea, after this, he was delivered from the mouth of the lion; rescued out of Nero’s hands. And God would have continued to deliver him, had not his death been more for the glory of God and his own advantage than his life, which at last was offered up a sacrifice and sweet-smelling savour, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Thus St. Luke concludes his history of St. Paul’s life, without giving us any particulars of his death. He leaves him at Rome, a prisoner under Nero, where after two years’ confinement, the scriptures seem to hint that he was set at liberty and that he went about preaching the gospel and confirming the churches for some years; but an attempt to trace this apostle further without scripture light may be the ready way to lose ourselves. Let us, therefore, conclude with prayer,