Daily reflections

Reading of Paul's adventures in Jerusalem we're struck by his courage and resourcefulness. He survives an attempted lynching, and faces the mob down. He uses Roman law to escape a potentially lethal flogging (22.25).

This chapter relates Paul's first appearance before the Roman governor, Felix. Accused by the lawyer Tertullus (verse 1) of riot and defiling the Temple, he defends himself clearly and factually: he is simply not guilty, he...

The Romans were in many ways a horrifyingly brutal people, but they were, much of the time at least, committed to the rule of law. A new governor, Festus, has inherited the problem of Paul from his predecessor Felix; again...

King Agrippa, before whom Paul defends himself in this chapter, was a client king of the Romans and had been brought up at the Emperor Claudius's court. He was Jewish in faith, though, and was more receptive to Paul's testimony...

This is one of the 'we' sections of Acts; Luke writes in the first person, because he was there. It's a fine adventure story – anyone who likes tales of the sea will enjoy this – but it also speaks to us about deeper things...

We might think the ending of Acts is rather curious. The last chapter finishes the story of the shipwreck and takes Paul to Rome. He is still under Roman guard, but not very strictly; it's house arrest rather than imprisonment...

Romans is Paul's most purely 'theological' letter. He had not yet visited the church there, though he knows several of its members. The letter seems to have been written to outline what he believes as a way of introducing...

At first glance, it looks as though Paul is accusing the entire Roman church of being wicked sinners. That isn't quite what he means. He is warning these Jewish believers against relying on their Jewishness to be right with...

In this chapter Paul continues his argument that Jews and Gentiles are on level ground. Jews, he says, have been entrusted with God's message (verse 2) but they are in no better or worse condition than Gentiles (verse 9); we...