Philippians and Philemon - MR Vincent - 1906.pdf

INTRODUCTION xxi
IV
PAUL AT ROME
After the shipwreck at Malta, Paul arrived at Rome in the spring
of 56 A.D., during the reign of Nero (54-68). Burrhus, the praeto-
rian prefect, a rough but kindly disposed soldier, extended to him
every liberty which the law allowed ; permitting him to occupy a
lodging of his own under the charge of a praetorian soldier (Acts
xxviii. 16), and allowing his friends and other visitors free access
to him (Acts xxviii. 30).
I follow the chronology of Harnack, Die Chronol. d. altchr. Lit. bis Eusebius,
Bd. i. S. 233. See also O. Holtzmann, Neutest. Zeitgesch. S. 132; and
Prof. A. McGiffert, Amer. Jotirn. Theol. Jan. 1897, P• '47• Against these
see Schiirer, Gesch. d. jiid, Volkes, 2 Aufl. i. S. 483 ff. (Clarks' Trans. Divis. i.
Vol. ii. p. 182), and Professor ^vca&vj. Expositor, May, 1896, p. 338, and
April, 1897, P• 245 if.
The church at Rome had been for some time in existence before
the apostle's arrival, although we are ignorant of the circumstances
of its foundation. In Acts xxviii. 15 its existence is assumed, and
the company which meets Paul at Appii Forum has the character
of a deputation. Nor is it likely that the church was insignificant
either in numbers or influence, since the important letter to it,
with its numerous salutations, was composed three or four years
before his arrival at Rome.
His influence quickly made itself felt in the praetorian guard,
and among his visitors from the city ; and the brethren of the
Roman church were stimulated to greater boldness and zeal in
the proclamation of the gospel (Phil. i. 12-14). His presence
and activity also stirred up certain hostile elements in the church
itself; men who made the preaching of the gospel a means of
promoting their own partisan interests, and of venting their envy
and spite against the apostle. See on ch. i. 15, 16.
Paul's long detention before his trial was nothing unusual, as is
shown by Josephus' account of some Jewish priests sent by Felix
to Rome, who were not released for three years (Jos. Vita, 3).
The delay may have been caused by the non-arrival of his prose-
cutors, and possibly by the loss in the shipwreck of the official
record of the proceedings forwarded by Festus ; although there