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Paul and Caesar's House
This man is a chosen servant unto me. I will send him to the Gentiles to stand before governors and kings, that he may bear my name before them, as well as before the sons of Israel.
Acts 9:15
That the apostle Paul had inroads of influence at Rome is not contested.
"So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.
Phil 1:13
"All the saints salute you chiefly they that are of Caesar's household."
Phil 4:22
Here Paul speaks of the praetorium, the emperor's personal bodyguard. It was common knowledge within the emperor's inner circle why Paul was a prisoner. Romans 16:8-15 also demonstrates that the gospel had penetrated to some of the most influential houses in Rome. Romans 16:10 mentions the Aristobuliani.These were Christians from the house of Aristobulus, the younger brother of Agrippa I, a private citizen in Rome who grew up with the Emperor Claudius. Romans 16:11 mentions the Narcissiani, Christians from the household of Narcissus. Tiberius Claudius Narcissus, the freedman of Tiberius who exercised great authority under Claudius.[1]Paul's ministry gained inroads he himself would never have dreamed possible and so will yours! One man or woman with God is a majority! If you will do your part God will set you before kings. Paul's message wound up influencing the influencers of his time. The gospel was carried to the very bodyguard of Nero himself. Paul in his time ministered to a virtual who's who list in the ancient Roman world.
[1] Tacitus, Annals, and xiii.1.4: Dio Cassius, History, lx.34; Juvenal, Satire 14.329.
Romans 16:14 also alludes to a dependent of Nero's powerful freedman, Patrobius. :
F.F. Bruce Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free,William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. 1986, p 386 390
About Dr. Craig Johnson
Dr. Craig Johnson is the weekly host of another cable show about God. A program dedicated to bringing the message of the scriptures in a way relevant to the culture.
