Rome in the Bible

Rome looms large over the world of the New Testament, both as the imperial power that governed the lands of Scripture and as a city the apostle Paul longed to reach with the gospel. In Paul's letter to the church there, he greets "all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints" (ROM.1.7), showing that even in the heart of the empire a community of believers had taken root. Rome was the capital of an empire that stretched across the Mediterranean, and its roads, language, and relative peace became unexpected instruments for the spread of the Christian message. The book of Acts traces how Rome moved from a distant goal to a divine destiny in Paul's ministry. After much labor in Asia and Greece, Paul "purposed in the spirit... to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome" (ACT.19.21). That resolve was confirmed by the Lord himself, who stood by Paul and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome" (ACT.23.11). What looked like an ordinary travel plan was woven into God's sovereign purpose. Paul finally reached Rome not as a free traveler but as a prisoner. The brethren came out to meet him along the Appian Way, "and so we went toward Rome" (ACT.28.14), and once there "Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him" (ACT.28.16). Even under house arrest he preached the kingdom of God boldly. His hope had long been to see the believers and then journey onward to Spain (ROM.15.24), and though his circumstances were chains, the gospel itself was not bound. Rome also became a place of both faithfulness and abandonment. Writing later from imprisonment, Paul commends Onesiphorus, who "when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me" (2TI.1.17). For believers today, Rome is a reminder that God advances his purposes through empires and prisons alike, that no power on earth can hinder his Word, and that the gospel was always meant to reach the very center of human authority and beyond.