Agabus and others had prophesied to Paul along the way that trouble awaited him in Jerusalem (Acts 21:4–14). His arrest in Jerusalem was provoked when some Jews from the province of Asia accused Paul of bringing his coworker, the Ephesian gentile Trophimus, into the temple area (21:27–29). Stones in Greek warned Gentiles that entrance beyond the Court of the Gentiles was prohibited. Today one such stone is on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum; it reads: “No intruder is allowed in the courtyard and within the wall surrounding the temple. Those who enter will invite death for themselves.” Paul languished in Roman custody for two years at Caesarea until he appealed to Caesar (24:1–26:32). The Roman governor Festus then decided to send Paul to Rome for trial. In a touch of divine irony Paul is placed under guard on a ship from Adramyttium, bound for ports along the coast of Asia. His companions for this voyage that dates to the year 59 were Luke and Aristarchus. The northwest prevailing winds that blew across the Mediterranean forced ships sailing westward to hug the Anatolian coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia. At Myra in Lycia the Roman centurion transferred his prisoners to an Alexandrian ship returning to Rome (27:4–7). Such vessels were the most comfortable to sail on but would be heavily laden with grain to make bread for the Roman populace. The ship plodded slowly along Turkey’s Carian coast until at Cnidus Paul glimpsed Anatolia for the last time on this trip. What followed was a harrowing shipwreck that cast Paul and his companions barely alive on the shores of Malta. The book of Acts closes with Paul arriving safely in Rome where was placed under house arrest.

 

 

 

Origin	Destination	Distance Km/M
Caesarea	Myra	1060/657
Myra	Cnidus	210/130

During this first extended imprisonment (61–62), most likely in Rome, Paul probably wrote his four Prison Epistles. Three of these letters were addressed to churches in Anatolia. One hundred miles inland from Ephesus stood three churches in the Lycus River valley — Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae. Two letters were addressed to Colossae, a city he apparently never visited during his time in Asia (Col. 2:1; cf. also mention of the church in Hierapolis in 4:13). The Colossian church was struggling with teaching that wrongly exalted certain legalistic regulations but misunderstood the fullness of the Deity found in Christ (2:6–23). The other letter was to an individual member named Philemon and addressed a delicate personal situation. One of his slaves named Onesimus had left without permission and found Paul in Rome, a journey of over 1000 miles! Through Paul’s influence Onesimus had become a believer, so the apostle was sending him back to be reconciled to his master. Because his emissary Tychicus and Onesimus were traveling to Asia, Paul apparently decided to write another general letter to the churches in the province. This letter is now known as the Epistle to the Ephesians. Its contents, especially in the exhortations, shares many similarities with the Colossian letter. In fact, it is probably the letter to Laodicea mentioned in Colossians 4:16.