Acts 28:29-30

‘And he abode two whole years in his own rented dwelling (or ‘at his own expense'), and received all that went in to him, preaching the Kingly Rule of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, none forbidding him.'

These final summaries have a twofold purpose. To bring to a summation the passage that they follow, and to summarise all that has happened throughout the preceding section. This one is no different from the others, except that it also brings the whole of Acts to summation.

Firstly it points out that throughout the section which speaks of his journey to Jerusalem and his imprisonment he had preached the Kingly Rule of God and taught the things concerning Jesus with all boldness (as indeed we have seen).

And secondly it points out that in perfect peace and safety, under the very eye of the emperor, he has continued to teach and proclaim it in Rome, and not as under Rome but at his own expense. And he has done this for two years, two representing the completeness of witness. ‘Two years' is regularly a picture of a complete testimony. Compare in Ephesus (Acts 19:10) and in Caesarea (Acts 24:27)

In other words having entered Rome in triumph, he has, as it were, been enthroned in his own rented ‘palace' (his home is in Heaven) and now declared Jesus' Kingly Rule over both the Jews and the nations, no one preventing him. The initial stage of God's triumph is complete, and the word of God goes forth freely, even in Rome, to both Jew and Gentile. All who will may come.

But, someone may say, is he not bound with a chain to a Roman soldier? Yes, Paul triumphantly declares, BUT THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT BOUND (2 Timothy 2:9). And it continues to go forth like an ever-flowing stream. And as the final word in the book proclaim, it was ‘unhindered'.