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Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

What killed Paul?

Stephen M. Miller
Statue of Paul in front of church in Rome
PAUL DIED HERE. It seems fitting that a church marks the spot in Rome where early church writers said this church planter was executed on orders from Emperor Nero. A statue of Paul shows him holding a sword. As a Roman citizen, the law granted him a quick death by sword rather than having to suffer crucifixion. Photo by Wikimedia.

IT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

It comes from seven-year-old Asher Kenney, who’s studying the Book of Acts for Bible quizzing in his church.

Here’s his question, which wins him the book of his choice:

How did Paul die and why isn’t it in the Bible?

Asher’s mom, Jill, added: “I kind of agree with him. Paul was central to the New Testament so why wasn’t it included?”

Paul is central to the New Testament because he wrote so much of it.

If someone had managed to save one more of his letters and added it to the Bible—with God’s blessing, of course—Paul would have been credited with writing half the books in the New Testament.

Paul told us a lot about himself and his beliefs. But he couldn’t tell us how he died. That would have been up to someone else.

Someone else didn’t.

Paul told us death was coming.

In a deeply personal letter to Timothy, a young man he loved like a son, Paul asked him to hurry to Rome before his trial ended in execution.

“When I was first put on trial, no one helped me,” Paul complained. “Now the time has come for me to die…Come to see me as soon as you can” (2 Timothy 4:16, 6, 9, CEV).

We don’t know if Timothy got there in time. He was pastoring in Ephesus, a city in what is now Turkey, about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) east of Rome.

Acts tells about Paul on trial in Caesar’s Supreme Court.

But as seven-year-old Asher complains, the book ends with a cliffhanger. The writer never bothers to tell how the trial ended.

Why skip something that important?

Imagine the story of President Abraham Lincoln. Let’s say it’s a movie that didn’t win an Oscar for best picture. And let’s say there’s no scene showing the president getting shot.

Why would the director skip such an important scene?

Everyone knows what happened.

Perhaps everyone who read Acts knew how Paul died, too.

But we don’t know.

There are two main theories about what happened to Paul in the trial reported in Acts.

  • He got dead. Caesar Nero—who was a royal piece of work, and not in a good way—found Paul guilty of being “a real pest and troublemaker for Jews all over the world” (Acts 24:5, CEV).
  • He got released. He lived to die another day—perhaps two years later, in the same place, by the same court, after a different verdict.

That theory is based on a letter that a Rome bishop named Clement wrote about 30 years later, around AD 96.

He said Paul “went to the limit of the West.” That implies Spain, on the western frontier of the Roman Empire. Paul had said he wanted to go there, “to Spain” (Romans 15:28).

As this theory goes, Paul went there.

He got in trouble again.

He ended up in Caesar’s Supreme Court again.

This was perhaps in AD 64, roughly two years after his first trial. AD 64 is when Nero started persecuting Christians, apparently after blaming them for starting a fire that burned down much of Rome.

Early Christian writers say the Romans executed both of the top Christian leaders in Rome during that wave of persecution: Peter and Paul.

Killing the leaders often manages to stop a movement.

But it doesn’t work with people who know people who saw Jesus raised from the dead.

One sad note:

When momma Jill told young Asher that Paul was probably executed, Asher cried.

Hey Asher, I just said a little prayer, asking Jesus to give Paul a hug for you.

What do you think? Does that sound like something Jesus would do?

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About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

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Comments

  1. Kathy A. LaMaster

    March 4, 2013 at 9:17 am

    My favorite “question story” ever!

    Reply
  2. Wayne Sacchi

    March 4, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Great question…I tend to believe (although I can’t prove it), that the reason the book of Acts leaves off with Paul in prison is because Paul was probably let out and as you mentioned Clement of Rome stated that Paul did some more traveling. Luke/Acts is addressed to “most excellent Theophius” possibly a title for a Roman official who might have been in charge of Paul’s trial — which means that Luke/Acts was meant to document the history of Christianity and Paul’s story for his trial before Caesar. If this theory is ever proven — it would answer a lot of questions. I personally believe that at least 75% of the New Testament is influenced by Paul since he was probably behind Luke’s account of Christ and the spread of Christianity. This would put an end to the “speculation” that Paul didn’t write the prison epistles and Timothy and Titus — which church history says he did! Can’t wait to get to this in my Community Book/Bible Study!

    Reply
    • Stephen M. Miller

      March 4, 2013 at 1:23 pm

      Very good, Wayne. You seem to be developing into quite the Bible-savvy human being. Good to know you’re doing some serious thinking. Don’t stop.

      Reply

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