Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 28:21

"And they said unto him, We neither received letters from Judaea concerning thee, nor did any of the brethren come hither and report or speak any harm of thee." — Acts 28:21 (ASV)

The immediate response of the Roman Jewish leaders to Paul’s address is surprising. Apparently they did not want to get involved. They disclaimed having gotten any letters about him from the authorities at Jerusalem and said they had heard nothing, officially or unofficially, against him from any Jew who had come to them from Judea (v.21). Yet Christianity had been known within the Jewish community at Rome for some time (cf. comments on 2:10; 18:2). Certainly the Jewish leaders at Rome knew a great deal about Christianity generally and at least something about Paul, and their claim to know only “that people everywhere are talking against this sect” (v.22) seems much too “diplomatic” in light of their knowledge.

It is, however, in the light of their recent experience that we should judge the Jewish leaders’ response to Paul’s words. Having been expelled from Rome in 49 or 50 because of riots about Christianity in their community (cf. 18:2), and having only recently returned to their city after Claudius’s death in 54, they were simply not prepared in 61 to become involved in Paul’s case one way or another. They doubtless had their own opinions about it. But (1) the Jerusalem authorities had not requested them to get involved; (2) Paul was a Roman citizen who had had essentially favorable hearings before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa II; and (3) his case was now to be tried before Caesar himself. So they wanted to have as little as possible to do with Paul and Christianity. But they did say that they were willing at some future time to hear his views on “this sect.”