As a Prisoner, Paul Has Stronger Influence

Many months passed before the Jews of Jerusalem appeared to present their accusations against the prisoner. Now that Paul was to be tried before the highest court of the Roman Empire, they had no desire to risk another defeat. Delay would give them time to try to influence the emperor secretly in their favor, so they waited a while before making their charges against the apostle.ULe 167.2

This delay helped the spread of the gospel. Paul was permitted to live in a spacious house, where he could present the truth every day to those who came to hear. So for two years he continued his work, “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.”ULe 167.3

During this time Paul did not forget the churches he had established in many lands. The apostle addressed their needs in letters of practical instruction, and from Rome he sent consecrated workers to labor in fields that he had not visited himself. The apostle kept in constant communication with them, and he was able to exercise wise supervision over them all.ULe 167.4

In this way Paul exerted a wider and more lasting influence than if he had been free to travel among the churches as he had in earlier years. As a “prisoner of Jesus Christ,” he had a firmer hold on the affections of the believers, and his words commanded greater attention and respect than when he was personally with them. Up to then the believers had usually excused themselves from carrying responsibilities and burdens because they did not have his wisdom, tact, and boundless energy. But now they valued his warnings and instructions more than they had appreciated his personal work. And as they learned of his courage and faith during his long imprisonment, they determined to be even more faithful in the cause of Christ.ULe 167.5

At Rome, Luke, “the beloved physician,” who had been Paul’s companion on the journey to Jerusalem, through the two years’ imprisonment at Caesarea, and on his dangerous voyage to Rome, was still with him. Timothy also did what he could to make him comfortable. Tychicus stood nobly by the apostle. Demas and Mark were with him. Aristarchus and Epaphras were his “fellow prisoners.” (See Colossians 4:7-14).ULe 167.6

Mark’s Christian experience had deepened as he had studied the life and death of Christ more closely. Now, sharing the living conditions of Paul the prisoner, he understood better than ever before that it is infinite gain to win Christ, infinite loss to win the world and lose the soul. In the face of severe difficulties, Mark remained faithful, a wise and beloved helper of the apostle.ULe 167.7

Paul wrote, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). For worldly gain, Demas traded away every high and noble consideration. But Mark, choosing to suffer for Christ’s sake, had eternal riches.ULe 168.1