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The Acts of the Apostles
the great I AM rebuke his cruelty and oppression. Yet it was at this
very time, when its chief advocate was apparently cut off from public
labor, that a great victory was won for the gospel; for from the very
household of the king, members were added to the church.
Nowhere could there exist an atmosphere more uncongenial to
Christianity than in the Roman court. Nero seemed to have obliterated
from his soul the last trace of the divine, and even of the human, and to
bear the impress of Satan. His attendants and courtiers were in general
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of the same character as himself—fierce, debased, and corrupt. To all
appearance it would be impossible for Christianity to gain a foothold
in the court and palace of Nero.
Yet in this case, as in so many others, was proved the truth of Paul’s
assertion that the weapons of his warfare were “mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds,”
2 Corinthians 10:4
. Even in Nero’s
household, trophies of the cross were won. From the vile attendants
of a viler king were gained converts who became sons of God. These
were not Christians secretly, but openly. They were not ashamed of
their faith.
And by what means was an entrance achieved and a firm footing
gained for Christianity where even its admission seemed impossible?
In his epistle to the Philippians, Paul ascribed to his own imprisonment
his success in winning converts to the faith from Nero’s household.
Fearful lest it might be thought that his afflictions had impeded the
progress of the gospel, he assured them: “I would ye should under-
stand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.”
Philippians 1:12
.
When the Christian churches first learned that Paul was to visit
Rome, they looked forward to a signal triumph of the gospel in that city.
Paul had borne the truth to many lands; he had proclaimed it in great
cities. Might not this champion of the faith succeed in winning souls
to Christ even in the metropolis of the world? But their hopes were
crushed by the tidings that Paul had gone to Rome as a prisoner. They
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had confidently hoped to see the gospel, once established at this great
center, extend rapidly to all nations and become a prevailing power in
the earth. How great their disappointment! Human expectations had
failed, but not the purpose of God.
Not by Paul’s sermon’s, but by his bonds, was the attention of the
court attracted to Christianity. It was as a captive that he broke from so