Acts 28:30

Two whole years. It seems that Luke was not led by the Spirit or by his own inclination to set down the events of these two years. Perhaps he had planned to write a third volume to supplement Luke and Acts. Our only information for these two years is from the four so-called prison epistles, generally thought to have been written from Rome during this period: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. We know that Paul felt the burden of imprisonment, both psychologically and physically (Eph. 3:1; 4:1; Phil. 1:16; Col. 4:18; Philemon 1, 9, 10). He felt concern for the outcome of his trial (Phil. 2:23, 24). We know that Luke and Aristarchus (Acts 27:2) were with him, as well as Tychicus (Eph. 6:21), who carried the epistle to Ephesus, and Timothy, whose name was joined with his in letters to Philippi (Phil. 1:1), to Colossae (Col. 1:1), and to the converted slaveowner, Philemon (Philemon 1). Epaphroditus brought Paul material aid from Philippi (Phil. 4:18). Onesimus, who had fled from his master Philemon, became acquainted with Paul while he was in Rome (Col. 4:9; Philemon 10). Mark, the relative of Barnabas, and Jesus called Justus, a convert, and Epaphras from Colossae were also with Paul (Col. 4:10-12). Demas was there also (Col. 4:14; cf. 2 Tim. 4:10). Although he was a prisoner, yet Paul’s testimony to the gospel was so effective during these years that probably toward the end of his imprisonment he could declare that “the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Phil. 1:12).

Own hired house. Financial support must have come from friends in Rome and elsewhere, perhaps especially Philippi (Phil. 4:18), for Paul was no longer able to labor with his hands to defray his personal expenses.

All that came in. Paul enjoyed freedom of intercourse.