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    Paul's Prisons

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    Paul spent about seven years total imprisoned in Caesarea, Philippi, and Rome for preaching Christianity. He was imprisoned for two years in Caesarea from 58-60 AD before being shipwrecked on his way to Rome, where he spent two years in prison from 61-63 AD. Archaeological evidence suggests the prisons were bleak, but it allowed Paul time to write much of the New Testament.

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    Paul's Prisons

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    jfelsberg
    948 views4 pages
    Paul spent about seven years total imprisoned in Caesarea, Philippi, and Rome for preaching Christianity. He was imprisoned for two years in Caesarea from 58-60 AD before being shipwrecked on his way to Rome, where he spent two years in prison from 61-63 AD. Archaeological evidence suggests the prisons were bleak, but it allowed Paul time to write much of the New Testament.

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    Paul spent about seven years total imprisoned in Caesarea, Philippi, and Rome for preaching Christianity. He was imprisoned for two years in Caesarea from 58-60 AD before being shipwrecked on his way to Rome, where he spent two years in prison from 61-63 AD. Archaeological evidence suggests the prisons were bleak, but it allowed Paul time to write much of the New Testament.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    948 views4 pages

    Paul's Prisons

    Uploaded by

    jfelsberg
    Paul spent about seven years total imprisoned in Caesarea, Philippi, and Rome for preaching Christianity. He was imprisoned for two years in Caesarea from 58-60 AD before being shipwrecked on his way to Rome, where he spent two years in prison from 61-63 AD. Archaeological evidence suggests the prisons were bleak, but it allowed Paul time to write much of the New Testament.

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    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    Jennifer Felsberg 1

    Prison’s of Paul

    Jennifer Felsberg

    Grand Canyon University

    BIB 123, New Testament History

    October 18, 2009


    Jennifer Felsberg 2

    The exact number of years Paul spent in Prison is estimated to be about seven. Paul was

    arrested in Jerusalem in 58 AD. He spent two years in the Caesarea jail from 58 AD to 60 AD.

    He was then shipwrecked on the way to Rome in 60 AD. This led to his first imprisonment in

    Rome which lasted from 61 AD to 63 AD. Paul was released from Roman prison in 63 AD, but

    was imprisoned again in 68 AD (Biblestudy.org). This paper will focus on descriptions of the

    prison in Caesarea Maritima, the jail in ancient Philippi and the Mamertine prison in Rome

    where Paul spent time according to biblical records.

    Caesarea Maritima is where Paul was put in prison by Felix. He spent two years here

    before sailing for Rome. During this time he also appeared before Festus and King Agrippa to

    defend himself. The site has been excavated by archeologists. Figure 1 shows ruins of the

    prison in Caesarea Maritime (Visual Bible Alive, 2009). Figure 2 shows the guard house where

    the Roman authorities would have first held Paul (Lion Tracks Ministries, 2009).

    Figure 1 Figure 2

    Paul and Silas were arrested In Philippi for Paul casting out an evil spirit in a young

    slave woman. It is not known if this is the exact cell that held Paul but he and Silas sat in cells

    just like the figures 3 and 4 below. This is also the site where Paul & Silas were singing hymns

    and praying when an earthquake happened. This caused the jail cell doors to open and their

    chains to fall off. As a result, their guard was converted to Christianity (Biblestudy.org).
    Jennifer Felsberg 3

    Figure 3 Figure 4

    Because Paul was a Roman citizen who had committed no serious crime, he was given

    the privilege of being under house arrest during his first imprisonment in Rome. During Paul’s

    second imprisonment the conditions were much worse. Figure 5, below, shows the steps leading

    down to the cell and figure 6 shows the inside of the cell (Reymer, 2000).

    Figure 5 Figure 6

    The three prisons in Caesarea Maritima, ancient Philippi and the Mamertine prison in

    Rome where Paul spent time as a prisoner were generally bleak and dreary places, as one would
    Jennifer Felsberg 4

    expect. It gave him much time to write. It is amazing that he was able to write and still offer

    encouragement to the new churches. This time in prison and these writings were important

    because most of the New Testament came from them.

    References

    Lion Tracks Ministries (2009). Lion Tracks Q ‘n’A. Retrieved October 17, 2009 from
    http://www.bibleistrue.com/qna/pqna18.htm

    Ministries, B. (1994). Paul's Prison. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from Bible Study:
    http://www.biblestudy.org/biblepic/philpris.html

    Reymer, E. (2000). History Link 101. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from History Link 101:
    http://historylink102.com/italy/rome-pictures-main.htm

    Visual Bible Alive. (2009). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from Ruins os Caesarea:
    http://www.visualbiblealive.com/stock_image.php?id=70462

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