Three days after Paul's arrival, in accordance with his "to the Jew first" strategy, he called together the leaders of the Jews (13:5, 14; 14:1; 16:13; 17:2, 10, 17; 18:4; 19:8). The Jewish community at Rome in mid-first century is estimated to have numbered forty to fifty thousand, most being slaves and freedmen. They inhabited "the great section of Rome on the other side of the Tiber" (Philo Legatio ad Gaium 155). The names of ten to thirteen synagogues have been recovered from inscriptions in the catacombs (Dunn 1988:xlvi).

As Paul began to speak (NIV said; the Greek is inchoative imperfect—Robertson 1934:885), he addressed his hearers as brothers. The apostle never finally turned his back on his compatriots. He saw each new audience of Jews as potentially containing some of the elect remnant who would hear and respond to the gospel (Rom 10:9-15; 11:5). And today Paul's initiative teaches us that centuries of Jewish rejection and Gentile anti-Semitism or neglect cannot erase the responsibility that all witnesses have to make sure the gospel goes "to the Jew first."

This brief address is in a chiastic structure highlighting four affirmations. First, Paul is innocent before the Jews (28:17b, 19c). They can bring no sustainable charges against him, and he has none to bring against them. The Jews may charge that Paul is working against "the people" and the customs of our ancestors, as they did when they tried to lynch him and when they accused him at the hearings (21:28; 24:6; 25:7). But the charges won't stick, because Paul always acted for and not against his people (26:17, 23) and always respected Jewish customs (21:23-24, 26). Further, Paul does not view his nation as at odds with himself (compare 24:17; 26:4).

Second, Paul is a prisoner, and there are reasons for this (28:17c, 19b). Paul was handed over (paradidomi) as a prisoner from Jerusalem to the Romans (compare Lk 22:21; 23:25; Acts 21:11). With the implication of treachery and injustice that often accompanies the biblical use of the term paradidomi, and by juxtaposing Paul's prisoner status to an affirmation of his innocence (28:17b), Luke leads us to understand that Paul does not deserve to be a prisoner. The mystery of why he remains a prisoner after the Romans declared him innocent will be explained in the chiastic parallel: I was compelled to appeal to Caesar (v. 19; also see 25:11).

Third, Roman and Jew had opposite dispositions toward Paul (28:18a, 19a). The Romans wanted ("were purposing, planning"—imperfect, possibly tendential) to release him. It was their plan, maybe when Festus first considered the case as he entered the governorship of Judea. By bringing charges and insisting on a trial in Jerusalem, a ploy for their deadly ambush, the Jews objected to Paul's release (25:3, 7).

Fourth, the one affirmation on which the chiasm turns is because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death (28:18). Paul is innocent before the Roman state (23:28-29; 25:25; 26:31-32).

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this speech is as much for Roman middle-class ears as for the Jewish hearers. To be actually innocent by Jewish standards seriously undercut the Jewish arguments against Paul's gospel. This is important for Theophilus's and his fellow seekers' receptivity to the gospel. Innocence before the state would strongly commend the faith to the law-abiding Roman.

Paul's speech climaxes by answering the question: "Why do the Jews oppose the Christian message and me?" It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain (see comment at 23:6; compare 24:15; 26:6-8).

The leaders respond to Paul's witness to his innocence in a very politic manner. They have heard nothing bad about Paul, whether by letter or by word of mouth, officially or unofficially. They have heard nothing good about this sect but would like to hear Paul's views on it. The scope and effect of the gospel witness—it is spreading everywhere—has been matched by opposition to it everywhere (17:30; compare Lk 2:34; Acts 13:45).