The Bonds and Imprisonment of Paul

2023-05-26

Paul was in bonds, that is, imprisoned and shackled, more than any Christian in Scripture (at least by what is recorded). Consider some of the references.

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (Acts 16:25-26). Paul and Silas were in prison in Philippi. Even during his imprisonment, they sung praises to God. These probably had Gospel references in them. The fact that the prisoners heard them was a witness to them to the greatness of God. When the bonds miraculously fell off, the prisoners and the jailer knew it was of God, and the jailer and his family were saved as a result.

Later, when writing to the church he helped establish in Philippi, he was in bonds again. Because he was in prison, many were saved (Philippians 1:12-17). They would have remembered that this was the case when he was among them the first time.

He was imprisoned while he wrote the Ephesians as well. “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1).

“And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me” (Acts 20:22-23). Especially in Jerusalem, but in every place, Paul was threatened with prison. Because of this, he knew he was transitioning to a life of bondage, because he told the Ephesian elders that he would never see them again. He went to Jerusalem, was arrested there, was kept prisoner in Caesarea by Felix and Festus, and eventually appealed to Caesar, which sent him bound to Rome, where he faced much hardship in getting there. By the end of the book of Acts, he was still under house arrest. “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft” (2 Corinthians 11:23).

When He wrote to the Colossians and Philemon, he was imprisoned then. “Remember my bonds” (Colossians 4:18). He led Onesimus to the Lord at that time. “I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds” (Philemon 1:10). He was not imprisoned alone: “There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 1:23). “Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you” (Colossians 4:10).

At the end of his life, he was on trial when he wrote to Timothy the second time. “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound” (2 Timothy 2:8-9). There, he was waiting for his execution. “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Timothy 4:6).

Many of the Hebrew Christians had compassion on Paul while in prison. “For ye had compassion of me in my bonds” (Hebrews 10:34). Recall that the Lord said, “I was in prison, and ye came unto me” (Matthew 25:36). This is what was meant by that. These Hebrews were not ashamed of Paul, and he exhorted Timothy to not be so either. “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). He wrote this, because others would not want to associate with him while he was on death row. “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge” (2 Timothy 4:16). Perhaps this was Demas’ problem as well: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10).

This treatment is normal in many places. In Asia, it is rumored that pastors are regularly arrested. They do not love this present world, and they do not care about their own reputation. This must be our attitude as well, where even in the western world the hostilities will increase. Moreover, we must have compassion on those brothers who will be arrested because of the name of Jesus.

According to internal evidence, Paul’s prison epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 2 Timothy, and Philemon.