Paul’s Death

Luke ends his Acts of the Apostles without mentioning Paul’s martyrdom in Rome. Some scholars think that Luke omitted the story to avoid recriminations from Roman officials. They suggest that in Acts 28:18 Luke was hinting that Paul had been executed: “After trying my case the Romans wanted to release me, because they found nothing against me deserving the death penalty.” The apocryphal Acts of Paul says that Nero was upset that his soldiers were being baptized and so he had Paul arrested for evangelizing the troops. Nero ordered Paul to be beheaded. Paul responded that if Nero beheaded him, Paul would come back to life and stand before the emperor to show the power of Christ. In truth we know little about Paul’s death except that he died in Rome about AD 64.