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Paul's Roman citizenship saved his life and probably enabled him to do further missionary work.

When Paul returned to Jerusalem from his third missionary journey, he was accused of having preached against Jewish law and to having introduced a gentile into the perimeter of the Jewish Temple. This was not true. However it was a serious charge. A crowd wanted to lynch him. A Roman tribune (a military officer) rescued him and took him the the fortress. The tribune was about to flog Paul, but he told him he was a Roman citizen. The tribune arranged a trial and Paul was acquitted. When the tribune heard of a plot to kill Paul, he had him transferred to a prison in Caesarea with a letter saying that there were not charges which warranted death or imprisonment.

Some Jews presented accusations to the Roman governor in Caesarea, who neither sentenced not released Paul. Paul remained in custody, enjoying relative freedom until the end of the governor's term two years later. A new trial was demanded from the new governor, who also sat of the fence. Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to the emperor. He was sent to Rome for the emperor to her the appeal. In Rome he was put under house arrest.

What Paul did in Rome is not known. It seems that the Roman authorities were lenient and that he was freed. Paul's Epistle to the Romans says that he was going to go to Spain. His pastoral epistles, whose authorship is disputed, have given rise to the hypothesis of a journey to the east. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) endorsed both hypotheses (journey to Spain and Journey to the east).

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10y ago

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