Re:Verse reading–Acts 23:11, 25:12, 28:16-31 (day one)
“He stayed two full years. . . preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.”–28: 30-31.
Strange ending. Abrupt. Unsatisfying. We wish Luke would tell us more, but he doesn’t. Paul’s story is left unfinished. A reminder that in this book, and all others, the subject is Jesus.
Actually, not an ending at all. Like a final note in symphony, the last word is a summary of the past and a prediction of the future. Paul was unhindered.
The word means “unpruned”. Not cut back. Not limited. (The Greek word for dwarf was kolos. Unhindered translates the word akoluo. “not dwarfed”)
Nothing defeated Paul–not prison, not criticism. Nothing stopped his evangelistic zeal or forward progress.
“I can do all things, through Christ who strengthens me” Paul will later write. I am convinced the Lord wants me to believe the same thing about myself. He wants me unhindered too.