Paul Writes from Prison

There was an interesting question posed a few weeks back regarding Paul's ability to send letters from prison. Honestly, I had never questioned it, but the question is a great one. In case you missed the response I posted, here is the answer...

While in Jerusalem, Paul offended the Pharisees and was brought before the Sanhedrin (the official Jewish court). In the midst of his trial, a plot was hatched to ambush and kill him, but the plot was exposed and he was transferred to Caesarea for his protection. Caesarea was the Roman headquarters for that region. Paul was imprisoned for two years in Caesarea, mired in the Roman judicial system, before being extradited to Rome at his request. To avoid trial in Jerusalem, he exercised his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar. While in Rome, he was kept under house arrest by a Roman guard for two years. It was during this imprisonment that Paul wrote the bulk of his epistles...Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, and Phillipians. he was able to receive visitors and it would have been Paul's associates that delivered his letters for him. His imprisonment was non-traditional, which is what enabled him to minister to the church. Remember too, that as a Roman citizen Paul had rights that afforded him more humane treatment than a non-Roman prisoner would have received. And he seemed to find favor with this jailers, which could have contributed to the freedoms he enjoyed while under house arrest.

Tomorrow's reading: Eph. 3:1-5:14