`Paul also obtained the prize of endurance, having seven times borne

chains, having been exiled, and having been stoned.  After he had

preached the gospel both in the East and in the West, he won the noble

renown of his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world,

and having come to the limit of the West and borne witness before

Some have interpreted the phrase `the limit of the West' (to terma tes

duseos) as referring to Spain, and there is also an inscription found in

Spain which reads as follows:

Neroni Cl. Kais. Ayg. Pont. Max. Ob. Provinc Latronibus Et His Qyi

Novam Hvm Syperstition Incylcab.  Pvrgatum.

Here it is implied that in the year a.d. 65 or 66, i.e. a little after

Paul's release at the end of the Acts, the Christian community was of some

size, and suffered in the general persecution under Nero.  As Lewin asks: `If

Paul did not preach in Spain, who did?' and the more one ponders the question

in the light of the times and the dangers to be faced, the more difficult the

question becomes.  There is also a passage in a fragment of the Canon

Muratorianus, generally reckoned to date from a.d. 170, which reads as

`Luke to the most excellent Theophilus, all those things which were

enacted under his presence; so that manifestly declares the martyrdom

of Peter and departure of Paul when setting out from the city for

Spain, to be matters removed from him'.

Eusebius (a.d. 296 -340) affirms that Paul was released after two

years' imprisonment at Rome, that he subsequently preached the Gospel, and

that he was later taken as a prisoner to Rome the second time and there

suffered martyrdom.

On the evidence available, it seems that we may safely say that Paul

was set free in a.d. 63 after two years at Rome.  On the 19th July a.d. 64

the great fire broke out at Rome, and widespread Christian persecution

commenced within a few weeks.  Between the apostle's release in a.d. 63 and

the outbreak of persecution under Nero in a.d. 64 he would have had time to

visit the churches before he was called upon to lay down his life for the

Lord he loved.

We see from Titus 3:12 that Paul intended spending the winter at

Nicopolis.  When the winter was over, he evidently traversed the district of

Dalmatia, for we learn from 2 Timothy 4:10 that Titus had gone there.  The

apostle landed once more at Troas where he stayed for a while with Carpus,

but by this time the persecution had spread from Rome into the provinces, and

at Troas, where the apostle had seen the vision of the man of Macedonia, the

great messenger to the Gentiles was again apprehended.  That Paul was

apprehended somewhere in this vicinity is clear from the testimony of

Ignatius, a martyr of the first century.  Ignatius was taken prisoner in

Antioch of Syria, and travelled to Rome via Ephesus.  Writing to Ephesus, he

`Ye are the thoroughfare (parados) of those that are slain for God's

sake, the co -religionists of Paul the holy, the martyr, the blessed, in

whose footsteps may it be my lot to be found'.