There is another side to this, however. Praetorian can also be used of the praetorian

guard, and `all other' need not mean `places' which is added in the A.V. It can refer to a

personal reference, "among the rest" of a group of people, and so the R.V. renders it

"throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest". To this J. B. Lightfoot and

other scholars concur and link it with Rome. Professor F. W. Beare states "it scarcely

needs to be said that the nine cohorts of the Praetorian Guard were usually concentrated

at Rome, after Liberius built them a great barracks; and any detachments found in a

provincial capital would be nothing more than a guard of honour for the proconsul" (The

Epistle to the Philippians, p.22).

We should note too that the "saints of Caesar's household" (4: 22) would not refer to

the family of the Emperor or members of the court circle, but rather of the servants and

slaves of the Emperor's household which were in the nature of civil servants and with

whom Paul had had some contact, and in the case of the praetorian guard this would

certainly be true in the course of their supervisory duties, and "all the rest" (1: 13 R.V.)

describes the wider circle who came to hear of Paul's imprisonment.

We know for certain that Paul was imprisoned at Rome for at least two years and in

conditions that admitted of his receiving visitors and of preaching the Kingdom of God

and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all freedom, without

hindrance. It is not known that he was ever imprisoned at Ephesus. On this Luke is

silent, and this weighs heavily against the Ephesian hypothesis. It is by no means certain

that at Caesarea he enjoyed the same liberty of action as at Rome. At Caesarea he was

detained in Herod's praetorium; in Rome he was allowed to live in his own rented

dwelling. At Caesarea, moreover, he was in no danger of death. Felix would have

released him at any time on the payment of a bribe. It was very unlikely that the issue of

life and death described in the Philippian epistle referred to the enmity of the Jews, for

Paul had faced this from the commencement of his ministry and in II Corinthians he had

stated that he was "in death oft" (II Cor. 11: 23). Moreover the Lord had definitely

promised that he should go to Rome and reach there unharmed (Acts 23: 10, 11), so the

Apostle would have no fear of his countrymen in this respect at Caesarea.

Regarding the Ephesian or Caesarean theory of the place of writing Professor Beare

writes: "It must also be shown that the conditions of the imprisonment were such as to

allow the Apostle to receive friends, to direct the movements of his associates, and to

receive and write letters.  Let us remember that the writing of letters involves the

admission of a scribe to the prison, and the provision of papyrus at the prisoner's

expense. It was not every prisoner who would be free to turn his cell into an executive

office for the propagation of a religion of doubtful legality! It must be emphasized again

that it is only for Rome that we have documentary evidence for a prolonged

imprisonment which allowed Paul such freedom for his apostolic activities" (op.cit.p.23).

He further states that it was hard to believe that at Caesarea he would be so completely

abandoned by the Jerusalem church, to which he had just brought generous gifts from