Italy · NT
Rome
The imperial capital and ultimate destination of Paul's ministry, where both Peter and Paul are remembered as martyrs.
Today: Rome, Italy
Rome in the first century was the political, military, and cultural heart of the empire, a city of perhaps a million people. A sizable Jewish community had existed there for generations, and a Christian church had been founded — by whom, the New Testament never quite says — well before Paul wrote his great letter to its members from Corinth around AD 57.
Paul reached Rome at last as a prisoner appealing to Caesar, and from his rented house there preached the kingdom of God 'with all boldness and without hindrance' — the final words of Acts. Tradition, supported by early second-century sources, holds that both Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome under Nero in the mid-60s. Revelation's 'Babylon' is universally read as a coded reference to imperial Rome.
Key verses
"Now after these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome."
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"where we found brethren, and were entreated to tarry with them seven days: and so we came to Rome."
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"And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, none forbidding him."
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"to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
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"At my first defence no one took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account. But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me; that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."
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