Paul was permitted to stay by himself
The phrase indicates a level of favor and trust granted to Paul, despite his status as a prisoner. The Greek word for "permitted" (ἐπιτρέπω, epitrepō) implies a granting of freedom or allowance. This permission reflects the Roman practice of custodia libera, where a prisoner could live in a private residence under guard. It highlights God's providence in Paul's life, allowing him the freedom to continue his ministry even in chains. This arrangement provided Paul the opportunity to preach, teach, and write letters that would become part of the New Testament, demonstrating how God can use any circumstance for His purposes.

with a soldier to guard him
This phrase underscores the reality of Paul's imprisonment. The Greek word for "guard" (φυλάσσω, phylassō) means to keep watch or protect. The presence of a soldier signifies the Roman authority's recognition of Paul's importance and the potential threat they perceived in his message. Yet, it also illustrates the paradox of Paul's situation: though physically bound, he was spiritually free and continued to influence many. The soldier's presence also provided Paul with a unique audience, as he likely shared the Gospel with those assigned to guard him. This scenario exemplifies the Christian belief that God's word is not bound (2 Timothy 2:9), and His purposes prevail regardless of human constraints.

"Hic ubi nocturnae Numa constituebat amicae,

Nunc sacri fontis nemus et delubra locantur

Judaeis, quorum cophinus f?numque supellex."

["Here, by the sacred scenes of Numa's love,

We let on lease the shrines, the stream, the grove,

To pauper Jews, who bring their scanty store

Of hay and hamper, and who ask no more."]

--Juvenal, Sat. iii. 12.

He would pass the cemetery of the Jews of Rome, lying on the east of the Appian Way, which within the last few years has been discovered and explored, in the Vigna Randanini, and the Columbaria (now in the Vigna Codini) of the imperial household, with which, as themselves of the libertini class, many of his friends and disciples were even then so closely connected. He would see, perhaps, even then, the beginning of the Catacombs, where the Christians, who would not burn their dead like the heathen, and who were excluded from the cemetery of the Jews, laid their dead to sleep in peace, in what was afterwards the Catacomb of St. Callistus. It may be noted here that the earliest inscription on any Jewish burial-place in Italy is one found at Naples, of the time of Claudius (A.D. 44) (Garucci, Cimitero degli antichi Ebrei, p. 24; Mommsen, Inscriptt. Neap. Lat. 6467), and the earliest Christian inscription with any note of time, of that of Vespasian (De Rossi, Inscriptt. Christ. No. 1). It lies in the nature of the case, however, that at first both Jews and Christians were likely to bury their dead without any formal record, and had to wait for quieter times before they could indulge in the luxury of tombstones and epitaphs. Continuing his journey, the Apostle and his companions would come within view of the pyramid of Caius Cestius, would pass under the Arch of Drusus, which still stands outside the Porta di S. Sebastiano, and enter the city by the Porta Capena, or Capuan Gate, proceeding thence to the Palace of the Caesars, which stood on the Palatine Hill, and looked down, on one side upon the Forum, on the other upon the Circus Maximus.

Paul was suffered to dwell by himself.--The centurion, on arriving at the Palace of the Caesars, would naturally deliver his prisoners to the captain of the division of the Praetorian Guard stationed there as the emperor's body-guard. The favour shown to St. Paul may fairly be considered as due to the influence of the centurion Julius, from whom he had, from the first, received so many marks of courtesy. The Prefect of the Praetorium was the natural custodian of prisoners sent from the provinces, and about this time that office was filled by Burrus, the friend and colleague of Seneca. Before and after his time there were two prefects, and the way in which St. Luke speaks of "the captain of the guard" may fairly be accepted as a note of time fixing the date of the Apostle's arrival. The Praetorian camp lay to the north-east of the city, outside the Porta Viminalis. The manner in which St. Luke speaks of his "dwelling by himself" implies that he went at once, instead of accepting the hospitality of any friends, into a hired apartment. Tradition points to the vestibule of, the Church of Santa Maria, at the junction of the Via Lata and the Corso, as the site of his dwelling; but it has been urged by Dr. Philip, at present working as a missionary in the Ghetto at Rome, in a pamphlet, On the Ghetto (Rome, 1874), that this site, forming part of the old Flaminian Way, was then occupied by arches and public buildings, and that it was far more probable that he would fix his quarters near those of own countrymen. He adds that a local tradition points to No. 2 in the Via Stringhari, just outside the modern Ghetto, as having been St. Paul's dwelling-place, but does not give any documentary evidence as to its nature or the date to which it can be traced back.

With a soldier that kept him.--Better, with the soldier. The arrangement was technically known as a custodia libera. The prisoner, however, was fastened by a chain to the soldier who kept guard over him, and so the Apostle speaks of his "chain" (Acts 28:20), of his being a "prisoner" (Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1), an ambassador in chains (Ephesians 6:20), of his "bonds" (Philippians 1:7; Philippians 1:13; Philippians 1:17; Colossians 4:18). It was almost a matter of course that the guard would from time to time be relieved, and so the Apostle's bonds, and the story of his sufferings, and what had brought them on him, would be known throughout the whole Praetorian camp from which the soldiers came. (See Note on Philippians 1:13.) . . .