This study presents a coherent interpretation of the Malta episode by arguing that Acts 28:1-10 narrates a theoxeny, that is, an account of unknowing hospitality to a god which results in the establishment of a fictive kinship relationship between the Maltese barbarians and Paul and his God. In light of the connection between hospitality and piety to the gods in the ancient Mediterranean, Luke ends his second volume in this manner to portray Gentile hospitality as the appropriate response to Paul's message of God's salvation -- a response that portrays them as hospitable exemplars within the...

Scholars have read Paul's use of the word Christos as more of a proper name ("Jesus Christ") than a title, Jesus the Messiah. Joshua Jipp broadens the discussion by surveying Greco-Roman and Jewish depictions of the ideal king and argues for the influence of these traditions on aspects of Paul's thought and language of participation "in Christ."