In Acts 27–28, Paul is traveling to Rome to stand trial. A Roman centurion named Julius is assigned the responsibility of transporting him there.
Julius is a pagan, and we are not told whether he ever believed in Jesus for eternal life. But Luke is impressed with this centurion and speaks of him in glowing terms. The fact that he mentions his name and describes his kind actions towards Paul suggests that he might have become a believer.
The Calvinist doctrine of total depravity maintains that an unbeliever cannot respond to spiritual truth, since he is spiritually dead. Julius should, at the very least, cause one to question that point of view. Julius appears to respond to what he sees and hears in Paul.
In Acts 27:3, Julius treats Paul with unusual kindness (Marshall, Acts, 404). Luke does not explain why Julius treated Paul in this way. It is possible that Julius was aware of Christianity. He was familiar with Caesarea, the city in which Cornelius and his household came to faith (Acts 10). With a relatively small number of centurions in the region, it is entirely possible that Julius would have heard of his fellow centurion’s faith.
Julius also shows kindness to Paul on the trip to Rome. Normally, prisoners would be kept under the deck during a voyage. Luke, however, pictures Paul above deck. He can talk with others, encourage them, and even eat with them. If so, this is another indication of Julius’s favorable attitude towards Paul (Rapske, Acts, 270), even though Paul was his prisoner.
It is clear that, as the trip continues, Julius sees God at work in Paul. In Acts 27:22-26, Paul makes a prediction, claiming that an angel of the Lord has told him what is going to happen. From a human point of view, the prediction has a very small chance of coming true, and the sailors on board the ship do not believe it will (27:30). Julius has been involved in everything that has transpired during his journey with Paul and has seen firsthand Paul’s speaking the truth miraculously. Julius has learned to trust Paul’s instructions over those of the seasoned sailors, even though Paul has no expertise in sailing (27:43). Bock says that Julius evidently came to believe that he owed his life to the God Paul served (Bock, Acts, 728, 741).
After the shipwreck, Julius’s kindness to Paul continues. In Acts 27, Paul is a prisoner. But after the shipwreck, the people on the island where the ship runs aground do not view Paul as a prisoner. Since Julius is the senior-ranking military officer present, this change in Paul’s perceived status is a result of Julius’s attitude toward him (Conzelmann, Acts, 223).
Julius would have known about the miracles Paul performed on the island (e.g., 28:7-9) When the party arrives in Puteoli, Julius allows Paul, even though he is a prisoner, to stay with friends for seven days (Acts 28:14). It appears that the kindness Julius shows Paul is the result of Paul’s character, leadership, and the evidence Julius has seen of the divine at work in him.
One might argue that Julius, like his fellow centurion Cornelius, became a believer in Jesus Christ. Even if he did not, he was certainly open to the truth. Luke did not see him as a dead corpse that could not respond to any light given him by God. Julius provides a strong argument against the doctrine of total depravity.
