Julius

The centurion of the Augustan Regiment who was assigned to escort Paul once Festus had made the decision to send him to Rome after two years of incarceration in Caesarea (Acts 27:1).

Julius showed Paul extraordinary kindness on the journey; when the ship was at Sidon he even allowed Paul to "go tho his friends so they might provide for his needs" (v3). The sailing afterwards, however, became difficult because of the wheather. When they were at Fair Haven Paul warned the centurion and captain against continuing the journey because of the danger (v10). The centurion disregarded his warning; their next ship got caught up in a storm that lambasted them day and night for two weeks before they were ship-wrecked on Malta instead (vv14-41). When the soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners on board so that they would not escape, Julius came to their defence; "the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life" (v43). Though there is no evidence that Julius became a Christian, he and Paul would no doubt have developed a respectful relationship with one another.