Why Did Paul Turn to the Gentiles?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment. We are in the Book of Acts Chapter 28, and we’re going to pick up where we left off, but a little bit of background.As we’ve been following Paul, he has, as a prisoner, basically of Rome, being brought to Rome, he now is in Rome.He is under house arrest, but he has some freedoms, and in his freedoms he is speaking to the Jews who are in Rome, and he brings the leadership together and he says there are certain things that he wants to tell them, and picking up with verse 23:“And when they had appointed him a day (that is, the Jews appointed him a day to come back and hear him out) there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.”

Dave:

Yeah, well, that’s generally the way it is.Back in Acts 17, he’s on Mars Hill, and some believe.It says some clave unto him of whom was Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, she got her name in there and certain others with them, and here some believed.That’s interesting, that’s encouraging.And some believed not, but Paul is going to tell them what he has been telling the Jews everywhere he went.And Tom, if I’m—no, I’m not diverging, I would just mention that this is a key chapter to some really, I would call them hyper-dispensationalists.I was raised to believe—well look the end of Acts that marks a transition.They did signs and wonders up until then, and so forth, but no more, the signs were for the Jews, and the Greeks seek wisdom.Actually, Paul did more miracles among the non-Jews than he did among the Jews.But what he’s going to say here, let me just go on and read those verses, if I may, Tom.Acts:28:25And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
See All..., “And when they agreed not among themselves, (See, some believed, some didn’t) they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”This is the verse I was thinking of, we’ll go back and deal with those other verses.“Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.”Now this is nothing new, but there are some who say, you see, there’s a transition.Now Paul turns from the Jews to the Gentiles and that marks the end of an era, and so forth.Not true, because if you went back to Acts Chapter 13.This is when Paul and Barnabas begin their missionary journey.So his very first city that he goes to, chapter 13, he says:You know, he preaches the gospel to the Jews from the Old Testament, from what their prophets have said, and some of them believe.But then some of them get really angry and they start to oppose Paul.So Paul says, Okay, you don’t want the gospel; it was necessary to bring it to you first, but you say you don’t want it, then we will turn to the Gentiles.So, the point I am making is, that here Paul is doing the same thing he did in every other city.He tells us in Romans chapter 1, verse 16:“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,”—to the Gentile.So, every city Paul went to—we could think about that a little bit today, some of us as Christians, there’s a Jewish community in our city, are we taking the gospel to the Jews?Well, not easy to do, but maybe we ought to try a little bit harder.So here again in Rome, Paul, first of all presents the gospel to the Jews.And only then does he say, Well, you don’t want it, let me tell you something, the Gentiles will hear this.So it’s not the end of as era, this is what Paul has done consistently in every city.And Tom, maybe we ought to do it a little bit more consistently ourselves.I remember when we had more meetings in our home—I was in the business world and we lived in a large home—we had more meetings in our home than most churches have.We had all kinds of meetings, which I won’t go into.But one of them was to the Jews.We had, I remember, 125 Jews sitting in our living room; a lot of them were on the floor, but mostly young people.And I think the church has kind of forgotten this, and maybe we ought to get back to: gospel is to the Jew first and also to the Gentiles.Anyway, Paul has called to him the Jews.He has the right to do this.It’s amazing the freedom that God gave him, and some believe and some believe not.It doesn’t give us the details about how many or what percentage.

Tom:

But Dave, it does also say, as you mentioned, these were Jews, the New Testament was not written at this point, so what did he give them?He gave them, from their own writings, from the Law of Moses and out of the prophets because Jesus had fulfilled what the prophets had said in his life.He was the fulfillment—the Messiah to come.Now, let’s just apply that to what we’ve been talking about with regard to the EmergingChurch.Paul gave them specifics, details from the scriptures.Not just some feelings or, oh listen, He was a wonderful guy and He did all these things, I mean, wouldn’t you want to get to know somebody like that?

Dave:

Tom, it’s an important point you’re making because it still is true today.The gospel hasn’t changed, it’s founded upon the prophets, the Old Testament.So if we turned the page over, which we have already gone through the Book f Romans, I believe, but if we turned one page over, let me read what it says at the beginning of Romans.Romans Chapter 1, Verse 1:“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.”And then he goes on and deals with it.Now, where do we get the gospel?We say Paul preaches in his day from the Old Testament because he didn’t have the New Testament.Well, that’s not what you said, Tom, but you were pointing that out.Of course, there wasn’t a New Testament. But if we go to 1Corinthians chapter 15, this is where you get the really, the only, I guess, clear enunciation of what is the gospel.And Paul says, “Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.”We go to Verse 3:“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”And Tom, I would say that that’s a weakness in general, even for those who are not into the EmergingChurch, but wow! How this highlights the problem with the EmergingChurch.We preach the gospel itself from the Bible according to the scriptures, and these people are throwing the scriptures out!Well, because we can’t understand them, and so forth, and we need to get a new perspective.

Tom:

Well we want to keep enough to show that we are not against the Bible.But the approach that they take has just pulled the power out of the Word of God.It’s like platitudes now, it’s like stories, and it’s things that you can feel good about.Let’s just talk about love, let’s just talk about things, toleration, things that we can feel good about.

Dave:

Well, they pulled the real meaning and the real truth out because they don’t want truth.Truth is not something you feel good about.Truth is something you either accept or reject, and I’m sorry, from what I’m understanding of this movement, they have rejected the truth of God and they have turned to other means and methods.

Tom:

Dave, it’s just a guess, we may finish the Book of Acts.

Dave:

That would be great, wouldn’t it?Then we are going to get on to—--

Tom:

We’ll see, possibly we’ll start with the gospel of Matthew.