“Now unto him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25). The mystery, in a general sense, includes all those peculiar revelations kept in silence from the “aeons” – before Adam and from the “generations” since Adam. Heavenly revelations they were, given by the Lord to Paul, according to which his whole ministry proceeds. They revealed resurrection things; they are non-earthly and heavenly in their character, and are connected with neither Judaism nor any forms of worship. “We are the circumcision (that is those cut off by the Cross from the old Adam line and all earthly things), who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus (His risen, heavenly Name, as connected with the Church) and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

(1) The “mystery of faith” (1 Tim. 3:9). “The faith” is not only the body of doctrine that sets forth the heavenly truths revealed in Paul’s gospel, but that spiritual apprehension of them that held them fast in the spirit and in a good conscience. It is not opinions, but vital revelations of the Gospel, held as living oracles of God.

(2) The mystery of the union of Christ and the Church as His Body and Bride, is especially revealed in Eph. 5, but appears throughout all the Pauline epistles, even in Romans 12:5, as also in 1 Cor. 12:12, and Eph. 1:22, 23. This union is the basis of all the exhortations to love and obedience.

(3) The “mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4), shows that in this mystical Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, all having been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, having been cut off from their connection by birth with the first Adam, at the Cross, and created anew in Christ. Paul was made minister of this mystery and given the task “to make all men see what is the stewardship of this mystery which for ages has been hid in God Who created all things” (Eph. 3:9). The object was that through this Church might be made known the manifold wisdom of God unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

The Church itself was to belong to heaven, though formed by the Spirit on earth, Christ Himself being the Head of it, and every believer a member of Christ and of one another in this Body which will be (has been) given the highest place in glory, though recreated from earth’s sinners, according to “the purpose of the ages,” which the Father purposes in the Son. The highest place given to the lowest creatures, thus reveals the character of the Father — His manifold wisdom forever as nothing else could do. God is Himself love, and the Cross is an exhibition of that love and the commendation of it.

The Church, being given the highest position in heaven, will exhibit the activity of that love which is called in Scripture, grace. The world knows nothing of this. It regards the Church as having taken Israel’s place, and being simply an earthly religious organization seeking to obey the general human conscience. The world knows nothing of the fact that the Church is already called, justified, and glorified, being united to Christ Himself, in death, risen and seated with Him in the heavenly places; and that same favor is extended to it, that is extended to the Father’s Beloved, its Head; and its worship is by the Holy Spirit.

(4) The mystery of God — even Christ, “in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden” (Col. 2:2, 3). This heavenly and glorified Lord Jesus is revealed to the heart of the believer as the Object of his worship, faith, praise and fellowship — by the Holy Spirit. This heavenly One is altogether unknown by the unsaved man.

(5) The mystery of Christ indwelling the believer (Col. 1:26, 27). He is called “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” “Abide in me, and I in you” (Col. 1:27; John 15:4). This is the great two-fold mystery, which in these Colossians verses is said to “fill up” the Word of God, being the highest revelation therein, and being the mystery which hath been hid from the ages and generations, but now being manifested. The “riches of the glory of this mystery” is made known to saints.

(6) The mystery of the Rapture of the Church at the Lord’s coming into the air, involving both the raising of those who have fallen asleep in the Lord Jesus, and also those alive at the moment (1 Thess. 4; 1 Cor. 15).

(7) The mystery of the fellow-heirship in Christ of Jew and Gentile (Eph. 3:3, 4, 9). This mystery does not seem great to us now who live on this earth, where we are accustomed to Jew and Gentile distinction as well as national differences generally, but when we remember that the Church was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (when there was no such distinction, or, indeed, any human being whatsoever), we see how great a secret this is: especially in view of the peculiar promises to national Israel in the Old Testament.

(8) The mystery of the wisdom of God, in secret in Christ: so that Paul and true preachers speak the wisdom of God that hath been hidden before the ages for our glory (1 Cor. 2:7). These things are revealed to us by the Spirit Who not only refuses to use man’s wisdom but also man’s words: “in words which the Spirit teacheth combining (or expressing) spiritual things with spiritual words.”

(9) The mystery of the Kingdom of God, in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Only new-born or new-created men in Christ know this mystery ( 2 Cor. 5:17; John 3:3).

(10) The mystery of iniquity (2 Thess. 2:7). Satan is not permitted as yet to bring forth fully the “apostasy,” which will come when the world worships Satan intelligently (Rev. 13), the Church having been previously taken away according to 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, and Revelation 3:10). Babylon or “confusion” is another name for this mystery in this age — see harlot church (Rev. 17), centered in seven-hilled Rome.

(11) The mystery of the hardening in part of Israel (Rom. 11:25). Though there is at present a remnant according to the election of grace, yet national Israel’s eyes are peculiarly blinded to their own Scriptures, to Christ as their Messiah, and to grace as God’s only method of salvation.

(12) The mystery of God’s will purposed in Christ, looking unto “a dispensation of the fullness of times, to sum up (Eph. 1:10) all things in Christ (that is). the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth” (not the lower or lost world, as in Phil. 2:10; Rev. 5:13). The foundation of this in Eph. 2:10, will be the “Blood of His Cross” (Col. 1:19, 20). The saints alone have this mighty future purpose of God revealed to them; all others count upon man and the earth, which is cursed. — Wm. R. Newell

Clear-cut Mystery

“We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (Eph. 5:31, 32).

The special mystery committed to the apostle Paul is the mystery of the Church as the Body and Bride of Christ. Why, it may be asked, was this kept a secret? Because it is a heavenly thing, the subject of God’s heavenly counsels; whereas the purpose of the Old Testament prophecies is to make known His earthly counsels. This is of great importance as showing how completely the Church lies outside the world. It has a different origin, it is revealed at a different time, it cherishes a different hope, it belongs to a different sphere.

Instead of inheriting the Old Testament promises and fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies, it forms the most absolute contrast with them that the mind can conceive. So different are they that the two cannot exist together. While God’s purposes about the earth were being unfolded, the mystery of the Church was hidden. When the mystery of the Church was unfolded, the purposes about the earth were suspended.

The Church is associated with Christ in heaven; Israel is associated with Him on earth. The Church knows Him in His sufferings and patience; Israel will know Him in His exaltation and power. The Church rejoices in Him as the Bride in her Bridegroom; Israel will rejoice in Him as a nation in her Sovereign. The Church looks for Him to take her to heaven; Israel looks for Him to establish her in the earth. Such is our blessed lot, such our heavenly portion, in contrast with even the most favored of the earthly people. Alas, that our hearts fall so short of this wondrous position!

However we may slight or neglect it, the apostle Paul did not. Earnest as he was in seeking souls, full as he was in setting forth the simple truth of grace to the sinner, this magnificent subject of “the mystery of Christ” was never absent from his thoughts or heart. If he prayed for the establishment of the saints, it was “according to the mystery.” If he would have them “knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,” it is “to the acknowledgment of the mystery.” If he would have the real character of the truth committed to him understood, it is that God had by revelation “made known unto me the mystery.”

And this mystery is the Church, as the Body and Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, already united with Him by the Holy Spirit sent down to indwell the Body on earth, and awaiting the time when this blessed oneness will be publicly displayed: “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear,” and we also shall “appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). Surely if our hearts were more in tune with the mind of the Father and with the affections of the Lord Jesus, this wondrous theme would fill us with never-ceasing worship and praise! — T.B. Baines

Revelation Of The Mystery

The Father had a sovereign purpose to take certain creatures into His own glory, to share in that glory. And He desired also that these should know Him in His nature as Love, and be with Him, before Him, in that blissful atmosphere of pure love, forever. These happy creatures were not to be taken from among the “elect angels,” — holy. blessed beings that these are.

It was the Father’s purpose to manifest Himself, all that He is — not in holiness and righteousness and truth only; but in His infinite Love, Grace, Mercy, Tenderness, Gentleness, and Patience. He therefore sent His Son, and lo! God was manifest in the flesh! The Lord Jesus declared the Father — all that He was, which had never been done before, to any of His creatures. But, after revealing the Father’s love, mercy, and gracious tenderness towards sinners, the Son of God goes to the Cross. And there is revealed the eternal unchangeable holiness of the Father in hatred of sin, together with that love capable of giving the Son of His delight to bear sin for a world that rejected, despised His Son!

But the mystery of which Paul speaks was not yet revealed. There is prophecy in the Psalms and prophets, and a witness in the types of all the sufferings, that the Son of God, the Messiah, would suffer, and that for human sin. “Thus it is written in the law, the prophets and the psalms, that Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day,” our Lord said to His disciples in Luke 24:44–46. While “the mystery” had been “hid in God who created all things” — hid “from the ages and from the generations.”

What then, is the mystery? It is wrapped up (though not revealed) in our Lord’s words in His great heavenly prayer of John 17; for here we find Him praying for a company given Him by the Father out of the world. Our Lord asks four things for them in John 17. (1) That they may be kept — in the Father’s name, and from the evil one (vss. 11–15); (2) That they might be sanctified — as not of the world, first in truth, and second by our Lord’s identification with them — “for their sakes I sanctify Myself (vss. 16–19); (3) That they may be “one,” “perfected into one,” and that in a wondrous union to be defined “as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they may be one in Us” (vss. 21–23); (4) That these may be with Him — and that forever, where He is, to behold His glory into which He would enter upon His ascension (vss. 5, 24).

Now in verse 22, our Lord Jesus says plainly, “The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them.” So that this glory into which Christ was to enter was to be shared with these whom the Father had given Him. This, then, is the foundation for the revelation of “the mystery.” Certain were to be brought, in Christ, into the divine glory! They were to be “manifested with Him in glory,” at His appearing. But that would be because they had entered into a glory never before given creatures. It was not given to angels, seraphim, or cherubim, but the Blood-bought sinners as members of Christ!

Nor was such a union proposed to earthly Israel. Redeemed Israel will, indeed, “see the glory of God.” “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty,” is promised to that beloved, restored nation (Isa. 33:17); and also that over restored Jerusalem “the glory shall be spread a covering” (Isa. 4:2–6). But there was never a hint in the Old Testament, and much of the New, that there would be a heavenly calling — a company who would enter into that glory, be glorified with this glorious One!

This is the secret, the mystery, “kept in silence through times of ages,” the unfolding of which Paul declares will establish the saints. For it must involve the revelation to us that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). That we were foreknown, and foreordained to be “conformed to the image of God’s Son, that He might be the First-born among many brethren.” That we, having a sinful heritage in Adam the first, would not only have our sins put away, in God’s grace, by the Blood of His Son; but would be so identified with Him, by God’s astonishing act, as to be cut off from all connection with the first Adam and be re-created in His Son, now risen from the dead.

That we would not only be enlifed in Him, but raised up with Him, and made to sit together with Him in the heavenlies- -thus passing out of earthly connections, and becoming citizens of heaven. That, in the riches of the glory of the mystery, Christ would be in us, dwelling in our hearts by faith, in the energy of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Col. 1:27; Eph. 3:14–21). That thus, our hearts being as a “mirror,” we would behold the glory of the Lord, and be transformed into His image “from glory to glory,” here below (2 Cor. 3:18).

That, at our Lord’s coming for us, our bodies would be in an instant redeemed (1 Cor. 15:51–53); so that these bodies of humiliation would be, by Christ’s fashioning them anew, at once “conformed to the body of His glory”; so that “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him even as He is” (Phil. 3:20, 21; 1 John 3:2). That, in “the ages to come,” God will “show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).

And that, as Eve shared with the first Adam the dominion given him, being one with him (she having been taken out. of his side) and even sharing with him his name Adam (Gen. 1:28; 2:21–23; 5:1, 2); just so the Church, the wife of the Lamb, as one with Christ, having been re-created in Him and sharing with Him His name (1 Cor. 12:12), will share His dominion. That thus Christ and His Bride, the Church, shall be forever: “That they may be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me; and the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them. “ Creatures — only creatures we, and forever will be, but given the highest position which the Word of God gives to creatures: “For we are members of Christ’s Body” and, “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2).

Now, although on the Day of Pentecost God baptized into Christ in glory those in the upper room, and all believers thereafter; and although it is true that God thus in their experience made known to “His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit,” “this mystery of Christ which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men”; yet He chose Paul to open out before saints the doctrine of this heavenly mystery or secret, and to write in “all his Epistles” these thines for-us.

All the apostles knew, for example, on that Day of Pentecost that Christ had been glorified in heaven and that they were in the boundless joy of the revelation of this glorious Lord Jesus to their souls. They had all entered into the enjoyment of the blessedness belonging to this great thing concealed by God from all creatures before that moment. But it was Paul to whom the risen Lord revealed the whole doctrine of the mystery.

No one is able to read, understand, believe and meditate upon this, God’s great secret of our heavenly calling, our identification with Christ Himself and with the glory that shall be revealed, without becoming himself heavenly minded. So that the heralding of Jesus Christ according to the unfolding of the mystery is the teaching by which the Father establishes His saints. For if indeed we are heavenly; if our “citizenship” is in heaven; if our worship is by the Spirit; if through Christ by that Spirit we have “our access to the Father” — unto God in heaven — how utterly unable is any “religious” earthly system to, establish us! Nay, says Paul; “We are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

We would remind the reader that unless this “revelation of the mystery” becomes indeed revelation to his own soul, he must fall short entirely of understanding what the present dispensation is; and what is the Church’s real character, calling, destiny, and present walk. As the prayer of Paul for us is realized in us, “That you may know what is the hope of His calling” (Eph. 1:18, 19), these things will be brought to pass in you and me:

1. We shall see and realize that our history in the first Adam was ended at the Cross.

2. We shall see that the Christ with Whom the Father has now identified us is wholly a heavenly One, and that neither He nor those in Him have anything to do with Israel after the flesh, to whom the Law was given, and to whom the Messiah came.

3. We shall see ourselves vitally in union with this heavenly Lord Jesus, so that we have been received in Him as belonging to heaven, “even as He”; that we are “the righteousness of God in Him”; that we are loved even as He; and that our citizenship is in heaven. Our hearts must be convinced that these things are facts, not figures of speech, or things to be realized in some far future. We wait, indeed, for the redemption of our bodies, but we ourselves are already in the new creation, and for us old things have passed away.

4. We shall see that blindness has befallen Israel; that the mystery of lawlessness is working; that the earthly testimony of the Church has failed; that iniquity will abound and “evil men and seducers wax worse and worse” in professing Christendom — of all these things we shall be certain; but knowing them beforehand, and understanding that the course of things on earth has nothing to do with our heavenly calling, we shall continue steadfast in faith.

5. An ever-deepening humility will be wrought in us by the knowledge that we have been called into this divine union, so that there is fulfilled in us what our Lord prayed for: “That they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in us” (John 17:21); as Paul writes to the Thessalonians, “The church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

6. Not only humility, but hope — the true hope of the instructed Christian — will rise and well up in our heart: “Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

7. Thus the believer walks consciously justified from all things, and in newness of life (Romans); as a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians); as made alive together in Christ, raised up in Him, and made to sit with Him in the heavenlies (Ephesians); thus with Paul as the example, he runs his course toward the Lord Jesus Himself (Philippians); as walking through many dangers on this earth, yet “holding fast the Head,” in Whom is all fullness, and in Whom, in constant appropriation of His fullness, the believer is being made full (Colossians); and thus with ever-absorbing hope he expects the day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall appear, and he becomes “in a moment” “like Him” — seeing Him as He is (Thessalonians). — Wm. R. Newell

Matthew McGee

Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” For many, this is a puzzling verse. Most people have no problem thinking of Jesus Christ as a child and a son. Some also realize that when He returns to Earth, He will also be King in control of all government. But many do not see how Jesus Christ could also be called “The mighty God, The everlasting Father“.

Jesus Christ told His disciples in John 14:6-7, “… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” Then in verse 8 Philip said, “… Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” But Jesus Christ replied in verse 9-10, “… Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? ….“

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” A few verses later, John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Therefore, we know that Jesus Christ is “the Word” to whom John referred in John 1:1. Even in the very beginning, there was Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ was God.

John’s first epistle refers to Jesus Christ in the same way, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life …” (1 John 1:1). Later in this same epistle, 1 John 5:20 says, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.“

When Thomas, who doubted that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, reached his hand into the wounds in the hands and in the side of Jesus Christ, John 20:28 says, “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” Notice that Jesus Christ does not correct Thomas for calling Him “my God“, because Thomas was correct. Instead, Jesus Christ says in verse 29, “… because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed ….“

Paul also confirms that Jesus Christ is God. He wrote in Colossians 2:9, “For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Then in Titus 2:13, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ ….”

In 2 Corinthians 4:4 we read, “In whom the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Paul also writes in 1 Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” Then in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “… God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself ….” So Jesus Christ was God manifesting Himself in the flesh, reconciling the world to Himself.

The very name “Emmanuel” implies that Jesus Christ is God. Matthew 1:23 says, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.“

The Godhead in the Old Testament

The unified but plural Godhead is not just a New Testament concept. In fact, it is one of the very first concepts if not the first concept introduced in the entire Bible. It is expressed many times in the Old Testament in verses such as Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The word translated as “God” is “Elohim” in the original Hebrew which is a plural word. It occurs more than 2000 times in the Old Testament. Another example is Genesis 1:26 which says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ….” Notice here that “Elohim” is even accompanied by the plural pronouns “us” and “our”. The plural pronoun “us” is used again when God divided that languages at the tower of Babel. God said in Genesis 11:7, “… let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.“

Genesis 3:22 says, “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil ….” When “the LORD” appears in all capital letters in the King James translation of the Bible, it is almost always the Hebrew word “Jehovah”, God’s proper name. The KJV translators did not spell out the name Jehovah, but replaced it with “the LORD” 99.86% of the more than 6000 times that it occurs in the Old Testament. So here in Genesis 3:22, “LORD God” is Jehovah Elohim. As a side note, the name “Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew word yeh-ho-shoo’-ah which means “Jehovah is salvation”.

Jesus Christ the Creator

There are several Bible passages which clearly state the Jesus Christ is the creator of all things. For example, Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person ….“

A few verses later Hebrews 1:8-10 says, “But unto the Son he (God) saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands ….” Here, God is calling Jesus Christ “God” and accrediting Him with the creation of heaven and earth.

Likewise John 1:3 says of “the Word“, Jesus Christ, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.“

Paul writes in Ephesians 3:9, “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ ….” Then in Colossians 1:14-17, Paul says of Jesus Christ, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.“

Jesus Christ in Revelation

In the book of Revelation, we find many passages which testify to the deity of Jesus Christ. The early chapters contain descriptions of some unique aspects of Jesus Christ’s appearance, as He appeared to John.

His hair: In Revelation chapter one, a detailed description of Christ’s appearance includes, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow …” (Revelation 1:14). This identifies Jesus Christ as “the Ancient of days” who has “… the hair of his head like the pure wool …” (Daniel 7:9). Daniel 7:21-22 verifies that “the Ancient of days” is Jesus Christ by saying that the “little horn” (the AntiChrist) “… made war with the saints and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given unto the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” We know from Revelation 19-20 that this takes place when Jesus Christ, “the Ancient of days“, returns to set up His kingdom on earth.

His eyes and feet: In Revelation 1:14-15, Jesus Christ is described as, “…his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ….” This sounds very much like Daniel 10:6, when Daniel had the vision of a man with “… his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass ….“

His voice: The voice of Jesus Christ is most unique as well. In Revelation 1:15 it is described this way: “… and his voice as the sound of many waters.” Compare this to Ezekiel 43:2 which says, “And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.” Ezekiel 1:24 says, “… I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty ….” So who has the voice like the sound of many waters? “The God of Israel“, “the Almighty“, who is Jesus Christ.

Revelation also contains information about other aspects of Jesus Christ which can be compared with Old Testament passages to show that He is God.

The first and the last: In several places in the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is called “the first and the last“, “the beginning and the ending“, and the “Alpha and Omega“. This is what Jehovah is often called in the Old Testament. In Revelation 1:17-18, Jesus Christ says to John, “… Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore ….” Earlier in chapter one, Revelation 1:7-8 says, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” In Revelation 2:8 we read, “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive ….” Then in Revelation 22:13, Jesus Christ says, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” This is consistent with the Old Testament prophets. “The LORD” (Jehovah) says in Isaiah 48:12, “Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.” Also in Isaiah 44:6, “Thus saith the LORD (Jehovah) the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Remember that when you see “the LORD” in all capital letters in the King James translation of the Bible, it is almost always the Hebrew word “Jehovah”, God’s proper name. Isaiah 41:4 says, “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.” So, when Jesus Christ keeps proclaiming “I am the first and the last“, He wants all to know that He is the God of the Old Testament, the Alpha and Omega, the one who spoke the heaven and earth into being, the one who searches hearts and minds.

The reins and hearts: Revelation 2:23 says, “… I am he which searcheth the reins (minds) and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” This is almost identical to Jeremiah 17:10 which says, “I the LORD (Jehovah) search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Who does this? “The LORD”. So we see then that Jesus Christ is Jehovah, the Almighty God, the one speaking in the Old Testament. Similarly, Psalms 44:21 says, “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”

Other Passages

Chapter one of Acts describes how Jesus Christ ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives while His disciples watched. Acts 1:9-12 says, “… while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet ….” So we know that when Jesus Christ returns to earth, He will descend from the sky to the Mount of Olives.

Now look back in Zechariah 14:3-4 which says, “Then shall the LORD (Jehovah) go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east ….” Who shall stand upon the Mount of Olives? The LORD! As explained earlier in this article, when you see “the LORD” in the Old Testament”, that is Jehovah.

Also, Isaiah 45:22-23 says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”

That is what our Apostle Paul says of Jesus Christ in Philippians 2:10-11, “… at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ….”

Conclusion

Jesus Christ is the Creator of heaven and earth, the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the Ancient of Days, the God of Israel, Jehovah, the Savior, the Everlasting Father, the Almighty God.

Everything we believe about Jesus Christ depends on God’s integrity and the faithfulness of His messengers.

Two witnesses or messengers in the Bible times were required to authenticate the accuracy and validate the message. The sender expected the messenger to accurately communicate his message with the utmost integrity.  Any change in the message would result in criminal charges against the messenger.

God uses human and supernatural messengers. “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:1-3 (NASB95).

The messengers all pointed to the coming of the final ultimate self-revelation of God in the person of His own unique one of a kind Son.

I. Angels are God’s Messengers

Angels are supernatural celestial spiritual beings.

The Bible tells us that God has messengers whom He sends forth to communicate His message. The word aggelos, angels in English, describes a supernatural order of heavenly beings whose assignment is to act as God’s messengers to men, and as agents to carry our His will. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14, NASB95). 

Angels have personality, great intelligence, moral will and responsibility. They do not have bodies, but may be seen at times and appear as men. They do not have wings; artists and Hollywood created the wings. The Seraphim have six wings and fly, but they are a special category of supernatural servants. The Bible forbids worship of angels. They belong to the heavenly court praising God and doing His will on earth.

Three angels are named in the Bible.

Michael, the archangel is mentioned in the Old Testament only in Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1 where he is the champion of Israel, and watchful guardian of God’s chosen people. He disputed with Satan over the body of Moses (Jude 9). In Revelation 12:7-9 he leads the angelic armies in war against Satan, the chief fallen angel (Job 1:6-12; Gen. 3:1ff; Matt. 25:41; 2 Pet 2:4; Rev. 12:9). The early Protestant scholars identified Michael with the preincarnate Christ (Hengstenberg).

These majestic words of Gabriel remind us of Yahweh’s promise to old king David in 2 Samuel 7:13-16. A future descendent would sit on his throne and rule forever. The only way this prophecy could possibly ever be fulfilled is in the coming of a greater than David, the Messiah. This Son of Mary we are told in this passage will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High (cf. Isa. 9:7). This divine title means He will be equal with Yahweh. The phrase “son of” in Semitic thought refers to one who possessed his father’s qualities. Jesus is a “carbon copy” of His Father in heaven.

The reason for His coming is He will receive “the throne of His father David and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever.” The great coronation will take place when He returns and He will reign throughout eternity. This will take place in the Millennium and continue forever and ever.

This sovereign King is unique because “His Kingdom will never end.”

An unnamed angel announced Jesus birth to Joseph

We noted earlier the agitation on the part of Mary regarding her conceiving a bearing a son while still engaged to Joseph. The whole context of the Jewish engagement and marriage customs in the first century must be kept in mind when examining the birth narrative in the Gospels. Marriages were arranged by the parents and contracts were written up and agreed upon. Once the arrangement was confirmed the couple was considered married and were called husband and wife. However, they did not begin to live together for one year. During this time the woman continued to live with her parents and the man with his parents. This waiting period was a demonstration of faithfulness of the promise to be pure until the consummation of the marriage. If she was found to be with child during that year it would be obvious that she was unfaithful and the husband could terminate the marriage contact with a divorce. At the end of the year of betrothal the parents of the couple would have a great celebration of the wedding feast, the couple would then begin to live together, and the marriage was consummated physically. 

Now it was plain that Mary had not told Joseph about the angel’s visit or that she was pregnant. Therefore, when it obvious to Joseph that Mary was with child he was shocked. He genuinely loved Mary. You can see that love by his actions. He did not want to create a public scandal and planned to divorce Mary privately. That is when the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and revealed to Him that “She was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:18).

Matthew fills in the details for us:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus” (Matthew 1:18-25, NASB95).  

Hebrew scholars can debate all they want to about the meaning of the Hebrew word almah whether it should be translated “young woman” or “virgin.” I think it means a young woman of marriageable age who is a virgin. Dr. Luke and Matthew are very clear when they mean “virgin” because they use the word parthenos and it has only one meaning, “virgin.” Mary’s miraculous conception fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, and her son was “Immanuel . . .  God with us.” The Holy Spirit, not Joseph, not any man, was responsible for the pregnancy of Mary. 

At Jesus’ birth the angels worshipped Him

Nine months later Dr. Luke, the beloved physician, and author of the Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was born in the city of David, called Bethlehem during the reign of Caesar Augustus. Angels worshipped Christ and announced the birth of the Savior to some humble shepherds who were watching over their sheep in the night.  

“And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.’ When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, ‘Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger” (Luke 2:9-16, NASB95).

An unknown angel warned Joseph of Herod’s evil intent to murder the Messiah.

“Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him’” (Matthew 2:13, NASB95). They stayed in Egypt until the death of Herod. However, because Archelaus was the worst of Herod’s living sons and was now reigning over Judea, Joseph and Mary took Jesus and they resided in the city of Nazareth in the regions of Galilee (Matt. 2:13-23).

Dr. Luke tells us that over the next thirty years, “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Yes, Jesus lived a fully normal human Jewish life in the town of Nazareth. But that is not the end to the visitation of angels in His life.

Angels strengthened Jesus during His ministry

When Jesus began His ministry about the age of thirty He was severely tempted by Satan (Matt. 4:1-11). After the forty days of temptation “the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him” (Matt. 4:11).  

In the Garden of Gethsemane an angel appeared to Jesus and strengthened Him (Luke 22:43).

At His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane when Peter was trying to defend Jesus with a sword, Jesus told him that He could call down 72,000 angels (Matt. 26:53). “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53, NASB95). A Roman legion was equal to 6,000 troops. Twelve legions would be 72,000. 

Angels attended Jesus’ resurrection

“And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you” (Matthew 28:2-7, NASB95; cf. Mark 16:4-7; Luke 24:4-7).

“But Mary [not Jesus' mother] was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus” (John 20:11-14, NASB95).

Yes Jesus was crucified. He was certified dead by the Roman executioner when he thrust the spear into Jesus’ side and out came blood and water (Mark 15:44-47; Matt. 27:57-66; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:30-42). Witnesses who handled His body gave testimony that Jesus died. But behind that death of the sinless Lamb of God is the great truth that He died as a sacrifice for sin. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . . But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NASB95). The apostle Paul summarized the meaning of the death of Christ beautifully with these words: “He [God] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95).

But that is not all; Christ rose from the dead! The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most documented event in ancient history.  Matthew Arnold said, “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best attested fact in history.”

William Lyon Phelps of Yale wrote, “It may be said that the historical evidence for the resurrection is stronger than for any other miracle anywhere narrated.”

Some of the best books on the resurrection have been written by lawyers who set out with the goal of disproving it as a historical fact.

Sir Edward Clark wrote, “As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the first Easter. To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the high Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. As a lawyer I accept it unreservedly as the testimony of men to facts that they were able to substantiate.”

Angels reassured disciples at the ascension of Christ

“And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:9-11, NASB95).

Angels will accompany Jesus when He returns 

Listen to the words of Jesus. “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-32, NASB95).

The apostle Paul comforted fellow believers with the desire “to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire” (2 Thessalonians 1:7, NASB95; cf. 2 Thess. 4:16-17). Many more passages of Scripture could be sited, but I think you get the idea. Angels were active in ministry during the life of Christ and will be when He returns in glory. The book of Revelation is full of angelic activity in heaven and will be vitally involved in the judgments before and after the coming of Christ.

What will you do with Jesus Christ; neutral you cannot be. What you choose to believe about Him will determine your eternal destiny. One thing is still true. Today angels rejoice when sinners repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation. Jesus said, “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).

Title:  Angels in the Life of Christ
Series:  Life of Christ,  Christmas

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2008. Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

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The following long quotations regarding the subject of common grace, the will, Calvinism and Arminianism are taken from Dr. Lewis S. Chafer’s Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1993.

During the late 20th and early 21st century, various Christians and so-called Christian leaders have attempted to radically misconstrue and distort what Dr. Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, actually taught.

Scores of evangelicals today hold and teach Arminian rationalism (e.g., Norman Geisler, Bob George, Chuck Missler, Dave Hunt, Chuck Smith, William MacDonald, George Zeller, etc.), while often denying the same publicly.  Claims by these individuals to represent a moderate Calvinism, and those to the right of them as extreme or hyper Calvinist, are not supported by historical, documented facts.  In short, it is a ruse.

The following theological truth is set forth by way of contrast against the backdrop of error, rather than simply stating what any reader will discover when seriously studying Scripture.  May the following ‘lofty’ quotes, in a small way, contribute to setting the record straight.  May readers come to understand the importance of these subjects.

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The Calvinistic system, which is here both held and defended as being more nearly Pauline than any other, is built upon a recognition of four basic truths, each of which should be comprehended in its basic character. These truths are: (1) Depravity, by which term is meant that there is nothing in fallen man that could commend him to God. He is an object of divine grace. (2) Efficacious grace, by which term is meant that fallen man, in being saved, is wrought upon wholly by God—even the faith which he exercises in his salvation is a “gift of God” (Eph. 2:8. (3) Sovereign and eternal election, by which term is meant that those who are saved by efficacious grace from the estate of depravity have been chosen of God for that blessedness from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:30). (4) Eternal security, by which term it is meant that those chosen of God and saved by grace are, of necessity, preserved unto the realization of the design of God. Since sovereign election purposes this and sovereign grace accomplishes it, the Scriptures could not—being infinitely true—do other than to declare the Christian’s security without reservation or complication. This the Scriptures assuredly declare. Rationalism in its varied forms and Arminianism in particular challenge these sovereign verities. To the Arminian the limiting effect of depravity is annulled to a large degree by the supposed bestowment upon all men of a so-called “common grace” which provides ability on the sinner’s part to turn to Christ. According to this belief, men are saved by divine grace into a momentary right relation with God from which they can fall. The continuation in that right relation with God—regardless of the fact that it is the realization of the divine purpose—is made by the Arminian to depend on human merit and conduct. Similarly, sovereign election is to the Arminian no more than divine foreknowledge by which God is able to make choice of those who will act righteously in respect to His offers of grace—a foreseeing and consequent recognition of human merit, which recognition contradicts the doctrine of sovereign grace (Rom. 11:6). Vol. 3, page 267.

The Arminian View of Original Sin.  It is exceedingly difficult for a system of doctrine, which builds so much on the freedom of the human will and contends that all men are by virtue of a common grace enabled to act without natural or supernatural restraint in the matter of their own salvation, to defend unconditionally the doctrine of total depravity. It is observable that Arminianism has put but little emphasis upon the teaching respecting that inability which is the nature and essence of original sin. The Arminian notion of depravity, whatever it is supposed to be in its original form, is largely overcome, it is contended, by a fancied common grace. However, in the working of this scheme, one of the Arminian inconsistencies—a withdrawing with one hand what is bestowed with the other—is displayed. It is rather too much to suppose that a common grace—itself without Biblical justification—is a complete corrective of total depravity; and it will not be without explanation, in part at least, if, starting with such a premise as their idea of common grace provides, the Arminians drift into equally unscriptural notions respecting sanctification and sinless perfection. Naturally, the will of man, which is supposed to be emancipated by common grace, may, as effectually, defeat the realization of that which is best. It is certain that, when given an unrestrained freedom of volition, that volition will not always turn in the right direction or toward God. It may as readily turn from God, and that, it is contended, even after years of life and experience in a regenerate state. Over against this fallacious rationalism—this unsupported theory and feeble deification of man—the Scriptures assert, and in accordance therewith the Calvinists teach, that man is totally depraved, that God must and does move in behalf of fallen man for his salvation—even engendering saving faith—and that salvation, being distinctly a work of God, is, like all His works, incapable of failure. It is thus demonstrated that the erroneous exaltation of the human ability in the beginning becomes man’s effectual undoing in the end. Over against this, the man who is totally incompetent, falling into the hands of God, who acts in sovereign grace, is saved and safe forever. For such an achievement the glory is not to be shared by fallen man but is altogether due God alone.  Vol. 3, page 275.

The Arminian View of Universal and Efficacious Calling.  Without reference to a limited or an unlimited redemption—which theme some theologians are determined to bring into the discussion of an efficacious call and which it is believed has but a remote relation to the subject in hand—the real question is whether, as the Arminian contends, the divine influence upon men whereby they are enabled to receive the gospel and to be saved is that common grace which the Arminian claims is bestowed upon all men, or whether that divine enablement, as the Calvinist declares, is a specific, personal call of the individual by which the Holy Spirit moves that one to understand and intelligently to accept the saving grace of God as it is in Christ Jesus. If the contention of the Arminian be true—that God gives no more enablement to one than to another—the fact that, when the gospel is preached alike to each, one is saved and another is not, becomes a matter of the human will which, it is claimed, either accepts or rejects the gracious invitation. Such an arrangement might seem plausible were it not for that array of Scripture, already considered in another connection, which declares that man has no power to move himself toward God. The New Testament not only lends no support to the Arminian notion of common grace, but definitely teaches that men are helpless in their fallen estate (cf. Rom. 3:11; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:3–4; Eph. 2:8–9). On the other hand, the Calvinist contends that, when God by His Spirit inclines one to receive Christ, that one, in so doing, acts only in the consciousness of his own choice. It is obvious that to present a convincing argument to a person which leads that person to make a decision, does not partake of the nature of a coercion of the will. In such a case, every function of the will is preserved and, in relation to the gospel, it remains true that “whoever will may come”; yet back of this truth is the deeper revelation that no fallen man wills to accept Christ until enlightened by the Holy Spirit (John 16:7–11).  Vol. 3, page 276.

Again it will be seen that the Arminian exaltation of the human will in the matter of personal salvation encourages those same Arminians to contend, as they do, that the same free will by which the individual accepts Christ is itself able to depart from God after he is saved. To such rationalistic conclusions, the Word of God, which asserts the inability of man to turn to God, lends no support. It is rather revealed that, after one is saved, “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13); nor does this continuous inclination by the Spirit of the Christian’s volition partake in any respect of a coercion of the human will.  Vol. 3, page 278.

The Arminian View of Divine Decrees.  Under this aspect of the general theme, this solemn truth respecting God is approached again. None but the most careless will fail to recognize that the subject of divine decrees, with its corresponding doctrines of predestination, election, and reprobation, involves the contemplation of the most fathomless, inaccessible, and mysterious themes to which the human mind may be addressed. To comprehend this vast subject would be equivalent to comprehending the mind of God. That difficulties arise in the mind of man when reflecting on so great a subject is to be expected, since it could not be otherwise. Similarly, it is generally conceded that this topic in all its bearings—philosophical, theological, and practical—has been more considered than any other; yet the mysteries involved must remain inscrutable until the greater light of another world breaks upon the human mind. In its simple form, the question now in view may be stated thus: Did God have a plan in eternity past which He is executing in time? The two extreme positions—Socinianism and Calvinism—may well be compared at this point. The former held that all future events which depend upon secondary causes, such as the human will, are by necessity unknowable even to God, while the Calvinists maintain that God has not only ordained whatsoever cometh to pass, but is executing the same through His providence. Midway between these so divergent conceptions is the position of the Arminians—a position in which conflicting ideas appear. Arminians have not been willing to deny the foreknowledge of God in agreement with the Socinians; nor have they been willing to accept that estimation of God which accords to Him the unconditional authority to act, power to achieve, and purpose to govern, in all that cometh to pass. Therefore, the doctrines of divine decrees, of predestination, of sovereign election, and of retribution are by the Arminians either directly denied or explained away by recourse to reason. At times the plain assertions of the Sacred Text have been distorted in this effort. They claim that God had no other decree respecting the salvation of men than that He would save those who believe, and condemn and reprobate those who do not believe. Beyond this, man is responsible apart from any divine relationship. Having sent His Son into the world to remove the insuperable obstacle of sin and having removed man’s inability by a bestowal upon him of a supposed common grace, man is left to make his own choice, though, of course, the gospel must be preached unto him. According to this plan, God determines nothing, bestows nothing apart from the removal of inability, and secures nothing. Certain individuals are chosen of God only in the sense that He foresaw their faith and good works—which faith and good works arise in themselves and are not divinely wrought. In the end, according to this system, man is his own savior. A salvation which originates in such uncertainties, builds upon mere foreknowledge of human merit, and exalts the human will to the place of sovereignty, cannot make place for the doctrine of security, since eternal security of those who are saved depends on the sovereign undertakings of God.  Vol. 3, page 278.

The Arminian View of the Fall.  A return to a full discussion of the fall of man, already pursued at length in Volume 2, is uncalled for here. What has been written before must serve as a background for this brief reference to a theme so extended and mysterious. Far more than is sometimes realized, the doctrine of the fall of man is closely related to the whole Biblical scheme of predestination. Apart from the fall with its complete ruin of the race, there could be no sufficient basis for the doctrine of sovereign grace with its utter disregard for human merit, nor for a defense against the notion that sovereign election represents a respect of personal qualities in man on the part of God. Arminians of the older school have not denied the fall of man, or the extent of that fall. They suppose, however, no matter how complete the fall, that it is overcome by the bestowal of common grace. From the moment that grace is bestowed, the case of a man is different. Ability on man’s part to act for or against the will of God becomes the cornerstone of the Arminian structure of Soteriology. The supposed ability to reject God not only conditions and makes contingent the salvation of men to the extent that God may assume no more than to foreknow what man will do, but that supposed ability survives after regeneration and renders it possible for the redeemed to degenerate back to their original lost estate. Calvinists maintain that men are wholly unable to deliver themselves or to take one step in the direction of their own salvation, that men have no claim upon God for salvation because of merit, and that the salvation of men is a divine undertaking built upon a righteous ground which not only provides a holy God with freedom to save meritless men, but provides as well the same righteous freedom on God’s part by which He can keep them saved forever. When this divinely wrought arrangement for the salvation of men through grace is abandoned and a merit system for man is substituted, as the Arminians choose to do, they find themselves beset with fears, backslidings, and failures which have no recognition in the New Testament. A grave question arises under the Arminian system, namely, whether men who have been impressed with the notion that they are to a large degree their own saviors and keepers, will ever find the rest and peace which is the portion of those who have ceased from their own works and are wholly cast upon God.  Vol. 3, page 279.

The Arminian View of Omniscience. No slight difficulty for the Arminian system arises from the obvious fact that God could foreknow nothing as certain in the future unless He had Himself made it certain by foreordination. Neither could foreknowledge function apart from foreordination, nor foreordination apart from foreknowledge. Merely to foreknow what will be determined by secondary causes, leaves the entire program of events adrift without chart or compass. According to His Word, God assuredly foreknows, foreordains, and executes. Every prediction of the Bible incorporates these elements, and nowhere more conclusively than in the events connected with the death of Christ. God foreknew that His Son would die upon a cross, but He did more about it than merely to foreknow. Peter declares that Christ as the Lamb was “foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:20); and so great an event could not be left to the uncertainties of human wills. “Wicked hands” crucified the Son of God, but this was according to the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). The salvation of each individual who believes on Christ is no more an accident of human determination than is the death of Christ. The Arminian idea of election to eternal glory on the part of some, is that it includes those who believe on Christ, persevere, and die in the faith, whereas the Scriptures teach that certain men believe, persevere, and die in the faith because of the fact that they are elect and destined to eternal glory. When man is given the responsibility of working out his own eternal destiny, as Arminianism expects him to do, it will be remembered that all this could be done as effectively whether God foreknew it or not. Security, according to the Arminian conception of it, is that which God foreknew men would do in their own behalf and, since the human element bulks largely in it, the actual arrival of a soul in heaven’s glory is more or less accidental—certainly not predetermined and executed by God.  Vol. 3, page 280.

The Arminian View of Divine Sovereignty.  It is conceded by all who are of a pious mind that God is the Supreme Ruler of the universe and that He exercises His authority and power to that end. That He is putting into effect precisely what He had before designed, would not create prejudice as a proposition by itself, were it not for the fact that such an admission leads on logically to the Calvinistic position respecting the predestination, justification, and glorification of all whom He has chosen for eternal salvation. Calvinists contend that God acts in perfect reason, but upon a level much higher than may be comprehended by the human understanding; and therefore they do not assume to assign a reason for all of God’s ways in the universe and with men. Arminians, however, seek to assign a reason for God’s dealings with men and do, by so much, deny His sovereignty. It is a worthy attitude to believe that God rules over all things, executing precisely His own will and purpose, and that in doing this He acts always within the limitations which His adorable attributes impose. It follows, also, that, because of His omnipotence, God could have prevented any and every form of evil, and that, as evil is present, it is serving a purpose which is worthy of God and which will, in the end, be recognized as worthy by all intelligences. Arminians tend to discredit the sovereignty of God by assuming that events are not necessarily to be considered as having a place or part in the divine will. This has led to much discussion regarding the divine volition. Arminians are wont to distinguish an antecedent will from a consequent will in God. The former moves Him to save all men, while the latter is conditioned by the conduct of men. The antecedent will is not a sovereign will; it, too, is restricted by human action. Such a conception is far removed from the Calvinistic teaching concerning the efficacious will of God—that which not only elects to save some, but actually does save them and preserve them, having anticipated all things requisite to that end and having provided those requisite things. As before stated, the two impediments or barriers which stood in the way were sin and the freedom of the human will. In the sacrificial death of His Son, God dealt finally with the obstacle which sin engenders. By moving the hearts of men to desire His saving grace (which acts have no semblance to coercion), He removes the obstruction which the free will of man might impose. The two systems—Arminianism and Calvinism—are each consistent at this point within themselves. The Arminian contends that man is supreme and that God is compelled to adjust Himself to that scheme of things. The Calvinist contends that God is supreme and that man is called upon to be conformed to that revelation. The Arminian is deprived of the exalted blessing which is the portion of those who believe the sublime facts of predestination, election, and the sovereignty of God, because he hesitates to embrace them in their full-orbed reality. Having incorporated into his scheme the finite human element, all certainty about the future is for the Arminian overclouded with doubts. Having made the purpose of God contingent, the execution of that purpose must be contingent. By so much the glorious, divine arrangement by which the ungodly may go to heaven, is replaced by the mere moral program in which only good people may have a hope.  Vol. 3, page 281.

The Arminian View of Sovereign Grace.  As certainly as there are two widely separated and divergent forms of religion in the world—in the one, God saves man and in the other, man saves himself—so definitely Calvinism and Arminianism are withdrawn the one from the other. All the forms of religion that men cherish are, with one exception, in the class which is identified by the obligation resting upon man to save himself; and in this group, because of its insistence that the element of human merit must be recognized, the Arminian system is classed. Standing alone and isolated by its commitment to the doctrine of pure uncompromising grace, the true Christian faith, as set forth by the great Apostle and later defended by Calvin and by uncounted theologians before and since his day, is a system of Soteriology characterized by its fundamental feature that God, unaided and to His own unshared and unchangeable glory, originates, executes, and consummates the salvation of man. The sole requirement on the human side is that man receive what God has to give. This he does, he is told, by believing upon Christ as his Savior. Arminianism distorts this sublime, divine undertaking by the intrusion of human features at every step of the way. It can rise no higher in the interpretation of the Word of God respecting sovereign election, than to claim that it consists in the action of divine foreknowledge by which God foresees the men of faith, holiness, and constancy. This interpretation not only reverses the order of truth—the Scriptures declare that men are elected unto holiness and not on account of holiness—but intrudes at the very beginning of the divine program in salvation the grace-destroying element of human merit. In the matter of the one condition of believing on Christ for salvation, the Arminians have constantly added various requirements to the one which is divinely appointed, and all of these infringe upon this one essential of pure grace by adding to it the element of human works. Similarly, in the sphere of the believer’s safekeeping, which is declared to be altogether a work of God, Arminianism makes security to be contingent upon human conduct. Arminians seem strangely blinded in the matter of comprehending the divine plan by which, apart from all features of human merit, sinners are elected in past ages without respect to future worthiness, saved at the present time on the sole condition of faith in Christ, and kept to the eternal ages to come through the power of God on a basis which sustains no relation to human conduct. In reality, to assert so much is to declare that Arminians are blind to the true gospel of divine grace which is the central truth of Christianity—that is, if the Pauline revelation is to be considered at all. Over against this and in conformity to the New Testament, Calvinists assert that election is on a basis of grace which foresees no human merit in those chosen, that present salvation is by faith or belief alone, and that those saved are kept wholly by divine grace without reference to human worthiness. It would seem wholly unnecessary to remind the student again that there is an important body of truth which conditions the believer’s daily life after he is saved, and that his life is motivated, not by a requirement that works of merit must be added to the perfect divine undertaking and achievement in saving grace, but is motivated by the most reasonable obligation to “walk worthy of the vocation [calling] wherewith he is called” (Eph. 4:1). Behaving well as a son is far removed in principle from the idea of behaving well to become a son. It is the blight of Arminian soteriology that it seems incapable of recognizing this distinction, and therefore does not allow a place for the action of pure grace in the realization of the sovereign purpose of God through a perfect salvation and an eternal safekeeping apart from any and every form of human merit or cooperation. Though much must be made of this theme in other connections, a word is in order at this point respecting the meaning of the term sovereign grace—a term employed by Calvinists with genuine satisfaction, but both rejected and avoided by Arminians. Sovereign grace originates and is at once a complete reality in the mind of God when He, before the foundation of the world, elects a company who are by His limitless power to be presented in glory conformed to the image of His Son. By so much they are to be to all intelligences the means by which He will manifest the exceeding riches of His grace (Eph. 2:7). This manifestation will correspond to His infinity and will satisfy Him perfectly as the final, all-comprehensive measurement of His attribute of grace. Two obstacles, allowed by Him to exist, must be overcome—sin and the will of man. That His grace may be manifest and its demonstration enhanced, He undertakes by Himself—for no other could share in its achievement—to overcome the obstacle of sin. That this obstacle is overcome is declared in many texts of the Scriptures. Two may be quoted here: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29); “to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19). There remains, therefore, but the obstacle of the human will. Having designed that man as creature shall be possessed of an independent will, no step can be taken in the accomplishment of His sovereign purpose which will even tend to coerce the human volition. He does awaken the mind of man to spiritual sanity and brings before him the desirability of salvation through Christ. If by His power, God creates new visions of the reality of sin and of the blessedness of Christ as Savior and under this enlightenment men choose to be saved, their wills are not coerced nor are they deprived of the action of any part of their own beings. It is the unreasoned objection of Arminians that the human will is annulled by sovereign election.  Vol. 3, page 282.THE INCAPACITY OF THE UNSAVED.  The Arminian notion that through the reception of a so-called common grace anyone is competent to accept Christ as Savior if he will, is a mild assumption compared with the idea that the unregenerate person, with no common or uncommon grace proffered, is able to dedicate his life to God. Much has been written on previous pages regarding the overwhelming testimony of the Bible to the utter inability and spiritual death of the unsaved. They are shut up to the one message that Christ is their Savior; and they cannot accept Him, the Word of God declares, unless illuminated to that end by the Holy Spirit. Saving faith is not a possession of all men but is imparted specifically to those who do believe (Eph. 2:8).  Vol. 3, page 385.

THE ONE WHO CONVICTS THE UNSAVED.  Within the whole divine enterprise of winning the lost, there is no factor more vital than the work of the Holy Spirit in which He convinces or reproves the cosmos world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment. The wholly unscriptural and untenable Arminian notion of common grace, which asserts that all men at birth are so wrought upon by the Holy Spirit that they are rendered capable of an unhindered response to the gospel invitation, has, with the aid of human vanity which owns no limitations in human ability, so disseminated its misleading errors that little recognition is given to the utter incapacity of the unsaved, natural man to respond to the gospel appeal. Inattentive or uninstructed evangelists and zealous soul-winners too often go forth assuming that all persons anywhere and everywhere are able at any time to comply with the terms of the gospel, whereas the Scriptures teach that no man is able to make an intelligent decision for Christ apart from the enlightening work of the Holy Spirit.  Vol. 6, pp. 88.

Romans 16:1

Phoebe may have been the person who personally delivered Paul’s epistle to the Romans. She received Paul’s hearty commendation. It’s interesting that of the first five believers mentioned by Paul (verses 1-6), three of them were women. When it comes to service for Christ and His assembly, women in no way take a second place to men. They are “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7) and at Christ’s judgment seat their faithfulness will be rewarded. When it comes to laboring faithfully for the Master, there is neither male or female in Christ. We all serve the same Saviour as His love-slaves, though in different capacities. Biblical Christianity, in spite of what its critics say, has always dignified womanhood and allowed believing women to find the full satisfaction and joy of being the persons God would have them to be. It is in societies where Biblical principles are not honored that women are horribly mistreated and held in low esteem.

Phoebe was both a SISTER and a SERVANT (v.1). Paul recognized her as a sister in Christ (an endearing family term) and as a servant (diakonon) of the assembly. She was the servant of the local assembly that was at Cenchrea, a seaport city located right next to Corinth (compare Acts 18:18).

Phoebe was a “servant” or a “deaconess” of the church. Is this word used in a general sense to indicate that she was a humble servant of the assembly or is it used in the more technical sense that she held an office in the church? Did the early church have such an office as “deaconess” (female deacon)? There is no mention of “deaconesses” in the New Testament. There is, however, one passage that is of interest, found in 1 Timothy chapter 3, the chapter which gives the qualifications of elders (bishops) and deacons. In the middle of Paul’s list of qualifications for deacons, Paul adds this statement: “Even so must their wives be grave, no slanderers, sober, faithful in all things” (1 Tim. 3:11). The word “wives” may be also translated as “women.” It refers either to the wives of the deacons or to other women in the assembly (deaconesses?). If it refers to the wives of deacons, then why was nothing said by Paul in this chapter about qualifications for wives of the elders? Why are the wives of deacons told to measure up to a certain standard when there is silence concerning the wives of elders? Some would say that Paul was setting forth qualifications, not for deacons’ wives, but for deaconesses.

Whether or not the “office” of a deaconess can be Biblically supported, we still must recognize the “work” of a deaconess. Whether she holds such an official title or not, the godly female saint is to function as a humble servant. If we understand the purpose of male deacons, then we can understand the need for female servants. The origin of deacons is found in Acts 6:4. There was a need to minister to needy widows and this problem was becoming a burden to the apostles, even to the point of taking away from their ministry of prayer and the preaching of the Word of God. The church’s spiritual leaders must never be turned aside from their chief work of prayer and preaching. Qualified “deacons” were appointed to handle these matters so that the apostles could give themselves “continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.” The ministry of the widows was given to the deacons so that the apostles could devote themselves to the ministry of the Word of God.

This is the primary function of a deacon today. He is to be spiritual man, a humble, capable servant who handles such things as finances, building and property care and upkeep, and anything else that will help to ease the burden from the spiritual leaders of the assembly so that they can give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Needless to say, if a Pastor spends 25 hours one week in painting, doing repair work, shoveling snow, cleaning the church building, etc., then the pulpit ministry is going to suffer greatly. Faithful and capable deacons should be able to handle many of these necessary chores. Imagine a large snowstorm that has covered the ground with 15 inches of freshly fallen snow. The Pastor puts his snow gear on and goes out to tackle the job. Suddenly Deacon Dave comes along on his snowmobile, grabs the shovel, and says, “Pastor, I’ll handle this! I want you to go back to your office and use the time to PRAY and PREPARE to PREACH. The deacons can handle the snow, but God has gifted certain men to feed the flock (Eph. 4:11-12) and we don’t want you to be distracted from your main task!”

Likewise, godly women in the assembly can fulfill similar functions. There are countless chores and needful jobs that women can take care of which will help to ease the load and lighten the burden from the spiritual leaders of the assembly. The humble female servant should ask, “What can I do for the Pastor and elders that could ease their load and make it easier for them to devote themselves to the crucial ministry of the Word?” Whether we call them “deaconesses” or not, this “work of a deaconess” is greatly needed in our day, and the entire assembly will benefit from it. Women can function as deaconesses even if they do not hold an official title.

Romans 16:2

 Paul exhorts the Roman believers to “receive” Phoebe. It means they were to “receive her unto themselves, to admit her, to receive her into intercourse and companionship” (Thayer). They were to eagerly welcome her into their midst (this word “receive” is used of believers eagerly waiting the coming of the Lord–Titus 2:13—”looking for”; Jude 21—”looking for”; and compare Luke 2:25—”waiting” and Luke 2:38—”looked for”). It is used in Philippians 2:29 of the Philippian believers receiving Epaphroditus, Paul’s faithful fellow soldier. It is used of the Lord Jesus who received sinners and ate with them (Luke 15:2). They were to receive her “in the Lord,” as a sister in Christ, one who enjoyed blessed UNION with the Son of God. They were to do so “as becometh saints,” in a manner worthy of saints. They were to receive her in a manner appropriate for saints. As believers, we are to walk worthy (same word) of our high, holy, heavenly calling (Eph. 4:1), and this would include our conduct towards our fellow believers. Being saved is an awesome privilege, but it carries with it awesome responsibilities to walk and live in a worthy manner.

As saints, we are to walk worthy of our calling (Eph. 4:1).

We are to walk worthy of God’s good news, the gospel (Phil. 1:27).

We are to walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing (Col. 1:10).

We are to walk worthy of God who has called us into His kingdom and glory (1 Thess. 2:12).

In 3 John Gaius was exhorted to minister to the saints “after a godly sort” or in a manner worthy of God. That is, he was to extend hospitality to them as if God Himself had come for a visit. How we would treat the Saviour ought to be the way we should treat the saints. They are worthy of such treatment for Christ’s sake.

The Lord never wants us to forget WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST. We must never forget that we are SAINTS (Rom. 1:7). God has sanctified us in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 6:11). We are His HOLY ONES who have been set apart to serve the living God. May we live saintly. May we not bring shame on the Name of the One who has set us apart unto Himself.

Paul tells the Roman believers to “assist” Phoebe. The verb means “to stand by to help” (Thayer), to “provide” (see Acts 23:24) whatever she might have needed. Why were they to assist her? Because she was a succourer or helper of many, including Paul. Those who are helpers deserve to be helped. Those who assist others deserve to be assisted. It is fitting and appropriate to assist the helper. We are not told exactly what Phoebe did to help Paul and the many others. Yet think of the countless thousands through the centuries who have been spiritually helped and blessed by Paul’s epistle to the Romans. By delivering this epistle, Phoebe has indeed “been a helper of many.”

Romans 16:3-4

 It is interesting that Priscilla, the wife, is mentioned by Paul before Aquila, her husband. Consider the following information that the New Testament provides about this remarkable husband/wife team:

1. Aquila and Priscilla were industrious. They were diligent and occupied in a good way. They were tentmakers (Acts 18:2-3) and they worked hard at their trade. We should note that Aquila was a Jew (Acts 18:2). Although Paul first met these two believers in Corinth, they were originally from Rome (Acts 18:2).
2. They were hospitable (Acts 18:3). They opened their home to the Apostle Paul who was also a tentmaker. They opened not only their home to Paul but also their hearts.
3. They were teachable. Aquila and Priscilla were probably converted under Paul’s ministry. We have no record that they were saved prior to their encounter with Paul in Acts 18. They not only received Paul into their home but they received Paul’s Christ into their hearts. With all eagerness and readiness of mind they received with joy the message that Paul preached. They were disciples of Paul. They absorbed the doctrine and the truth which the Apostle gave them.
4. They were Bible orientated (Acts 18:24-26). Not only were they teachable, but they were able to teach others also. Apollos was a great preacher who was mighty in the O.T. Scriptures, but he was ignorant of the essential facts of the gospel (and weak on dispensational truth). With a godly concern for this man, Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos aside and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. It is possible that Priscilla may have taken the lead in this session with Apollos because in some manuscripts her name is mentioned first (see Acts 18:26 in the New American Standard Bible). Some wives are better able to explain Bible doctrine than their husbands, and in the right setting it is permissible for the woman to take the lead (though certainly not in a local church teaching situation). She knew God’s Word and she was able to deal with these kinds of doctrinal matters. This husband and wife team was well grounded in God’s truth and able to minister that truth to others.
5. They were local church orientated (1 Cor. 16:19 and Rom. 16:5). Both of these passages speak of the church that was in their house (both in Rome and in Ephesus). Their home was a place for believers to assemble—a place for worship, singing, preaching, fellowship, prayer and the breaking of bread.
6. They were a husband and wife team. Priscilla’s name is mentioned six times in the N.T. and in each place her husband’s name is found as well. She is always mentioned with him. This implies harmony in their relationship and unity of purpose. She worked with her husband, not against him. They functioned as a team in the service of the King.
7. They were rightly orientated to God’s gifted man (Rom. 16:3). In this verse they are described as Paul’s “helpers” (literally “fellow workers”). As Priscilla and Aquila came to Paul’s mind, he was able to say, “These dear believers are my helpers, my fellow workers.” Can your Pastor say the same thing about you? What kind of relationship do you have with God’s gifted man (compare Eph. 4:11)? Are you a help or a hindrance to your Pastor? Are you working with him or against him? Does he see you as a plus or a minus? Paul certainly considered this husband and wife team to be a great PLUS to his ministry and service for Christ.
8. They were courageous (Rom. 16:4). Apparently Paul owed his life to this brave husband-wife team. We are not told any of the details, but they somehow risked and hazarded their lives for Paul’s sake. They laid down their own necks in order to save Paul’s life, and as a result Paul and all the churches of the Gentiles owed them a debt of thanks. Paul was God’s special apostle to the Gentiles, and if Priscilla and Aquila had not intervened, Paul might have died and his ministry to the Gentiles might have come to an abrupt end. Priscilla and Aquila manifested a genuine love for Paul in the spirit of 1 John 3:16. Whatever incident Paul was referring to, it is possible that Priscilla played the more significant role in light of the fact that her name is mentioned first in Romans 16:3. This brings us to our next point.
9. Priscilla was submissive but she was not suppressed. In the six New Testament references where this husband/wife team is mentioned, Priscilla’s name comes first in three of these places (some would say this is true in four out of these six places because of a textual variant in Acts 18:26; see the New American Standard Bible translation of this verse). Since it was customary to list the husband’s name first, why did Priscilla’s name come first in these passages? We are not given the reason why and we can only surmise. Was it because she was the more energetic of the two? Did she have the stronger character? Did she have superior zeal? Did she have superior ability in certain areas? Did she play a more significant role in risking her own neck for Paul’s sake? Without trying to speak where the Scriptures are silent, the following might be said:She was not suppressed. She seemed to have special gifts or abilities or a unique devotion to Christ which enabled her in some areas to surpass her husband in such a way as to merit special recognition from Paul.

   She was submissive. In the six places where she is mentioned in the New Testament (by Luke and Paul), it is never implied that she was out of line in any way. She is never rebuked but only commended. She is always mentioned in connection with her husband. She was a submissive wife.

10. They were faithful and consistent to the very end (2 Timothy 4:19). This is Paul’s last letter, written about 14 years after he had first met Aquila and Prisca (Priscilla). They were faithful believers. Nothing negative is said about these two believers in any of the writings of Paul or Luke. As far as the record shows, between Paul and Aquila/Priscilla there was always harmony. Paul never had to say of them what he said of Demas (2 Tim. 4:10). What about you? In what spiritual condition will you be in 14 years from now? May we not leave our first love and may we not lose the joy of our salvation.

Romans 16:5

Paul sent greetings to the church that was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. This brings us to the interesting question of “house churches.” In the first century there were no church buildings as we know them today. Believers would assemble together wherever they could—in homes, in fields (compare Acts 16:13 where we find Jews gathered by a river), in the catacombs, etc. They had Christ’s promise, “For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Also transportation was not as easy then as it is today. Today we can travel from one end of a large city to the other without much of a problem, but in the first century when most transportation was done on foot, this would not have been so simple.

The following passages are significant when it comes to “house churches”:

When Aquila and Priscilla lived in Ephesus mention was made of “the church that is in their house” (1 Cor. 16:19).

In Romans 16:14 Paul greets several believers and then makes mention of “the brethren who are with them.” In Romans 16:15 Paul greets several believers and then makes mention of “the saints who are with them.” Could this indicate two additional locations where believers were accustomed to meet?

In Acts 12:12 we learn that “many were gathered together and were praying” in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark.

The house of Lydia was used as a gathering place for believers (Acts 16:15,40).

In Laodicea there was a house church hosted by Nymphas (“[greet] the church that is in his house”–Colossians 4:15).

In Philemon 2 we read, “And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house.”

Even if believers did meet together in different locations, it is important to keep in mind that, in God’s reckoning, each major city had but one church. Thus in the city of Rome there were not several churches; there was but one church. Every city had only one church. For example, in 1 Corinthians 1:2 we read about “the CHURCH (singular) of God which is at (in) Corinth.” Corinth was a large city but it only had one church. In Revelation 2:1 we learn of “the CHURCH (singular) of Ephesus.” Ephesus was also a very large city but there was but one church, even though we know that there was at least one “house church” in this city (see 1 Cor. 16:19). And even if we grant that Corinthian believers may have met together in different homes, there were occasions when the “WHOLE CHURCH” would come together “IN ONE PLACE” (see 1 Cor. 14:23 and 11:20).

Today, in spite of having superior transportation, we justify having more than one church in a city because of the size and population of the city. “One church could not possibly reach all these people. There is room in this city for several churches.” In light of this, it is interesting to consider population estimates of some of the cities that were prominent in New Testament times:

JERUSALEM

Josephus states that at Passover time (when there were thousands and thousands of pilgrims and visitors) there were 2,700,000 people in this city. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that the population of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. may have been as much as 250,000 (but probably less). It would be safe to say that there were at least 100,000 people.

How many believers were in the Jerusalem church (see Acts 2:41; 4:4; 5:14; etc.)? How many churches were there in Jerusalem (Acts 15:4)?

ROME

“The population of the city during the first century A.D. was formerly estimated as being between 1,2000,000 and 2,000,000 inhabitants. In 1941, however, an inscription was discovered at Ostia with statistics indicating that in 14 A.D., the year of the death of Augustus, the city of Rome had a population of 4,100,000 inhabitants” (An Introduction to the New Testament, D. Edmond Hiebert, Vol. 2, page 164 and see Introduction to the New Testament by Everett F. Harrison, p. 299).

ALEXANDRIA

Alexandria was the second largest city in the Roman empire and it contained three major groups: Egyptians, Jews and Greeks. According to the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, “at the beginning of the Christian era there were 300,000 free men in the city of Alexandria.” The World Book Encyclopedia says that at its height this city may have had a population of one million.

EPHESUS

There was only one church in this major city (Rev. 2:1). Its population was so great that in the second century it rivaled the city of Alexandria with respect to population.

ANTIOCH

How many churches were there in this city (Acts 14:26-27)? This too was one of the largest cities in the empire. Its population also was a mixed multitude. According to the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia its population in New Testament times was 500,000 (half a million).

THESSALONICA

How many local churches were to be found in this city (1 Thess. 1:1)? In Paul’s day this city may have had as many as 200,000 people (see Introduction to the New Testament by Everett F. Harrison, page 260).

CORINTH

This large commercial city had only one local church (1 Cor. 1:2). The city was heterogeneous (a mixture of everything). People thronged there to make money and spend it. Common enterprise and business and common debaucheries were the only bond that held the people together. It was the city of sin and immorality and its population may have been as high as 700,000 (most estimates would say one half million people). The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia says there were 200,000 free men and 500,000 slaves.

Observations: These were very large cities even in terms of modern day population statistics, yet there was only one church in each city. Today we are far from the New Testament pattern. The Lord predicted that this would happen in the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32). Out of true Christianity there grew up an abnormal, unusual, hideous, monstrous religious system which has come to be called “Christendom.” We might call it “churchianity.” The devil has succeeded in corrupting, complicating, confusing and cluttering what once was a very clear testimony. He has created a mess!

Romans 16:5—Epaenetus

Paul enjoyed a harvest of souls while he ministered in Asia. The first-fruit of that harvest (the first convert) was Epaenetus, a believer who was dear to the Apostle’s heart. The KJV has “Achaia” but the Greek manuscripts seem to better support the reading of “Asia” (see Darby’s translation and the Scofield Reference Bible, 1967 edition). Asia refers to Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), the area where Ephesus was located (as well as the other cities mentioned in Revelation 2-3).

Paul mentions Epaenetus after having mentioned Aquila and Priscilla who also labored in Asia, specifically in Ephesus, one of the chief cities of Asia (1 Cor. 16:9). As William Hendricksen has pointed out, “It is easy to imagine that whenever Paul or any of his fellow-workers, such as Prisca and Aquila, looked back upon the tremendous expansion of Christianity in and around the Roman province of Asia, they must have said, ‘And it all began with Epaenetus; he was the firstfruits’” (Romans Chapters 9-16, p. 503). Paul certainly remembered with joy the firstfruits in Macedonia (actually the firstfruits in Europe) who happened to be a woman by the name of Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened (Acts 16:14). It is always a joy to look back and remember the first person who was saved in a certain area, knowing that the God who has begun such a good work will indeed continue it. In a harvest, the “firstfruits” mark just the beginning and indicate that there are many more fruits to come. Such was certainly the case in Asia (see Acts 19:10-20). Do you have fond memories of the first person you led to the Lord? Have there been more to follow?

Romans 16:6—Mary

We are told little about Mary except for the fact that she “labored much” for Paul and his companions (or for the church in Rome if the textual variant “you” is accepted). The meaning of the Greek term is that she worked hard and toiled laboriously even to the point of weariness and exhaustion. Many believers work extremely hard for the cause of Christ and often it goes unnoticed and unappreciated and unrewarded by men. But God certainly takes note (see Hebrews 6:10). May we give our all for the Saviour and for His work: “Rise up, O men of God, be done with lesser things; Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of Kings.”

Mary (Miriam) was a very common name in New Testament times and several different women had this name:

1.  
   1. Mary the mother of Christ (Matt. 1:16).
   2. Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2).
   3. Mary the mother of John Mark (Acts 12:12).
   4. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha (Luke 10:42).
   5. Mary the wife of Clopas (John 19:25; note that in this verse three of the four women mentioned had the name “Mary”).
   6. Mary who is mentioned in Romans 16:6. 

       

Romans 16:7

There is some uncertainty as to whether the second name represented a man (Junias) or a woman (Junia). It depends on how the word is accented. If this person was a woman it is possible that Andronicus and Junia were husband and wife. Paul tells us four interesting facts about these two believers:

1.  

   1. They were Paul’s “kinsmen.” This word is sometimes used of close blood relatives as in Mark 6:4, Luke 1:36 (Mary’s “cousin Elizabeth”), Luke 1:58, Luke 2:44; Luke 14:12, Luke 21:16, John 18:26 and Acts 10:24. In Romans 9:3 Paul uses the term in a wider sense to refer to all Israelites who were his “kinsmen according to the flesh.” In Romans 16 Paul uses this term three times (see verses 7,11,21) and he names six people as his kinsmen. Does this mean that these people were fellow Israelites, related to each other as all Jews are, or is Paul indicating an even closer kinship? It seems unusual that Paul (originally from Tarsus) would have six close relatives in Rome who were all believers, so it may be better to understand the term in its wider sense. Paul did not greet every Jew as his “kinsman” because in verse 3 Priscilla and Aquila are both Jews but Paul does not call them “kinsmen.” If the term does refer here to the fact that these six people were Israelites, then it is interesting that when Paul greeted the church he made special mention of some Israelites who were in the church. This might have bearing on Galatians 6:16 where Paul makes special mention of a group he calls “the Israel of God” (the Israel that belongs to God). The “Israel of God” does not refer to Gentile believers (Gentiles in Scripture are never called Israelites) but to Jewish believers who are Jews “inwardly” (Rom. 1:28-29).
   2. They were Paul’s “fellowprisoners.” The book of Romans was written prior to Paul’s first and second imprisonments in Rome, but according to 2 Corinthians 6:5 and 11:23 Paul was often in prison, and during one of these imprisonments Andronicus and Junia must have shared with Paul in his affliction.
   3. They were “of note among the apostles.” This can be understood in one of two ways: 1) they were apostles of special note, that is, they stood out among the apostles. If this is Paul’s meaning, then he is using the term “apostle” in its non-technical sense of anyone who is sent on a mission; 2) The apostles took note of them. This is the more probable meaning. Since these two believers came to Christ even before Paul (see point #4) they probably were in close proximity to Jerusalem and were known by the apostles and had an excellent testimony before them.
   4. They were “in Christ” before Paul. They came to Christ before Paul did, prior to Acts chapter 9. In spiritual years, they were older than Paul! This interesting point is significant in understanding when the church began. If being “in Christ” has the technical meaning that is found in Galatians 3:27-28 (being “in Christ”=being in the church), then according to Romans 16:7 the church must have begun prior to Acts 9. We also know this from the verses which speak of Paul persecuting “the church” (1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3:6; Gal. 1:13). This adds support to the fact that the church began in Acts chapter 2 (Pentecost) and refutes the ultradispensational notion that the church began in Acts 13 (as some say) or Acts 28 (as others say). We might also note that if being “in Christ” carries the technical meaning of being part of His church, then 1Thessalonians 4:16 (“the dead in Christ shall rise first”) indicates that the resurrection that takes place at the rapture involves only church-age saints and does not include Old Testament saints (as some older dispensationalists taught).

Romans 16:8–Ampliatus

 According to Hendriksen the name Ampliatus was a common name among slaves. Possibly Ampliatus was a slave in the church of Rome, but he was beloved to Paul. Believers have a wonderful bond in Christ regardless of their station in life or their position in society. The gospel puts every believer on the same level. We are all bond slaves serving our Master, the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:23-24). Ampliatus may have been a slave, but he was Paul’s dearly beloved brother in Christ. In the New Testament churches the emphasis was upon a man’s spirituality and walk with the Lord and not on his station in life. For example, in 1 Timothy chapter 3 a man is not disqualified for the officer of elder or deacon because he is a slave (nothing of the sort is mentioned). This opens the way to the fascinating possibility that a slave could have been an officer in a local assembly of believers and his believing slave owner (master) would have been in submission to him in the assembly, whereas outside of the assembly the believing slave would be subject to his believing master. One is reminded of the days of William Carey in India when the people were in bondage to a strict caste system, but when these people trusted Christ as their Saviour and entered the church of the living God, they enjoyed an equal status in Christ, being co-heirs of the grace of life. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

Romans 16:9—Urbanus and Stachys

The word “helper” means “fellow-worker” (same word as found in verse 3). Believers work together on the same team, having the same ambition (to please Christ–2 Cor. 5:9) and having the same goal (the glory of God–1 Cor. 10:31). Just as the members of our human body help one another, so it is with the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12, 20-27). Stachys was beloved to Paul. Notice in these verses how encouraging Paul’s greetings are. These Roman believers certainly had their weaknesses and faults, but Paul greeted them in love and “love is kind and thinketh no evil” (1 Cor. 13:4,5). Paul saw these believers not as they were in themselves but as they were “in Christ” (see verses 3,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 and notice the expressions “in Christ,” “in the Lord”).

Romans 16:10—Apelles and Aristobulus

The word “approved” is found elsewhere in Rom. 14:18; 1 Cor. 11:19; 2 Cor. 10:18; 13:7 and 2 Timothy 2:15 (Timothy was to make every effort to show himself “approved” unto God as an unashamed workman). It is also found in James 1:12—”Blessed is the man that endureth temptation (bears up well under trial) for when (after) he is tried (tested and found approved), he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” This same word with the negative particle (“unapproved”) is found in 1 Cor. 9:27 (“castaway”) and means “unapproved, disqualified, rejected” (see also Rom. 1:28; 2 Cor. 13:5,6,7; Tit. 1:16; Heb. 6:8; 2 Tim. 3:8). Apelles was a believer who was tested by trials and afflictions and adverse circumstances, but he trusted the Lord and remained true to Christ. How the believer responds to the fiery trials which God sends his way is of utmost importance.

Some (Lightfoot, Hendricksen) have suggested that Aristobulus may have been the grandson of Herod the Great (the brother of Herod Agrippa I), although it is difficult to determine if this were really the case. If so, then Paul was probably referring to slaves in his household who were believers. We should never be reticent to look for believers even in the most unexpected places. The Herod family was one of the most ungodly families in the history of mankind (see the notes on the Herod family in our set of notes entitled Infamous Unbelievers), but God is able to do His wonderful work of grace even within the gates and walls of the most infamous unbelievers. Even in our day it is ironic that the most celebrated and publicized atheist of the last half of the twentieth century had a son who became a Christian, to her utter dismay and disgust!

Romans 16:11 Herodion, Narcissus

Herodion was Paul’s kinsman, probably indicating that he was a Jew (see discussion under verse 7). We should also be reminded of the close kinship that all believers have as “brethren.” There cannot be a closer relative than a brother! The name “Herodion” may indicate some relationship to the family of Herod. Hendricksen suggests “associated with” or “having admiration for” the family of Herod. Murray suggests that he was of the family or household of Herod. Perhaps he too was associated with the household of Aristobulus (v.10).

The name “Narcissus” reminds us of a mythological youth who was so beautiful that all the girls longed to be his, but he only shunned them. He would have none of them. Finally one of the girls whose heart he had wounded prayed this prayer to the gods, “May he who loves not others love himself.” The goddess Nemesis granted her request. As Narcissus bent over a clear pool for a drink and saw there his own reflection, he immediately fell in love with it. He burned with love for himself and could not stop gazing at that reflection. He stayed there, pining away, until he died. Thus Narcissus (narcissism) has become a term which refers to SELF LOVE, an excessive interest in one’s own appearance, comfort, importance, abilities, etc. Sadly this is one of the chief characteristics of the last days—”For men shall be lovers of their own selves” (2 Tim. 3:2).

Lightfoot suggests that Narcissus could have been a rich and powerful freedman who was closely connected to the Emperor Claudius, serving as his secretary, and who was later put to death shortly after Nero assumed the throne. If Aristobulus was related to the Herods (see v.10), then he would have been a close ally of Claudius. These two possibilities may give us some help in understanding Philippians 4:22 (“[the saints] that are of Caesar’s household”), because there would have been at least two households within the palace that had believers in them.

Romans 16:12 Tryphaena, Tryphosa and Persis—three female laborers!

These three believers were known for their LABOR. The word means strenuous labor, even to the point of weariness and exhaustion. Even in the midst of labor, the believer is to learn to REST (Matthew 11:28). These three women labored “in the Lord” and we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58). Our labor is to be “in the Lord” and it is also to be for His great Name’s sake (Rev. 2:3), because of WHO HE IS. The One we labor for is worthy of our utmost energy and effort. He deserves nothing less than our best. If anyone labored, it was the Apostle Paul himself: “But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I LABORED more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10 and compare Col. 1:29; 2 Cor. 11:23). This was a LABOR motivated and empowered by the grace of God. Our motivation for labor should also be LOVE—love for the Saviour and for believers and for all mankind. God is not unrighteous to forget such a labor of love (Heb. 6:10).

Tryphaena and Tryphosa had names which were very similar and perhaps they were sisters (sometimes parents give their daughters names that sound alike or are similar in some way (Ruth and Rachel, Joan and Jean, etc.). The labor of Persis is described in the past tense which is unusual (the labor of the first two women is described in the present tense). Hendricksen offers a possible explanation: “Does the distinction in tense indicate that the frailties connected with old age have caught up with Persis, so that she is no longer able to labor as diligently as was once the case? If so, Paul takes care that her past labors are not forgotten. A lesson for us all to remember.” Paul was careful how he referred to a female saint. In verse 9 he addresses Stachys (a man) as “my beloved” but he addresses Persis as “the beloved.” It’s important to be careful about such things, lest a man give the impression that he is being too familiar with a woman.

Romans 16:13 Rufus and his mother

It is possible that Paul is here sending greetings to the same “Rufus” who is mentioned in Mark 15:21, the son of Simon, the man who carried our Lord’s cross. The “Rufus” mentioned in Mark 15:21 had a brother named Alexander. Paul described the mother of Rufus as “his mother and mine.” There was a sense in which Paul claimed the mother of Rufus as his mother, reminding us of Mark 10:29-30. She no doubt had had occasion to care for Paul as if he were her own son. When we are saved and become members of the family of God (John 1:12) we soon discover that we have many brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers! God’s blood-bought children have a unique relationship one with another. “Let Christian mothers find here a great field for that wonderful heart of instinctive loving care given by God to mothers,—that they extend their maternal care beyond their own family circle, to all Christians, and especially to all laborers for Christ. The Lord will remember it at His coming!” (W.Newell)

All believers are “chosen in the Lord.” We all are God’s elect (see Col. 3:12; Rom. 8:33; 2 Tim. 2:10; 1 Pet. 1:2; 2:9 where this same word is used). Compare also Ephesians 1:4. Some believe that this term is here used in a special sense, meaning that Rufus was a “choice” believer (an exceptional believer having some eminence–see the NASB—”a choice man in the Lord”). Thayer says it can have the meaning of “choice, select, i.e. the best of its kind or class, excellent, preeminent.” But if Rufus was such an outstanding, preeminent believer, why is he only mentioned here and nowhere else in the Scriptures? [Aquila and Priscilla, for example, are mentioned a number of times in the N.T.] So it is possible that Paul used the expression “chosen in the Lord” in its common, normal sense. Perhaps he was seeking to encourage the heart of Rufus by reminding him of the glorious fact of his election, a fact which should bring forth much thanksgiving from the heart of every believer (2 Thess. 2:13). Perhaps Rufus was saved in a remarkable way, having been a person who seemed very unlikely to ever come to Christ. We all know people who, from a human point of view, seem to be impossible candidates for salvation: “That man will never get saved!” But the God who converted Saul of Tarsus can wonderfully surprise us. “Rufus, never forget God’s wonderful work of calling you and choosing you and bringing you to Himself! You are a trophy of God’s sovereign, saving grace!”

Romans 16:14-15 Ten believers.

Five believers are greeted by name in verse 14 and mention is made of the “brethren that are with them.” Five believers are mentioned in verse 15 as well as “all the saints who are with them.” See our lengthy discussion under Romans 16:5 concerning “house churches.” Nereus may have been instrumental in the salvation of two famous Romans. In 95 A.D. Rome was shocked when two distinguished Roman citizens were condemned for being Christian believers: Flavius Clemens and his wife Domatilla (she was the granddaughter of Vespasian, a former Emperor and the niece of Domitian, the reigning Emperor). Flavius was executed and his wife was banished to an island. Flavius and his wife had a household servant named Nereus (see verse 15). Nereus was a common name, but if the household servant of Flavius was the same man Paul referred to, then it seems likely that Nereus was influential in the salvation of these two prominent people (see William Barclay’s discussion of this in his Letters to the Romans, also cited by MacArthur in Romans 9-16).

Romans 16:16 The Holy Kiss

In the early church there was a unique kinship among believers: “Greet one another with an holy kiss.” Also there was a unique kinship among assemblies of believers: “The churches of Christ greet you.” Believers had a special relationship one with another and assemblies had a special relationship one with another, all because of Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament the term “KISS” is mentioned five times in connection with greetings. Four times Paul speaks of “an holy kiss” (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26) and once Peter speaks of “a kiss of love” (1 Pet. 5:14). The Lord Jesus spoke of this custom when He gently reprimanded Simon the Pharisee: “Thou gavest me no kiss” (Luke 7:45). When Paul said farewell to the Ephesians they “fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him” (Acts 20:37 and compare the welcome of the prodigal son in Luke 15:20). The custom was to kiss on the forehead or cheek, not on the lips (it was in no way a sensual, erotic or romantic kiss). Since Paul exhorted them to “greet one another” with this kiss, could it be that the greeting was to extend to all believers, not just to members of the same sex (compare Gen. 29:11 where Jacob kissed Rachel, which was not a romantic kiss but an affectionate greeting among relatives)? However there are some who feel that this custom only applied to members of the same sex—men kissing men and women kissing women (see The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, p. 1814). It was a “holy kiss” indicating that God was involved and God was pleased in this warm and affectionate display of genuine love between believers: “it should never imply less than three parties: God and the two who kiss each other. The holy kiss symbolizes Christ’s love mutually shared” (Hendricksen).

In our society and in most societies today, a warm and affectionate greeting is expressed in ways other than by a kiss. A warm and affectionate “holy handshake” would certainly be a God-honoring substitute for what the first century Christians did, and if we are to “greet one another” then the hand should not be refused even if it be offered by a member of the opposite sex. We are brothers and sisters in Christ and we are to see that we love one another with a PURE HEART fervently (1 Pet. 1:22).

There are times when believers try to obey the “letter of the law,” and in doing so actually disobey the “spirit of the law.” This could happen with “the holy kiss.” There are some churches in America that seek to practice this custom, believing it to be Biblical. However those who have witnessed this report that such a greeting is anything but warm and affectionate. Kissing fellow believers is so foreign to our custom that we go through the motions of it but it loses all warmth and affection. Thus in keeping to the letter of the law we have lost the spirit of the law. Far better to lose the letter of the law by substituting the kiss for a more comfortable handshake, and thus be able to fulfill the spirit of the law (a warm and affectionate greeting). Those believers who live in countries where this kind of kissing is still practiced are better able to fulfill both the letter and the spirit of this command.

“The churches of Christ” sent their greetings to the church of Christ that was in Rome. The churches of the first century had a kinship and unity that we no longer find among churches today. This is because first century churches all shared in common the following:

SAME TEACHING “as I teach every where in every church” (1 Cor. 4:17)

SAME PRACTICE “as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches” (1 Cor. 7:17)

SAME CUSTOM “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God” (1 Cor. 11:16).

SAME ORDER “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33).

Today there is a group of churches called “THE CHURCH OF CHRIST” which claims to base its practices and its doctrine solely on the authority of the New Testament Scriptures. Sadly this group of churches promotes serious error in at least two points: 1) They teach baptismal regeneration, that a person cannot be saved and cannot have his sins forgiven until he is baptized in water (see our study on DOES WATER BAPTISM SAVE?); 2) They teach that a believer in Christ can lose his salvation (see our study on ETERNAL SECURITY).

Romans 16:17-18 A Call for Separation

At this point in the text we have an abrupt break in the flow of thought. Paul had been giving a series of greetings to the believers living in Rome. Then he suddenly stopped as if he were somehow reminded of something very urgent that he must share with these believers for their own safety and protection. It reminds us of Jude when he gave all diligence to write of the common salvation but then he changed what he intended to do because he was suddenly impelled to exhort the people to earnestly contend for the faith and to beware of false teachers (Jude 3 and following).

In these verses Paul sounds out a final warning and exhortation concerning false teachers in which he spells out two ways in which believers may protect themselves against false teachers.  The first way is by SEPARATION (verse 17) and the second way is by PENETRATION (Verse 18).

The first way we may protect ourselves against false teachers is by SEPARATION. This verse is structured around two commands. Biblical separation can be realized only as these two commands are obeyed. The first command is a command for identification: MARK THEM! It is impossible to separate from a false teacher if you do not know who he is. He must be identified for what he really is. This command is given to the “brethren” in Rome, not just to the elders in Rome and not just to the leadership of this local assembly. Every believer is to show this kind of discernment. Paul was saying, “Make sure you can spot them and identify them. Constantly be on guard, watching for those who might promote false doctrine (compare the warning Paul gave to the Ephesians elders in Acts 20:29-31).

Paul then gives some help in identifying these false teachers, describing them as those who “cause divisions and offenses (stumbling blocks).” Those who are faithful to the Word of God and “narrow minded” in a good way (the Bible is a very narrow book, compare Matthew 7:13-14), are likely going to be accused of being DIVISIVE. “You separatists are always dividing the body of Christ. Why don’t you be more loving and less dogmatic about what you believe?” Etc. Paul reminds us who the divisive ones really are: those who go contrary to the doctrine which has been handed down. In other words, those who cause divisions are those who refuse to stand obediently and faithfully upon the written Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. Those who move away from that sure foundation are the ones, from God’s perspective, who are causing division. They should not have budged from the rock solid foundation of truth!

These false teachers cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine (teaching) which the Roman believers had received. This preposition para (contrary) is normally translated “along side of.” The error creeps up to the truth and comes along side of it. Error always rides closely to the truth and yet it does not quite match up to the truth. It comes close to it though, and is very subtle. Paul expected the Roman believers to know enough doctrine so that they could discern truth from error and thus be able to mark and identify false teachers. They need to be very skilled at telling the difference between that which is counterfeit and that which is true, even though the false and the true may look very similar in many ways. One of the problems in so many churches today is that the people do not know enough doctrine to be able to recognize a person who is teaching contrary to sound doctrine.

Once the false teacher has been marked and identified, what is next? This brings us to our second command which is a command for severance: AVOID THEM! Literally it means, “turn away from them.” Notice that we are to separate not merely from their teachings but from them. Alva McClain said it this way, “Get as far away from them as possible.”

Concerning those who teach false doctrine, notice what the New Testament tells us in other places:

Let him be accursed (Gal. 1:8-9).

From such turn away (2 Tim. 3:5).

An heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject (Tit. 3:10).

If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not . . . (2 John 10).

(Each of these passages must be studied in its context so that each command
might be correctly understood and properly obeyed.)

PENETRATION (Verse 18)

The penetration demanded here in verse 18 is twofold. First, there is penetration into their motives (“For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly”) and second, there is penetration into their methods (“and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple”).

Penetration into their motives: We must penetrate beyond the mere profession. They professed to serve Christ, but Paul penetrated into their true motive. He denied that they served Christ, but rather he discerned that they served their own belly. This was a very strong way of saying that they were SERVING SELF. The word “belly” (6@484″) comes from a word meaning “hollow” and can denote the entire physical cavity (often used in the NT of the womb). In John 7:38 it stands metaphorically for the innermost part of man (Vine). In Philippians 3:18-19 Paul used this term to describe the enemies of Christ: “whose God is their belly.” Many today claim to be serving Christ but are really striving for personal gain and fame. They care not about the Name and reputation of Christ. They are serving and pleasing SELF and not God.

Penetration into their methods: They deceive the hearts of the simple (literally “without evil”, innocent, those who are unsuspecting). These victims are trustful souls who expect nothing bad. How do these false teachers deceive these unsuspecting ones? They do it with good words (words that sound so good, so plausible) and fair speeches (polished language). False teachers really know how to communicate! It is POISON but it is served on such a beautiful platter! They are very smooth talkers. They have a gift at making error sound so good. We remember the words of the serpent in Genesis 3 which sounded so good to Eve. We need to penetrate and look beyond their flattering and polished speeches and discern the hiss of the serpent. Such people are to be marked and avoided!

Romans 16:19

After giving a strong word against unregenerate false teachers, Paul admonishes the Romans concerning their responsibility toward good and evil. He first notes their fidelity (they had not succumbed to false teaching): “your obedience has reached unto all men.” We have already seen that the Romans were famous for their faith (Rom. 1:8). Where there is faith there will also be obedience: “by faith Abraham…obeyed” (Heb. 11:8). The greatest antidote against false teaching is to simply obey the Word of God (compare Rom. 6:17). Their obedience caused Paul to be glad and rejoice over them (compare the Apostle John’s rejoicing over obedient believers in 3 John 3-4). The Roman believers occupied a crucial and strategic place in heart of the empire and it would be tragic if their faith would be corrupted. Historically we know that eventually this did happen. The most corrupt and influential religious system that ever developed from Christianity bears the name “Roman”–the Roman Catholic church!

Paul’s earnest desire for these believers was that they would be “wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil.” Being “wise unto that which is good,” will include “the constant study of God’s Word of truth, and careful observation and valuing what is good in the lives about us, and of those whose lives and works we read. Paul sums it up in Philippians 4:8″ (Newell). God wants us to be careful students when it comes to what is good, who is good, and how to be good. We need to be constantly testing what is that good will of God (Rom. 12:2), ever following that which is good (1 Thess. 5:15; 1 Pet. 3:13), ever avoiding what is not good (1 Pet. 3:11–”eschew”), and abounding to every good work (2 Cor. 9:8; Eph. 2:10; 2 Thess. 2:17; 2 Tim. 3:17; Tit. 3:1) being fruitful therein (Col. 1:10).

Being “simple concerning evil” in some sense must be opposite in meaning to “wise unto that which is good.” We are not to be wise unto that which is evil. We are to be naive (innocent, uninitiated) toward evil, in a good way. We are not to study evil in the sense of going out and doing experiential research and personal investigations of how rotten the world system has become. When it comes to knowledge and understanding, we are to be mature and be un-childlike, but when it comes to malice and wickedness we are to be very immature and unknowing (1 Cor. 14:20). If there is a corrupt television program, the believer does not need to view it in order to discover for himself how evil it is so that he might warn others. “Many Christians rationalize watching degrading movies and TV programs by claiming they need to be familiar with the ways of the world in order to better analyze secular culture and be better prepared to witness to those who are worldly. But it is not necessary to sift through garbage to recognize it for what it is, and the more we are around it the more we pick up its stench. The more willingly we associate with evil, the more it will drag us down to its level” (MacArthur). We are to “abhor that which is evil” (Rom. 12:9) and shrink back from it in terror, not try to get close enough to it to investigate it. As sinners saved by grace we have already been as close to sin as we ever need to be. Our object now is to get as far away from it as possible, “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 23).

The word “simple” literally means “unmixed.” It is from a verb meaning “to mix, mingle, to mix wine and water” with the negative prefix, thus: not mixed, unmixed. It means “without admixture of evil, free from guile, innocent, simple” (Thayer). It was used of wine not diluted with water (pure wine) and metal not weakened in any way (pure metal). It is used in two other places in the NT—1) Philippians 2:15, “That ye might be blameless and harmless, the sons of God . . . in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.” 2) Matthew 10:16, “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (notice that here as in Romans 16:19 the word is contrasted with the word “wise”). The “dove” in Scripture seems to be a symbol of purity. It is used in Song of Solomon 6:9 in parallel with the term “undefiled” and it is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3:16.

Romans 16:20

In this verse believers have been given the wonderful promise that our war with Satan will shortly come to a complete and final end, with Satan totally vanquished and with God’s saints sharing in the glorious victory. He’s the “God of peace” in the sense that He alone is able to bring an end to the war with Satan which will result in peace for the saints (“peace” in the sense of the end of war, freedom from conflict). Obviously God’s people enjoy God’s peace now (John 14:27), but in light of the promise in this verse, Paul was probably thinking of the ultimate peace that believers will gain through the defeat of Satan.

This promise is a direct reference to Genesis 3:15 where we are told that the seed of the woman (Christ) would bruise or crush the Serpent’s head (a fatal blow), and that Satan would bruise or crush Christ’s heel (Calvary’s cross). God will inflict a crushing blow upon the archenemy of our souls, and we will share in God’s victory over Satan. The ones who are “co-heirs” (Rom. 8:17) are also co-conquerors. He will be crushed “under your feet.” When the Israelites conquered enemy kings they would symbolize their great victory by putting their feet upon their necks (Joshua 10:24). God invites His saints to celebrate His victory over Satan.

When will this great defeat of Satan take place? It will happen “shortly, quickly, suddenly, soon.” Believers are encouraged by the fact that the battle, though difficult, will not be long. We can expect it to be soon. Satan’s time is short and his defeat is certain.

Prophetically we know that at the mid-point of the tribulation Satan will be cast out of the third heaven and execute his fury upon the earth, knowing that his time is short (Rev. 12:12). He knows his doom is impending. Three and a half years later he will be cast into the abyss at which time he will literally be “under the feet” of millennial saints. His final and ultimate doom is described in Revelation 20:10 (and compare Matthew 25:41).

When Paul wrote to the Romans, Satan, though defeated at Calvary, was still an active and formidable foe, as he still is today (1 Pet. 5:8-9; 1 John 4:4). Believers of the first century, as well as believers today, are joyfully expecting the imminent return of Christ (Tit. 2:13; Rom. 13:11; 1 Cor. 1:7; etc.). We know that once this event takes place (which may be at any time), Satan’s defeat will soon follow. It is from the perspective of imminency that we may speak of Satan’s defeat as “soon.” Believers of any period of church history should be encouraged by the fact of Christ’s soon coming and Satan’s soon defeat!

This Greek phrase “soon” or “shortly” is also found in Revelation 1:1 and 22:6—”the things which must shortly come to pass.” There are those today who believe that the tribulation period is not future but has already been fulfilled in history at or around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. They believe that most prophecy, including most of what was predicted in the book of Revelation, was fulfilled at this time. Since it says “these things must shortly come to pass” they reason that all these things must have taken place in the first century. But Romans 16:20 serves as an argument against such thinking. Obviously Satan is an active and dangerous foe today and he has not yet received his crushing and defeating blow, even though it has been nearly 2000 years since Paul promised that this would soon take place! And yet, from the perspective of believers both then and now, this event may be anticipated to take place “shortly.”

I wrote to, Gary DeMar, a very prominent author, anti-dispensationalist and defender of the view that says that most prophecies have been fulfilled in the past, in or around 70 A.D. I simply asked him when he believed Satan would be crushed in light of Romans 16:20. I also asked him if he thought this has already taken place in 70 A.D. Here is his response:

The primary reference is the Roman Christians to whom Paul is writing (“your feet” not “their feet,” that is, not the feet of people who were not alive when Paul wrote his letter). The crushing is to take place “soon.” “Soon” means “soon.” Since nearly 2000 years have passed, whatever Paul was describing, it is history. Satan could refer to the apostate Jews who Revelation describes as a “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9; 3:9), the same ones that Jesus describes as being related to the Devil in John 8:44 (“ye are of your father the devil”). The Jews were the ones “who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out,” Paul writes. “They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved, with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost” (1 Thess. 2:14-16). This “wrath” might be Paul’s crushing mataphor. (5/21/01)

Notice that DeMar, in seeking to understand “soon” literally, is forced to understand the verse in a very non-literal way. He says that “soon” means “soon” but then goes on to explain that Satan does not really mean Satan but it is merely a metaphor for the unbelieving Jews who will be crushed in 70 A.D. This is typical of the preterist position. By insisting that most prophecies find their fulfillment in the first century they are forced to understand most prophecies in a very non-literal way. [See our booklet, The Great Tribulation—Future or Fulfilled?]

Romans 16:21-24

In the first part of this chapter Paul sent his personal greetings to various saints in Rome. In this section, beginning with verse 21, Paul conveys greetings to the Romans from his companions who were with him in Corinth. The book of Romans was written in Corinth at the close of Paul’s third missionary journey. On these verses, see a very helpful quote by Bishop Moule (cited also by Newell, p. 562).

Paul mentions his faithful fellow-worker Timothy, his own son in the faith (see Phil. 2:19-20; 1 Tim. 1:2). Paul had a warm place in his heart for Timothy even to the end of his life. Among his last recorded words, Paul twice asked to see Timothy again (2 Tim. 4:9,21). Lucius is probably the same man mentioned in Acts 13:1, among the prophets and teachers of the great church at Antioch. Some identify Lucius with Luke (see MacArthur). Jason could be the same man mentioned in Acts 17:5-9 who entertained Paul and Silas and whose house was assaulted by a mob. Sosipater may be the same man called Sopater in Acts 20:4-6, and if so he was one of the noble Bereans of Acts 17:10-12. The last three names mentioned in verse 21 are said to be Paul’s kinsmen, indicating they were Jews (see our discussion of “kinsmen” under Romans 16:7), another reason for not identifying Lucius as Luke (Luke was a Gentile).

Verse 22 is the one verse in the book of Romans that Paul did not write! Tertius was Paul’s secretary or amanuensis (an assistant, one who takes dictation). Paul spoke as he was moved and carried along by the Holy Spirit (compare 2 Peter 1:21) and Tertius recorded or transcribed with precision what he said. But here Paul allowed Tertius to speak for himself and to send greetings to the Romans. Apparently Paul generally dictated his letters, perhaps due to an eye problem which forced him to write in large letters when he did write, John Hancock style (Gal. 6:11). At the end of his epistles Paul would normally pen a greeting with his own hand, which was a token of the letter’s authenticity (see 2 Thess. 3:17 and Gal. 6:11). He greeted the saints “in the Lord,” in the Person of our blessed Head who alone can unite believers together.

Gaius (verse 23) was known for his hospitality, and not only hosted Paul but also the whole assembly. “Here is a brother whose hospitality welcomes all saints. Brother, if you have a longing to be helpful to God’s saints, be a Gaius! Count not the things you have as your own, but as belonging to Christ; and, therefore, to be used freely by Christ’s own” (Newell). He is probably the same man mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14, whom Paul baptized (Paul wrote Romans from Corinth). Some identify him with Titius Justus of Acts 18:7. It is thought that Gaius was a rich and prominent man and as such may have had a spacious house suitable for the gathering of the saints for worship.

Erastus (verse 23) was the chamberlain or city treasurer of Corinth. It is the word “oikonomos” (compare the English word “economy”) which means “house manager, steward” or in this case “superintendent of the city’s finances.” We get the term “dispensation” from this word. Erastus was a dispensationalist in more ways than one. He was entrusted with the city’s finances and more importantly, as a believer, he was entrusted with the responsibility to manifest and exhibit God’s grace (Eph. 3:2). Erastus was a man of high station and political influence, and as such had the opportunity to be an excellent testimony before the leaders of the city. May we shine for Christ wherever God has put us, whether high or low (Phil. 2:15).

Quartus (verse 23) may not have been a prominent person, but he was a dear brother in Christ and Paul sent heartfelt greetings from Quartus to the Romans. How thankful we should be that Christ is not ashamed to call us “brothers” (Heb. 2:11). Quartus was the last of Paul’s companions to send greetings.

In verse 24 Paul gives a closing benediction very similar to what was written in verse 20. Some manuscripts omit this verse (!, A,B,C). To have two benedictions very close to each other was not foreign to Paul’s style (see 2 Thess. 3:16,18). The believer in Christ cannot be reminded too often of his need for the God of grace and the grace of God (compare 2 Cor. 9:8; 2 Tim. 2:1).

Romans 16:25-27 (closing benediction).

There are a number of similarities between these verses and Paul’s opening verses in Romans chapter 1. Consider the following:

The last of these (in bold print) is actually a contrast. In chapter 1 Paul speaks about the gospel of God which had been promised before by the Old Testament prophets, but in chapter 16 Paul, in speaking of the gospel, mentions a mystery which had been kept secret but which is now revealed by the New Testament prophets. There is a sense in which the gospel is both old and new. There is an aspect of the gospel which is old and which was revealed on the pages of the Old Testament Scriptures. There is another aspect of the gospel which is new and which was kept secret throughout the Old Testament period, but which has been made known during this present age by Paul and other New Testament prophets and apostles.

The Old Gospel

The gospel message centers around the Person and work of Christ, and especially His substitutionary death and His bodily resurrection from the dead. Paul defines the gospel most clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 where he says, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures . . .and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” The cross and the empty tomb must not be preached according to our own ideas and opinions, but in strict accordance and agreement with what has been revealed about these stupendous events in the Scriptures, even the Old Testament Scriptures. For example, a most detailed account and descriptive explanation of Christ’s substitutionary death is set forth in Isaiah 53, about 700 years before Christ was crucified. Even in the New Testament it is hard to find the doctrine of the substitutionary death of Christ so thoroughly covered as it is in Isaiah 53 (the New Testament writers assume that you have already mastered what God said through the prophet Isaiah!). Proof that the great truths of Christ’s death and resurrection were revealed in the Old Testament can be found in the words of our risen Lord in Luke 24:44-46.

When Philip preached the gospel to the African, he used Isaiah 53 as a starting point (Acts 8:28-35). In Acts 2:24-32 Peter preached the resurrection of Christ and used Psalm 16 as the basis for his message. In Acts 3:18 Peter preached the gospel and announced that the sufferings of Christ had been foretold by the mouth of all God’s prophets. In Acts 4:10-11 Peter preached the death and resurrection of Christ and based it on Psalm 118. In Acts 10:43 Peter proclaimed that all the prophets had pointed to Jesus Christ and the forgiveness found in Him. In Acts 13:33-37 Paul preached the gospel in a synagogue and told the Jews that Christ’s resurrection was a fulfillment of Psalm 2 and Psalm 16.

In Romans Paul’s main theme is justification by faith and Paul sets forth Abraham as an example of this, based on Genesis 15:6 (Rom. 4:1-8). The revelation of God’s righteousness had been “witnessed by the Law and the prophets” (Rom. 3:24). In Romans 10 Paul discusses the gospel of the grace of God and he quotes from several Old Testament passages to establish his points (see verses 6,7,8,11,13,15,16,18). In Romans 15 Paul cites several Old Testament passages which were in harmony with the fact of the gospel going to the Gentiles (verses 9-12,21).

In Galatians Paul again uses Abraham as an example of justification by faith (3:6) and Paul even goes so far as to say that the promise of Genesis 12:3 was given by God because God foresaw that the Gentiles would be justified by faith and blessed (Gal. 3:8). In this same context Paul says that God “preached before the gospel to Abraham” (Gal. 3:8). Paul cites Habakkuk 2:4 as support for his doctrine of justification by faith (3:11).

The gospel Paul preached was “according to the (Old Testament) Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4)! His basic themes of the cross and the empty tomb and justification by faith were themes that could be found in the Old Testament. There was no mystery is this.

The New Gospel

Today there is a “mystery” aspect of the gospel which was unknown in other ages but which now forms the very core of the gospel preaching of this age:

Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel . . . that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:5-8).

In this age, therefore, there is a distinctive element to the content of the gospel which is called “the mystery of the gospel” (see Eph. 6:19 and compare Col. 1:26-27; 4:3). This new revelation is that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise (Eph. 3:6). Such equality—Jew and Gentile united together in one body—was previously unknown. The distinctive message of the church is that Jew and Gentile alike may believe the gospel and be united together into ONE BODY (1 Cor. 12:13) for the purpose of manifesting and bearing witness to Christ who is the sovereign Head of this unique and living organism!

Dispensational writers have long recognized the distinctive element of gospel preaching in this church age:

The idea that Gentiles should be on exactly the same plane as Israelites and, furthermore, in the intimate relationship as being members of the same body, is absolutely foreign to the Old Testament. According to Isaiah 61:5,6, the Gentiles are pictured as being the servants and Israel as the priests of God. While it is true that the Gentiles were promised blessings in the future millennial kingdom, they are never given equality with the Jews in the Old Testament (Walvoord, The Church in Prophecy, pp. 46-47).

The Old Testament does predict Gentile blessing for the millennial period (Isa. 61:5-6; 2:1-4), but the blessings do not include equality with the Jews as is true today in the Body of Christ. Great blessing is promised Gentiles in the predictions of the Old Testament, but not on the basis of equality of position with the Jews. This equality is the point of the mystery revealed to the apostles and prophets in New Testament times (Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, p. 134).

Mystery truth is not developed in Romans as much as it is developed in Ephesians and Colossians, but the epistle to the Romans does touch on some of these things. The uniqueness of being in the body of Christ is treated in Romans 12 and the unique ONENESS and IDENTIFICATION with Christ that both Jews and Gentiles enjoy by virtue of being “IN CHRIST” is wonderfully treated in Romans 6. The glorious and precious mystery of “Christ in you” (Col. 1:26-27) is touched upon in Romans 8:9-10. The union of the believer with Christ, likened to a marriage relationship (Eph. 5:29-32) is presented in Romans 7:1-4. The many riches that Jews and Gentiles alike share in Christ are wonderfully set forth in Romans 8. The mystery of Israel’s partial and temporary blindness is set forth in Romans 11:25. Indeed, Romans, more than any other epistle, helps us to understand God’s purpose and program for Israel, in light of what God is doing today among the Gentiles and in light of what God will do in the future (Romans 9-11). Thus the book of Romans contributes in a significant way to our understanding of mystery truth. May God help us to be good and faithful stewards of these things (1 Cor. 4:1-2)!¹

Let us now consider some of the key words and phrases in these final three verses:

Romans 16:25

“To stablish you” means to render you firm and constant, to keep you from falling. God has all power and ability to establish believers in the truth, that our FAITH might be fixed down on God’s FACTS. Those believers who are not well grounded in the truths set forth in the book of Romans are on dangerous ground and are susceptible to many grievous errors. But those believers who have mastered Paul’s doctrinal masterpiece have fortified themselves on these great foundational truths and it is difficult to get them to move or budge from the rock-solid foundation upon which they have established themselves. As a case in point, the fellowship of Bible believing churches of which I was a part was deeply hurt by false teaching which denied the eternal Sonship of Christ (teaching instead that Christ became the Son of God at the time of the incarnation). This error is so simply and clearly answered and refuted in Romans 1:3-4 (at the incarnation the One who was already the Son became a man “of the seed of David according to the flesh,” whereas the erroneous view teaches that at the incarnation the eternal God became the Son). This is but one example of how a correct understanding of the teaching set forth in Romans can establish believers in the truth and keep them from falling into error.

Believers cannot be fully established in the truth apart from a proper understanding of “mystery truth” which is the subject of this closing paragraph. It is sad indeed that believers in general are so ignorant of these Sacred Secrets which were so near and dear to the heart of the apostle Paul. There is a body of truth which was hidden and locked up in the loving heart of God during all the past ages, but which now in this present age God desires to make known to His saints. And yet the ignorance of “mystery truth” in our day is astounding. At ordination councils the question has been asked: “What does it mean to be a steward of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1-2) and how important is this to your ministry?” In some cases they don’t have a clue. How ignorant we are when it comes to understanding the riches and glories of this mystery which God delights to make known (Col. 1:27)! Paul’s great burden was to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages hath been hidden in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Eph. 3:8-9). May this be near and dear to our heart as well.

“According to my gospel”—The expression “my gospel” is found in only two other places in the Bible: 1) Romans 2:16—”In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel“; 2) 2 Timothy 2:8—”Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” When Paul spoke of “my gospel” he was not necessarily referring to “mystery truth” as this last passage indicates. That the Messiah would be of the seed of David and that He would be raised from the dead were truths that were revealed in the Old Testament and were not mysteries.

What did Paul mean by “my gospel”? In what sense did the gospel belong to Paul? Remember, in Romans 1:1 Paul had made it very clear that the good news that he preached was “the gospel of God.” It was God’s good news! In what sense was it Paul’s good news? There are at least two reasons why Paul personalized the good news: 1) It was Paul’s gospel in the sense that it was entrusted to him: “The glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust” (1 Tim. 1:11). “A dispensation (stewardship) of the gospel is committed unto me . . . for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:17,16). Paul took very seriously his gospel responsibility. 2) It was Paul’s gospel in the sense that it was uniquely revealed to him: “The gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11-12). “My gospel . . . according to the revelation of the mystery” (Rom. 16:25-26). “I went up by revelation, and communicated to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles” (Gal.2:2). “By revelation He made known unto me the mystery” (Eph. 3:3 and compare v.6—”by the gospel”).

Paul’s good news included mystery truth: “that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19). In light of this, there are two ultradispensational errors that must be avoided: 1) Paul was the only person who received the revelation of the mystery. This error is corrected by Ephesians 3:5 which teaches that mystery truth was revealed to God’s holy apostles and prophets. No doubt Paul was the chief revelator of mystery truth but it was not given to him exclusively. He was not the only steward of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1-2). 2) Mystery truth was not made known until Paul revealed it. The mysteries of God are revealed in all the fulness of their preciousness in Paul’s epistles, but Paul was not the first to reveal these secrets.

It should be noted that mystery truth had been revealed, at least in germ form, by the chief Revelator of all, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is seen especially in the mysteries of Matthew 13 and in the Upper Room Discourse of John 14-17. Here are some examples:

1. The mystery of the church was anticipated in Matthew 13:45-46.
2. The mystery of “Christ in you” (Col. 1:27) was anticipated in John 14:20 and 17:23.
3. The mystery of the oneness of Christ and His church (Eph. 5:31-32) was anticipated in John 17:21-23.
4. The mystery of the rapture (1 Cor. 15:51-52) was anticipated in John 14:1-3.
5. The mystery of the present status of the nation Israel (Romans 11:25) was anticipated in Matthew 13:44.
6. The mystery of iniquity working throughout the course of this present age (2 Thess. 2:9) was anticipated in the parables of the mustard seed and leaven.
7. The mystery of Jews and Gentiles being united together in one body (Eph. 3:5-6) was anticipated in John 10:16.

Lewis Sperry Chafer also discovered a significant correspondence between the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” as delineated in Matthew 13 and the mysteries revealed by Paul in the New Testament epistles:

In Matthew 13 there is given by Christ Himself, and under seven parables, the characteristics of this age. In this Scripture this age is itself declared to be a mystery, or sacred secret (13:11), and the parables develop the truth that there are three major features present throughout this age, namely, (a) that which is acceptable—the wheat, the pearl, and the good fish; (b) that which represents blinded Israel (verses 14-15), who are the treasure hid in the field—the field is the world—and (c) the presence of evil—the tares, evil birds, leaven, and bad fish. It should be observed that, in the New Testament, each of these three factors is itself declared to be a mystery, or sacred secret: (a) the Church composed of Jews and Gentiles in one Body (Eph. 3:4-6), (b) Israel blinded until the Church is called out (Rom. 11:25; cf. Acts 15:13-18), and (c) the presence and character of evil in this age (2 Thess. 2:7). See Systematic Theology, Vol. IV, p. 44.

As already stated, ultradispensationalists teach that mystery truth was not revealed prior to Paul and that it was revealed exclusively by Paul. Dr. Ernest Pickering answers this: “To say that ‘church truth’ was never revealed before Paul is to deny the places in Scripture where the Lord Himself taught such truth. The Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17) is most certainly applicable [specifically and exclusively] to the church. The blessed position of the saints in Christ, the access in prayer, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the rapture of the Church—all and more are taught in the Upper Room Discourse” (Distinctive Teachings of Ultra-Dispensationalism).

“And the preaching of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 16:25). Paul’s gospel centered in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He not only preached Christ (2 Cor. 4:5) but he rejoiced whenever others preached Christ (Phil. 1:18). Paul made it clear from the start of this epistle that Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son, was the center and the core of the gospel (Rom. 1:1-4). And when Paul preached the mystery of the gospel among the Gentiles he ceased not to preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8). Only as we are separated unto and devoted to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ can we be separated unto and devoted to the gospel (Rom. 1:1).

“According to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began”—This mystery, once kept secret, is now revealed! It is a secret no longer! That which was hidden is now being made known! “It is the secret ‘hushed’ throughout the long ages of the past, but now spoken out” (Moule). The phrase “since the world began” is literally rendered, “in the times of the ages” (Darby) or “in everlasting times” (Kelly). It is the mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations (Col. 1:26).

There are five passages which clearly define what a New Testament mystery is. They are as follows:

1. “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in other ages [generations] was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4-5).
2. “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Eph. 3:9).
3. “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (Col. 1:26).
4. “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:35).
5. “According to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:26).

In light of these five passages we can derive the following definition of a New Testament mystery: A New Testament mystery is that which was hidden, kept secret, and not made known to men in previous generations [prior to Paul’s generation] but was made manifest and revealed in the New Testament era to and by the New Testament apostles and prophets.

According to this Bible-based definition, dispensationalists have long maintained the position that a New Testament mystery is something which had never been revealed in previous generations (in the Old Testament period) but which God was pleased to make known in Paul’s time. As already outlined, such mysteries were made known first by Christ (partially) and then by His apostle Paul (fully). Contrary to this position is Reformed Theology (or Covenant Theology) which says that the New Testament mysteries were revealed in Old Testament times, but they were not as clearly understood as they are today. They teach that such mysteries were not altogether absent from the Old Testament (see note in The New Geneva Study Bible under Eph. 3:5). Thus they teach that the mysteries were partially revealed, but not fully understood until later. However, this is contrary to the five passages previously listed. These verses do not say that the mystery was partially made known but that it was not made known at all. It was hidden and kept secret and locked up in the loving heart of God, as it were.

Let’s illustrate this with a specific example. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Paul makes known a mystery which had been hidden in previous ages. The secret which he revealed was that there would be a whole generation of living believers who would not taste of physical death. The Old Testament nowhere says anything about such an event. Moses, Elijah, David and Isaiah never had the slightest hint that such a thing would one day take place. It was completely hidden from them and it could not be found in their holy Scriptures. God never breathed out a word of it until New Testament times when it was hinted at by our Lord (John 14:1-3) and fully explained by Paul (1 Cor. 15:51-52 and 1 Thess. 4:13-18). This is a true New Testament mystery.

The mystery which Paul spoke of in Romans 16 was that Jews and Gentiles were now being dealt with by God on the basis of total equality and that upon believing on Christ they would be united together into one body for the purpose of showing forth the excellencies of the One who called them out of darkness into His marvellous light! Out of two, God made ONE NEW MAN (Eph. 2:11-18) and ONE NEW FLOCK (John 10:16). And it is our privilege, in the day in which we live, to make known this mystery, to reveal the secret, to uncover the revelation that had once been hidden! This is one case where God wants us to be good secret tellers (in contrast to Prov. 11:13 where revealing secrets is condemned).

Romans 16:26

“But now is made manifest by the Scriptures of the prophets”

The mystery which was once kept secret is now made known. The phrase: “by the Scriptures of the prophets” is a poor translation. It should be rendered “by prophetic scriptures” (Kelly, Darby). God has made known this mystery by the writings of His prophets.

It is difficult to understand how non-dispensational interpreters can take this to be a reference to the Old Testament writings, especially after Paul has just stated that the mystery was kept secret in previous ages. Paul must be referring to New Testament prophets. In Ephesians 3:5 we learn that the mystery which was not made known unto the sons of men in other ages is now being revealed to God’s holy apostles and prophets. These are New Testament apostles and prophets, the same men referred to in Ephesians 2:20 (see also 1 Cor. 12:10,29; Eph. 4:11). Of course, the prophetic writings which most clearly and most fully set forth the mysteries are Paul’s epistles, Paul being the chief but not the only revelator of mystery truth. When it came to mystery truth, the Old Testament prophets were totally in the dark. The only One who knew about the mysteries in the O.T. period was God Himself.

“According to the commandment of the everlasting God”

The word “command” means “command, order, injunction.” It is not the same word for “commandments” which is used of the Lord’s Great Commission in Acts 1:2 (referring to those commands the Lord gave to His disciples after the resurrection and before the ascension).

Paul uses this word, in reference to his mission, in only two other places: 1) “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment (order) of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1). Paul was an apostle (a “sent-one”) by order of the living God, and there is a sense in which this is true of every believer: “As Thou hast sent Me into the world,, even so have I sent them into the world” (John 17:18 and see 20:21 and see our paper, The Great Commission According to John). God’s command and order is that we should represent Him rightly in the world and make known His glorious gospel to all nations. 2) “But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment (order) of God our Saviour” (Tit. 1:3). Paul knew that he had a gospel responsibility and a preaching responsibility committed unto him. He was under orders to make known and manifest God’s Word through preaching.

Certainly these statements are in full harmony with the Great Commission which includes Christ’s command to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20), to preach repentance and remission of sins to all nations, starting with the Jews first (Luke 24:47) and to be Christ’s witnesses throughout the world, beginning first with Israel (Acts 1:8; and compare Romans 1:16—”to the Jew first,” and see our paper, To the Jew First). But as time went on the early disciples learned more and more about church truth and mystery truth, and these further revelations served to deepen and enrich their understanding of the gospel of grace and of God’s purpose for the present age. But none of these further revelations ever diminished their obligation to preach Christ and His gospel according to the original marching orders which they had received during the 40 days between the resurrection and ascension.

“Made known to all nations for the obedience of faith”

The language here is very similar to Romans 1:5—”for obedience to the faith among all nations.” All men from all nations are commanded to believe and be saved (compare Acts 17:31 and 1 John 3:23a). All men everywhere are responsible to OBEY the gospel by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who DISOBEY the gospel will be punished with everlasting destruction (2 Thess. 1:8-9). We need to let people know that God has commanded them to be saved, and strongly urge them to respond to the gospel imperative in the right way (compare 2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

Jesus, I long, I long to be winning

Men who are lost, and constantly sinning;

O may this hour be one of beginning

The story of pardon to tell!

—–Herbert Tovey

Romans 16:27

To God,

only wise,

Be glory

through Jesus Christ

forever.

Amen

(One of many Bible articles on the “Wielding the Sword of the Spirit” web site at www.matthewmcgee.org)

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Matthew McGee

This article is divided into the following sections:

Introduction

The Old Testament Kingdom Program

Jesus Christ’s Earthly Ministry

The Early Acts Period

Paul’s Ministry Begins

Apostle of the Gentiles

Mystery of the Gospel of Grace

Understanding the Dispensations

Peter’s Gospel and Paul’s Gospel

Analogy of the Olive Tree

Our Great Commission

Summary

Introduction

During the dark ages from about 500 AD to about 1500 AD, the public was not permitted to have access to the Bible.
Only the clergy could look upon the Word of God. They then dispensed only tiny morsels to the masses,
often twisting the meaning for their own financial or political gain. By the time the reformation began, virtually
all Biblical truth had been lost or distorted. After the reformers got Bibles back into the hands of the common
man, people began to try to reconstruct the proper church doctrines which had been lost. This was very
difficult because they had been steeped in all manner of heresies for centuries. Different groups had varying
degrees of success, correcting some areas of doctrine while failing to correct others. Some false doctrines
were changed into new, different false doctrines. In any case, not one of the hundreds of denominations or
sects has ever made it back to the pure doctrine of the early church. Perhaps I should not use the word “pure”,
since we can see from Galatians 3 and 1 Corinthians 5 that errant doctrine was creeping into some local churches
even at that early date.

One reason so many Christians do not understand the Bible today is that we have a tendency to be like the
clergy back in Galileo’s day. Galileo’s discovery that the sun, not the earth,
is the center of the solar system, was against the church doctrine of the time.
For centuries, the clergy had taught that the earth was the center of the universe even though
the Bible never says this. The clergy guarded their ignorance so carefully that
they would not even look into Galileo’s telescope to see his evidence.

Likewise, most of the church today perceives itself to be not only God’s people today, but the only
people God ever had or ever will have. So they read the Bible passages
and see the present-day church as being the total focus of all scripture. But they fail to realize that
there will be people saved from before the great flood, from ancient times,
from Old Testament Israel, from Gentile nations during the Old Testament, out of the
future tribulation, and out of the future 1000 year reign of Christ on earth.
None of these millions and millions of believers were or will be what we would
call “Christians”. While we in the present church do hold a very special place, we are not
the sole focus of all scripture or even all of that
portion of scripture commonly referred to as the New Testament.

The key points that are addressed in this article are listed below.
Some of these statements may be surprising to some Christians, but I believe that the given scripture
references and the pages that follow will make them clear.
After all, I don’t expect anyone to believe something just because I say it. I would hope that we could all be like the Bereans of which Acts 17:11-12 says, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed ….“

1. The Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter each preached the gospel, the good news. But upon close
examination of just what they were saying, it is apparent that their messages were different
from one another. Yet they did not contradict one another, because they spoke
their respective gospels to two separate audiences. In this article, we will examine these two
unique messages and the two audiences to which they were given.

2. Our gospel is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, gave His life as
the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins, was crucified, and rose from the
dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). This is what apostle Paul preached. There is only one gospel that we are to proclaim today. However, there have been other valid gospels in the past
(Galatians 3:8, Matthew 9:35, and 10:5-7) and there will be others in the future (Matthew
24:14 and Revelation 14:6-7) after the rapture of the church.

3. Even though they had been plainly told by Jesus Christ beforehand, the twelve apostles did not
know that Jesus Christ was going to die or rise from the dead (Matthew 16:21-22, Luke
18:33-34, and John 20:9). It was hidden from them by God. Of course, the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ are essential parts of Paul’s gospel. Also recall that the disciples preached
a gospel during Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. But it definitely was
not Paul’s gospel, because they did not know Paul’s gospel.

4. Before our Lord Jesus Christ revealed it to Paul, the other apostles did not know that Jesus Christ’s
crucifixion was the sacrifice for our sins. In the book of Acts, Peter never
mentions sacrifice, or propitiation, or the blood of Jesus Christ. He never associates
Christ’s death with remission of sins. Our gospel by which we are saved was a mystery revealed by
our Lord Jesus Christ to Paul. It was not known by any man, not even the twelve apostles or Satan himself (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).

5. Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 9:15 and Romans 11:13). Jesus Christ and the apostles
prior to Paul preached only to the people of Israel, with just a few exceptions (Matthew 10:5-6, Matthew 15:24, John 12:20-24,
Acts 2:5, 2:36, 3:12, and 11:19).

6. After Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, Peter preached that the people of Israel should believe that Jesus Christ was who He said He was, the Messiah. They should repent, and be baptized with water (Acts 2:38).
If they all did this, then Jesus Christ would return and bring in the kingdom just as the
Old Testament prophets had foretold (Acts 3:19-21).

7. The twelve apostles were under the law of Moses and continued to zealously follow the law all of their lives. But Paul taught the Gentiles “… ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

8. From Abraham, through the Old Testament, during Christ’s earthly ministry, and the early
chapters of Acts, there were exceptions, but for the most part, God dealt only with the nation of Israel.
Israel alone is the focus of the early chapters of the book of Acts. The ministry to the Gentiles did not even
begin until more than 12 years after Christ’s earthly ministry, well after the conversion of Saul.

The Old Testament Kingdom Program

God promised the people of Israel a Land, a King, and a
Kingdom. Their nation was to eventually become a nation of priests to
bring salvation to the Gentile nations. In the Old Testament,
it was no mystery that Israel
would someday spread the Word of God to all nations. But, it was prophesied to be

after the Messiah had come and set up His kingdom centered in Jerusalem. The people of Israel would then be sent to all nations to lead the Gentiles to their
God in Jerusalem. But all Israel did not receive and has not received Him
yet. So the fulfillment of the old program has been postponed. The mystery
was that God planned to go to the Gentiles (through the apostle Paul)
when Israel rejected the kingdom. After this dispensation of grace (sometimes called the
“church age”) ends at the rapture, God will resume the old program. That is a very short
summary. But now, since it is so beneficial to understanding the scriptures, we will go back
and examine the Old Testament kingdom program from the time it began.

Around 2000 BC, about 350 years after the great flood, God chose one man out of all of the people on the earth
from whom He would make a special nation. That man was Abram, whom God would later rename Abraham.
God gave Abram the promise that he would become a great nation. “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing … and in thee shall
all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). We can see from this verse
that God had all nations in mind. But He chose one man and his descendants (one nation) to
use to reach the rest of mankind. Then when Abram was in the land of Canaan, “… the
LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed I will give this land …“
(Genesis 12:7).

Furthermore, God established His covenant with Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 17:19 and 26:3-4)
and then with Isaac’s son Jacob, whom God would rename “Israel” (Genesis 28:13-14). So the nation
of Israel are the descendants of Jacob.

After the nation Israel had been in slavery in Egypt for many years, God called Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and gave them an extensive set of laws that are referred to collectively as “the law of Moses”, or simply as “the law”.
Forty years later, they entered into the land of Canaan which had been promised to their ancestor Abraham long before. Over
the course of time, God would speak to Israel through various prophets. Many of the prophecies were about the future King that would come one day and about His kingdom which He would set up.

One such promise of the King is in Isaiah 9:6-7.
Written around 750 BC, it says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of
the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the
throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it
with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal
of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Then in Zechariah 2:10-11,
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion (Jerusalem): for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the
midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that
day, and shall be my people ….” Notice that the many nations were not already
joined unto the LORD when Zechariah was written in about 520 BC, but they will be, when
the LORD comes to dwell in Jerusalem.

This King would also be the Redeemer who would redeem Israel from their sin. “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 59:20). “And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalms 130:8). “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1).

But what would be Israel’s role in this future kingdom? Would they be just like any other nation?
In Exodus 19:5-6 God told them, “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is
mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.
These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
No, Israel was not to be just like the other nations. They would be above all other nations, a holy nation.
Holy means set apart for God’s special purpose. Israel was to be set apart for God’s purpose as being priests or “go betweens” for the Gentile nations.

Zechariah chapter 8 provides further insight into the role of the Jew when the King, Jesus Christ, sets up His kingdom, and we will look at several of these verses here. Zechariah 8:3 says, “Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.” This establishes that this chapter concerns the time after Jesus Christ has returned to earth. Further confirmation comes in verses 7-8, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God ….” Then in verse 13, “And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing ….” Israel is to remain despised by the nations until the kingdom of Jesus Christ is set up. So we know that Zechariah 8:20-23 is speaking about the kingdom when it says, “ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.“

From these passages and others like them, it was already known that the Jews’ ministry would eventually go to the Gentiles. But it would be vastly different from the ministry presently seen in the church today. Our church today has no geographical headquarters except heaven itself, and we know that Jesus Christ has not yet returned. The church is mostly filled with Gentiles who are all on equal footing with the few Jews who believe. But the kingdom spoken of in the Exodus and Zechariah passages above, will be centered in Jerusalem, with all the Jews working as holy priests leading the Gentiles to Jesus Christ who will already have returned to Jerusalem and set up His kingdom.

In the kingdom, Israel will not even have to grow their own crops. The Gentiles will do that for them, because Israel will be their priests. Isaiah 61:5-6 says, “… strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.“

In addition Micah 4:1-2 says, “But in the last days it shall come to
pass, that the mountain (kingdom) of the house of the Lord shall be established in the
top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall
flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob ….“
This prophecy is echoed in Isaiah 2:2, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain (kingdom) of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.“

So the Jews were expecting their Messiah to come and set up His great kingdom. Then He would send Israel as a holy nation of priests out to the Gentiles. What the Jews did not know, was that not all of Israel would accept their Messiah. So God delayed the fulfillment of the prophecies and went to the Gentiles with a different program. When this present “church age” program is completed at the rapture of the church, God will then fulfill the remaining unfulfilled Old Testament prophecies, just as they were written in His Word.

Jesus Christ’s Earthly Ministry

As we move forward from the Old Testament to the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, we see
that Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and the twelve apostles preached the gospel of the
kingdom to Israel. This was not the gospel of grace that would later be preached
by the Apostle Paul to the churches composed mostly of Gentiles (non-Israelites). Paul preached that Jesus
Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, but during Christ’s earthly ministry, no one
was preaching that message. It had not even happened yet.

John the Baptist preached the gospel of the kingdom, which was, “… Repent ye: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Mark 1:4 says that, “John did
baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins.” This shows that before the cross, the people of Israel could
receive forgiveness of sins without even knowing that the Messiah would be put to
death or would rise from the dead. John the Baptist preached and baptized with water in order
to prepare Israel to receive the Messiah. “… that he should be made manifest to

Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water” (John 1:31).

Mark 1:14-15 records, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into
Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.“
This gospel of the kingdom which Jesus Christ preached was same message that John the Baptist
preached: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent:
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

Matthew 9:35 says, “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues (the Jews’ places of worship), and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every
sickness and every disease among the people.” It had not yet been revealed that Jesus
Christ would die and rise again, much less
that He would give Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. So that was not part of the
gospel which the twelve, John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ were preaching.
Yet, they were still preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

Jesus Christ sent the twelve to preach only to Israel in Matthew 10:5-7, “These twelve Jesus
sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not
into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye
go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The disciples
were specifically told to go only to the people of Israel, and they were not preaching
anything about the death, burial, and resurrection.

In Matthew 15:21-28, Jesus Christ was approached by a Canaanite woman, a Gentile, whose
daughter was vexed with a devil. When she called for him, Christ did not answer,
and the disciples wanted to send her away. Christ then said in verse 24:
“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.“
Some may think that this verse means that Jesus Christ was rebuking His
disciples, and implying that He was sent to all mankind. However, the Greek word
translated “but” here means “except” as opposed to “only”. So when you remove
the double negative here, you see that Jesus Christ is saying He is sent only to the
lost sheep of Israel. This explains His references to Jews as children and to
Gentiles as dogs. “But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the
children’s bread, and cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth Lord: yet the dogs eat of the
crumbs which fall from the master’s table” (Matthew 15:26-27). Once she had humbled herself
to the level of a dog, He finally granted her request, but He had made His point.

Many Christians may feel that Jesus Christ would not take on human flesh and come to earth except to speak to all of mankind, not just to Israel. However, we must not put what we “feel” above what Jesus Christ actually said, “… I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel …“. Besides, this is consistent with the Old Testament prophecies, as we have seen. Here, as in all cases, we should take God at His Word. We will look at other related passages as we continue.

In John 11:27, Martha said, “… Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which should come into the world.” That is all that a Jew, living at that
time, had to believe to be saved.

Shortly before Christ’s crucifixion, some Greeks (Gentiles) asked to see Him. John
12:20-22 records, “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship
at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,
and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew:
and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.” Note Philip’s reluctance to even tell
Christ of the Gentiles’ request. Remembering previous incidents with Gentiles, he
first got Andrew to go with him. But Jesus Christ refused the Gentiles’ request to
see Him, saying, “… The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:23-24).

It is important to realize that the apostles during Christ’s earthly ministry did not
know that Jesus Christ would die and then rise from the dead.
In Matthew 16:15, Jesus Christ asked His disciples, “… whom say ye that I am?“
Peter answered in verse 16, “… Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.” Christ replies, “Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven.” Now Peter had no clue that Jesus Christ would be crucified
and resurrected. He only believed that Jesus was the Messiah. This is obvious
when, only moments later, Peter rebukes Jesus Christ for saying he will “… be killed, and
be raised again the third day” (Matthew 16:21). In verse 22, “… Peter took him and
began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from the, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.“

In Luke 18:33, Jesus Christ, referring to himself as the Son of man says, “And
they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise
again.” But even though he told them plainly, “… they understood none
of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they
the things that were spoken” (Luke 18:34).

When Jesus Christ was resurrected, none of His disciples were there to see it. Why weren’t they all camped out down there in front of the tomb waiting to see His glorious resurrection? Even though
Christ had told them that He would rise again on the third day, they could not
understand. Peter and John only went to the tomb when Mary Magdalene told them that someone
had stolen Jesus Christ’s body. “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he
must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9).

The Early Acts Period

Now let’s get into the book of Acts.
In Acts 1:6, the disciples asked Jesus Christ, “… Lord, wilt thou at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel?” To “restore” means to bring
about something that existed previously. This is further emphasized by the
word “again”. Obviously they were expecting Jesus Christ to bring about an earthly
kingdom, similar to that of Solomon and David, only greater. But note that
Jesus Christ did not correct them and say, “No, you guys have it all wrong. It’s only
going to be a spiritual kingdom.” Christ said, “It is not for you to know
the times or the seasons …” (Acts 1:7).

In addition the apostles knew that they would be in positions of great power in the
kingdom and were very much looking forward to it.
In Matthew 19:27-28, Peter asked Jesus, “… Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have
followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel.” This is also mentioned in Luke 22:29-30. Jesus Christ told them “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my
kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.“

In Acts 1:8, Christ tells the disciples that they will “… be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth.” Now, the disciples knew nothing of the predominately
Gentile church as we know it today. But what they did know were passages like Exodus 19:5-6 and
Zechariah chapter 8 which we discussed previously, which show the priestly role of the Jew when Christ returns. “In
those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all
languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a
Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with
you” (Zechariah 8:23).

When the Holy Spirit was first given on
the day of Pentecost, all of those who were saved were Jews. “And there were
dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation
under heaven” (Acts 2:5). It does not say Gentiles out of every nation, but Jews out of every nation.
Remember that massive numbers of Jews lived in other countries and had for
centuries, so they could all fluently speak the languages of the nations from
which they came. It has been estimated that the children of Israel numbered more than two million when they came out of Egypt around 1500 BC counting the men, women, and children. But around 712 BC,
Assyria captured ten of Israel’s twelve tribes and took them away into slavery.
About 100 years later, Babylon did the same thing to the two remaining tribes.
In 536 BC they were allowed to leave Babylon, but according to Ezra 2:64, only 42,360 chose to return to the
land of Israel. So, on major Jewish feast days, many Jews came to Jerusalem from other nations.

It was on this day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was given and the disciples began to speak in tongues to the people in all of the native languages of the countries from which they had come. In Acts 2:16-21 Peter said to the people, “… this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.“

Peter fully expected the great tribulation to begin in just a short while as he described the images of God’s wrath from Joel 2:28-32. He foresaw no going to the Gentiles first, much less a 1900 plus year delay. Israel had to get ready for the impending wrath of God was coming upon the entire world. Was Peter confused? No, the threat was genuine and straight out of the Old Testament scriptures. If all Israel had repented, the great tribulation would have come right in followed by Jesus Christ’s return to set up the glorious kingdom. But all Israel did not believe, and the fulfillment was delayed. We will further discuss this delay later in this article.

More evidence that Peter was only speaking to Israel is seen in the way
Peter addresses them. In Acts 2:22 he says, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words ….” A few verses later,
Peter calls them “Israel” again. “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts
2:36). Note that there is no mention of Gentiles here. Imagine how these Jews must have felt, having just been warned of the coming day of God’s wrath and then being accused of murdering the Messiah.
Continuing on to Acts 2:37-39, “… they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of
the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto
them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.“

Peter’s Gospel was: Jesus is the Messiah and the kingdom can still
come if Israel will repent and be baptized.

When Peter referred to “… all that are afar off …” in Acts 2:39, was he
including Gentiles? Acts chapter 10 provides some insight. Several years after Peter spoke the words in Acts chapter 2, God commanded Peter to go to the house of Cornelius to preach to Gentiles for the first time. In Acts 10:36, Peter says, “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ ….” This shows once again that Christ’s earthly ministry was to Israel only. Then a few verses later in verses 44-45, “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision (Jews) which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles
also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” This astonishment confirms that Peter had only the people of Israel in mind back in Acts 2:39. Later in this article, we will look at the Acts 10 episode in more detail.

In Chapter 3 of Acts, Peter gives another remarkable sermon. The setting is at the temple in Jerusalem, where Peter and John, being the good Jews that they were, had gone to pray. “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour” (Acts 3:1). In the verses that follow, God, through Peter, heals a man that has been lame from birth. Then as they all stood on Solomon’s porch in Acts 3:12, Peter begins speaking to the people. Peter addresses them as “… Ye men of Israel ….” Continuing in verse 13, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.” Notice how Peter makes it so plain that he is speaking only to Israel by referring to “our fathers”, “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. Also note that Peter once again begins to point the finger of blame at them for crucifying Jesus Christ when he said you delivered him up to Pilate, who was going to let Jesus go. Peter continues in verses 14-15,
“But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.” Is Peter saying Christ gave His life for your sin? No. He is blaming them for murdering the Son of God. Though Peter mentioned Christ’s death and resurrection, Peter did not ascribe salvation to it. In Peter’s message, the resurrection was simply a great sign that Jesus Christ was who he said he was, the Messiah.

Jesus Christ had prophesied this in His earthly ministry. Matthew 12:38-41 says, “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.“

As Peter continues in Acts 3:16, he speaks of the healing of the lame man that had just been made to walk.
“And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and
know ….” Faith in His name simply means faith that Jesus Christ is who He says He is,
Messiah. The twelve apostles never mention Jesus Christ’s blood or sacrifice or propitiation
in the entire book of Acts, nor do they recognize Jesus Christ’s death as the payment for
sin. But that was not part of the kingdom gospel they were preaching.

Referring to Israel crucifying their Messiah, Peter says in Acts 3:17, “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.” Some may make the emotional argument that God was through with Israel as soon as they crucified Christ. However, the offer of the kingdom was still open, as Peter explained in the following verses.

In Acts 3:19-21 Peter said,
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached
unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of
all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets

since the world began.“

The Greek word for restitution in verse 21 is the same root word used in Acts 1:6,
previously mentioned, for restore. Peter is telling the Israel that if they all
repent, Jesus Christ will return (second coming) and set up the kingdom!

Now on to Acts 3:22-24 “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet (Jesus Christ) shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” All of the prophets foretold the last days when the Messiah would come and set up His kingdom on earth and Israel would function as a nation of priests to the Gentile world. Peter is saying these are the days for it all to come to pass!

Then in Acts 3:25-26, “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made
with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds
of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus,
sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities.” Peter addresses his listeners as “the children of the prophets” and “of the covenant” and once again referring to “our fathers”, making it clear that he is speaking to his brethren, Israel, not to Gentiles. But in order for the kingdom to have been restored at that time, how many of the people of Israel had to believe and repent? According to verse 26, “every one” of them. Of course we know that they did not all repent. So the kingdom has been postponed. But the prophecies of our God must come to pass, so we know that Christ’s earthly kingdom will one day be fulfilled.

Israel killed the Messiah, Jesus Christ, accredited by miracles, wonders, and signs. But God raised Him from the dead. The offer of the kingdom
was still valid there in the early Acts period. And in the future, it will be again. After a 7 year period of tribulation (Daniel’s 70th week), the Messiah will come and restore the kingdom if every Israelite repents and
turns to God. And Romans 11:25-26 tells us that one day they will.

In Acts 5:28-29 when the apostles were called before the council, the high priest said, “… Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” There is no mention here of Christ giving His life for our sins, for in Acts 5:30-31 we hear Peter level the murder charge against the Jews once again. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.“

As we continue on to Acts 6:1, remember that all of the believers up until this time are Israelites. “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.“
It is a common misconception that Gentiles are mentioned in this verse where the word
“Grecians” is used, but that is not the case. The Greek word used here is “Hellenistes” which refers to Grecian
Jews. These Jews were probably born outside of the land of Israel and had taken on parts of the Greek culture. They were not Gentiles, although they were apparently looked down upon by the other Jews because they seemed less Jewish.

In Acts chapter 7 we have the speech of Stephen before the council. Stephen was one of the seven who were chosen by the apostles in Acts chapter 6. In Acts 7:51-52, we see Stephen level the murder charge. “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers ….” The Jews were so enraged that they stoned Stephen to death.

Acts 8:1 then says, “And Saul (who would later become the Apostle Paul) was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all
scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the
apostles.” Notice that the apostles were not going to leave Jerusalem even under intense
persecution. Had they misunderstood Matthew 28:19, referred to by many as the “Great Commission”?
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ….” Of course not. As we have seen, the Old
Testament prophecies had revealed that the Messiah would return before Israel
went to all nations.

In Acts chapter 8, Philip (who was one of the seven chosen in Acts chapter 6 and not to be confused with the apostle Philip) witnessed to the Samaritans. Samaritans were not Gentiles, but Israelites with
compromised gene pools. They had intermarried with Gentiles during the ancient
captivities and were of mixed blood-line. They were detested by the Jews.
“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John” (Acts 8:14).
Where were the apostles? Still in Jerusalem! In verse 25 they go back to
Jerusalem. Is this any way to spread the gospel around the world? Of course
not. Well then, what were they thinking? Remember how Christ had told them that when He returned, they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:29-30). Don’t think for a minute that they
had forgotten about this promise.

But since Israel rejected their King, the ascended Lord Jesus Christ, they must wait as God takes out
from the Gentiles “a people for his name” (Acts 15:14). After this is
complete, then the kingdom program will resume. We who are Gentile Christians find this hard to understand, but
the apostles (prior to Paul) had no concept of this present church age and the
ministry predominantly by Gentiles to Gentiles. They were ministering to Israel
only and were sticking to Jerusalem, not because they did not understand their
mission, but because they did understand it. Once we realize this,
then the behavior of the twelve apostles begins to make a lot more sense.

Later in this chapter, Philip went out to meet the Ethiopian Eunuch who “… had
come to Jerusalem to worship” (Acts 8:27). I do not believe this was a
Gentile traveling thousands of miles to worship at the Jews’ temple. After
all, when Philip approached him, he heard the Eunuch reading Isaiah. His
position of being in charge of all of Queen Candace’s treasure is a likely role
for a Jew, just as Joseph was to Pharaoh and as Daniel was to Nebuchadnezzar and as Alan Greenspan is today in the United States. So I believe this man was an Ethiopian Jew, just like the thousands of them that have returned to
Israel and live there today. This should be no surprise. Remember at the feast of Pentecost in Acts 2:5 how there were “… at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.“

When our Lord Jesus Christ converted Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus, Jesus Christ told Ananias
“… he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and
the children of Israel …” (Acts 9:15). Later in this article, we will look at many passages
which demonstrate that God made Paul the apostle of the Gentiles. But even Paul, in the early part of
his ministry, went only to the Jews. “And straightway he preached Christ in
the synagogues …” (Acts 9:20). A synagogue is not a place one goes to
look for Gentiles, as this next verse shows: “But Saul increased the more in
strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is
very Christ” (Acts 9:22). Paul later sought to meet with the apostles,
who were still in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26). They had not gone out on missionary
journeys to all nations, as is traditionally assumed. They were still ministering to Israel and
waiting for Jesus Christ to return and set up the kingdom in Jerusalem.

In Acts chapter 10, Peter saw a vision from God in which he was told to kill and eat one
of a group of unclean animals. But Peter protested saying, “… Not so, Lord; for I have never
eaten any thing that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). After all, Peter was behaving as any good Jew at that time should have, keeping the laws of Moses. The early believers in Christ did not cease being Jews. They did not change religions. They were just as Jewish as any Jew could be. For example, in Acts 3:1, “… Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.” This is certainly not to say that Peter was doing anything wrong early in the book of Acts. On the contrary, he was full of the Holy Spirit and following what he was supposed to do to the letter in proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to Israel. But God used this vision in Acts 10 to persuade Peter to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile.

This was not something that Peter was apt to do on his own. It is difficult for us today to comprehend the disdain that the Jews of ancient times had for the Gentiles. They were commonly referred to as “dogs” by the Jews, including Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 15:26. Often the story of Jonah is taught as though Jonah was afraid to go to the Gentile city of Ninevah. But what does the scripture say? Let’s look at Jonah 3:10 and continuing on to Jonah 4:2, “And God saw their works, that they (the people of Ninevah, in Assyria) turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them (destroying their city); and he did it not. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” Jonah did not flee because he was afraid of the Assyrians. He fled because he did not want God to save these Gentiles who were the mortal enemies of Israel. In about 712 BC, the descendants of these Assyrians later conquered the ten northern tribes of Israel and took them captive.

Later in this article, we will get into Paul’s ministry in more detail. But let’s look ahead 20 years or so at a passage from Acts 22:21-23 which helps to further illustrate Peter’s reluctance to go to the home of a Gentile. In about 58 AD the Jews became intensely angry when Paul told them that Jesus Christ had said, “… Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the
Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word (“Gentiles”), and
then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth:
for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air ….” What a reaction! Just mentioning that their God would have anything to do with Gentiles set them to screaming for Paul’s execution, tearing their clothes, and throwing dirt into the air!

So you can see why Peter would hesitate to go to a Gentile and why when he arrived, Peter told Cornelius “… Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of

another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or
unclean” (Acts 10:28). This is further confirmation that Peter was a law-keeping Jew.

Then Peter began to preach in Acts 10:36-46, “The word
which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus
Christ: (he is Lord of all:) … who went about doing good, and healing … whom
they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day,
and shewed him openly … he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to

testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick
and dead … that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision (Jews) which believed were
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles
also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God ….” All of the Jews present were shocked because nothing like this had ever happened to Gentiles, not at
Pentecost or any other time. So in Acts 11:2, where does Peter go? Not to the
Gentiles in Europe, not to the Gentiles in Africa, not to the Gentiles in the Far East but back
to the Jews at Jerusalem.

Notice also that Peter mentions in Acts 10:38 that Jesus Christ “… went about
doing good, and healing ….“
This is in contrast to Paul who rarely ever makes mention of Christ’s earthly ministry. For an
analysis of how Paul’s ministry was focused on our ascended Lord rather than on Christ’s earthly ministry, see

Elements of the Gospel and Our Ascended Lord.

But look at what happens when Peter gets back to Jerusalem. Acts 11:2-4 says, “… when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision (Jews) contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised (Gentiles), and didst eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them ….” The believing Jews were upset with Peter for doing this unlawful thing and he had some real explaining to do which he does in Acts 11.

After Peter’s rehearsal of the story, Acts 11:19 says, “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word
to none but unto the Jews only.” It would be easy for us to see
Peter’s visit to the house of Cornelius as starting a massive effort to
evangelize Gentiles, but it did not. The disciples continued the Jews-only
ministry.

Continuing on to Acts 11:20, “And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene,
which, when they had come to Antioch (the one in Syria), spake unto the Grecians (Hellenistic Jews), preaching
the Lord Jesus.” Here we see that word “Grecians” again that we saw back in Acts 6:1. Just as we saw before the Greek word used here is “Hellenistes” which refers to Hellenistic Jews. These were not Gentiles. After all, the previous verse just said that they went to Antioch preaching only to Jews. These Hellenistic Jews were probably born outside of the land of Israel, spoke the Greek language, and had taken on parts of the Greek culture. Many modern translations translate this word as “Greeks”. Some say that there are manuscripts which use the word Hellenes (meaning “Greeks”) here, but all three of the Greek texts that I checked used the word “Hellenistes” (Hellenistic Jews) in Acts 11:20. This makes by far the most since not only here in chapter 11, but especially in light of the events of Acts 14 and 15, which we will discuss in the following pages. So please keep this in mind as we continue.

When the assembly at Jerusalem heard about it, there was no mention of any astonishment as there was back in Acts 10:45 with the Gentiles. “Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch” (Acts 11:22). Now Barnabas was not sent to snap anyone back in line or to tell the Jews not to associated with Gentiles or to make sure Gentiles were keeping the law. Acts 11:23 says Barnabas, “Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” I mention these points simply to show that there is nothing in these verses that would indicate that there were Gentiles in the Antioch church at this time.

Later, Barnabas and Paul assembled with the church at Antioch for a year
“… and the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts
11:26).

The death of Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:23 marks the date at 44 AD. We know Herod died while Paul and Barnabas were at Jerusalem, since we see them arrive in Acts 11:30 and return to Antioch in Acts 12:25. Some 12
years have passed since Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and the ministry to the Gentiles
has yet to even begin.

Paul’s Ministry Begins

From the group of Christians at Antioch,
“… the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work
whereunto I have called them” (Acts 13:2). At this point Paul’s first
missionary journey begins.

On their journey, Paul and Barnabas arrive at the synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia. This Antioch
was in the center of modern Turkey, not to be confused with the city of Antioch of Acts
11:26 which was in western Syria. Paul begins his speech with “… Men of
Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience” (Acts 13:16).
But on the next Sabbath, Paul and Barnabas turn to the Gentiles. Acts
13:46-48 says, “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should
first have been spoken to you (the Jews): but seeing ye put it from you,
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the
Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the
Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” This is the beginning of Paul’s
ministry to the Gentiles in Acts 13, more than 12 years after Christ’s ascension into heaven.

In Acts 14:25-26, we see Paul and Barnabas returning to Antioch, completing that first missionary journey.
“And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia: And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.“
Then Paul and Barnabas gave a report of their journey. “And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” Now why would Paul and Barnabas say that God had “opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” to a church full of Gentiles who had been saved long before Paul and Barnabas even set out on that journey? They wouldn’t. The door would have already been open. So all those there at the church in Antioch up until this time were Jews. Most were Hellenistic Jews, but Jews, none-the-less. This news would most naturally free up the Jews at Antioch to evangelize the ample population of Gentiles in the area. Acts 14:28 then says, “And there they (Paul and Barnabas) abode long time with the disciples.” It was during this time that many Gentiles were joined unto the church at Antioch. This promptly resulted in a big disagreement with the Jews in Jerusalem. The very next verse, Acts 15:1, says, “And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” So we have some of the believing Jews from Judea trying to bring the Gentiles under the law of Moses. Why did they not try to do this years earlier back in Acts 11:20? Quite simply because those were not Gentiles back in Acts 11:20, but Grecians, Hellenistic Jews.

This conflict necessitated the meeting of Paul and Barnabas with the eleven apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Note that since James, the brother of John, was killed in Acts chapter 12, the twelve apostles are now eleven. “When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small (a large) dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question” (Acts 15:2). This meeting, which took place in about 50 AD, is not only recorded by Luke in Acts 15, but also by Paul in Galatians 2:1-9.

In Galatians 2:1-2, Paul writes, “Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and
took Titus (who was a Gentile) with me also. And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them
which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.” Now, why would
Paul have to tell the apostles in Jerusalem what his gospel was? As we will see in Galatians 2:7, it was not the
same gospel that the twelve were preaching. When Paul says “by revelation”, we know that his going to this meeting in Jerusalem was not just a prudent decision that Paul made on his own. It was something specifically revealed from God that he should do. He came to them of reputation, the apostles and elders, and told them “that
gospel”. Now God obviously did not send Paul to Jerusalem just to tell the apostles something that they already knew.

Continuing in Galatians 2:3-4, “But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage ….” Note how Paul speaks of the grace God has given us as “liberty” while referring to the law as “bondage”.

Acts 15:5-6 says, “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them (the Gentile believers), and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.” Now most churches today teach that right after Pentecost, the apostles went out all over the world to fulfill what is commonly referred to as the great commission. But if that were true, then what are they doing here in Jerusalem in 50 AD, 18 years later?

Was required circumcision and keeping the law a Moses consistent with the gospel of the kingdom that the Peter and the rest of the eleven apostles were teaching the Jews? Of course it was. Otherwise, the question of whether the Gentiles had to keep the law of Moses would have never even come up. If the Jews were not required to keep the law of Moses, the Gentiles certainly would not have to keep it. But in the argument they had about whether the Gentiles had to keep the law of Moses, there was “much disputing” (Acts 15:7). Now if Paul’s gospel had been the same as the gospel preached by the eleven, there would have been no argument. But Paul’s gospel of grace is different. The finished work of the cross cannot be mixed with any requirement for keeping of the law of Moses.

So Paul, wrote in Galatians 2:5, “To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” Do you see how serious this was? If Paul had succumbed to Pharisee’s
argument that the law of Moses should be added to Paul’s gospel, then Christianity would have died out. We should be so thankful that God did not allow Paul to cave in on this point. In His
foreknowledge, God had prepared Peter for this moment years earlier at the house of
Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. Only after Peter stood up and spoke, was Paul’s message
to the Gentiles accepted by the apostles and elders. Peter spoke of the incident
that had taken place many years earlier at the house of Cornelius and then said in Acts 15:10, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke (bondage) upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?“

After Peter had spoken, Acts 15:12 says, “Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.“

In Galatians 2:6-9, Paul describes the response, “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in
conference added nothing to me: But contrariwise, when they saw that the
gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the
circumcision was committed unto Peter; (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) And when James, Cephas (Peter), and John, who seemed to be pillars,
perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the
right hand of fellowship; that we should go to the heathen, and they to the
circumcision.” In verse seven we see the two gospels. They all agreed that Apostle Peter should continue with the gospel of the circumcision (gospel of the kingdom) to the Jews, and Apostle Paul should continue with the gospel of the uncircumcision (gospel of grace) to the Gentiles.

James, the leader who was presiding over the meeting, says in Acts 15:13-17, “… Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon (Peter) hath declared
how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people
for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets as it is
written, After this I will return, and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins
thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the
Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called ….” This was a reference to Amos 9:10-11. Today, the temple has yet to be rebuilt, because God is not yet through calling out a people for his name from the Gentiles.
It is worth noting here that James had already written his famous epistle
by this time. In it, James mentions none of the mysteries that were later revealed to
Paul, nor was James yet aware of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles as he (James) wrote to “… the
twelve tribes scattered abroad …” (James 1:1).

Then James adds in Acts 15:19, “Wherefore my sentence (judgment) is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God ….” Notice that James says nothing here about Jews not keeping the law of Moses. That was not even part of the discussion. The Jews were to continue keeping the law of Moses as they had been.

We see this confirmed in Acts 21. Remember that the council in Jerusalem of Acts 15 took place in about 50 AD after that first missionary journey that Paul took with Barnabas. By the time we come to Acts 21, about 8 years have passed. Paul and Silas have already taken two more missionary journeys to the Gentiles and have now gone down to Jerusalem in 58 AD. This is 26 years after the cross. Acts 21:17-19 Luke writes, “And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when he (Paul) had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.” But now look at what James says, “And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law ….” (Acts 21:20). So out of all those Jews who believed in Jesus Christ there in Judea, how many were committed to keeping the law of Moses? All of them! So obviously, keeping the law of Moses was consistent with what the apostles of the circumcision had been teaching. In Acts 20:21, James warns Paul, “And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.“

In the text of Acts, Paul neither confirms nor denies the accusation. But at the insistence of James, Paul takes part in a ritual of the law of Moses in an attempt to quench their suspicions in verses 22-27. Now what I believe is happening here is that Paul knows that the law of Moses has already been nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14) and does not apply to the grace dispensation. But he also knows that the believing Jews in Jerusalem would not accept that. They were taught under the twelve apostles, and had been saved under that kingdom dispensation. So the law was perfectly fine for them. But if these had been the Jews in Ephesus or Corinth who had been saved under Paul’s grace gospel teaching, Paul would have told them that the law had been nailed to the cross and that they were saved by faith alone, totally apart from works.

Now some believe that Paul was wrong for participating in a seven-day, legalistic ritual of the Mosaic law, but I believe Paul explains his position in 1 Corinthians 9:19-21. “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.“

From Acts 23:11, there is certainly no indication that Jesus Christ was disappointed with Paul’s actions. Acts 23:11 says, “And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” From reading through Acts 21:27 through Acts 23:11, it is apparent that the Lord spoke these words to Paul on the night following the day after the seven day ritual.

Some may say that after the cross, no one was under the law any more. That is true for the church, but the Jews who were not under Paul’s teaching were still under the law. The 1 Corinthians 9:19-21 passage above, makes this clear. Specifically note where it says in verse 20, “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law ….” Likewise Romans 3:19 says, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” So even though 1 Corinthians and Romans were written in the 57-58 AD time frame about 25 years after the cross, there were still those who were under the law of Moses, just not in the church under Paul’s dispensation of the grace of God.

Apostle of the Gentiles

I mentioned previously when we were going over Acts 9, that Paul was called by our ascended Lord Jesus Christ to be the apostle of the Gentiles. Paul states this plainly in Romans 11:13, “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office ….” Likewise Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:10-11, “… the gospel: Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.”

This ministry was different from the ministries of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and the twelve. All of those ministries had been to Israel, who were under the Mosaic law. Notice the contrast Paul provides in Romans 15. He writes in Romans 15:8, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision (Israel) ….” Then only a few verses later in Romans 15:16 he adds, “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ….“

Earlier, we saw a similar contrast in Galatians 2:7, where Paul shows that Peter was an apostle to the nation of Israel. “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision (the Gentiles) was committed unto me, as the

gospel of the circumcision (the Jews) was unto Peter ….” Clearly we see Paul pointing out the difference between his ministry to the Gentiles and the ministry of twelve apostles of the circumcision.

In Acts 26:16-17, Paul explains how, when he was on the road to Damascus, our Lord Jesus Christ called him with a blinding light and said, “But rise, and stand upon thy
feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister
and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in
the which I will appear (reveal) unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from
the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee …” (Acts 26:16-17).

In 1 Timothy 1:11, Paul writes about “… the glorious gospel of the blessed God
which was committed unto my trust.” Then in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 he writes, “… Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I
obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all
longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on
him to life everlasting.” Some Bible versions do not use the
word “first” in the verse above, but the Greek word is
“protos”, which means “first”. This is the word from which we get our English word
“prototype” which is the first of many, a model of that which is to come afterward.

That is why Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:13, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of
me ….” Notice that he does not say, “heard from me and the other apostles”.

In Ephesians 3:8 Paul says of his unique position, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ….“

God confirmed the message revealed to Paul by our risen Lord using signs and miracles, because it was a new revelation for
a new dispensation. On the first missionary journey, Luke records in Acts 14:3, “Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and
wonders to be done by their hands.“

In Colossians 1:25-27 Paul tells how his ministry is to the Gentiles, “… I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the

mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but
now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory ….” In this passage, Paul also speaks of the dispensation of God which
was a mystery hidden from previous generations. This brings us to our next topic.

Mystery of the Gospel of Grace

Whenever we study God’s Word, we must take care not to anticipate revelation. That means that when we read a passage, we must not assume that future revelations from God were known at the time the events in the passage or the writing of the passage took place. We must realize that from the time God first spoke to Adam, until the last book of the Bible was written, God revealed His Word to men over a period of about four thousand years. He did not give it to man all at once. For example, as Adam stood there in the garden of Eden, he could not have known anything about the ten commandments which would be given by God to Moses about 2600 years later. Nor could Jacob have told you about the sermon on the mount that Jesus Christ would preach some 1700 years later. When we read a passage of scripture, we must understand and keep in mind what God had revealed to the people being addressed up until that time. The things which were not yet known were still secrets that are hid in God, mysteries which He has yet to reveal to anyone.

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The se