Preaching the Gospel

The following is an excerpt from a book I am writing on Acts or The Book of Acts. Paul and Barnabas set out from Antioch of Syria to take the gospel to the Gentile nations. In Acts 13:44-52, we see Paul preaching the gospel in the local synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia and the results of that preaching from both the Jews and the Gentiles. As was Paul's custom, if there was a synagogue in the city where he was, he would go there first and preach to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. We will see in this passage that he and Barnabas are left with no option but to preach to the Gentiles following the reaction of the Jewish leaders.

After Paul's invitation to speak in the synagogue the first week, he is almost begged to return the following week to tell them more about the gospel. It should be noted that it was customary for visiting Jews to be asked if they had anything to share. When Paul was asked, he seized the opportunity to tell them about Jesus and teach them from the word of God. He received no opposition during that first speaking and some begged him and Barnabas to return the following week, which they did.

Billy Graham held his first major revival in Los Angeles in 1949. The team had planned for only a three week stay but ended up staying for eight weeks. Billy Graham spoke to 350,000 people during that time and 3000 were saved. I’m sure this was far beyond the expectations of anyone involved. We see a similar situation take place following Paul’s initial sermon in this synagogue. The following week the whole town showed up to hear this man speak about the gospel. I don’t think Paul ever had any expectations of what might happen anywhere he went to speak about Jesus. I believe he just wanted to tell as many people as he could about the Lord and His offer of salvation.

When Paul and Barnabas returned the following week, almost the whole town showed up to hear them. That would be something to see; you go into a strange town (somewhere you have not been before) and you are invited to speak and you tell the people about Jesus and the salvation from sin He has freely offered. You are asked to speak again the following week and the whole town shows up to hear you! I would be taken back by this, initially, and then allow the Holy Spirit to take over. The worst thing you could do is allow this showing to go to you head and allow pride to take over instead of the Holy Spirit.

As Paul began to teach the word of God, some of the Jews, most likely the Jewish leaders, saw the vast crowd and became jealous. In the first week, there was no opposition as Paul spoke in the synagogue but now, since nearly the entire population of the city was present and listening intently to what Paul was saying, it didn’t sit well with their pride and egos. So, these Jews began to argue with Paul about what he was teaching. So, again, I would ask you to consider this situation, if it was you who was invited to speak a second time and now you are interrupted and questioned about what you are saying. How would you respond? Would it rattle you and cause you to lose your train of thought? Well, it didn’t rattle or intimidate Paul and Barnabas one little bit. It was the Holy Spirit who was in charge of the message and the interrupted arguing of the Jews.

Paul boldly told them he believed it was necessary to preach this message of the gospel to the Jews first. Why would he say that? God had entrusted the truth of His word, concerning the coming Messiah, for hundreds of years. Jesus, the Messiah, was born a Jew and His ministry was to Jews because He had trusted them to tell the world about Him and the gospel message. They were chosen to deliver this message to the world. The Church was birthed in Jerusalem and was headed and led by Jews. They were given the initial responsibility of delivering the gospel message to the world, regardless of Jew or Gentile.

So now, Paul tells them since they don’t want to hear it, he will take it to the Gentiles. Paul’s actual words to them are very bold and should have had a startling effect on them. He told them,

 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.  13:46

The NLT says it this way, ‘since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life’, Those are some pretty harsh words. Now, not all the Jews listening rejected the message as we read earlier about those in the synagogue who begged these two men to return. These Jewish leaders had allowed a jealous rage to take over and disrupt Paul’s message. They were jealous of the size of the crowd and the interest the people had in what Paul was saying.

Our sinful nature has a whole bag full of tools and jealousy is just one of them. Some would say that Satan stirred their hearts to do this but I think he gets credit for more than he actually deserves. He may need to nudge just a little and the sinful nature takes it from there. Have you ever allowed this to happen to you? It has happened to me and I’m not proud to admit it but it happens to a lot of Christians. I’ve seen this jealousy thing with pastors; yes, with pastors of a church who don’t really care for a guest speaker getting more attention than him. I’ve seen it in a pastor who was jealous of assistant pastors getting more attention them him.

This is ridicules because it does not honor and glorify God. It deters any spiritual growth and spreads an unhealthy atmosphere within the church.

I have never been part of leadership in any church where the message was so wrong that the pastor had to be interrupted and stopped. I have never been interrupted and stopped from teaching the message of Jesus. I’m sure Satan had nudged one of these Jewish leaders and stirred his sinful nature to interrupt Paul and stop his message.

Paul was very clear in his statement that he would now take the gospel message to the Gentiles. This was Paul’s and Barnabas’ call when they left Antioch of Syria. The Holy Spirit called them to take the gospel message to these Gentile nations but if there were Jews present, Paul would always take the gospel to them first. As we proceed through Acts, we will see the pattern continue but it is the Gentiles who are God’s priority for these journeys. Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6 to drive this point home. He knows these Jews are familiar with this writing and he uses it to emphasize what he has told them.

I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles,
That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.

The Jews might have been spurned by these comments by Paul but the Gentiles loved it. They rejoiced and gave glory to the Lord and thanked Him for His word. Now, the latter part of verse 48 has been a subject of controversy down through the years. Does God choose some and not others for salvation? Luke says, ‘as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.’ Understanding sentence structure and how this is written in the original Greek, the way the NASB, as stated above, says it, is correct and as well as many other modern translations. It doesn’t say, ‘as many as believed were appointed to eternal life.’ So, understanding the sentence structure in the Greek and how it is properly translated into English tells us that all those who were present who were appointed, ordained or set for eternal life, believed.

Again, understanding the sentence structure is so important here and also the word, appoint or ordain which is used in earlier translations. The word in the Greek is tasso and has the meaning, ‘to appoint, set in place, order or ordain or arrange.’ In this verse, 48, the word is translated appointed from appoint. So, to sum up what this verse is saying, all those who were appointed for eternal life, believed. Remember the sentence structure; it doesn’t say that those who believed were appointed for eternal life but those who were appointed for eternal life, believed.

I know there are many Christians who will strongly disagree with this and argue until we are all receiving our eternal destination but when you break it down correctly, it can only say it one way. It would be very easy for someone to write a paraphrased version and turn this verse around to say what is not correct. That’s why I always warn newer Christians to stay away from paraphrase Bibles until they are capable of understanding what the word of God really says.

We have to remember that God is sovereign and He calls the shots, not us. We were all born doomed by our sinful nature. We all deserve to be condemned for eternity but by the love and grace of God, He sent His Son to die in our place and be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. Jesus didn’t have to die for our sin on that cross; He could have stopped at any time and returned to His throne in heaven. The point is this: Why do some find it so hard to believe that God makes all the calls and that includes our salvation.

The hard to hear truth is some will not accept the free gift of salvation and spend eternity in torment and suffering. And yet, some just can’t accept that truth. “God is not fair.” That’s what they say but God is fair and just. Sin cannot stand in the presence of the Lord and those who have not been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and received His righteousness, continue with their original sin and if they die with that sin, they cannot stand in the presence of God. That is the cold, hard truth. Read this from Charles R. Erdman,

The sovereignty of God is absolute; yet it is never exercised in condemning men who ought to be saved, but rather has resulted in the salvation of men who ought to be lost.[1]

The fire had been lit and the word of God spread throughout that region. The Gentiles had received the word of God and people were getting saved. Their hearts were on fire for Jesus and they were telling others and many were hearing and getting saved. It was a regional revival and as the word spread, the Jews become more infuriated. They stirred the hearts of the influential religious women and city leaders and put together a mob and Paul and Barnabas were run out of town.

In Luke 9:5, Jesus instructed His disciples with the following,

“And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

This is what Paul and Barnabas did as they departed from Antioch of Pisidia; the Jews knew what this meant and Paul and Barnabas were telling the Jews since they rejected Jesus and the gospel, they wanted nothing to do with them. Some have said the message to the Jews was they were no better than pagans and were not a true part of Israel. Regardless, they were determined to get rid of Paul and Barnabas but they couldn’t stop the gospel message which was spreading like gasoline on a fire. The Gentiles were filled with the Holy Spirit and with joy. Jesus had come to another Antioch and He was there to stay.

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[1] Charles R. Erdman, The epistle of Paul to the Romans, p. 109