DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH
ACTS
43
AND
Ananias was told that Saul was to bear the name of the Lord Jesus `before the Gentiles, and kings, and the
children of Israel' (Acts 9:15). The word `Gentile' is used in a bad sense in the two occurrences in Acts prior to
chapter 9. `Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles' (Acts 4:27). `The Gentiles, whom God drave out before
the face of our fathers' (Acts 7:45). The Jew is prominent in the early chapters of the Acts, and it is not until the
stoning of Stephen that the first definite step Gentileward is taken.
The persecution in Jerusalem drove the believers into Jud -a and Samaria, where they preached the Word, but in
no sense is it indicated that those scattered believers preached to the Gentiles; such a thing was undreamed of by
them. For confirmation of this statement of fact we have only to read Acts 11:19:
`Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as
Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the Word to none but unto the Jews only'.
(The `Grecians' of 6:1; 9:29 and 11:20 refer to Greek-speaking Jews, Hellenists. They used the Septuagint
instead of the original Hebrew).
Peter and his associates were `astonished' to find that the holy spirit was poured out upon Cornelius and his
household; the ministry of Peter was strictly to the circumcision (Gal. 2:7,8), the case of Cornelius being
exceptional, and for a special purpose. Cornelius, however, was not a Gentile in the sense in which the name is used
by Paul in his apostleship; he was a `Proselyte of the Gate', he gave alms and prayed, and was held in good report
`among all the nation of the Jews' (Acts 10:1,2,22).
For Saul of Tarsus - a man who was an Hebrew of the Hebrews, who would sooner have died than associate with
a dog of a Gentile - was it reserved that he should be the chosen vessel of grace to the Barbarian and the Scythian,
the bond and the free, the Greek as well as the Jew. That which would have been looked upon as his lowest
degradation he came to regard as his highest glory:
`I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office' (Rom. 11:13).
`That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles' (Rom. 15:16)
`He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards
the Gentiles' (Gal. 2:8).
`Unto me ... is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ' (Eph.
3:8).
`I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in
faith and verity (truth)' (1 Tim. 2:7).
The last reference to the Gentiles in the Acts is in that solemn passage, where, quoting the sixth of Isaiah to the
elders of Israel at Rome, Paul closed the door of the kingdom, and opened the door of the mystery. `The salvation of
God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it' (Acts 28:28). Henceforth he was the `prisoner of Jesus
Christ for you Gentiles'. In view of his approaching death, he wrote to Timothy his last message, thanking the Lord
Who had stood with him and strengthened him to finish his course, that by him, Paul, `the preaching might be fully
known, and that all the Gentiles might hear' (2 Tim. 4:17). Have we thanked the Lord for His gift to men? He gave
some apostles, and in Paul we have the chiefest sinner made to be the chiefest of the apostles, and the champion of
grace.
Not only does the passage in Acts 9 tell us of Paul's commission to the Gentiles, it also adds, `and kings'. Paul,
as we well know, was brought before king Agrippa, and nobly testified to the saving grace of the name of Christ.
His appeal to C -sar gave him audience with the Emperor at Rome, and although we have no record of his witness,
we can be sure that he delivered himself of his testimony in the power of the name of his Lord. That his witness was
faithful is evidenced by that marvellous expression in Philippians 4:22, `The saints salute you, chiefly they that are
of C -sar's household'. Saints in C -sar's household! Saints in the employ of that monster! How this rebukes us!
If there could be saints there, saints can be found anywhere. Dear troubled brother or sister, surely your business,
your home, your surroundings are not quite so bad as was the case of those slaves of C -sar! Let us take courage
from their example.