DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH
ACTS
47
AND
c None other things.
The first
d People and Gentiles.
Commission
e Suffer. Rise.
re-stated.
C 24-28. Personal appeal of Festus,
and of Paul to Agrippa (Pisteuo).
B 29.
Reference to present manner of life. Except bonds.
A 31,32. Agrippa gives his opinion.
We will not repeat the statements made by the apostle in his former defences, but deal rather with those things
which are brought into prominence in the speech before Agrippa.
The apostle begins by going over the ground already covered in Acts 9 and 22 - his early life, his persecuting
zeal, and the vision on the road to Damascus. At verse 16, however, he breaks new ground. Truth hitherto
unrecorded is now revealed, and as this new revelation is of vital importance to all who rejoice in the dispensation of
the Mystery, verses 16-18 must be given the closest attention.
We begin by noting that it is here for the first time that we are told what the Lord Himself said to the apostle on
the road to Damascus. It may, perhaps, be objected that this statement is not true, and that in Acts 9 we can read for
ourselves what the Lord said. To verify the point, let us turn to Acts 9:
Verses 1 and 2 record the journey to Damascus.
Verses 3 and 4 record the vision and the voice.
Verse 5 reveals that it is the Lord Who speaks.
Verse 6 tells Paul to go into the city and wait for instructions.
Verses 15 and 16 record what the Lord said to Ananias about Paul,
but that is all.
It is clear, therefore, that what the Lord actually said to Paul is not recorded in Acts 9, and the same is also true
of Acts 22. Chapter 22 records the words of Ananias (verses 13-15), and that Paul was to be a witness of all that he
had seen and heard, but it is to Acts 26 that we must turn to learn for the first time what the Lord actually said to
Paul at his conversion and commission.
Two of the new features contained in this record are found in the words `both', `I will appear unto thee', and
`now I send thee' in verses 16 and 17, and in the summary of doctrine contained in verse 18:
`To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me'.
The close association between these words and the doctrine of the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians will
be obvious.
In contrast with this new commission, recorded here for the first time, is the old commission to which the apostle
returns in verses 20-23. In these verses he preaches `repentance', and proclaims `none other things than those which
the prophets and Moses did say should come', which obviously could not refer to the mystery `hid in God'.
We have already seen from Acts 20:24 that Paul had received some commission from the Lord that was
intimately associated with `bonds', and now, having appealed to C -sar, the apostle is at liberty to reveal the fact
that, from the beginning, he had known that his commission was two-fold:
(1) Witnessing to Israel and the Gentiles the things which he had seen and heard, while
(2) Awaiting a future appearing of the Lord, when the terms of the new ministry associated with prison would be
made known to him.
At last the further appearing had taken place, and the terms of the new commission had been given. Verse 18
anticipates, in a condensed form, the doctrine that is more fully expressed in Ephesians and Colossians (see Eph.
1:7,13,14,18, and Col. 1:12,13).