DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH
ACTS
51
AND
dia added, as though to indicate `a thorough witness', dia meaning `through', and in composition not always so
translated, but giving added emphasis.
The Lord had appeared to Paul in a vision and had said: `As thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou
bear witness also at Rome' (Acts 23:11). Here, in the next occurrence of the word, we find the fulfilment of the
promise. `Witness' differs from `exposition'.
It is conceivable that an unbeliever might be able to give some sort of an exposition of the teaching of the Old
Testament scriptures concerning their prophetic utterances and their fulfilment. With certain reservations, he might
even be able to compare the `more perfect' way of the gospel with that of the law, but it would be an academic effort
and lifeless; he would not be able to add his personal testimony. Paul on the contrary not only gave a masterly
analysis of the Old Testament in that characteristic manner of his `confounding the Jews ... proving that this is (the)
very Christ' (Acts 9:22), but he would go over his life from his youth, speak of his conversion, his commission, and
of the grace that had been granted him. He would speak of Christ as `The Son of God, Who loved me, and gave
Himself for me'.
This exposition and testimony was twofold. It was about `the kingdom of God', and it was `concerning Jesus'.
Whatever we may think is the meaning of the phrase `the kingdom of God', we must remember, according to Paul's
exposition here that:
(1) It was found in the law of Moses and the Prophets.
(2) It was something most intimately connected with the hope of Israel.
(3) It was closely associated with the teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Jesus.
Turning to the Acts of the Apostles we find that the Lord's teaching in the days after His resurrection is
summarized as, `speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God' (Acts 1:3), and, as a direct outcome of
this teaching (as indicated by the word `therefore' in verse 6), the apostles seize the first opportunity to ask whether
the restoration of the kingdom again to Israel would take place `at that time'.
Paul had before `disputed and persuaded' concerning the kingdom of God, notably in the synagogue of Ephesus
(Acts 19:8), and summed up his ministry during the Acts as `preaching the kingdom of God', in other words
`testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ'
and as a declaration to them of `all the counsel of God' (Acts 20:21,25,27).
It is apparent, therefore, that if the apostle could honestly say that his teaching was `none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come' (Acts 26:22), we must so interpret his use of the term, `the
kingdom of God', as to include the restoration again of the earthly kingdom which constituted part of the hope of
Israel. The term, however, is much wider than anything found in the Gospels, the Acts or the early Epistles. We
find it used after Israel were set aside, and when Luke would describe Paul's prison ministry he wrote, `Preaching
the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man
forbidding him' (Acts 28:31). The revelation of the mystery must therefore be included in the kingdom of God, and
Colossians 4:11 does not hesitate to use the term to define the goal of Paul and his fellow-workers. It would appear,
therefore, that we must understand the kingdom of God to refer to that all-embracive sovereignty which includes all
spheres of blessing, all callings, and all inheritances, and that dispensational truth, seeking to observe the
sub-divisions in that all-embracive kingdom, speaks of the Church, of Israel and of the Bride, as the case may be.
The direct object of Paul's exposition and testimony was the kingdom of God; the direct object of his persuasion
was concerning Jesus. In Acts 28:23 the word peitho is translated `persuade', but is rendered `believe' in verse 24.
It is the word used by Agrippa and by those who charged the apostle with having `persuaded and turned away much
people' at Ephesus. The way in which the word is used of the centurion in Act 27:11 - `The centurion believed the
master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul' - is rather a foreshadowing of
the attitude of Paul's own people, the Jews, in Rome, for it is recorded of them that `some believed the things which
were spoken, and some believed not'.
One further point must detain us at verse 23: Paul persuaded them concerning `Jesus'. When the apostle refers
to the Saviour in his epistles, it is his general practice to give Him His title, `Jesus Christ', `Christ Jesus', `Jesus
Christ the Lord', etc., but, on occasion, he uses simply the name `Jesus'. This he does in Hebrews eight times, and