²⁸"Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!" Acts 28:28

These are difficult words for a Jewish audience at that time. Paul is making a statement on the universal availability of God’s salvation. That stood in contrast to the traditional belief among the audience. They believed that salvation had been offered to Abraham and his seed forever. The most important thing under this scenario was being a child of Abraham to be part of the covenant. Now, they are listening to another Jew who was of the tradition of the Pharisees tell them that God had done and was doing a new thing. God was making everything new by extending the borders of those who could be included under the umbrella of the covenant.

Paul made sure that he indicated that the salvation he was talking about belonged to God. It was God’s salvation and not a human or tribal one. When ownership of salvation is clearly defined then one can search for the parameters of that salvation. Paul understood clearly that it had been the intention of God all along to extend this salvation by faith not only to the children of Abraham. That would make sense if we understand that God is the creator of all humanity. However, one thing cannot be denied and that is the fact that the Jews were the chosen people to be the bearers of this salvation.

No one could challenge the call of God to Abraham to leave his people and go to the land that God would show him. It was not debatable that Abraham became the father of all who would respond to God by faith. Now the same call was being extended to the Gentiles who hitherto had been outside the covenant. If the Gentiles do listen and respond to God by faith, they also become children of Abraham.  

The message of salvation was no longer confined to any group of people. All were invited to hear the message of Jesus Christ. Paul at this meeting was saying something that was not new. Jesus and Peter had already extended the message of the gospel to Gentiles. Paul himself had been given the commission to take the gospel to the Gentiles and that was the reason that he was in chains. Paul was only affirming his life mission to those gathered in Rome who may not know a lot about what he had been up to all along.

We have been entrusted with a salvation that is free for all who will listen. Our task is to carry that message to our generation and to the next. Would you be part of this movement of bearing the message of free grace to any one who would listen?

Stay blessed

²⁵They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: ²⁶" 'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." ²⁷For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' Acts 28:25-27

Paul’ statement that referred to what the Holy Spirit had indicated was a bold one indeed. The reference was to a word of prophecy that indicated that people would hear the word of God and still not understand it. It is easy to see how some who heard Paul speak those words could have taken the statement personally. Especially those who had disagreed with the presentation of Paul would take the statement as directed at them.

Paul used words that would not be recommended in pastoral care classes or in the corridors of diplomacy. On the other hand Paul was quoting scripture and he decided not to compromise on what the word of God was saying. Paul spoke of peoples’ hearts that had become calloused so they hardly heard with their ears and their eyes were closed. Those were difficult words to hear from a messenger of God who was in chains.

What Paul spoke of was not something of the past but a reality that is still with us. When God’s word is spoken the power of the Holy Spirit accompanies the word. That word convicts people of sin and of righteousness (A right relation with God). The choice is left to the hearers of the gospel message to respond. They may elect to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and enter into a relationship with God or they may prefer to reject the good news. 

Paul indicated that healing and forgiveness were available to all those who would respond to the message of Jesus Christ. In our “post Christian society” people do not want to hear the truth about the consequences of rejecting the offer of God. But God has always been in the rescuing business. It has been the desire of God to redeem humans from their predicament of sin. That was the freedom that Paul was offering and announcing. Paul also made it clear that refusing to heed the offer was not new and it had consequences.

The offer is healing that comes from God. God offers wholeness to all those who will accept the gift of grace through the person of Jesus Christ. 

Stay blessed

Brother Seth

²⁴Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. ²⁵They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: Acts 28:24-25

Paul presented the gospel of Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit to the Jewish leaders and others who had gathered in Rome to hear him a second time. This was an extended session so that people could have their issues clarified. In the end some in the gathering were convinced that Jesus was the promised hope of Israel. That was a whole paradigm shift for these individuals to be able to accept that the promised Messiah had already come. Not only that, but also the fact that he came to his own and they did not recognize him.

Other people in the gathering found the presentation of Paul too hard to believe. Most likely they understood the implication so well. If the Messiah had come and had been crucified by the same people he came to save then where did they stand? One can imagine the sorts of arguments that would be going on. There would be questions like: “Then why do we still have the Roman occupation? Where were all the signs that were supposed to accompany the coming of the Messiah?”

The disagreement became so intense that some were ready to leave the assembly. They decided that this type of teaching was not something they could accept. For some of these folks, they decided to make their exit when Paul made a statement to the effect that the Holy Spirit had already spoken about the unfolding events. In other words their inability to accept the gospel was a fulfillment of Scripture.

Paul had a holy boldness in proclaiming the gospel to these Jewish leaders in Rome. Just imagine the scene, a man who was probably chained to a Roman soldier but who had the audacity to challenge the leaders with the same message that had got him in trouble in the first place. Paul was speaking of a personal experience that started on the Damascus Road but had been affirmed through his travels by the Holy Spirit.

Paul was not arguing something he had been taught. He was speaking of a relationship that he had with the Lord Jesus. This was the faith that he was inviting all his hearers to experience. That was the hope of Israel. The Holy Spirit writes the “laws” on the heart so people can say: “I know that I know that Jesus Christ is alive.”

Stay blessed.

Brother Seth

²³They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Acts 28:23

The Jewish leaders in Rome arranged to meet with Paul on a specific day. The intention was to clarify what Paul had been talking about, specifically, the hope of Israel and how that relates or does not relate to the sect that they had heard about.

On the specified day, it was not just the Jewish leadership in Rome that Paul had to content with but a large cross section of the Jewish population In Rome came to where Paul was staying. It became a whole day retreat where Paul explained from morning to evening this hope of Israel and how it was related to Jesus Christ.

How does one explain the kingdom of God to a group of Jews? The concept of the realm of God is not something new to a group of people who consider themselves in covenant relationship with God. They have always considered themselves to be children of Abraham. Now these Jews are hearing about the faith of Abraham that earned him righteousness being connected with faith in Jesus Christ. In so doing all people are being welcomed into the realm of God on the basis of faith.

The kingdom of God was being defined not on the basis of work or heritage or nationality but on the basis of faith. By so doing Paul was broadening the tent of the kingdom of God to include several people who were outside the Jewish faith. But Paul was not downgrading what it meant to be a Jew with all the riches that had come from the patriarchs. Paul explained how the law, Moses and the prophets pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ who was going to usher in the kingdom of God. Paul was speaking of a kingdom that was deeply grounded in God’s action through the Jewish people.

Paul did his best to explain the message that had taken hold of his life and changed him. But he realized that this was something that words would not be enough to convince people. It had to take the power of the Holy Spirit to break the message to people’s heart.

Be Blessed

Brother Seth

²¹They replied, "We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. ²²But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect."  Acts 28:21-22

The Jewish leaders had listened patiently to Paul as he explained how he was arrested in the Temple and his trials in Jerusalem and Caesarea. Paul concluded by emphasizing that he was in Rome as a prisoner because of the hope of Israel. Paul knew that the concept of the coming Messiah was undeniable In Judaism. Now it was the turn of the Jewish leaders to respond to all that they have heard from Paul.

The Jewish leaders replied by saying that they had not received any letters from Judea concerning Paul. In other words there were no specific negative reports that should alarm them about the ministry of Paul. It is important to observe that the ministry of Paul had been among the Gentiles outside Judea. Paul had been commissioned as the apostle to the Gentiles. So it was not surprising that the Jewish leaders in Rome had not heard any reports about Paul from Jerusalem. The reports reaching the Jewish leaders in Rome were all about activities in Judea, principally in Jerusalem. That would be the only explanation for the fact that these Jewish leaders in Rome did not hear about Paul who had been preaching the message of Christ in many cities in the Roman world.

The Jewish leaders in Rome indicated that they wished to hear more about the views of Paul. These leaders also indicated that they had received reports about a sect in Judaism that they were not sure of. This was because everywhere people were talking against this sect. In effect, they had heard some negative reports on Christianity or the sect. But they had not associated this sect with the mission and ministry of Paul.

Now it was the turn of Paul either to convince these leaders of the faith that he had found in Jesus Christ or he could back away from this faith so that they would not associate him with this sect that they had received negative reports about.

There will come a time that each one of us would be called upon to either stand for our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ or be pressured to abandon that faith because people around us may have objections to what Christianity stands for.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Stay Blessed

Brother Seth