Daily Thoughts from Acts: And Also to the Greeks (Acts 13:44-52)

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

   “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 13:44-52 ESV)

Paul’s strategy of beginning to proclaim the gospel where there is a synagogue is theologically driven.  It was necessary for the Word of God to be spoken to His chosen nation first.  When they reveal their unwillingness to share this message with the nations they show their failure to grasp it and fulfill God’s mandate for them.  He told Abraham that he would be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12) and Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6 from one of the Servant of Yahweh songs to demonstrate his point.  This is Israel’s job, and specifically Messiah’s job as an Israelite, to bring all nations to God.

That message excites the Gentiles.

But as will be seen over and over, the gospel brings life to some but persecution from others.  Luke tells us that only those who were appointed by God to eternal life actually believed.  This is a great mystery, which Luke does not even attempt to explain but simply states.  God sovereignly determines who will be saved, and yet He holds us genuinely responsible for believing or not believing.  Paul and Barnabas are forced to leave the district but as Jesus taught his disciples they symbolically demonstrate, by shaking the dust of Perga off their feet, their attempt to do good and the rejection they experienced and that they are not guilty of failing to try to minister truth.

One day, Paul tells us, the fact that the Gentiles have been included in God’s plan of salvation will move Israel to jealousy and the nation as a whole will embrace Jesus as Messiah (Romans 11:11-32).  Until that day there will be Jews who believe and we must seek their conversion, but the Church will be made up of many more Gentiles than Jews.

See these excellent articles on Jewish conversion to Christianity:

• https://world.wng.org/2002/03/timeline_of_notable_jewish_christians_of_the_past_five_centuries

An excerpt:

1666, Friedrich Albrecht Christiani is stunned to find himself believing in Christ. The Hamburg resident, educated in the Talmud, says, “I was so zealous for my Jewishness that had someone told me then of my prospective conversion, it would have appeared as strange to me as it seems incredible to others.” But finding himself unable to refute Esdras Edzard’s arguments, he decides to go with what his mind, rather than tradition, tells him, and takes the last name “Christiani.”

• https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/2784/straying-from-the-fold/

Excerpt:  In an earlier book, Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History, 1656–1945, Endelman noted that Alexander’s baptism, at St. Andrew’s Church in Plymouth, was attended by more than a thousand people. Although Alexander was included in a chapter Endelman called “The Fruits of Missionary Labors,” his first exposure to the New Testament actually came from a pious Jew whose children he was tutoring. “My employer was a man of strict integrity,” Alexander wrote in his spiritual autobiography, “and strongly attached to the principles and ceremonies of Judaism.” It was this man who warned him about English missionaries, saying that “every Jew ought to read the New Testament, in order to be more confirmed in his own religion.” This aroused Alexander’s curiosity, but “not being able then to read and understand English,” he instead “procured a German Bible” and was “greatly struck with the first of St. Matthew,” having had “no idea that Christians knew anything of our patriarchs.” The future convert “was still more struck,” he later reported, “with the character of Christ, and the excellent morals which he taught.”