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Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.” Here Christ is revealed as the Lord Jesus. As such, He is the object of the believer’s faith for the salvation of the believer and his household. To believe in the gospel is mainly to believe in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, to believe is to believe on, to take the ground and stand on, the Lord Jesus to be saved. We believe not only into Christ but also on Christ. This is to take the ground and the standing on the person of Christ and all that He has accomplished, both of which constitute the belief, the faith, of God’s New Testament economy. We believe on Christ as the ground and standing so that we may be saved.
Furthermore, the word household in verse 31 indicates that the family of the believer is a complete unit for God’s salvation, like the family of Noah (Gen. 7:1), the families partaking of the Passover (Exo. 12:3-4), the family of the harlot Rahab (Josh. 2:18-19), the family of Zaccheus (Luke 19:9), the family of Cornelius (Acts 11:14), the family of Lydia (16:15), the family of the jailer in verse 31, and the family of Crispus in 18:8. Hence, Christ as the Lord Jesus is the object of the believer’s faith for the salvation not only of the believer but also of his household.
Christ is a man to judge the world, designated by God in righteousness, and proved by God’s raising Him from the dead.
In 17:30 and 31 Paul says, “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now charges all men everywhere to repent, because He has set a day in which He is to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has designated, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.” The day set by God for the judgment of the world will be the day when Christ will judge the living men from the throne of His glory before the millennium (Matt. 25:31-36). This probably does not include the day when He will judge dead men at the great white throne after the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15). According to Acts 10:42 Christ has been designated by God “to be the Judge of the living and the dead.” He will be the Judge of the dead after the millennium at the great white throne. Second Timothy 4:1 and 1 Peter 4:5 also say that Christ will judge both the living and the dead. The day in Acts 17:31 refers particularly to the day Christ will judge the living, because on this day He will judge “the world,” which should refer only to living men. This day of Christ’s judgment on earth will be brought in by His coming back. He was designated by God to execute this judgment, and God’s raising Him from the dead is strong proof of this. In their preaching to the Gentiles, both Peter in 10:42 and Paul here and in 24:25 stressed the coming judgment of God.
The Greek word rendered “proof” in 17:31 may also be translated “faith,” “assurance,” “guarantee.” The resurrection of Christ is proof and assurance of His coming back to judge all the inhabitants of the earth. This is guaranteed that we may have faith in it and that it may lead us to repent (v. 30).
Paul’s word regarding Christ as the man designated by God and regarding His resurrection indicates that Paul was fully constituted of this One and of His resurrection. Paul was led, guided, and directed absolutely by the Spirit of Jesus. Because he was constituted of the Spirit of Jesus, his goal, no matter what the subject in speaking, was to preach Christ and His resurrection.
In Acts 20:28 we see Christ as God: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.” This verse reveals that Christ as our God is the Purchaser of the church, having obtained the church with His own blood. God secured, purchased, and redeemed the church with His own blood. God’s own blood is the blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7). This also implies that the Lord Jesus is God.
God’s purchasing the church with His blood indicates the precious love of God for the church and the preciousness, the exceeding worth, of the church in the eyes of God. Here the apostle does not touch the divine life and nature of the church as in Ephesians 5:23-32, but the value of the church as a treasure to God, a treasure which He acquired with His own precious blood. Paul expected that the elders as overseers would also treasure the church as God did.
Both the Holy Spirit and God’s own blood are divine provisions for the church He treasures. The Holy Spirit denotes God’s person, and His own blood, God’s work. God’s redemptive work acquired the church; now God’s person, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), cares for the church through the overseers. The church is under the care of the Holy Spirit, and the church has been bought by God with His own blood. Hence, the church is a treasure in the sight of God. The church is dear to God, so we have to regard and respect the church.
In Acts 20:28 Paul says that the church of God has been obtained “through His own blood.” To understand the unusual phrase His own blood in verse 28, we need to see that the God who died for us to obtain the church is not the God before incarnation. Prior to incarnation, God certainly did not have blood, and He could not have died for us. It was after the incarnation, in which God was mingled with humanity, that He died for us. Through incarnation, our God, the Creator, the eternal One, Jehovah, became mingled with man. As a result, He was no longer only God — He became a God-man. As the God-man, He surely had blood and was able to die for us.
When the God-man died on the cross, He died not only as man but also as God. The One who died on the cross was the One who had been conceived of God and born with God. Because He was a God-man, the very element of God was in Him. The divine element was mingled with His humanity.
In the conception of the Lord Jesus, the God-man, the divine essence out of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18-20; Luke 1:35) was generated in Mary’s womb. Such a conception of the Holy Spirit in the human virgin, accomplished with both the divine and human essences, constituted a mingling of the divine nature with the human nature and produced the God-man, One who is both the complete God and a perfect man, possessing the divine nature and the human nature distinctively, without a third nature being produced. This is the most wonderful and excellent person of Jesus.
The conception and birth of the Lord Jesus was God’s incarnation (John 1:14), constituted of the divine essence added to the human essence, hence, producing the God-man of two natures — divinity and humanity. Through this, God joined Himself to humanity that He might be manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16) and might be the Savior (Luke 2:11) who died and shed His blood for us.
The blood that has redeemed fallen human beings is the blood of Jesus, the Son of God (1 John 1:7). As human beings, we need genuine human blood for our redemption. Because He was a man, the Lord Jesus could fulfill this requirement. As a man, He shed human blood to redeem fallen human beings. The Lord is also the Son of God, even God Himself. Therefore, with His blood there is the element of eternity, and this element ensures the eternal efficacy of His blood. Therefore, as a man He has genuine human blood, and as God He has the element that gives to His blood eternal efficacy. In Acts 20:28 Paul had the boldness to speak of this blood as being God’s own blood.
Therefore, Christ died on the cross as the God-man, and the blood He shed there for our redemption was the blood not only of the man Jesus but also the blood of the God-man. Therefore, this blood, through which God obtained the church, is God’s own blood. This implies that Jesus Christ is God as the Purchaser of the church who obtained the church with His own blood.
Acts 26:18-23 unveils Christ as the content of the gospel. Christ suffered death and resurrected from the dead to announce light both to the Jews and to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance.
In his defense before Agrippa, Paul says that he did not testify anything apart from the things which both the prophets and Moses said were about to take place, “that the Christ would suffer and that He, being the first to rise from the dead, would announce light both to the people and to the Gentiles” (v. 23). Literally, the Greek words rendered “would suffer” mean “was to be subject to suffering.” Furthermore, the Greek words translated, “He, being the first to rise from the dead, would announce” may be rendered, “by the resurrection of the dead He should be the first to announce” or “He being the first to rise from the dead should announce.” In 26:23 Paul says that Christ announced light both to the people and to the Gentiles. The word light here indicates the enlightenment of God, who is light (1 John 1:5), shining in Christ, who is the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), through the preaching of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4, 6). Here Paul speaks of light instead of life because both the religious people and the Roman politicians were in darkness. Because they were in a dark “cell,” Paul says that Christ, as the first to rise from the dead, announced light both to the people and to the Gentiles.
Acts 26:18 presents the full, complete, perfect, whole gospel, of which Christ is the content: “To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” Here the opening of people’s eyes is the carrying out of the fulfillment of God’s jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, proclaimed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:18-21 according to God’s New Testament economy. The acceptable year of the Lord in Luke 4:19 is the New Testament age typified by the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17), which is the time when God accepts the returned captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2) and when the oppressed under the bondage of sin may enjoy the release of God’s salvation. The first item of the spiritual and divine blessings of the New Testament jubilee, which are the blessings of the gospel of God, is to open the eyes of those who are fallen and turn them from darkness to light so that they may see the divine things in the spiritual realm. To see these things requires spiritual sight and divine light.
Many of us have had the experience of listening to certain messages that brought us into darkness and of listening to other messages that brought us into light. We may listen to a sermon given by a particular minister, pastor, or preacher. The more we listen to that sermon, the more we are brought into darkness, and everything becomes opaque. However, we may listen to another message, and the more we listen, the more the divine light shines in us. Day dawns, our eyes are opened, and we begin to see spiritual things. This is the kind of message that opens people’s eyes. If a ministry is living, it must open people’s eyes.
In order to open people’s eyes, we ourselves must have the vision and see the heavenly things. We must see the things concerning Christ, not by being taught but by having Christ appear to us. After we have seen the vision, we need to contact people, telling them that Jesus has appeared to us and that we have seen Him. Saul had his eyes opened; thus, he knew how to open the inner eyes of others. Whether or not our word, our ministry, could open other people’s eyes depends upon how much we have seen and how much we have experienced. Hence, we should pray to the Lord that we do not want to be opaque, that we want our eyes to be opened as they have never been opened before, and that we want to have eyes like the four living creatures in the book of Revelation who have eyes everywhere, without and within (4:6, 8).
Acts 26:18 speaks not only of the opening of the eyes but also of the turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God. To turn from darkness to light is to have a transfer from darkness to light, and to turn from the authority of Satan to God is to be transferred out of the authority of Satan to God. What a great transfer this is!
Darkness is a sign of sin and death; light is a sign of righteousness and life (John 1:4; 8:12). The authority of Satan is Satan’s kingdom (Matt. 12:26), which belongs to darkness. Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31) and the ruler of the authority of the air (Eph. 2:2). He has his authority and his angels (Matt. 25:41), who are his subordinates as principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12). Hence, Satan has his kingdom, the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13).
According to Acts 26:18, we are transferred from the authority of Satan to God. Actually, to be transferred to God is to be transferred to the authority of God, which is God’s kingdom belonging to light. Formerly we were in darkness and under the authority of Satan. But we have been transferred out of darkness and the authority of Satan into light and God.
Darkness is actually the authority of Satan. Whenever we are in darkness, we are under the satanic authority. Light is God Himself (1 John 1:5). Therefore, when we are in the light, we are in God. Just as Satan and darkness are one, so God and light are one. The greatest transfer we can have is the transfer from darkness to light.
In Acts 26:18 we see that when our eyes are opened and we have a turn, a transfer, from darkness and satanic authority to light and God, we may receive forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is the base of all the blessings of the New Testament jubilee. The genuine forgiveness of sins comes through the opening of the eyes and the transfer from Satan to God. Therefore, we need to have our eyes opened and to have a transfer from the authority of Satan to God in order to receive the complete and perfect forgiveness of sins.
As the result of having our eyes opened and of being transferred from the authority of Satan to God, we not only have the forgiveness of sins on the negative side, but also we receive an inheritance on the positive side. This divine inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all that He has done, and all that He will do for His redeemed people. This Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9), who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance (1:12). The Holy Spirit, who has been given to the saints, is the foretaste, the seal, the pledge, and the guarantee of this divine inheritance (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:13-14), which we are sharing and enjoying today in God’s New Testament jubilee as a foretaste and will share and enjoy in full in the coming age and for eternity (1 Pet. 1:4). In the type of the jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-13, the main blessings were the liberty proclaimed and the returning of every man unto his own inheritance. In the fulfillment of the jubilee here, liberation from the authority of darkness and receiving the divine inheritance are also the primary blessings.
This inheritance in Acts 26:18 is Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God. This Christ is the portion of the saints. In Colossians 1:12 Paul says that the Father has qualified us “for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” This portion is the “lot,” the inheritance, of the saints. The inheritance is a lot, and this lot is a portion. The saints are the persons who have been sanctified by God; hence, the portion of the saints in Colossians 1:12 is the portion of those who have been sanctified by faith in the Lord in Acts 26:18.
In the Old Testament the twelve tribes of Israel each received an allotment, a portion, of the good land for an inheritance. The good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ given to us as our inheritance. Therefore, Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, is our inheritance. This inheritance is the processed Triune God fully embodied in the all-inclusive person of Christ, who through resurrection has become the life-giving Spirit.
According to Acts 26:18, the divine inheritance is among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ. This sanctification is not only positional but also dispositional (Rom. 6:19, 22). Sanctification (being made holy) is not only a matter of position, that is, not only a matter of being separated from a common, worldly position to a position for God, as illustrated in Matthew 23:17 and 19, where the gold is sanctified by the temple and the gift is sanctified by the altar through a change of position, and in 1 Timothy 4:3-5, where food is sanctified by the saints’ prayer. Sanctification is also a matter of disposition, that is, a matter of being transformed from the natural disposition to a spiritual one, as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2. This involves a long process, beginning from regeneration (1 Pet. 1:2-3; Titus 3:5), passing through the whole Christian life (1 Thes. 4:3; Heb. 12:14; Eph. 5:26), and being completed at the time of rapture, at the maturity of life (1 Thes. 5:23).
To be sanctified positionally is only to have a change in position and usage; to be sanctified dispositionally is to be transformed in nature by and with the holy nature of God. Sanctification is a saturation with God as our possession for our enjoyment today. It will consummate in our maturity in the divine life so that we may resemble God and be qualified to fully possess and enjoy Him as our inheritance in the coming age and for eternity.
We need to pray desperately to the Lord that we want to experience Him as the content of the full, complete, perfect, and thorough gospel that He revealed to Paul as mentioned in Acts 26:18. When we pray this way, the Lord Jesus will appear to us, and His appearing will give us a vision. If we experience the whole gospel, we shall not merely be a preacher — we shall be a witness. Therefore, we should pray, “Lord, open my eyes and turn me thoroughly from all darkness to light. Turn me from the dominion of Satan unto God, and grant me a thorough forgiveness of all my sinfulness. O Lord, sanctify me that I may enjoy You as my portion among the saints.”
