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After such a long process from incarnation through resurrection, a process in which He carried out the ministry of the New Testament and set the pattern for the New Testament ministry, the Lord Jesus became the very consummation of the Triune God, the life-giving Spirit. Then in the night of His resurrection He came back to His disciples not to teach them, not to carry out some work, but to breathe into them (John 20:22). He breathed this ultimate consummation of the Triune God into Peter and all the others. The Lord came not only with the life-giving Spirit but as the life-giving Spirit, as the all-inclusive, ultimate consummation of the Triune God, to do one thing — to breathe Himself into the disciples. Such a breathing into them was sufficient for their spiritual life.
It is very interesting that after this breathing in John 20 He did something further in the next chapter, in John 21. The very next chapter in the Bible after John 21 is Acts 1. In Acts 1 and 2 we see another Peter, a different Peter. He is not the same one who was there in the four Gospels. Here is a Peter who has been transformed and even replaced in full. If you were an uneducated person from a primitive culture, one who had no knowledge of Christianity, and then you were saved and began to read the Bible for the first time, you would be shocked when you came to the opening pages of Acts. In reading the four Gospels, you would have an impression of Peter as one who was a natural man and an uneducated fisherman, always behaving in a natural way. However, the Peter in the opening pages of Acts is strikingly different. He understood the Bible and knew how to interpret it. He had not graduated from any seminary, nor did he have any education in theology or any theological degree. Nevertheless, this fisherman became a person who knew the Bible, and he took the lead to remain in Jerusalem for ten days in spite of the threatening of the Jews. He no longer cared for his fishing; he did not care for anything except the prayer in that upper room. He took the lead to remain there to pray with the one hundred twenty for ten days. How could the Peter in the Gospels do such a thing? Even consider yourself — do you think you could remain together in oneness with one hundred twenty others to pray for ten days?
Only a short time before, the disciples had been fighting among themselves. All the others became indignant because James and John wanted to be at the right hand and left hand of the King (Matt. 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45). Now in chapter 1 of Acts those who had been fighting among themselves were together in unity, in oneness, with a pure intention and a purified desire. Right after the Lord’s death and resurrection they all became different persons because the life-giving Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God had been breathed into their being. In that unique, all-inclusive drink they received everything; they received the Triune God, and they also received the uplifted humanity, the proper human living, the terminating death, and the germinating resurrection.
In medical science the greatest thing is to know how to inject all the necessary elements into the human body. Compared to this, surgery is not so wonderful. We should not compare God to a surgeon, but rather we should recognize Him as the wonderful One who injects Himself as the all-inclusive nourishment into our being. Because of such a life-giving injection, we can say that Peter was another person in the first two chapters of Acts.
Not only Peter, or even only two or three others, but also all the other one hundred twenty were changed. One hundred twenty men and women, all Galileans, who were despised by the local people, were remaining in Jerusalem in one accord, not for any entertainment or amusement but only to pray to One they could not see. There was nothing for their eyes to see, there was no outward attraction, and there was certainly no entertainment. They remained there under the threatening for ten days, praying in one accord.
We need to consider what could make it possible for those one hundred twenty to remain in oneness. What had happened to change the situation so much in such a short time? The very element of Jesus had been injected into their being, so they were the reproduction, the continuation, the increase of Jesus. Whatever had been there as an ingredient in Jesus in the four Gospels was injected into the one hundred twenty in Acts 1. The first chapter of Acts is a continuation of the record of Jesus after His baptism, after the crucifixion. After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, He was ready to be anointed, and He was anointed (John 1:32). Now, in Acts 1, the one hundred twenty were also ready to be anointed. In a sense, they were no longer natural, and they were no longer living in the old man, in the old creation. There is no need to say that they were no longer living in sin or in the world. They had been replaced with this wonderful Jesus through His death and resurrection, and they were, therefore, ready to be anointed. When the day of Pentecost came, the Spirit descended upon them economically just as the Spirit had descended upon Jesus after His baptism. Therefore, from Acts 2 Peter took the lead to stand up with at least eleven others to carry out the New Testament ministry that John had initiated and Jesus had continued. Their ministry was a continuation of the ministry of the Lord Jesus.
The five times that Peter stood up to speak are recorded in Acts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10. Four times he spoke to the Jews, and the fifth time, to the Gentiles. If we consider what he spoke on those five occasions, we can see that he did not teach theology, philosophy, morality, ethics, human behavior, human character, science, or psychology. His speaking had nothing at all to do with any of these things. Rather, he spoke concerning the incarnation of Jesus and His human living. When he said that God had raised up One out of the descendants of David, he was speaking concerning the incarnation (2:29-30). When he told the people that God anointed Jesus and that He worked and traveled through all the places, he was speaking concerning the human living of Jesus (10:38). It is the same when he said that Jesus preached the gospel, healed the sick, and released the ones oppressed by Satan, as recorded in the Gospels. He had been crucified by those who were now listening to Peter, but God raised Him up because death could not hold Him (2:24; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40). Furthermore, God exalted Him to the throne, making Him the Lord and Christ (2:32-36; 5:31). In addition, Peter said that the Lord Jesus became the cornerstone of God’s building, which is the church. In the beginning of Peter’s ministry in chapters 2, 3, and 4 of Acts, the church is not mentioned, but the church is indicated in his reference to the stone for God’s building in 4:11. (The best manuscripts do not have the word church in Acts 2:47 as found in the King James Version.)
From these points we can see that Peter’s ministry was simply a continuation and a repetition of the ministry of Jesus. When Peter preached the gospel, he did not use illustrations and parables as we often do. The reason we need to use parables and illustrations is that we are short of the resurrection life and short of the Spirit’s power. Due to this shortage our poverty compels us to pick up parables from different sources. If we are saturated with the resurrection life, even soaked in it, and if we are clothed with power from on high, we have no need for such parables. Rather, it will be sufficient to simply point out the facts to the people. This was exactly what Peter did. His preaching did not distract anyone; it was frank, direct, and very much to the point. He told the people that Jesus was raised up out of the seed of David, He was anointed, He worked, He preached the gospel, and He released the ones who were oppressed. They rejected Him and put Him to death by crucifying Him, but death could not hold Him. God raised Him up and exalted Him to the throne, and He made Him the Lord and Christ.
In this light we need to check our own so-called ministry. We have to confess that our ministry is not so pure and that there are many distracting elements in it. In a pure way, without any distractions, Peter referred to the Old Testament, but he did not expound any part of it. He was not teaching the Bible or holding a Bible study, because he did not need to do that. Peter was a person replaced by Christ and with Christ, and he was empowered with the Spirit from on high.
We need to spend time to consider carefully those five messages of Peter to see what kind of ministry Peter was carrying out. Actually, it was the same ministry that was carried out in the four Gospels, even an extract of the four Gospels. Just as the church was mentioned in the section of Christ’s ministry in the four Gospels, the church was also indicated in the section of Peter’s ministry. The mention of the church in the Gospels indicated that the ministry of Jesus would lead to the producing of the church, and Peter indicated the same thing when he said that God had raised up and exalted the very One whom they had rejected to the throne and that this One had become the cornerstone of God’s building for the church to be built up.
Of course, the ministry of Peter was not the ministry for the producing and building up of the church in full. Such a church-producing and church-building ministry came in with the apostle Paul. After the first twelve chapters of Acts, the ministry of Paul is initiated in Acts 13. Acts 14 tells us that Paul preached the gospel to many people in many cities and that he came back to visit them and to establish elders in every church (v. 23). From this we can see that the ministry of Paul was more than a continuation of the ministry of John the Baptist, the ministry of Jesus Christ, and the ministry of Peter. Paul’s ministry went on from the incarnation of Christ, His human living, His all-inclusive terminating death, His germinating resurrection, and His ascension to the producing and the building up of the Body of Christ.
Before Paul’s ministry the church was not revealed in full in the New Testament. There was some indication in the word of the Lord Jesus and then in the word of Peter, but the matter of the church began to be fully covered when Paul came into the New Testament ministry. Therefore, in the sixteen chapters from chapter 13 to chapter 28 of Acts, Paul repeated the ministry of John the Baptist, of Jesus, and of Peter in a number of messages that he gave, but there was also something further in his part of the New Testament ministry.
In Paul’s time, in his part of the ministry, there were three problems: the problem of the Gentile churches, the problem of handling the relationship between the Gentile churches and the Jewish churches, and the problem of the so-called co-workers. None of these problems were there in the section of Peter’s ministry. Peter was appointed and designated directly and officially by the Lord Jesus. No one could deny his authentic authority. At that time the work was under Peter’s leadership.
However, at the time of Paul’s appointment, he himself was the only one who saw the heavenly vision (26:13-19). Such a situation compelled the Lord to send a brother named Ananias to confirm him (9:10-17). We may think it would have been wonderful if the Lord had sent Peter to confirm Paul, but instead the Lord sent a brother who is mentioned in the Bible only in connection with this one thing (vv. 10-17; 22:12-16). Although the Bible says that Ananias had a good report of all the Jews there, it is strange that he is not mentioned any other time. It seems that no one knew this brother and that he was good to be used in the Lord’s hand only to do this one thing — to confirm Paul when he came to Damascus.
Some may have questioned Paul in a critical way, saying, “You, Saul of Tarsus, who do you think you are? Do you really think that you have been appointed by the Lord to be an apostle? When Stephen was being stoned to death, you were there helping those stoning him. Do you really expect us to believe that now you have become an apostle, and not only an apostle but the one to take the lead in the Lord’s work? Do you think Apollos should be under you, and even Barnabas should be under you? It was Barnabas who brought you in. Therefore, Barnabas must be above you, and you must be under Barnabas. Apollos knows the Bible, and he knows how to present the Bible in a very attractive way. Saul, how much of the Bible can you expound? Who do you think you are that you should take the lead?”
No doubt there was a problem among the so-called co-workers. Barnabas disagreed with Paul, even though he was the one who had brought him in (9:27; 15:36-40). We can see the indications of the problems, not only with Paul and Barnabas but even the more between Paul and Peter. No one can deny that Paul and Peter were co-workers, but there was, nevertheless, something not so smooth or sweet in their relationship. Paul says in Galatians 2 that God appointed Peter and also John and James as apostles to the Jews, and God appointed him as an apostle to the Gentiles (vv. 7-9). There is a strong indication of the problem between these co-workers in the same chapter where Paul tells us that he opposed Peter to his face (v. 11). In addition, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that there was a problem when some were saying that they were of Cephas, and some were saying that they were of Paul. Paul suffered because of this problem.
Moreover, if Paul had received a vision to go back to Jerusalem to strengthen Peter and James and to establish churches in Judea among the Jews, God’s chosen people, that would have been easy for him to do. We need to consider, though, what it meant for Paul to receive a commission to go to the Gentile world to establish the Gentile churches. It was very hard for Peter even to go to visit a Gentile family within the territory of the Jewish land. It was hard for Peter to get even a little out of the atmosphere of the Jews. Now here was another one, a typical Jew, who received a commission to go into the Gentile world to establish Gentile churches. We should not think that it was easy for Paul to carry out his commission.
Eventually, trouble came to the Gentile churches from the source of the Judaizers who came to Antioch, the source of the Gentile churches. There was a conflict in Antioch that forced Paul to go to Jerusalem; he had no choice. From the account of the conference in Jerusalem in Acts 15, we can see how much Paul had learned. I do not believe that the decision made there under the leadership of James was satisfactory to Paul (vv. 19-21, 28-29). Paul could not have been satisfied with that decision, but he tolerated it. Otherwise, he would have told the brothers in Jerusalem strongly that they should make the definite decision to forget about the law and not to mention it again. Nevertheless, the very Paul who rebuked Peter strongly regarding the matter of the law (Gal. 2:11-16) tolerated the outcome of that conference in Jerusalem. Now you can see that there was a problem between the Gentile churches established by Paul and the Jewish churches established by Peter. That problem was not a small thing. Therefore, Paul was forced to tolerate a neutral, “gray” decision. There was no absoluteness in that decision but rather a compromise.
That decision in Acts 15, with its element of compromise, produced Acts 21. In the last visit paid by Paul to Jerusalem, it is as if “the tail of the fox” came out. James took the lead to tell Paul to look at the tens of thousands of Jewish believers, all zealous for the law (v. 20). They were even practicing the Nazarite vow of the Old Testament. At that very time four were there taking such a vow, but they were poor and unable to pay the price for the sacrifices, the offerings. James advised Paul to pay the charges for them so that he could share in their vow. In this way Paul was dragged into the old net, the very net that he himself had torn into pieces in Romans and Galatians. In those two writings Paul had torn the old net of Judaism into pieces to the uttermost. However, that net was still in existence in Jerusalem, and when he went there, it seems that he entered into the net and was caught.
In that situation Paul was nice, unimposing, and tolerant. He may have thought to himself, “I wrote the Epistle to the Romans, and I wrote the Epistle to the Galatians, but I also wrote 1 Corinthians 9: ‘To the Jews I became as a Jew’ (v. 20). Now it must be the time for me to be as a Jew.” At any rate, he tolerated that situation in Acts 21, and he participated in that Old Testament vow. This was serious. This would damage God’s economy in the New Testament to the uttermost. Therefore, on the last day of the vow the Lord came in. It was as if the Lord told Paul that he may have tolerated that situation, but the Lord Himself would never tolerate it. Therefore, the Lord brought the whole thing to an end. The vow was not completed, and Paul was arrested. This was the ending of that part of Paul’s ministry.
You may say that Paul ministered in another way after that time, but at the very least, you must admit that the first part of his ministry was ended by his mistake. Then the Lord kept him in prison away from any kind of frustration, attraction, distraction, and influence. He was isolated from everything in prison, and the sky was clear.
Under that clear sky in the prison Paul wrote the Epistles to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, and to the Colossians. After his first imprisonment he wrote 1 Timothy and Hebrews, and during his second imprisonment he wrote 2 Timothy. Most Bible teachers recognize that these books are high, deep, and profound and that they touch the very heart of God’s New Testament economy. How could Paul write in such a way? He could do it because he was under a clear sky with a clear view to look at God’s economy. If that vow in Acts 21 had been completed and Paul had still been free to continue his travels, his ministry would have become the carrying out of a mixture. In that case the entire history of Acts would have been changed.
We all need to be deeply impressed with the significance of Acts 21 — even such a strong apostle as the apostle Paul, one with a clear view of God’s economy, was not that strong in facing the problem in Jerusalem and not that accurate in his action in that kind of situation. If Paul had been stronger and more accurate in facing the problem in Jerusalem, he would have told James that he absolutely would never agree to participate in that Old Testament vow. Rather, he would have urged James to cancel that vow, take those four brothers out from under the vow, and forget about the temple. He may have said, “Brother James, I am sorry, but I could never take your word. Why would you go back to offer the cattle as sacrifices again? Do you not know that the offerings of the cattle were in the old dispensation, and that was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus? When He came, He offered Himself once to replace all the offerings. Why would we go back to offer the old dispensation offerings again? To do such a thing is an insult to the Lord Jesus in the heavens. If you brothers in Jerusalem and in Judea would still go back to the old Judaic religion, that is your decision, but please do not try to convince me. I am sorry, brother, but I would never go back to that old way.” If Paul had done this, I do not believe that he would have been put into prison. Then he would have been able to go on to take another journey for his ministry, perhaps to Spain as he had planned (Rom. 15:28). His journeys for the ministry were ended by his mistake. The Lord put him into prison in order to clear up the cloudy sky.
Not many years later, God sent an army under Titus to destroy all of Jerusalem to clear up the situation. It was as if God said to forget about Jerusalem and about the tens of thousands of believers zealous for the law. The Lord cleared up the situation that was clouded by the mixture of the old things of Judaism with the New Testament economy. This is history, and no one can deny the facts of history.
What was left after Jerusalem was destroyed were some deeper Epistles written by the apostle Paul under a clear sky. The cloud of mixture was blown away, and the apostle who tolerated too much was disciplined to be very clear concerning God’s economy. Therefore, he wrote these deeper Epistles, which have all become the most rich inheritance to us today.
We need to consider what would have happened if Paul had succeeded in his way of being tolerant and that vow of the Nazarite had been completed. Suppose that had been the case, and suppose Paul had left Jerusalem after the seventh day of that vow with the best wishes of the Jewish brothers for a good journey, and he continued on in that way. Suppose Jerusalem had never been destroyed, but still remained today with the church full of its mixture of Judaism as it was then, and suppose Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, and 2 Timothy had never been written. We need to consider seriously what the situation would be today if that had been the case.
Today’s Christianity is altogether in a clouded situation even after God’s stern dealings with the church of mixture in A.D. 70 to clear up that situation. If there had not been such a clearing up carried out by God to put Paul into prison, to destroy Jerusalem, and to use Paul to write these few deeper Epistles, including Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, and 2 Timothy, we would be in a clouded situation today. How we thank the Lord that these three things are facts in history, and we are inheriting these facts as our rich portion. With such a rich inheritance as our portion, we should no longer be in a situation that is clouded by the mixture of Judaism.
It is not the purpose of the New Testament ministry to carry out anything other than the incarnation of the Triune God, His human living, His all-inclusive terminating death, His germinating resurrection, and His exalting ascension to replace God’s chosen people with such a One so that the members of Christ could be produced to form a Body as the expression of the Triune God. This is the ministry of the New Testament. It has nothing to do with theology, philosophy, morality, ethics, culture, or religion. It is only related to this wonderful person, to His life, and to His ministry to produce the believers as members to form the Body of Christ. We need to be deeply impressed with this point.
None of us should put out anything to satisfy people’s curiosity or to show that we know something more than others or that we know something new. The Gnostics knew many things that were strange. The Judaizers preached things that were different from the things the apostles preached. Through the twenty centuries what has been put out has been one new thing after another, different from the teachings of others.
Some would say that they do not like to follow Paul in their preaching. They would rather preach something new and different. Actually, their preaching does not contain anything new; it is only different. There are some who think that it is a shame to preach, to teach, to speak, or to write the same things that others have. They expect to receive a special glory for themselves by speaking and teaching something different to show that they know something others do not know. All these attitudes are a shame.
Moreover, dear saints, we need to see that all these things could be under the cloak that they are for the defending of the truth, for the defending of the faith, or for the further recovery of the biblical truth. Nevertheless, we need to realize that the issue of this kind of teaching has always been a division. Every denomination, every division, and every free group is based upon a certain so-called truth other than the New Testament ministry. To be a Presbyterian means to take the presbytery as the ground to build a Presbyterian denomination. To baptize people by immersion has been taken as a base to form the Baptist denomination. These items are not the basic and central elements of the New Testament ministry.
We all need to be very clear what the New Testament ministry is. The ministry of John the Baptist initiated the ministry of Christ, and the ministry of Peter continued Christ’s ministry. Paul’s ministry continued and further developed all the foregoing ministry and went forward to reach the goal to build up the Body of Christ. This is the New Testament ministry.
However, if you look at today’s situation, you will realize that there are many different ministries in addition to this unique New Testament ministry. If you could take away all the different ministries and leave only the unique ministry of the New Testament, all the denominations, all the different groups, and all the divisions would disappear. There would be no division and no confusion.
All of us need to learn this sober lesson and be on the alert not to deviate from the ministry of the New Testament. If we carry out something new, something different, something other than this unique ministry, we will be through as far as the Lord’s recovery is concerned. Actually, the Lord’s recovery is to bring us back to the unique ministry of the New Testament.
