(5)
Scripture Reading: Acts 14:1-28
It is not my burden in this Life-study of Acts to cover all the minor points contained in this long book. For example, I am not burdened to speak on such a matter as David being a man according to God’s heart. Rather, my burden in this Life-study is to cover all the crucial points regarding God’s New Testament economy. In other words, I am concerned with all the things in Acts that bear a dispensational significance.
I do not use the word “dispensational” to refer to an age or to God’s way of dealing with people during a certain period of time. Rather, in these messages the word “dispensation” denotes the divine arrangement in God’s eternal economy. In the book of Acts there is much to see concerning this divine arrangement. Acts, therefore, is a book of God’s economy. Many Christians do not have this understanding of Acts. Acts is not merely concerned with acts. This is a book showing us God’s dispensation, God’s economy, God’s arrangement in His eternal economy. My burden in these Life-study Messages is to cover the matter of God’s economy in the book of Acts.
As I come to a particular chapter in Acts, my goal is to see something concerning the divine arrangement of God’s economy in that chapter. This is my goal as we come to chapter fourteen. It may seem that in this chapter we cannot see anything concerning the divine arrangement in God’s economy. But if we study this chapter carefully, we shall be able to see some matters related to this divine arrangement.
Acts 14:1 says, “Now it came about in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in such a way that a great multitude believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.” As in 13:5 and 14, they did not go to attend the Jewish synagogue gathering, but to take advantage of that gathering to announce the word of God’s grace. Verse 2 continues, “But the Jews who disobeyed stirred up and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against the brothers.” Here the Greek word rendered “minds” literally means “souls.”
Acts 14:3 goes on to say, “Therefore they stayed a considerable time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done through their hands.” As we have pointed out, the Lord’s grace is the Triune God received and enjoyed by the believers and expressed in their salvation, change in life, and holy living.
As the Lord testified to the word of His grace, He granted signs and wonders to be done through the hands of Paul and Barnabas. Wonders and signs are not part of God’s central testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ; neither are they part of His full salvation. Rather, signs and wonders are only evidences that what the apostles preached and ministered was absolutely of God, not of man.
The phrase “the word of His grace” denotes certain dispensational points. In the synagogues the Jewish people did not read the Old Testament in order to know the word of the Lord’s grace. Rather, they read the Scriptures in order to know the word of God’s law, a word belonging to the old dispensation, to the former divine arrangement of God’s economy. But the word of the Lord’s grace replaces the law. The minds of the Jewish people in the synagogues were occupied with the law. But Paul preached Christ as grace to them. They edified the new believers by testifying the word of life and the word of the Lord’s grace. The word “testified” in verse 3 implies that the word of grace already existed and that it had already been preached. Because the word of grace had been preached, testimony was borne to it.
The apostles could testify of the word of the Lord’s grace even though they had only the Old Testament. Can we find the word of grace in the Old Testament? Instead of finding the word of grace, the Jewish people paid attention to the word of the law with all the commandments. What they had was the word of God’s law, not the word of the Lord’s grace. Nevertheless, the word of the Lord’s grace existed already in the Old Testament. This made it possible for the apostles to testify concerning it.
Let us consider some examples of the word of the Lord’s grace found in the Old Testament. Consider Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Here we see that the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent’s head. Is this not a word of the Lord’s grace? Certainly it is. After Adam and Eve had eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they tried to hide from God. The voice of the Lord sounded out to Adam and said, “Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9). Adam and Eve were frightened, perhaps thinking that God would sentence them to death. But instead of speaking a word of condemnation or judgment, the Lord spoke a word of grace. In Genesis 3:15 He condemned the serpent and gave Adam and Eve a word of grace. Adam and Eve must have been very happy when they heard the Lord’s word in Genesis 3:15. They must have hated the serpent, and now the Lord was telling them that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. This surely is a word of grace.
Another example of a word of grace found in the Old Testament is Genesis 12:2 and 3, where God says to Abraham, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing...and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” This certainly is not a word of law; it is a word of grace. The Jews in the synagogues were spiritually blind and could not see the word of the Lord’s grace in the Old Testament.
Other examples of the word of the Lord’s grace are found in the book of Isaiah. Consider Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This is a word of grace. Another word of grace is in Isaiah 9:6: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” This also is an example of the many words of the Lord’s grace in the Old Testament.
We have seen that in chapter thirteen of Acts Paul applied the “holy and faithful things of David” to the resurrected Christ (vv. 33-35). Paul understood these as referring to Christ in resurrection. Who other than Paul would be able to understand that the holy and faithful things of David refer to the resurrected Christ? To be sure, Paul was the best “miner,” the one most able to dig into the depths of the Old Testament in order to find the riches of the word of the Lord’s grace.
In Acts 2 Peter gave an excellent message concerning the resurrected Christ. When you read chapter two of Acts, you may be quite impressed with Peter’s message. But have you previously had an adequate appreciation of Paul’s preaching in Acts 13? Many readers of Acts do not appreciate this message properly because they have not seen what is revealed in it concerning Christ in resurrection. Yes, Peter’s preaching in chapter two is excellent but it is somewhat superficial. But Paul’s preaching in Acts 13 is very deep and marvelous.
In his preaching in Acts 13 Paul indicates that in resurrection Christ became the firstborn Son of God. He applies Psalm 2:7 to the resurrected Christ to indicate that to Christ resurrection was a birth. We may not realize that Christ’s resurrection was His birth. Have you ever heard this? According to the Bible, in resurrection Christ in His humanity was begotten of God to be His firstborn Son. Whereas the only begotten Son of God is for the embodiment of the divine life, the firstborn Son of God is for the propagation of this divine life. Actually, we were born with Christ in His resurrection. In this sense, therefore, Christ’s resurrection was a universal birth. The point we are emphasizing here is that Paul dug out from the Old Testament the truth that Christ in His resurrection was born to be the propagating factor of the divine life. In resurrection He was born to be the firstborn Son of God for the propagating reproduction of the divine life.
In his “mining” of the Word Paul also found that Christ in His resurrection became all the holy and faithful things, the trustworthy and sure things, of David. Paul realized that “the sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55:3) refer to the Christ in His resurrection. Today some enjoy singing Psalm 89:1: “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.” However, those who sing this psalm may not have an adequate understanding of what mercy is. They may think that mercy is simply a feeling of pity that God has towards us. But according to Paul’s understanding, the mercies of the Lord are Christ in His second birth, that is, Christ in His resurrection. Paul’s digging into the Word is marvelous, and we admire his study of the Scriptures. In digging into the Word no one can compare with him. In Acts 13 Paul preached the all-inclusive Christ.
For generations the Jews read the Old Testament in the synagogues. But what they heard was the word of God’s commandment, not the word of the Lord’s grace. However, when the Lord Jesus proclaimed the New Testament jubilee in Luke 4, He selected a word of grace from the book of Isaiah.
We need to see the significance of the expression “the word of His grace” in Acts 14:3. This phrase is a strong indication of a change of dispensation, of a change of God’s arrangement in His economy.
In chapter thirteen Paul’s preaching to the Jews was mainly based on the revelation in the Old Testament concerning Christ. His preaching in chapter fourteen however, is to the Gentiles. As we consider this chapter, we shall see Paul’s wisdom in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. His preaching to the Gentiles in this chapter is based not on the revelation of the Old Testament concerning Christ; it is based on God’s creation.
When the apostles became aware of a “hostile intention of both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to treat them outrageously and to stone them” (v. 5), they “fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding country; and there they were bringing the good news” (vv. 6-7). Paul saw a certain lame man and said to him, “Stand upright on your feet! And he leaped up and walked” (v. 10). According to verses 11 and 12, “when the crowds saw what Paul did, they lifted up their voice in Lycaonian, saying, The gods have become like men and have come down to us! And they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, since he was the leading speaker.” The Latin equivalent of Zeus, the leading god in Greek mythology, and Hermes, the messenger of the gods, is Jupiter and Mercury respectively. In verse 12 the Greek words rendered “the leading speaker” literally mean “the leader of the discourse.” In verse 13 we are told that “the priest of Zeus, whose temple was before the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates, and wanted to sacrifice with the crowds.”
When Barnabas and Paul heard this, “they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like feeling with you, and bring good news to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all the things in them” (vv. 14-15). The “vain things” here refer to idols and idolatry. Here Paul and Barnabas were saying, “Do not regard us as gods and worship us! We are men like you. You should turn from these vain things, these idols, to the living God, who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all things in them.” Here we see that Paul’s preaching to these Gentiles is based on God’s creation.
In verse 16 Paul and Barnabas went on to say that God “in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to go their ways.” Then in verse 17 they uttered a touching word, a word to touch the hearts of the listeners: “And yet He did not leave Himself without witness, doing good, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.” This was very good gospel preaching. It was based on God’s creation, and eventually it touched the hearts of the hearers. This word is brief, but it is revealing and touching.
We all need to learn of Paul in the preaching of the gospel. In this chapter he did not tell stories. Rather, he gave a brief message that unveiled God as the creator of the entire universe. He also spoke an inspiring word that touched the heart of the people. Paul seemed to be saying, “Throughout the generations, God allowed you to go your own way. He did not punish you, but He did many good things for you. He gave you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, and He filled your hearts with food and gladness.” Let us all learn of Paul and follow his way of preaching the gospel.
In chapter thirteen of Acts Paul preached according to the Old Testament known for generations by the Jewish people. Instead of pointing out God’s creation and the good things God did for them, he spoke to them concerning Christ in resurrection. From this we see that if we are preaching the gospel to those who know the Old Testament, there is no need for us to tell them that God is the Creator. If we say this, they may reply, “We already know that God is the Creator. We are able to teach you concerning this.”
It is very important for us to see that Paul’s preaching of the gospel in chapter fourteen is different from his preaching in chapter thirteen. Whereas he was speaking to Jews in chapter thirteen, he was preaching to Gentiles in chapter fourteen. In preaching to them, he told them that God is the Creator and that He has always been good to them, giving them rain and harvests so that their hearts might be filled with joy. Here we see that Paul preached the gospel in a wise and excellent way.
