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Scripture Reading: Acts 14:21-28
In this message we shall consider 14:21b-28.
After Paul and Barnabas brought the good news to the city of Derbe and made a considerable number of disciples (vv. 20-21 a), “they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch” (v. 21b). This is not the Antioch from which they were sent out on this journey of ministry (13:1); rather, it is the Antioch in Pisidia, the Antioch in Asia Minor.
Acts 14:22 says that Paul and Barnabas were “establishing the souls of the disciples, and entreating them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” Here their concern was not for the spirits of the disciples but for their souls. Man’s soul is composed of man’s mind, emotion, and will. To establish the souls of the disciples is to establish them in their mind, that they may know and understand the Lord and the things concerning Him (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 3:10); in their emotion, that they may love the Lord and have a heart for the Lord’s interest (Mark 12:30; Rom. 16:4); and in their will, that they may be strong to remain with the Lord and do the things that please the Lord (Acts 11:23; Col. 1:10; 1 Thes. 4:1). Therefore, to establish the souls of the disciples is to establish them in their mind, emotion, and will.
According to Acts 14:22, Paul and Barnabas entreated the disciples to continue in the faith. In 13:43 they appealed to the believers to continue in the grace of God, but here they entreated them to continue in the faith. To continue in the faith is more difficult than to continue in the grace of God.
As in 6:7, the faith in 14:22 is the objective faith. It refers to what the believers believe in concerning Christ’s Person and work. The entire revelation of the New Testament concerning Christ and His redemptive work is considered the faith of God’s New Testament economy (Rom. 16:26).
If we understand what the faith is, then we shall realize that continuing in the faith is a deeper matter than continuing in the grace. To continue in the grace of God is to enjoy the Triune God. But in order to continue in the faith, we need not only to exercise our spirit to enjoy the Triune God, but we also need to exercise our minds to study the New Testament revelation, all of which is included in the objective faith.
Today many Christians do not know what is the entire revelation of the New Testament concerning God’s economy. How poor is the situation concerning this! If we do not know what the objective faith is, we certainly cannot continue in it.
The apostles’ entreaty in 14:22 is an improvement over that in 13:43. We have seen that in 13:43 the believers were persuaded to continue in the grace of God; that is, they were encouraged to continue in the enjoyment of the Triune God as grace. Now in 14:22 they are entreated to continue in the faith; that is, they are encouraged to know and continue in the full revelation concerning God’s New Testament economy, a matter that is very deep and profound.
The believers at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch had been believers less than a year. When Paul and Barnabas first visited those cities, churches were raised up. Then Paul and Barnabas left for other places and eventually returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. As we have seen, they entreated the disciples there to continue not only in the grace but also in the faith. The word about continuing in the grace of God was given in chapter thirteen to new converts. Immediately after they were saved, they were persuaded by the apostles to stay in the enjoyment of the Triune God. The believers at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch must have continued in the grace of God for some time. According to what is indicated in Acts 14, they must have learned quite much of God’s New Testament economy during that period of time. What they learned became for them the knowledge of the faith. Based upon this, the apostles entreated them to continue in the faith.
In 14:22 we see that Paul and Barnabas told the disciples that “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” Many think that the kingdom of God is merely a sphere where God may rule over people as the King. According to this understanding, the kingdom of God is simply a realm where God rules over His people. I do not say that this understanding is wrong, but it is superficial and natural.
The kingdom of God was a main subject of the apostles’ preaching in Acts (8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). It is not a material kingdom visible to human sight, but a kingdom of the divine life. It is the spreading of Christ as life to His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life.
In the Life-study of Mark we have pointed out that the kingdom of God is the Savior Himself (Luke 17:21) as the seed of life sown into His believers, God’s chosen people (Mark 4:3, 26), and developing into a realm in which God may rule as His kingdom in His divine life. Its entrance is regeneration (John 3:5), and its development is the believers’ growth in the divine life (2 Pet. 1:3-11). It is the church life today, in which the faithful believers live (Rom. 14:17), and it will develop into the coming kingdom as an inheritance reward (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) to the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6). Eventually, it will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life for all God’s redeemed to enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5, 14).
In Acts 14:22 Paul entreated the believers who were continuing in the faith to realize that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. Do you think that Paul regarded the kingdom of God only as a realm where God’s people are under His ruling, and that to enter into this realm we must pass through tribulation? Paul may have had the thought that the kingdom of God is a realm in which God rules over His people, but this certainly was not his main thought concerning the kingdom of God. We need to remember that Paul was entreating disciples who were somewhat advanced. They were continuing not only in the grace of God but also in the faith. The charge to continue in the faith is both deeper and higher than that to continue in the grace. Therefore, those whom Paul was entreating in 14:22 were somewhat learned in divine things. In telling them that they must enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation, Paul certainly regarded the kingdom as something more than an objective realm in which God rules as the King.
What, then, was Paul’s main thought concerning the kingdom of God? If we would know this, we need to realize that according to the New Testament the kingdom of God is not a visible, material realm. Actually, the kingdom of God is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When He was questioned by the Pharisees about the kingdom, “He answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, Look, here! Or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21). As the context proves, the kingdom of God is the Savior Himself, who was among the Pharisees. Wherever the Savior is, there is the kingdom of God. This was the reason He could say that the kingdom was among the Pharisees. As the Lord’s word in Luke 17:20 indicates, this kingdom does not come with observation; that is, it is spiritual, not material and visible.
In the four Gospels the Lord Jesus sowed Himself as the seed of the kingdom into His disciples. The development of this kingdom seed begins in Acts and continues in all the Epistles. This development reaches its consummation — the harvest — in the book of Revelation. According to the Lord’s word and Paul’s understanding, the kingdom of God is not a material realm. Rather, the kingdom is spiritual, divine, and even personal. The kingdom is Christ as the seed sown into the hearts of His chosen people. Our hearts are the soil into which the kingdom seed is sown and in which this seed develops. As we have pointed out, the seed of the kingdom is sown in the Gospels, it develops in Acts and the Epistles, and it consummates with the harvest in Revelation. This is the proper definition of the kingdom of God.
Now that we have seen that the kingdom of God is Christ as the seed that is sown into us, develops, and consummates in a harvest, we need to ask what it means to enter into the kingdom. To enter into the kingdom of God is to enter into the full enjoyment of Christ as the kingdom. However, we may not understand what it means to enjoy Christ as the kingdom. The whole world opposes the entering of God’s people into the full enjoyment of Christ as the kingdom. Judaism, for example, has been usurped and utilized by Satan to frustrate the believers from entering this enjoyment. Throughout the centuries, other forms of religion — Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam — have also been used by God’s enemy to keep God’s people from entering into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:3 tells us that through a period of forty days the resurrected Christ appeared to the apostles and spoke to them “the things concerning the kingdom of God.” Peter and all of the one hundred and twenty had been brought to the Lord, and they had received the essential Spirit for their life, living, and existence. They were truly followers of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, in chapter one of Acts they had not yet entered into the full enjoyment of Christ as the kingdom of God, as God’s ruling realm. It was still necessary for them to enter into the realm of the full enjoyment of the resurrected Christ as God’s kingdom. On the day of Pentecost Peter and all the others surely entered into this realm — the realm of the full enjoyment of the resurrected and ascended Christ as the sphere in which God rules over His people. As Peter was preaching the gospel in Acts 2, we see with him and the other apostles a picture of the kingdom of God. In Acts 2 the one hundred and twenty were in the full enjoyment of the resurrected and ascended Christ as God’s ruling realm. Such a realm is the kingdom of God.
Very soon after the believers entered into the full enjoyment of Christ as the kingdom of God, the Jewish religion came in to frustrate this enjoyment. If in chapters three, four, and five, Peter, John, and the other believers had shown any weakness, they would have lost the full enjoyment of the resurrected Christ, and as a result they would have missed the kingdom of God.
In the light of what we have seen concerning the kingdom of God, let us now come back to Acts 14 and ask if the disciples whom Paul was entreating had entered into the realm of the full enjoyment of Christ as the kingdom of God. No, those believers had not yet entered into that enjoyment; they were still on the way. Therefore, Paul charged them to enter into the realm of the full enjoyment of the resurrected and ascended Christ as the kingdom of God. Here he seemed to be saying, “I have preached to you the resurrected Christ as the holy and faithful things, as the grace of God, as eternal life, and even as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. The full enjoyment of grace, eternal life, and the Spirit is a realm, and this realm is God’s kingdom. You have not yet entered into this realm — you are on the way. Therefore, I entreat you through many tribulations to enter into the kingdom of God. You should expect opposition and be prepared for it. You will face much tribulation. But through all these tribulations you must endeavor to enter into the realm of the full enjoyment of the resurrected and ascended Christ as the kingdom of God. When you have the enjoyment of such a Christ, you will be under the divine rule. Then you will become the kingdom of God, which is the proper church life.”
Romans 14 indicates that today’s church life is the kingdom of God. In this chapter Paul speaks concerning the church life. Then in verse 17 he says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness, peace, and joy all are the issue of the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the church life, and the church life is a realm of the enjoyment of the resurrected and ascended Christ.
Acts 14:23 says, “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” The Greek words rendered “in every church” contain the preposition kata with the distributive usage — according to church. The phrase “in every church” in 14:23 equals “in each city” in Titus 1:5. The comparison of these phrases indicates not only that the jurisdiction of a local church is that of the city in which it is located, but also that in one city there should be only one church. The eldership of a local church should cover the entire city where that church is. Such a unique eldership in a city preserves the unique oneness of the Body of Christ from damage. One city should only have one church with one eldership. This practice is illustrated, beyond any question and doubt, by the clear pattern in the New Testament (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; Rev. 1:11), and it is an absolute prerequisite for the maintenance of proper order in a local church.
All the churches in which the elders were appointed respectively by the apostles in Acts 14:23 were established within less than one year. Hence, the elders appointed in these churches could not have been well matured. They must have been considered elders because they were comparatively the most matured among the believers. They were not voted in by their congregation; they were appointed by the apostles according to their maturity of life in Christ. They were charged by the apostles to care for the leadership and shepherding in their churches.
According to 14:26, from Attalia Paul and Barnabas “sailed away to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.” We have pointed out that this grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) to bring the processed God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply that we may live in resurrection. Thus, grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us. It was by this grace that Saul of Tarsus, the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15-16), became the foremost apostle laboring more abundantly than all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:10). His ministry and living by this grace were an undeniable testimony to Christ’s resurrection. The grace that motivated him and operated in him was not some matter or some thing. Rather, it was a living Person, the resurrected Christ, the embodiment of God the Father becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who dwelt in him as his everything.
Acts 14:27 and 28 conclude, “And having arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed with the disciples no little time.” In verse 27 we have the end of Paul’s first ministry journey, which began in 13:4.
When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them. This gathering was for fellowship regarding God’s move in the spreading of His gospel; it was not for a report of duty.
