| The Problem | | Acts 2:38--The "Causal eis" Debate | | Acts 2:32--The Burden for the Causal eis | | Acts 2:38--The analysis of the Causal Eis | | Acts 2:38 - Blood Guilt: Forgiveness or Justification? | | Acts 2:38 -- Blood Guilt: Corporate and Personal | | Acts 2:38 -- Blood Guilt: Resolution and Closure | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People and The Covenant | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People and The Church Age | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People: The Structure of Acts | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People: Escaping National Judgment | | Acts 2:38 -- Conclusion |
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Salvation and Water Baptism
by
Ronald R. Shea, Th.M., J.D.
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The Covenant People and the Gentiles
The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts were both written by Luke the physician, and should be read as a seamless couple if possible. The Gospel of Luke, has, as a fundamental theme, the warning that God%u2019s plan would, in the age to come, be advanced through the gentiles. In the vernacular of the Jews of the day, the world, and the plan of God, was literally %u201Cgoing to the dogs.%u201D In Luke 4:15-22, Jesus announces that the Messiah was among them, that he would come with healing and righteousness. Then, in verses 23-28, we read:
Luke 4
23. And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
24. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
25. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
28. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath.
In the account above, the proverb, %u201CPhysician, heal thyself%u201D refers to someone ministering to themselves (or their people) first. But the widow whom God had spared during the days of Elijah, was not a Jew, she was a Gentile, Sarepta of Sidon. And the leper whom God had cleansed in the days of Elisha was not a Jew, but a Gentile, Naaman the Syrian. In this short passage in Luke, Jesus was prophesying that it would not be the Jewish nation that receives the Messiah with all His blessings, but the Gentile nations, most of whom, up to this time, never even had heard of the Christ! Understandably, the Jews who were sitting in the synagogue and heard these words by Jesus were insulted, even to the point of being filled with wrath (vs. 24). |
The Covenant People and the Coming Church Age
The point of all this? The Jewish nation would ultimately reject and kill their Messiah, and God%u2019s plan would pass to the Gentiles for the church age. Peter echoes these words in his first epistle.
1 Peter 2
8. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
10. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God:
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
The Literary Structure and Message of the Book of Acts
At the risk of oversimplifying it, the Book of Acts could probably be summarized by one verse.
Acts 1
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The order of the above verse is transparent. Gods plan would start in Jerusalem, spread to all of Judea (the Jewish people), and spread even to Samaria (half Jews), and then go even onto the outermost parts of the earth (the Gentiles). On a positive level, the message of the Book of Acts is that the message of the gospel (and God%u2019s plan for the nations) is going to go forth to the whole earth, and would fall into the stewardship of the Gentiles. However, as we have seen from the above verses and Luke 4 and 1st Peter 1, not only would the message go to the Gentiles, but the stewardship of the gospel message would also go to the Gentiles as the Jews, as a people, rejected their Messiah. This same motif . . . of the torch passing to the Gentile nations, can be seen by the literary structure of the book of Acts. |
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Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People and The Church Age |
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