Chapter 6 - THE MINISTRY OF PAUL
In reading the Epistles of the great Apostle
to the Gentiles one can hardly help noting his
peculiar use of the terms, "my gospel," and "the
gospel which I preached." He makes it clear that
he did not receive it of men, neither was he
taught it by those that were in Christ before
him. It came as a distinct revelation from
heaven when he received his divinely given
commission to the apostolate. Yet when he went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter and in brotherly
conference laid before him and others of the
Twelve the Gospel he preached among the
Gentiles, we are told they recognized it as of
God, and added nothing to it, but gave to him
and to Barnabas the right hand of fellowship,
commending them to the grace of God as they
continued evangelizing the nations. In fact, a
rather definite pact was made, an agreement that
Peter should go to the circumcision and Paul to
the uncircumcision.
Surely this does not mean, as some have
contended, that the Gospel of the circumcision
differed in subject matter from the Gospel of
the uncircumcision. So to hold is to ignore
Paul's own declaration that there is but one
Gospel. Was he pronouncing a curse on Peter when
he said, "Though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, If any
man preach any other gospel unto you than that
ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal.
1:8-9)? He knew no other gospel. The mixture of
law and grace taught by some in that day, he
declared, was a different gospel but not
another.
Why then the distinction between Peter's
evangel and his own? The difference was in the
manner of approach, not in the body of doctrine.
He defines his Gospel as follows:
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye
have received, and wherein ye stand; by which
also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in
vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that
which I also received, how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures; and that
he was buried, and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures" (I Cor.
15:1-4). This is exactly what Peter and the rest
proclaimed from the beginning, as we have
already seen.
Only recently I noticed the statement in
print that, while repentance was connected with
the Gospel of the circumcision, it had no place
in connection with Paul's Gospel of the
uncircumcision. Passing strange in the face of
his own declarations, which I now propose to
examine, for he has told us in no uncertain
terms just what position he took on this great
subject.
In his own conversion we see repentance
illustrated in the clearest possible way. At one
moment he was a self-righteous, bigoted Pharisee
who actually thought that he ought to do many
things contrary to the Name of Jesus of
Nazareth. But in another instant all this was
altered. He heard the challenging voice from
Heaven declaring, "I am Jesus whom thou
persecutest." Broken in spirit, and convicted of
sin, he cried out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do?" It was the question of a sincerely
repentant man whose entire attitude was changed
when he realized that in opposing the Gospel of
the Nazarene he was fighting against God. The
depth of the work wrought in his soul was
manifest in his new life and behavior. Soon we
see him preaching the faith that once he sought
to destroy. We have no more definite evidence of
repentance anywhere in our Bible.
And his own conversion was the model for all
others. That which had become so real to him was
what he proclaimed to Jew and Gentile alike in
all the years of his ministry. It was not that
he invariably used the actual terms "repent" or
"repentance." Probably it was oftener that he
did not. But his preaching was of the character
that was designed to move his hearers to
consider their ways, to face their sins before
God, to own their lost estate, and so to avail
themselves in faith of the divinely given
remedy.
When he stood on Mars Hill in Athens,
addressing the intelligentsia of the city, he
used the very word that we are tracing out.
After dwelling on the personality and power of
the "unknown God" and man's responsibility to
obey His voice, he contrasted the present age
with the "times of this ignorance God winked at"
by declaring that He "now commandeth all men
everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed
a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained;
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in
that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts
17:30-31). To the Philippian jailer he gave no
such message, for the man's whole attitude
bespoke the repentance already produced in his
soul. Therefore for him, as for every sinner who
owns his guilt, the word was simply, "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house." But these proud,
supercilious scoffers of the Areopagus were not
ready for the message of pure grace. They needed
to realize their true state before God. To them
the call came, 'Change your minds! Your whole
attitude towards these questions is wrong.
Repent and heed the voice of God!'
He who would be a wise dealer with souls
cannot do better than follow his example. The
fallow ground must first be broken up before it
is ready for the good seed of the Gospel.
The moral order of all this comes out vividly
when the same Apostle meets the little group of
John's disciples at Ephesus. He shows that
John's baptism of repentance was but the prelude
to the full-orbed evan-gel of the new
dispensation. And this principle abides
everywhere. (See Acts 19:1-6.)
But more positive witness is yet to be
adduced, as to his constant endeavor to bring
men to repentance in order that they might be
saved. In Acts 20 we read of his calling the
elders of Ephesus down to Miletus for a farewell
interview. To them he rehearsed the story of his
labors among them and of the general character
of his ministry. He says, "I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you, but . . . have
taught you publicly and from house to house,
testifying both to the Jews, and also to the
Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ." Imagine anyone declaring
in the face of words like these that Paul's
message had no place for repentance, and that
the call to repent is for the Jew but not for
the Gentile!
Paul saw nothing incongruous in linking
together repentance and faith and in the order
given. A new attitude toward God would lead to
personal trust in the Saviour He had provided.
He who sees himself in the light of God's
infinite holiness can never be at peace again
until he finds rest in Christ through believing
the Gospel. "Being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"
(Rom. 5:1).
In his masterly defence before King Agrippa,
Paul explains how he met the risen Christ and
received from Him the commission to go forth as
"a minister and a witness," and he tells how the
Lord sent him to the nations "to open their
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that is
in me" (Acts 26:18). This is the model for all
Gospel preachers. Our first business is to open
men's eyes -- to turn them from darkness to
light; for the great majority who need Christ as
Saviour, do not realize that need. Alert enough
to the main chance, as men say, wide-awake to
the things of this life, bent upon acquiring
wealth and fame, avidly seeking after the vain
pleasures of the world, they rush heedlessly on,
caring nothing for the things of supreme
importance. They need an awakening message, that
which will arouse and alarm, that they may
realize something of their guilt and their
danger. Till this has been achieved the
preacher's sweetest Gospel proclamation will be
a matter of supreme indifference; or at the best
the prophet of the Lord will be to them, like
Ezekiel of old, "as a lovely song" and as one
that playeth well upon an instrument.
McCheyne expresses well the experience of
thousands in his spiritual song:
"I once was a stranger to grace and to
God,
I knew not my danger, I felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on
the tree,
Jehovah-Tsidkenu was nothing to me."
It was only when free grace awoke him to a
sense of his real condition that he was eager to
avail himself of the righteousness of God in
Christ.
Our Apostle tells the Ephesian elders that,
in obedience to the heavenly vision, he had ever
followed this order. In Acts 26:20 we read that
he "shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at
Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of
Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they
should repent and turn to God, and do works meet
for repentance." Is there not some mistake here?
None whatever! Can this be the Apostle of grace
who so speaks? Unquestionably. Is he not
contradicting the very principles he sets forth
in Romans and Ephesians ? Not at all. He is
simply insisting on the importance of the sick
man recognizing and acknowledging the
incurableness of his terrible disease, so far as
human help is concerned, in order that he may
cast himself in faith upon the skill of the
Great Physician. This is why in the Roman letter
he devotes nearly three chapters to the
elucidation of man's ruin, before he opens up
the truth as to God's remedy. And in Ephesians 2
the order is the same. There is no confusion
here. All is perfect harmony.
In fact, the more carefully one studies these
two great basic Epistles, the more evident does
this become; yet both view the sinner from
opposite standpoints, though with no
contradiction whatever. In Romans man is seen as
alive in the flesh, a guilty culprit, who is
without excuse because sinning against light,
and who stands exposed to the righteous judgment
of God. Whether ignorant heathen as in chapter
1, cultured philosopher as in chapter 2:1-16, or
legal-minded Jew as in the balance of the second
chapter, there is "no difference: for all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Nevertheless, God visits man in mercy, lavishing
daily evidence of His goodness upon him, all
designed to lead to repentance (2:4), but alas,
so sordid and sinful is the natural heart that
until awakened by the Spirit of God neither His
goodness, as here, nor His wrath, as in
Revelation 16:11, will produce repentance.
Therefore the need of "the foolishness of
preaching." God's truth proclaimed in the power
of the Holy Spirit produces that exercise -- if
not resisted -- which results in repentance.
This is why the Apostle dwells so definitely on
man's lost condition before opening up the
glorious Gospel of grace, as in the next part of
the Roman Epistle.
In Ephesians man is viewed as morally and
spiritually dead; alive enough to the course of
this age, but without one pulse beat toward God.
From this death condition he is quickened
together with Christ, and that altogether apart
from human merit. But this new life is imparted,
as we know, through the Word, and that Word
first slays and then makes alive.
Bunyan's pilgrim was not conscious of the
load upon his back until he began to read in the
Book. The more he read, the heavier the burden
became, until in response to his pitiable plea
for deliverance he was directed to the Wicket
Gate, which speaks of new birth. Even then he
did not find complete deliverance until he
beheld the empty cross. Then indeed he could
sing:
"Blest cross; blest sepulchre;
Blest rather be the Man who
There was put to shame for me."
To cry, 'Believe! believe!' to men who have
no sense of need is folly. None plowed deeper
than Paul before urging men to decision for
Christ. His example may well be imitated by
others who are anxious to see souls saved and
established in the truth. In his last letter to
Timothy he warns against false teachers, and
exhorts the younger preacher not to waste his
time arguing with them, but urges him to
proclaim the Word faithfully, counting on God to
use that Word to produce a change of attitude in
his opponents. Note his exhortation, as recorded
in 2 Timothy 2:24-26: "The servant of the Lord
must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will
give them repentance to the acknowledging of the
truth; and that they may recover themselves out
of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive
by him at his will." Again we are reminded that
repentance is not a meritorious work, as penance
is supposed to be, but it is an inward state
produced by God's Holy Spirit, and by none else.
Some may object, 'Then you tell men they are
commanded to repent, yet you very well know they
cannot repent unless God produces that change
within which leads them to Himself.' Is this
really a valid objection? Is it not equally true
of believing? Are not men commanded to "believe
the gospel"? Are they not responsible to
exercise faith in Christ? Yet we know that faith
is the gift of God as certainly as all else
connected with salvation.
In what sense is this true? "Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God." If men
refuse to hear the report that He sends to them,
they must die in their sins. He has said, "Hear,
and your soul shall live." The faithful
preaching of the Gospel and the emphatic
declaration of man's needy condition are
designed to produce "repentance toward God, and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." If men
refuse to heed, if like Israel they "always
resist the Holy Ghost," they will be given up to
hardness of heart and must be judged
accordingly. But if they receive the testimony
it will do its own work in their souls, for life
is in the Word.
One thing must not be left unsaid -- there is
nothing that is more calculated to produce
repentance than uplifting Christ and calling
upon men to behold Him dying for their sins upon
the shameful tree. For nowhere do we get such an
understanding of our guilt as in the light of
that cross. One may well exclaim,
"O how vile my lost estate,
Since my ransom was so great."
It was when John Newton "saw One hanging on
the tree" for him that his proud, haughty will
was subdued and he fell adoring at the Saviour's
feet. Christ crucified is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. The message of the cross will
break the hardest heart, if men will but hear
it. Alas, it is quite possible to listen with
the outward ear and never really hear the Gospel
story at all. And it is possible so to tell that
story that Christless men will admire and
applaud the preacher while rejecting the
message. Therefore the need of constant
dependence on God that one may preach "not with
enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power," in
order that the faith of our hearers "should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of
God" (1st Corinthians 2:4-5).
One would not decry human eloquence, for we
are told that Apollos was an eloquent man and
mighty in the Scriptures. But we need to
remember that eloquence is not power. It is the
man whose lips have been touched with a coal of
fire from the altar who is prepared to preach in
such a way as to bring men to repentance. Paul
actually feared that natural ability might get
in the way of the Spirit of God, and so he
restrained his inherent powers of persuasion in
order that his hearers might trust in God's
word, and not in his personal attractiveness as
a public speaker. Like John the Baptist he could
say, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
Table of
Contents |
Previous
|
Next