Acts 13:40-42 -Take care

13:40,41

The gospel gives a great offer of eternal life, but it also contains a severe warning. This is something that is rarely preached on today. Paul has just been outlining how Jesus is the Messiah, and through Christ there is the forgiveness of sins. But what if we reject this offer? Then there are severe consequences. People sometimes portray this as people going to hell “simply” because they have not believed in Jesus. This is not the case. We are on our way to hell anyway. We are deserving of judgement and Jesus is the only escape route. So what happens if you don’t believe in Jesus? Then you will be judged on your own merits, and your chances are not good! Paul here quotes from Hab 1:5. This verse was also used in the Dead Sea Scrolls in highlighting Israel’s rejection of God. Jesus did miracles among the Jews, He was raised from the dead in Israel, He preached the good news to them, and then the apostles preached the good news, but they would not believe.

13:42

So when the Jews left the synagogue the Gentiles wanted to hear more. They didn’t just want to hear more, they begged to hear more. So we see here a greater openness and desire to hear the gospel from the Gentiles than from the Jews. The gospel was continuing to break out into the whole world. This is part of God’s plan that Paul speaks about in Romans 9-11. Now we need to take a complete perspective on this. The Jews did on the whole reject Jesus, and the Gentiles were, and are, much more receptive to the gospel. However, the end result is that the Jews will turn to Christ as well. And we should also note that while most Jews rejected Jesus, some did not. Jesus was Jewish! The apostles were Jewish, the New Testament that we read and study was written by Jews. We need to have a complete and balanced picture of things.

Now why were the Gentiles so eager? The gospel provides a way into the kingdom for all people. All can be saved, all can be freely accepted. It is dependent upon God’s grace. All other systems, all other religions, ultimately rely on me. But I am a failure, I am my biggest problem. So if something is ultimately dependent upon me then it really is of no use to me, for failure is the inevitable results. But the gospel is dependent upon God and His mercy, His actions.  There is a true salvation in the gospel.