28:21,22
The Jewish leaders had not heard anything much about Paul and seemed to be unaware of the controversy. However, they did know that the “sect”, as they referred to Christians, did have a lot of people speaking against it. So they want to hear from Paul, what he has to say for himself.
28:23-27
A time was set, and a large number of people came to hear Paul. Paul spent a whole day “explaining about the kingdom of God”. He tried to persuade them that Jesus was the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. Some believed, some did not. Luke quotes Is 6:9,10 to sum up the situation with regard to the Jews and the Gospel, pointing to the hardness of heart of the Jews. Obviously this did not apply to all Jews, Paul himself was a Jew and there were other Jewish believers, but it was an accurate generalisation.
28:28-31
The book of Acts is brought to a close with the conclusion that while the Jews in general had rejected the gospel, the gospel had been sent to the Gentiles, and they would listen. Again, this is a generalisation, for many Gentiles did not receive the gospel. Paul spent two years explaining and presenting the gospel to all who would listen. And that is where Acts ends. There is no mention of Paul’s final fate, though tradition has it that he was martyred.
No comments:
Post a Comment