Paul's words about salvation sent to the Gentiles are sometimes perceived as a kind of spiritual revolution. Yet there is nothing entirely new or unusual in them. The prophets said more than once that with the coming of the Messiah the Kingdom would be opened not only to Jews, but also to Gentiles who at that time would turn to the God of Israel. What was unusual in this case was only the fact that...
Paul's words about salvation sent to the Gentiles are sometimes perceived as a kind of spiritual revolution. Yet there is nothing entirely new or unusual in them. The prophets said more than once that with the coming of the Messiah the Kingdom would be opened not only to Jews, but also to Gentiles who at that time would turn to the God of Israel. What was unusual in this case was only the fact that recent Gentiles were ready to accept the Messiah whom the Jews had rejected. From the standpoint of the views generally accepted in the Synagogue at that time, this seemed almost unbelievable: for it was the Jews who accepted the Messiah, it was they who were to decide who the true Messiah was, and those Gentiles who were interested in Judaism and worshiped the God of Israel were, by definition, left only to humbly accept the choice of their elder spiritual brothers.
In reality, everything turned out quite differently: recent Gentiles accepted the Messiah more readily than Jews did. One reason for this was precisely the Gentiles' freedom from those religious theories and concepts that at times so hindered Jews from seeing the Messiah in Jesus. And Paul sees no violation of subordination in bearing witness to Gentiles where Jews do not accept his witness, or where they have not yet made up their minds. The issue here is not even priorities, not who should hear first (and it should be noted that both always heard, since Paul always began his preaching in the local synagogue), but the fact that no one has the right to close the road to the Kingdom to others.
The apostle constantly reminds his readers of this in his letters: he keeps saying that the circumcised, that is, religious people, Jews, must not impose their religiosity on secular people, the uncircumcised, Gentiles. And if Paul now made the possibility of witnessing to Gentiles depend on the sanction of the local Jewish community, it would mean that he was making the Kingdom depend on religion. The apostle, of course, could not allow that, because he understood perfectly well that Christianity is not a religion and does not depend in any way on a person's religiosity. And if some part of the Synagogue, guided solely by religious considerations, closed the path to the Kingdom for those who were ready to go, such a state of affairs would contradict not only all the apostle's principles but also the will of God, who wants to save everyone regardless of that person's religious affiliation and regardless of the opinion of that person's fellow believers about the path he has chosen.
In essence, to refuse to preach in such a situation would have been, for the apostle, tantamount to betraying his witness and the people who believed his witness. It is no surprise that Paul continued his preaching: for him the Kingdom came first, not nation and not religion.
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28:17 And after three days - Given to rest and prayer, Paul called the chief of the Jews together - He always sought the Jews first; but being now bound, he could not so conveniently go round to them. Though I have done nothing - Seeing him chained, they might have suspected he had. Therefore he first obviates this suspicion.
28:19 When the Jews opposed it - He speaks tenderly of them, not mentioning their repeated attempts to murder him. Not that I had any thing to accuse my nation of - Not that I had any design to accuse others, but merely to defend myself.
28:20 The hope of Israel - What Israel hopes for, namely, the Messiah and the resurrection.
28:21 We have neither received letters concerning thee - There must have been a peculiar providence in this, nor has any of the brethren - The Jews, related - Professedly, in a set discourse, or spoke - Occasionally, in conversation, any evil of thee - How must the bridle then have been in their mouth!
28:22 This sect we know is every where spoken against - This is no proof at all of a bad cause, but a very probable mark of a good one.
28:23 To whom he expounded, testifying the kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus - These were his two grand topics,
- That the kingdom of the Messiah was of a spiritual, nottemporal nature:
- That Jesus of Nazareth was the very personforetold, as the Lord of that kingdom.
On this head he had asmuch need to persuade as to convince, their will making as strong a resistance as their understanding.28:24 And some believed the things that were spoken - With the heart, as well as understanding.
28:25 Well spake the Holy Ghost to your fathers - Which is equally applicable to you.
28:26 Hearing ye shall hear - That is, ye shall most surely hear, and shall not understand - The words manifestly denote a judicial blindness, consequent upon a wilful and obstinate resistance of the truth. First they would not, afterward they could not, believe. Isa 6:9, etc; Mat 13:14; Joh 12:40.
28:28 The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles - Namely, from this time. Before this no apostle had been at Rome. St. Paul was the first.
28:30 And Paul continued two whole years - After which this book was written, long before St. Paul's death, and was undoubtedly published with his approbation by St. Luke, who continued with him to the last, Ti2 4:11.And received all that came to him - Whether they were Jews or Gentiles. These two years completed twenty - five years after our Saviour's passion. Such progress had the Gospel made by that time, in the parts of the world which lay west of Jerusalem, by the ministry of St. Paul among the Gentiles. How far eastward the other apostles had carried it in the same time, history does not inform us.
28:31 No man forbidding him - Such was the victory of the word of God. While Paul was preaching at Rome, the Gospel shone with its highest lustre. Here therefore the Acts of the Apostles end; and end with great advantage. Otherwise St. Luke could easily have continued his narrative to the apostle's death.