Sabbath: Paul’s First Missionary Journey
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
Read for This Week’s Study: Acts 13, 2 Cor. 4:7-10, Rom. 10:1-4, Rom. 3:19, Acts 14:1-26, Romans 9-11.
Memory Text: ”Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through [H]im everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39, NIV).
Most certainly, the gospel was to go to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. This was a message that, slowly but surely, the early Jewish Christians were starting to grasp.
Our first explicit report of Gentiles joining the faith in large scale relates to Antioch. In other words, it was in Antioch that the first Gentile church was founded, even if it also had a substantial contingent of Jewish believers (Gal. 2:11-13). Due to the missionary zeal of its founders and the new impetus provided by the arrival of Barnabas and Paul, the church there grew rapidly, and it became the first important Christian center outside Judea. In fact, in some aspects it even surpassed the church in Jerusalem.
With the apostles still stationed in Jerusalem, Antioch became the birthplace of Christian missions. It was from there, and with the initial support of the local believers, that Paul left on all three of his missionary journeys. It was because of their commitment that Christianity became what Jesus had intended: a world religion, one in which the gospel would be spread to “every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6, NKJV).
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 18.
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While the overriding emphasis of this week's lesson is the spreading of the Gospel to the Gentiles, it is quite obvious that getting the message through to the Jews was still a key element in the missionary work. Note this week's memory verse:
Clearly, the message of this verse was for the Jews.
For a modern application: Do we need to preach a message about the Gospel to ourselves so that we can communicate it to the modern Gentiles?
Maurice, is it possible that the Jews understand Paul to say that Jesus forgave sins which could not be forgiven under the law of Moses?
Is this one of the reasons many people believe that salvation in the OT was different in the NT?
I think it is more complicated than that. They had the notion that sacrifices paid for their sins and were not pointing to the Messiah. See my comment under Tuesday's study for a bit of an expansion of that idea.
The gentile Christian earnestly received the Word of God. Proclamation of the gospel to the gentiles filled and satisfied the soul.
Paul preached:
Through Jesus the forgiveness of sin
Through him everyone who believes is set Free from every sin
Justification to be acquitted is found only in him.
"Notice that the preacher does not make the gospel. If he makes it, it is not worth your having. Originality in preaching, if it be originality in the statement of doctrine, is falsehood. We are not makers and inventors; we are repeaters, we tell the message we have received." (Spurgeon)
The gospel truth cannot change. It is founded in Christ. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The human condition from birth to death continually bombards us with the message that our very identity is of our own doing—our acceptance in family and community is conditioned by our accomplishments. This is why the gospel is so hard to believe, and why I must continually rehearse it in my daily time with the Lord, and why it must be continually preached in the community of faith.
The goal is Christ (Romans 10:4) and it is easy to drift if we do not continually anchor to the Way, the Truth and the Life. The love of God in Christ will not willingly let us go (Romans 8:38-39), but for our neglect and deliberate choice. Moses spoke these words of encouragement to the children of Israel:
“I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life. Love the LORD your God, obey him and be faithful to him, and then you and your descendants will live long in the land that he promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 19-20, GNB.)
These words are for us on our journey to God’s presence.
Ephesians 6:18-20
Remember the words of the Lord to Peter. . . For the next little while, I feel an urgency and pressing in the Spirit to continue to bring to your mind that you are in a spiritual battle that is never going to quit. There is no rest or relief from it as long as you are walking in this life.
As we preach the gospel,we must forgive for the Lord as commanded to do so in harmony to our Christianity.
It is impressed upon my heart that spreading of the gospel should practically start from within my own house then “spread to Antioch”
What does Paul mean in Acts 13:38,39 that they were not able to obtain "forgiveness of sin from the law of Moses?" Were not the Psalms part of the Law of Moses? And does not King David indicate the forgiveness of sin in Psalms 32:5?
If we use an analogy we might understand the language used here better.
There is a law in this country that says drive on the lefthand-side of the road. Apart from the danger to yourself and others, there are also penalties for driving on the righthand-side of the road. If you are caught driving on the righthand side of the road, you will have to pay the penalty. There is no provision for forgiveness in the law. However, if you are taken to court and plead your case, saying that you are from America, the judge may take pity on you and let you off with a severe warning. That is the judges prerogative.
Likewise, the law of Moses was a list of do's and don'ts. Forgiveness is offered by the judge. The issue was that many of the Jew's only thought about the law in terms of keeping it, rather than in the terms of forgiveness. Obviously David knew about the forgiveness bit (by experience) and that is why he could write:
One could say that he knew/experienced the full Gospel.
Pete, notice the conditions of forgiveness the Psalmist mentions, which is not in any reliance upon the law of types, but upon confession/repentance; in choosing to turn away from the actions of sin by choosing to submit to the will of God as expressed in His moral law which defines both sin and righteousness. Notice also the true sacrifice God desires as defined in Ps 51:17.
The law of Moses provides no justification, but points to the need and the means
in Christ which we receive by repentance. Paul was speaking to those who persisted in rejecting Christ as the means, whom the law of types all pointed to, while they chose to reply on the ceremonies and types, thinking their observance of them earned them justification. Paul carries this argument to great detail in the book to the Hebrews.
Thank you, Robert. And I suppose that one also could argue that The 10 Commandment Law (which could also be seen as being the Law Of Moses because he received it from God at Mt. Sinai on two tables of stone,) also does not offer forgiveness of any kind but just simply demands perfect and flawless obedience period and gives a death sentence to disobedience to boot.
Robert is right. The 10 Commandments are a thermometer of our relationship with Christ. Hot, lukewarm, or cold. Revelation 3:19-20.
The three angels message tells us to come back and worship God the creator. Us humans can make laws like driving on the left and right hand side of the road. We can also make laws on whether smoking cigarettes is legal or not. But we can never make smoking cigarettes healthy. Let's not reduce God's laws down to mans laws, he is a designer not a dictator.