Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 28:28
Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and [that] they will hear it.
28. the [ R. V. this] salvation of God ] The oldest MSS. add “this,” and it has been almost surely omitted in later MSS. by the carelessness of the scribes. The Apostle would be anxious to emphasize that the doctrine which he was preaching to them and which they were rejecting, that this, was God’s very message of salvation.
and that they will hear it ] This is certainly a wrong sense of the original. The Apostle does not wish to convey, as the English Version does, a taunt to the Jews that they come behind the Gentiles. What he wants to express is, that now the message has been given according to Christ’s command to the Jews everywhere, for Rome may be regarded as the centre of the then known world, and now the time has come when the Gentiles should in their turn be privileged to have everywhere the offers of the Gospel. Therefore read (with R. V.) “they will also hear” (i.e. as well as you), though looked upon by strict Jews as beyond the pale of salvation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The salvation of God – The knowledge of Gods mode of saving people.
Is sent unto the Gentiles – Since you have rejected it, it will be offered to them. See the notes on Act 13:46.
And that they will hear it – They will embrace it. Paul was never discouraged. If the gospel was rejected by one class of people he was ready to offer it to another. If his own countrymen despised it, he never allowed himself to suppose that Christ had died in vain, but believed that others would embrace its saving benefits. How happy would it be if all Christians had the same unwavering faith and zeal as Paul.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 28:28
Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles.
The salvation of God
I. The salvation of the gospel is the salvation of God.
1. It emanates from God. It is the product of His power and wisdom. It is the great display of His holiness and of His justice. It stands eternally secure in His unchangeableness and in His truth. It is the stream of mercy that floweth from the God of mercy.
(1) There was everything in man, to check the stream of Gods mercy. If we look at him as falling in the first Adam, it was so. But besides the fall, in which we were all involved, there was mans own personal sin. It is no right view of sin, to look at it merely as a disease, as a source of misery. It is rebellion against God; it is opposition to His holiness; it is provocation to His justice.
(2) There was much in God to check it. One knows not of any one perfection belonging to Jehovah, that did not close the door of mercy, save only His love. But it is His grace that opened the door; and it is His grace that keeps that door open.
2. It is the gift of God. He gives it without money and without price. It is His munificent, magnificent gift in Christ Jesus, to the very chiefest of sinners.
3. It is the salvation of God in our nature; who, if He had not been man, could never have suffered–and if He had not been God, could never have merited; in whose atonement there is all the glory of Deity, and in whose humanity there is all the perfection of obedience.
4. It is the salvation of God, and the Spirit of God can alone convey it to our hearts. It is not education, reason, argument, the tears of parents, moral influence, but the Spirit of God.
II. This salvation is worthy of God.
1. God never can act below Himself. All that He does, He does worthily. His Book of creation is a Book in which He manifests forth His glory; so with His Book of Providence. But it is in the salvation of God, we read that glory in the most distinct and wondrous characters.
(1) There we see perfections that never would have been known but for this salvation. Man might have guessed, imagined, that there was that goodness in God that would blot out sin; but never could he have known it, in all the mysteries of creation, and in all the wonders of Providence.
(2) There we find the perfections of God in all their harmony. A note may be beautiful; but how much more a chord! Many chords may be beautiful; but how much more all those chords in one grand chorus! And what is the glory of that chorus, that doth unite Gods glorious perfections in one song–Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men! See how it meets all the varied cases of sinners. Not one so vile, but there is a pardon in Jesus enough for him. None so unrighteous, but there is enough in Jesus for his righteousness. No case so hopeless, but there is hope here.
2. But this salvation is worthy of God as being most just.
(1) This is its peculiarity, and sets it apart from all false religions in the world.
(2) It is infinitely holy. The doctrines, the promises, the precepts, are all holy. If Gods people are chosen to be holy. If they are redeemed, it is that they may be redeemed from all iniquity.
(3) The only source of all solid happiness? (J. Harrington Evans, M. A.)
Salvation etymologically considered
There are few things which distinguish the gospel as the spiritual power and significance which it has been able to infuse into the common possessions of human nature. The revelations of God have not been so much creative as adaptive, taking the things which already exist, and giving to them a fresh meaning and force. Nothing illustrates this more than the way in which the truth of the gospel has infused itself into human vocabularies. It brought new ideas which the apostles clothed in the old words to which they gave a fresh meaning. Human speech would have been weakened, and would have lost its wealth, but for what the gospel has done for the dictionary. Take the word salvation.
I. Salvation is safety. A man rescued from imminent peril is safe, saved, has found salvation. Jesus Christ has come to make us safe.
1. The peril from which salvation delivers us is that of the penalties of broken law, and that of the inner results of the nature which has been abused by sin.
2. Christ brings salvation because–
(1) He has so acted in relation to external law, in respect of guilt, that we are delivered from the penalty and are safe.
(2) But there is not only this justifying of man in the sight of God. Christ has set man right in his internal relations by delivering him from sin.
II. Salvation is health. The word is connected with salutary and heal. Jesus Christ is called the Great Physician, not simply because He went about healing the body, but because He is the Physician of the soul. The former is the symbol of the latter. He takes away sin which is the souls disease, and restores the proper condition of our spiritual nature. How little do we feel the power of this full salvation! We want to escape hell. What we need to escape is the sin sickness of the soul, that restlessness, that feverishness, that wild disturbing passion of our lower nature.
III. Salvation is wholeness. When a man was healed the old English version says he was made whole. And Christ went about making men whole.
1. There is no health if there be no wholeness. There is no perfect cure of the nature if Christ does not restore it to its completeness. Sin is a maimed condition of our nature. Christ comes as the Minister of mind, soul, and body.
2. Let us be careful in our application of this gospel to the wants of our times, to the growth of our Church, to our individual character, to our families, to the life of society and of the State, that we do not present a maimed gospel.
IV. Salvation is happiness. The word was employed as a greeting. Salve. It is a salutation, a wish for joy. We have not come to its full meaning until it has swung itself round this whole sphere of human nature in blessedness and gladness. There is a place for sorrow, but if the gospel does not take you beyond sorrow you have only partly learned Jesus. God is the God of joy and not of sadness. (Ll. D. Bevan, D. D.)
The Churches warned
I. These Jews, like us, had long been in possession of exclusive privileges, and accustomed to survey without emotion the great mass of mankind deprived of them. They were in exclusive possession of the Scriptures, a pure worship, and an authorised ministry. So are Christians now, as compared with millions of heathen, and the Protestant Churches, in comparison even with millions of nominal Christians. But let us not, in looking at the resemblances, overlook the marked points of diversity. The exclusive privileges of the ancient Jews were theirs by an express Divine appointment. Their adherence to the old restrictions, after the set time for their removal had arrived, was indeed an act of flagrant unbelief and disobedience; but until that time came they were shut up to the necessity of standing aloof. Does our situation correspond with this? The enclosures which have shut us in are human structures, reared by selfishness and cemented by apathy, and differ wholly from the walls by which the ancient Zion was encompassed.
II. Note the influence of long-continued and exclusive privileges on the opinions and belief of those enjoying them. Advantages possessed by a few for the good of the many may easily come to be regarded as prerogatives belonging to the few, to the entire exclusion of the many. This was the case with the Jews, and it could not fail to produce a general distortion in their doctrinal views. They who could not be persuaded, that the law must go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, could never be expected to appreciate the truth, that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. They who believed that the truth or mercy of Jehovah existed for themselves alone, could surely never have obtained a glimpse of what His truth and mercy are. Because they were favoured, for a time, with an exclusive revelation, they forgot the very end for which they had received it, and forgetting this, were naturally led to take distorted views of that religion which they thus regarded as exclusively their own forever. So may we, so have we, reaped precisely the same fruit from precisely the same seed, so far as we have sown it. But more specifically take–
1. The great doctrine which divided the apostle of the Gentiles from his Jewish hearers. Common to both was a professed belief in Moses and the prophets, and in the promises of Messiah as the Saviour of His people. But they fatally diverged at an essential point. Paul believes that the Messiah has already come, and that Jesus of Nazareth is He, and as a necessary consequence, that the restrictions of the old economy are at an end, and the diffusion of the true religion through the world the first great duty of Gods people. They, on the contrary, regard the advent of Messiah as still future, and the barrier between Jews and Gentiles as still standing; which indeed led them to look for a Saviour who had never been promised, and could never come. Instead of one who should destroy all national restrictions, they expected a national deliverer. This dream of national advancement could be verified only at the cost of other nations. Their mistake as to the Messiah, therefore, tended directly to cherish a spirit of national exclusiveness, and to suppress all rising of a Catholic charity. And the same connection still exists, and will betray itself between a Jewish doctrine and a Jewish practice. For, although it is impossible that any Christian should embrace the very error of the old Jews, it is easy to embrace one of a similar description by inadequate conceptions of the Christian system. There is great danger of our looking through the wrong end of the telescope, and seeing that diminished which we ought to have seen magnified, the world reduced to a nut shell, and our own house or village swelled into a world. We must begin as the apostles did with the idea of a world to be converted, and from this descend to the particulars included. And then remember that, unlike the Jews, Christians are not intrusted with the oracles of God as an exclusive deposit, even for a time. We have them that we may diffuse them. A great and effectual door into the heathen world is opened, and the voice of God is calling us to enter it. Everything, both at home and abroad–in the teachings of Gods Word, and in the leadings of His providence–in the condition of the heathen and our own–makes us as free to think and act for their conversion, as the old Jews were paralysed and crippled with respect to it. And yet, with all this difference in our favour, may we not be still too Jewish in our spirit and our conduct, with respect to those less favoured than ourselves? The old middle walls of partition have fallen at the blast of the trumpet, but may we not rear up others in their stead?
2. The resemblance which may possibly exist between the cases, with respect to providential retributions. What means that solemn and repeated declaration of the great apostle, that he turns away from the Jews to the Gentiles? That his personal ministry should now take that direction, or that the Gentiles should, in spite of Jewish prejudice and bigotry, become partakers of their once exclusive privileges? This is not enough. There is an evident allusion, not only to a change, but to an interchange of character and state–not only to the culture of the desert, but to the desolation of the vineyard. Left to his cherished notions of hereditary sanctity and safety, and his dreams of a Messiah yet to come, Israel has vanished from his place among the living, to haunt the nations as the restless ghost of a departed people, or to glide about the graveyard where his hopes lie buried, while the dry bones of many nations, who appeared to slumber without hope, have been raised again and clothed with flesh, and new life breathed into their resurrection bodies. To apply this let us dwell on the map of Christendom, as it was at the death of the last apostle, or even fourteen hundred years ago–looking particularly at the western coast of Asia Minor and the northern coast of Asia–not only with their present desolation, but with the actual state of Christianity in Britain and in those climes which have neither name nor place upon the chart of ancient knowledge, is it certain that this process of rotation has been finally arrested? Is it not possible, to say the least, that the vicissitudes yet future may sustain the same relation to extraordinary privilege and culpable abuse of it, as those which are already past? I see not, therefore, why we should refuse to apply the last words of the text to ourselves, in the way of warning. If we are conscious of inadequate exertions and of cold affections in this great cause, let us think of Israel according to the flesh, and of what he was and what he is–remember that if we do not value Christianity enough to share it with the heathen, they may yet become possessed of it at our expense. (J. W. Alexander, D. D.)
The design of the Acts
The last testimony of the apostle throws light on the structure and design of this book. The history is designed to exhibit the transition of the kingdom from Israel to the whole human family. When this transference has been completed, the historians work is done. Here, accordingly, the record abruptly closes. The final note, as in other melodies, is the keynote; Christ rejected by Israel to whom He came, is offered to the Gentiles. Henceforth all distinctions are levelled except one, the distinction between those who believe and those who believe not in the Son of God. There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles] St. Paul had spoken to this effect twice before, Ac 13:46, and Ac 18:6, where see the notes; but here he uses a firmer tone, being out of the Jewish territories, and under the protection of the emperor. By the salvation of God, all the blessings of the kingdom of Christ are intended. This salvation God could have sent unto the Gentiles, independently of the Jewish disobedience; but He waited till they had rejected it, and then reprobated them, and elected the Gentiles. Thus the elect became reprobate, and the reprobate elect.
They will hear it.] That is, they will obey it; for signifies, not only to hear, but also to obey.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The salvation of God; so the gospel is called; because:
1. The finding of it out.
2. The preparing of it by sending his Son.
3. The revealing of it, and;
4. Its efficacy, is only of God.
Is sent unto the Gentiles; as by our Saviours commission, Mat 28:19, and Luk 24:47, does appear. And Paul had by experience found the effects of it, as may be seen in all this book of his travels, where we may find many of the Gentiles were obedient unto the word, which the Jews gainsaid and blasphemed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. the salvation of God is sent tothe Gentiles, and they will hear(See on Ac13:44-48). “This departure to the Gentiles” he hadintimated to the perverse Jews at Antioch (Ac13:46), and at Corinth (Ac18:6); now at Rome: thus in Asia, Greece, andItaly” [BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Be it known therefore unto you,…. Unbelievers and despisers, take this along with you at parting, and do not say you were never acquainted with it:
that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles; meaning the Gospel, which is a publication and declaration of that salvation, which God contrived from all eternity; made provision for, and secured in the covenant of grace; which he appointed, called, and sent Christ to effect, in the fulness of time; and which he has accomplished, by his obedience, sufferings, and death; even a full, complete, spiritual, and eternal salvation, from sin, Satan, the world, the curse of the law, and eternal death; that that Gospel which proclaims this, and is the power of God unto it, to them that believe, is sent to the Gentile world, by God himself, who has ordered his ministers to turn to them, upon the rejection of it by the Jews:
and [that] they will hear it: and do understand it and obey it, believe it and profess it: this the apostle could assert upon his own knowledge, who had preached it in many nations of the world; and could testify how gladly they heard it, with what pleasure they received it, how readily they obeyed it, and how cheerfully they professed it, and how steadily they held it; though the Jews despised and put it away from them, judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life: this the apostle says, reproaching them with their folly, stupidity, and infidelity; when the Gentiles, which knew not God, received the Gospel and are saved.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This salvation ( ). Adjective from (Saviour), saving, bringing salvation. Common in the old Greek. The neuter as here often in LXX (as Ps 67:2) as substantive like (cf. Lu 3:6).
They will also hear ( ). as opposed to the rejection by the Jews, “vivid and antithetical” (Page).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Be it known therefore unto you,” (gnoston oun esto humin) “Let it therefore be known to you all,” let it be realized, accepted as true, as he had already disclosed to other previous rejecting, opposing Jews, Act 13:44-48; Act 18:6.
2) “That the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles,” (hoti tois ethnesin apestale touto to soterion tou theou) “That to the nations (heathen, Gentiles, or races) this salvation of God was sent or mandated,” by our Lord, thru the Great Commission, Mat 28:18-20; Mar 16:15; Luk 24:44-48; Joh 20:21; Act 1:8; and by our Lord to Paul, as a specially called missionary to the Gentiles, Act 9:6; Act 11:5; Act 26:13-20; Eph 3:1-6; Eph 3:8-10; Eph 3:21.
3) “And they will hear it.” (autoi kai akousontai) “And they will hear (give heed to) it,” hear it willingly, hear it gladly, with believing hearts, Act 13:46-47; Act 22:21; Rom 11:11.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
−
28. Therefore be it. Lest the Jews may afterward accuse him of revolting, because he forsaketh the holy stock of Abraham, and goeth to the profane Gentiles; he denounceth that which the prophets did so often testify, that the salvation whereof they were the proper, at least the principal − (686) heirs, should be translated unto strangers. Notwithstanding, whereas he saith that salvation was sent to the Gentiles, he meaneth, in the second place, to wit, after that the Jews had rejected it, as we have said before more at large ( Act 13:46) Therefore, the sense is, that there is no cause why the Jews should complain if the Gentiles be admitted into the void possession after that they have forsaken it. Neither doth he make faith common to all the Gentiles in general, when he saith that they shall hear. For he had full well tried, that even many of the Gentiles did wickedly resist God, but he setteth so many of the Gentiles as believed against the unbelieving Jews, that he may provoke them unto jealousy; as it is in the Song of Moses ( Deu 32:21). In the mean season, he signifieth that the doctrine which they refuse shall profit others. −
(686) −
“
Primarii,” primary.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(28) Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God . . .The better MSS. give this salvation, the demonstrative adjective having the same force as in the words of this life, in Act. 5:20. The Apostle points, as it were, to that definite method of deliverance (the Greek gives the concrete neuter form, as in Luk. 2:30; Luk. 3:6, and not the feminine abstract) which he had proclaimed to them. The words remind us of those which had been spoken under like circumstances at Antioch in Pisidia (Act. 13:46). We can, in some measure, enter into the feelings which filled the Apostles mind, through what we read in Romans 9-11,the bitter pain at the rejection of Israel, relieved by a far-off hope of their restoration, the acceptance of Gods ways as unsearchable and past finding out.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Gentiles will hear The great voluntary contrast by which the Jew ceases to be, and the Gentile becomes, the true Israel.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Be it known therefore to you, that this salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles. They will also hear.”
Meanwhile let them know, (and he wanted to provoke them to jealousy by this – Rom 11:11) that this salvation of God available through the Messiah is sent to the Gentiles who will hear it, just as many Jews do. True ‘Judaism’ is now open to the world.
‘They also.’ Also as well as the believing Jews. So it was now open to all Jews to consider their response, recognising that some Jews had already responded and that many Gentiles were also to receive God’s offer and would hear. He did not want them to be left behind. And on that note they departed, with some believing, some considering, and some saying, ‘No way!’.
The thing that stands out most strongly from these last few verses, and the lack of any reference to the church separately in this final passage is that Paul is still concerned that Christianity be seen and recognised as the true fulfilment of Judaism. To him the church is the Israel of God. It is not a question of choosing between being a Jew or a Christian, it is a matter of a Jewish Christian being the true Jew, and the Christ-rejecter not being a true Jew. Those who believe are engrafted. Those who do not believe are cut off (Rom 11:17-27). And while Gentile Christians may not practise all the customs of the Jews, they do become an essential part of Israel (Rom 11:17-27; Gal 3:7; Gal 3:28; Gal 6:16; Eph 2:11-22; Jas 1:1; 1Pe 1:1; Rev 7:4-8). For as will be later pointed out they are circumcised with the circumcision of Christ (Col 2:11). Their offerings are offered once for all through the sacrifice of Himself offered by their great High Priest (Hebrews 7-10). Thus the growth of the Kingly Rule of God is the growth of the true Israel as laid on the foundation of the Jewish Christian Apostles. Salvation is of the Jews (Joh 4:22; Isa 2:2-4)).
The Conclusion.
This general statement brings to a conclusion and stresses all that Acts has been aiming for, the proclamation of the Kingly Rule of God, and of the risen Lord Who is responsible for that Kingly Rule, both in heaven and in earth. And it brings out that God has made it possible for this to occur in peace and safety, at the very heart of the Empire itself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 28:28-29 . ] because ye are so obdurate and irrecoverable.
. . .] that by my arrival at Rome this ( , see the critical remarks) salvation of God ( i.e. the Messianic salvation bestowed by God, which is meant in this prophecy) has been sent , not to you Jews, but to the Gentiles . Comp. Luk 2:30 ; Luk 3:6 .
] they on their part, quite otherwise than you .
] namely the announcement of salvation, which conception is implied in as its mode (Act 10:36 , Act 13:26 ). , etiam : non solum missa est iis salus, sed etiam audient (give ear). Comp. Bornemann, Schol. in Luc . p. 24. Bengel appropriately observes: “Profectionem ad gentes declaraverat Judaeis contumacibus Antiochiae xiii. 46; Corinthi xviii. 6, nunc tertium Romae; adeoque in Asia, Graecia, Italia.”
Act 28:30 . .] i.e. in a dwelling belonging to himself by way of hire. This he had obtained after the first days when he had lodged in the , Act 28:23 ; but he was in it as a prisoner , as follows from Act 28:16 , from . . ., and from , Act 28:31 ( nemine prohibente , although he was a prisoner; comp. Phi 1:7 ). To procure the means of hiring the dwelling, must have been an easy matter for the love of the brethren (and support came also from a distance, Phi 4:10 ff.).
] Christians, Jews, Gentiles; not merely the latter, as Baumgarten arbitrarily limits the word, while with equal arbitrariness he finds in Act 28:31 a pointing to the final form of the church, in which the converted Israel will form the visible historical centre around which the Gentile nations gather, and then the Parousia will set in. This modern view of Judaistic eschatology has no support even in Rom 11:27 ff.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1818
THE GOSPEL SENT TO THE GENTILES
Act 28:28. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
WHEN we consider how often we are called together to hear the word of God, we are surprised and humbled to find so little good done by it. But the Apostles themselves had the same cause for complaint as we. We can scarcely conceive a more solemn occasion than that on which the Jews at Rome were convened to hear the Gospel. St. Paul was brought thither as a prisoner, on account of his zeal and fidelity in the cause of Christ. The Jews were anxious to know from himself what were the peculiar doctrines which he maintained: and, having appointed a day for that purpose, they came to his lodging, and attended to his discourse from morning to evening. But, alas! the greater part of them rejected his testimony, and drew from him that solemn admonition, which had, many hundred years before, been given to their fathers: he told them that they were given up to judicial blindness; and that the consolation which he in vain sought amongst them, he should find amongst the Gentiles; who were ordained of God to inherit those blessings which they despised.
There are two things which we propose to notice on the present occasion:
I.
The salvation here spoken of
It is of great importance to observe the terms by which the Gospel is here designated: it is called the salvation of God.
It is salvation
[The true nature of the Gospel is by no means generally understood. The generality conceive it to be nothing more than a new system of duties. There are some, however, who appear to be acquainted with its nature to a certain extent, but materially fail when they come to explain themselves more fully. They will speak of our condemnation by the law, and our inability to save ourselves according to the terms of the first covenant: they will also represent Christ as introducing a new covenant, and as the Author of salvation to all who believe in him. Thus far they are right: but when it is inquired what are the terms of the new covenant, and how it is that Christ saves his people, they shew that they have need to be taught afresh what be the first principles of the Oracles of God. They say that Christ has procured for us a milder law, which requires only sincere obedience: and that, if we endeavour to obey that law, his death shall atone for our imperfections, and his righteousness shall make up for our defects. But this representation of Christs work very ill accords with the terms by which the Gospel is characterized in the text. The Gospel in that view would be only a new law; and salvation by it would be, in fact, salvation by works, and not by grace. However the law itself be reduced, if our obedience to it, either in whole or in part, be the ground of our acceptance with God, it is salvation by works; and the performers of those works will have to glory before God. Let our justification depend ever so little on our works, the case will be precisely the same: we shall have some ground of boasting within ourselves: if not so much as we should have had by the first covenant, still we have some: which clearly proves, that this idea of the Gospel is erroneous: for the Gospel excludes boasting altogether [Note: Rom 3:27.].
The truth is, that the Gospel is a revelation of salvation, of salvation wrought out for us by the Son of God; wrought out, I say, entirely by his obedience unto death. It views men as lost, entirely lost and undone in themselves. It represents Christ as assuming our nature, to obey that law which we had broken, and endure those penalties which we had incurred: and it declares, that all who will come to Christ, relying wholly on his blood and righteousness, shall be accepted through him. It is true, it requires works as evidences of our faith; but the only ground which it proposes for our justification before God, is the all-sufficient righteousness of Jesus Christ. In a word, it reveals and offers to us a salvation purchased by the blood of Christ, and freely given to all who believe in him.]
It is emphatically called the salvation of God
[This salvation was altogether planned by God. No created being could have devised such a scheme for saving man in perfect consistency with all the divine perfections It was executed by God, who miraculously formed the human nature of Christ in the womb of a virgin, and upheld him in every part of his most arduous undertaking, and raised him from the dead, and constituted him Head over all things to the Church, that he might finish the work he had begun, and secure to himself the souls which he has purchased with his blood Finally, it was in every respect worthy of God; such a display of wisdom, of goodness, and of all his glorious perfections, as will be the one object of wonder, love, and praise, to all eternity
As for the system which men have substituted in its place, it is indeed another Gospel, which the Apostles never knew, and which God never revealed. It deserves not to be called the salvation of God; for it is no salvation at all: nor would any creature be ever saved by it. Who will undertake to tell us what that quantum of imperfection is which it allows of; or to define the exact limits of that sincerity which it requires? It is the offspring of pride and ignorance; and will be the parent of everlasting misery, to all who embrace it. That only is the true Gospel, which leaves to man no ground of glorying in himself, but gives all the glory of his salvation to God alone.]
Let us next turn our attention to,
II.
The things affirmed respecting it
We cannot but observe the solemnity with which the Apostles affirmations are introduced. But there was occasion for it, because the things which he asserted appeared altogether incredible. He asserted,
1.
That the Gospel salvation was sent to the Gentiles
[Of this the Jews had no conception. Being habituated to consider themselves as exclusively the Lords people, and to regard the Gentiles as dogs, they could not even listen to the idea that the wall of partition should ever be broken down, and the Gentiles be incorporated with the Church of God [Note: Act 22:21-22.]. And the Apostles themselves were exceeding slow to admit the thought, notwithstanding they had been commanded to go into all the world, and to preach the Gospel to every creature. Even six years after our Lords ascension, Peter himself could not be prevailed upon to go and instruct a heathen family, without repeated visions to convince him that it was agreeable to the mind of God: and, when he had done it, he was called to an account for it by the whole college of Apostles, who were pacified only by the relation which he gave of the different visions, and the testimony which God himself bore to his conduct by pouring out upon them the gift of the Holy Ghost. When convinced by his arguments, they exclaimed with surprise, Then hath God unto the Gentiles also granted repentance unto life [Note: Act 11:18.]. But the Apostle here declares that God had sent salvation to the Gentiles, and that it should be sent to them throughout all the world. To this he adds,]
2.
That they would hear it
[The Jews, notwithstanding they had enjoyed the ministry of Christ, and beheld his miracles, and had his resurrection so abundantly attested; notwithstanding an appeal also was constantly made to their own inspired writings, and the accomplishment of acknowledged prophecies was pointed out to them,notwithstanding every advantage, I say, they would not believe. The probability therefore was, that, if they, with all their means of information, rejected the Gospel, much more would the heathen reject it. But God foresaw that they would receive it, or rather, fore-ordained that they should. Accordingly, we find that millions in every quarter of the globe have been made obedient to the faith; and we are assured that all the fulness of the Gentiles shall in due time come in [Note: The prophet Ezekiel, in a vision of a river proceeding from the sanctuary, and becoming gradually so deep that it could not be forded, represents the progress of the Gospel. The river running into the Dead Sea, where, it is said, no fish can live, instantly healed the sea, so that living fish of every kind became innumerable. The Dead Sea fitly marked the state of the heathen world; and the effect produced upon it by the waters of the sanctuary, marked the change which the Gospel should infallibly produce. Eze 47:9.] To God nothing is impossible; and he who has thus far accomplished his word, will certainly fulfil it to the end. The grain of mustard-seed shall become a great tree, and all the birds of heaven shall come and dwell under its shadow.]
In this subject will be found abundant matter,
1.
For reproof
[It is in this view principally that the words were uttered. And if St. Paul had so much reason to complain when he saw the Jews were not persuaded to embrace Christianity by one sermon, what reason have we to complain, when persons professing Christianity cannot be prevailed upon by hundreds of sermons to walk in any measure worthy of their profession! Surely thousands of the poor heathen,Indians, Hottentots, Hindoos,who have received the word with gladness, and experienced the blessedness of this salvation, will rise up in judgment against us, and condemn us. Yes, amongst them there are many who value this salvation more than life itself. Ah! how will they reprove our supineness and indifference! Well;be it known unto you, that if you, who call yourselves Christians, will not value the Gospel as you ought, it shall be taken away from you, and be given to others who will bring forth the fruits thereof with gladness ]
2.
For encouragement
[When exertions are recommended for the conversion of the heathen, it is common to say, they will not renounce their superstitions; and we cannot attain their language so as to hope for any success in our endeavours. But if God has sent the Gospel to the heathen, and declared that they will hear it, we may well look to him to overcome all the difficulties that lie in our way But it may be said, the time is not come. What right have we to say this? or what reason to imagine it? If we consider the exertions that are making in the Christian world for the translating of the Scriptures into different languages, and for sending the Gospel to the remotest corners of the earth, we have reason rather to hope that the time is come. But the time as it respects us is always come; and there is no period when we ought not to exert ourselves in the cause of God, and for the benefit of our fellow-creatures. The question then is, if God has sent salvation to the heathen, who is willing to carry it? for they cannot believe, unless they hear: nor can they hear without a preacher. O that there were amongst us more, whose hearts the Lord had touched with a live coal from off his altar, that when he says, Who will go for us? would immediately reply, Here am I, send me! This was the prophets frame of mind even when God told him that his ministrations would have no other effect than that of hardening the minds of men [Note: Isa 6:6-10.]. It was sufficient for him that he was doing the Lords work. How much more then should we be ready to carry the Gospel to the heathen, when God pledges himself to us that they will hear it! Let us pray to God, that since the harvest is so great, he would send forth labourers; and, if we cannot do all we would, let us, each in his station, do all we can ]
END OF VOL. XIV.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
Ver. 28. That the salvation of God ] i.e. The gospel, that “grace of God that bringeth salvation,” Tit 2:11 , and is the power of God to salvation to as many as believe,Rom 1:16Rom 1:16 ; therefore called the word of this life, that is able to save souls; and hath heaven in it, potentially, as the kernel hath the tree, or the seed the harvest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
28. ] was probably omitted as superfluous, and perhaps to suit Luk 3:6 . It adds greatly to the force: this, the message of God’s salvation , q. d. ‘ there is no other for those who reject this .’
. ] They will also (besides having it sent to them) hear it . “Quod expertus erat Paulus in multis Asi et Europ urbibus, ut apud gentes sermonis felicior esset seges, idem et nunc futurum prospiciebat.” Grot.
[29. ] This verse has not the usual characteristic of spurious passages, the variety of readings in those manuscripts which contain it. It may perhaps, after all, have been omitted as appearing superfluous after Act 28:25 . ]
Act 28:28 . : for the word similarly used cf. Act 2:14 , Act 4:10 ; Act 13:38 . ., see critical note; cf. LXX, Psa 66:2 ; Psa 97:2-3 . ., adjective, neuter of , used substantively (as in classical Greek), so often in LXX of the Messianic salvation; cf. Luk 2:30 ; Luk 3:6 , Eph 6:17 , and Clem. Rom., Cor [436] , xxxv., 12, xxxvi. 1. The word is used only by St. Luke and St. Paul, see Plummer, note on Luk 3:6 . For the whole expression here cf. Act 13:26 , where words very similar are used by Paul, and with very similar results, Act 13:46 . , emphatic this, the very message of God’s salvation, this is what I am declaring to you. : “they will also hear,” R.V. The words thus rendered may not convey so plainly a reproach to the Jews as in A.V., but at the same time they express something more than the mere fact that Gentiles as well as Jews will now hear the message; that message will not only be sent ( ), but also heard; the may well indicate that whilst the Jews will hear with the ear only as distinct from the understanding, the Gentiles will not only hear, but really ( ) listen (see Rendall and Weiss, in loco ). At the same time we must remember that as a background to what the Apostle here says we have his words in Romans 9-11, and the thought which he had expressed to the Roman Church that God had not really cast away His people, but whilst through their unbelief the Gentiles had been called, yet that inclusion of the heathen in the Messianic kingdom would rouse the Jews to jealousy, and that thus all Israel would be saved, Rom 11:11 ; cf. Rom 10:19 ; Sanday and Headlam, Romans , p. 341 ff. We can scarcely doubt that the words are uttered not merely to condemn, but to lead to repentance; at all events it would not be possible to find stronger words against his own countrymen than those written by St. Paul in his earliest Epistle, 1Th 2:15-16 ; and yet we know how St. Paul, for those same countrymen, could wish himself accused; so Bethge, as against Overbeck, who can only see that in Acts the belief of the Gentiles results not in a noble jealousy, but in the bitter envy of the Jews. But there blends with the tone of sadness a note of triumph in the words , the future of his message is assured, and we may borrow two words as an inscription for these closing pages of St. Luke’s second treatise the last word of the Apostle, and the last of the historian the word of God was heard and welcomed, and that word was not bound, see the suggestive remarks of Bethge, p. 335, and Zckler on Act 28:31 .
[436] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
unto = to.
Salvation. Greek. soterion. Elsewhere, Luk 2:30 (which see); Act 3:6. Eph 6:17. The more usual soteria occ Act 13:26, &c.
is sent = was sent. Greek. apostelo. App-174.
Gentiles. Greek. ethnos.
28.] was probably omitted as superfluous, and perhaps to suit Luk 3:6. It adds greatly to the force: this, the message of Gods salvation, q. d. there is no other for those who reject this.
.] They will also (besides having it sent to them) hear it. Quod expertus erat Paulus in multis Asi et Europ urbibus, ut apud gentes sermonis felicior esset seges, idem et nunc futurum prospiciebat. Grot.
[29.] This verse has not the usual characteristic of spurious passages,-the variety of readings in those manuscripts which contain it. It may perhaps, after all, have been omitted as appearing superfluous after Act 28:25.]
Act 28:28. , to the Gentiles) whose capital was Rome. He had declared to the contumacious Jews his going to the Gentiles, at Antioch, ch. Act 13:46; at Corinth, ch. Act 18:6; and now in the third instance at Rome; and so also in Asia, Greece, and Italy.-, is sent) by the apostle. Before this time no apostle, not even Peter, had come to Rome.- , the salvation of God) The root of the name Jesus. Comp. note, Luk 3:6; Luk 2:30.-, these very persons) although ye will not hear it.-) even: not only is it sent to them, [but also they will hear it.]-, they will hear) The Jews ought to have repented by reason of the event of this very prediction.
salvation
(See Scofield “Rom 1:16”).
it known: Act 2:14, Act 4:10, Act 13:38, Eze 36:32
the salvation: Psa 98:2, Psa 98:3, Isa 49:6, Isa 52:10, Lam 3:26, Luk 2:30-32, Luk 3:6
sent: Act 11:18, Act 13:46, Act 13:47, Act 14:27, Act 15:14, Act 15:17, Act 18:6, Act 22:21, Act 26:17, Act 26:18, Mat 21:41-43, Rom 3:29, Rom 3:30, Rom 4:11, Rom 11:11, Rom 15:8-16
Reciprocal: Jdg 6:39 – dry Isa 11:10 – to it shall Isa 42:1 – he shall Zec 2:11 – many Mat 28:19 – ye therefore Luk 2:32 – light Luk 10:9 – The kingdom Luk 13:29 – General Luk 14:23 – Go Luk 24:47 – among Joh 4:30 – General Act 8:25 – when they had Act 10:33 – are we Act 13:26 – to you Act 13:42 – the Gentiles Rom 2:9 – of the Jew Gal 2:7 – the gospel of the uncircumcision Phi 1:28 – and that Heb 4:6 – some
THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES
Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will bear it.
Act 28:28
The Jews had exhausted St. Pauls patience. He had reasoned with them; he had pleaded with them; but all to no purpose. They refused to accept the message he brought, and henceforth he turned to the Gentiles. The Jews had lost their opportunity; the salvation of God was sent unto the Gentiles. They will hear it, said St. Paul. And we have heard it. The great question is, Have we accepted it?
I. The mission to the Gentiles.We have become inheritors of the promises of God. Unto us has the message of salvation been sent. St. Paul, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, was the instrument in Gods hands of the conversion of thousands. His forecast was right. The Gentiles heard the Gospel; they accepted it; and the Church which, in his day, was but a small company, has now spread over the whole earth.
II. Our privileges are neither few nor small. With nineteen centuries of Christian effort behind us the Church ought to be a great power. And it would become such if every baptized Christian realised how great and glorious is his position in Christ. This is our day of opportunity, not only in relation to spreading the Gospel in the vast unevangelised fields abroad, but also in regard to our own attitude towards the Christian faith and life. How few of us can say that we are living up to our Christian privileges. Is it not the fact, indeed, that some of us reject the Gospel as really and truly as did the Jews of old? We make profession, no doubt, of our belief in Christianity, but so far as our daily life is concerned it has no power or effect at all. This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, are words which express the actual condition of some of us; and they seal our condemnation.
III. Our responsibility.The day of privilege will not always last. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. What was the result? The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles. If we, in our sin or our indifference, reject Him, who can say how soon our day of visitation shall pass away?
IV. There is yet another point of view from which this question of privilege and responsibility may be considered. It is important to observe the influence of long-continued and exclusive privileges on the opinions and the doctrinal belief of those enjoying them. It is melancholy to observe with what facility advantages possessed by a few for the good of many may come to be regarded as prerogatives belonging to the few to the entire exclusion of the many. If the Jews, with an unfinished revelation and a heavy ceremonial yoke upon their necks, could dream of an exclusive right to Gods compassions, what may not we, without preventing grace, infer from our unclouded light and our unshackled freedom? And if this error had a tendency to vitiate their whole view of Divine truth, what security have we that an analogous effect may not be realised in our experience? If we are conscious of inadequate exertions in the great cause of missions, let us think of Israel and remember that if we do not value Christianity enough to share it with the heathen, they may yet become possessed of it at our expense.
Illustration
St. Paul remained in his hired house for two whole years of imprisonment, receiving all who came to him. The record suddenly ends here, and the account of his trial, as also of the after story, can only be gathered from the Epistles.
8
Act 28:28. This announcement to the Jews was on the same basis as set forth in such passages as chapter 13:46. The Jews were given the first opportunity of hearing the Gospel. When the Gentiles had the divine truth offered to them, they showed a greater readiness to receive it.
Act 28:28-29. Be it known, therefore, &c. Having reproved the unbelieving and disobedient among his hearers, he assured them that the salvation of God, which they despised and seemed to fortify themselves against, was sent unto the Gentiles Namely, more especially from that time; and that they would hear and embrace it, and so inherit the blessings which these Jews rejected. His words imply, that he would, from that day forward, turn to the Gentiles; and would seek, in their faith and obedience, his consolation under that grief which the infidelity of his brethren gave him. Before this, it must be observed, no apostle had been at Rome. St. Paul was the first. And when he had said these words The last, it seems, that he now uttered among them; the Jews departed Out of the place, not being prevailed upon to receive Jesus as the Messiah; and had great reasoning Greek, , disputations; among themselves Some thinking there was considerable weight in what Paul had urged to defend the gospel, while others, still retaining their sinful and inveterate prejudices against it, were enraged, and spake of him and his arguments with great contempt and indignation.
See notes on verse 25
28. Now Paul having given the Jews his first message, turns to the Gentiles. So in all our ministry we are to begin with the church people, giving them the first gospel privileges, then when they reject, go at once to the highways and hedges.
28:28 {15} Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and [that] they will hear it.
(15) The unbelief of the reprobate and castaways cannot cause the truth of God to be of no effect.
Act 28:28 is probably the ultimate climax of Acts. It summarizes the main theme of the book. Having presented the gospel to the Jews in Rome, and having witnessed their rejection of it, Paul now focused his ministry again on the Gentiles (cf. Act 13:46-52; Act 18:6; Rom 1:16). Until "the times of the Gentiles" run their course and Messiah’s second advent terminates them, Gentiles will be the primary believers of the gospel (cf. Rom 11:19-26).
"Luke-Acts is basically a story about a mission. Act 28:28 comments on the mission’s future. The narrative prepares for this comment by reports of the Gentiles’ friendly response to Paul on the voyage and the Roman Jews’ contrasting response. When we recognize the careful reflection on the possibilities of mission among both Gentiles and Jews in Acts 27-28, the impression that the ending of Acts is abrupt and unsuitable is considerably reduced." [Note: Tannehill, 2:343. See also Ladd, "The Acts . . .," pp. 1177-78.]
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)