Jensens survey of the old testament adam 432
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CHART 54: STEPHEN’S LIFE AND DEATH
C. SAUL SAVED (9:l-19a)
Persecution against the believers in
Jerusalem scattered them throughout Judea
and Samaria, and even to such distant cities
as Damascus (Map M).
MAP M: EARLY CHURCH SCATTERED
It was when the persecution had reached
a peak through the fanatic labors of the
arch-persecutor Saul14 (8:1-3), that God
came down and struck him to the ground. In
Blaiklock’s words, “The rabid persecutor was
a tormented man, soon to be brought to
surrender, and destined to be the greatest
name in the history of the Church.”15 The
wonderful, miraculous conversion of a man
who called himself the chief of sinners is the
subject of Luke’s reporting in 9:l-19a.
D. THE CHURCH EMBRACES GENTILES
(9:32—12:25)
In the early chapters of Acts most of those
who believed in Christ were Jews. That is
understandable, since the gospel was the
ful llment of the Jews’ Scriptures; Jesus and
His disciples were Jews; and His mission was
primarily to the house of Israel. The
disciples were thus now taking it for granted
that the gospel was mainly for Jews, with
Gentiles brought into the fellowship of the
church only via the Jewish institutions. The
time had come for God to emphasize more
than ever before that the gospel was for
Gentile as well as Jew. Peter, leader of the
church at that time, was the logical one to
whom God would give such instruction.
How God did that is the story of most of
9:32—12:25.
The scattering of the Jewish believers,
which began on the day of Stephen’s death,
was the rst break in the solidarity of
Jewish exclusivism that God would
eventually liquidate. It was inevitable that
Spirit- lled disciples should touch human
hearts with whom they came in contact,
regardless of race or religion. That is
illustrated in the unrestricted expansion of
the church as recorded by Luke in 8:1b—
9:31 and summarized so triumphantly in
9:31.
But God wanted the Jews to hear clearly
and in unambiguous words that the gospel
was universal. So He led His disciples into
the experiences recorded in 9:32—12:25.
The entire section might be called “The
Church Embraces Gentiles.”
Read 11:18 as a key verse of this section.
What other similar verses do you observe?
Note: The problem of Gentile salvation
was to reappear at a later time. It was part
