All The Saints (part 16)

He says “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated with strictness under Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors, and was zealous for God just as all of you are today” (Acts 22:3).  Talk of being a Jew, raised in Jerusalem, trained under Gamaliel, who honors ancestors, and is zealous (this is a specific term for a way of life and approach to the law and the covenant), would be quite satisfactory. 

Furthermore, Paul says “I persecuted this Way,” that being the belief in a crucified man by the name of Jesus being the Messiah, “even to the point of death, tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, as both the high priest and the council of elders can testify from me.  From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished” (22:4-5).  As the crowd listens, they can begin to realize that not only are these not the words of a person that would bring a Gentile into the Jerusalem Temple, but that they are not the words of somebody who “teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this sanctuary” (21:28b). 

Paul’s audience remains respectful until such time as he touches what was obviously the rawest of raw nerves.  When he reports the words of the one that he now calls Lord, telling the crowds that the command of the one called Messiah, who was being worshiped as the physical embodiment of the Creator God of Israel by a small and growing group of believers that were composed of both Jew and Gentile, was that “He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles’” (22:21), the crowd resumes its earlier disposition. 

To that end, Luke reports that “The crowd was listening to him until he said this.  Then they raised their voices and shouted, ‘Away with this man from the earth!  For he should not be allowed to live!” (22:22)  No longer is the issue the content of Paul’s teaching nor the possible defiling of the Temple.  The lone issue is the extension of the covenant to the Gentiles, and the idea that the title of “saints of God” would no longer be reserved for national Israel and those that had adopted the covenant marks of national Israel alone.  This is representative of part of the mindset of the world into which Paul delivers letters such as the letter to the Colossians.    

Returning to Colossians then, having effectively made the point that it is highly probable that Paul had Gentiles and the Temple in mind when he pens words that refer to them as “holy, without blemish, and blameless before Him” (Colossians 1:22b), and doing so against the well-established background of difficult Jew/Gentile relations and a hesitance to grant Gentiles an unlimited and unchecked entrance upon the covenant and the language of the elect people of the Creator God,  an exploration of the inclusive language of the letter can be resumed. 

Now being more carefully attuned to the underlying concerns of the Apostle, this church, the churches of Asia Minor, and the church-at-large, it is possible to grasp the monumental scope of the kingdom project and hear it being referenced when Paul writes “This Gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant” (1:23b).  The “all” of “all creation” resounds with theological and eschatological gravity!  It is with such gravitas, as he willingly, in the manner of His Lord, adopts the position of servant to the previously unwashed masses of Gentiles, that Paul writes “I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God---given to me for you---in order to complete the word of God, that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His saints” (1:25-26).  These “saints” now include Gentiles. 

Regarded As Nothing (part 2 of 2)

There were those in the synagogue in Ephesus who, as usual, rejected Paul’s preaching of “the Way” (19:9), so eventually Paul left the synagogue and took up his teaching “every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.  This went on for two years, so that all who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the Word of the Lord” (19:9b-10).  Again, this Word of the Lord, as can be construed from the record of Paul’s preaching (as provided by Acts) and from his writing, would have been that Jesus is Lord.  That was the message of the Gospel, and that alone, as it seems according to Paul’s thinking, represents the message that would grow in power and prevail.  If one desires consistency with the text of the New Testament, there would need to be some level of agreement that there is no other message that could be described in such a way.    

Due to the apparent effectiveness of the preaching of the message of the Gospel, as it grew in power and prevailed, the previously mentioned Demetrius’ business was most likely suffering.  So he called a meeting of the craftsmen, “along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, ‘Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business.  And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a large crowd, not only in Ephesus but in practically all of the province of Asia, by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all” (19:25b-26).  This is where one comes upon his statement that “There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing” (19:27a).  He concludes his statement with “and she whom all the province of Asia and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness” (19:27b).

In that day, this temple, which was considered to be one of the wonders of the ancient world, had been in place for over five-hundred years.  As a significant place of worship, it drew thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.  It seems that the devotees of Artemis, as the goddess of Ephesus (whose temple was the source of much wealth and influence), could quickly fill a fifty-thousand seat theater, and when prodded, gladly shout “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (19:34b) for two solid hours.  Nevertheless, the tireless preaching of the Gospel, of the foolish and confounding message of a crucified man that had been raised from the dead by the Creator God of Israel, was believed to be a threat to the temple and its goddess, with that threat thought to be able to reach the point that both would be “regarded as nothing,” and that the world would suffer the loss of her (Artemis) greatness. 

Surely, that speaks directly to the inherent, transformative, and world-shaping power of the preaching of the message of Jesus.  There is no message besides the message of Jesus Christ crucified and raised that has such power.  It is this message that goes forth by the Holy Spirit and transforms hearts and minds.  It is the message that Paul preached.  It was the message that Jesus’ disciples took into the world.  It is the message, supreme above anything else that could ever be preached or taught, that the devotees of the Jesus cult should be carrying into this world on a daily basis.  All other messages are secondary, and if the secondary message is not rooted in the Gospel proclamation (Jesus is Lord of all) and appended with the message of the cross and an empty tomb, then, at least according to the example of the Apostle, it may be considered to be rather frivolous.