Lesson
10
The
Gospel to the Gentiles/Paul
IV. The Gospel
to the Gentiles/Paul
Paul was a chosen
vessel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). His ministry was to bear the Name of the
Lord before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
A. Paul on Mar's Hill
Paul was not like the
candle upon a table that gives light to one room, but he was like the sun that
goes in its circuit to give light to many.
In chapter seventeen of the Book of Acts,
Paul was on another of his missionary journeys. He preached at Thessalonica and
Berea and then at Athens. He was appalled at the idolatry he found in the
latter city. Athens was full of temples, idols, statues, and pagan altars. Discussions
with the philosophers of Athens led to Paul's being taken to the Areopagus
(Mar's Hill), a court that Dake's Annotated Reference Bible says was the most
sacred and reputable in the Gentile world.
Four centuries earlier, this same court
had condemned Socrates.
Paul preached to the
Athenians about their altar with the dedication to the unknown god. He
proclaimed the message of one God who is self-existing; the giver and supporter
of life (Isaiah 46:9-10; Mark 12:32). He stated that all men could find the
Lord (Acts 17:27; Jeremiah 29:13). Paul declared that God had tolerated the foolishness
of man for awhile but judgment would come. Judgment would come in the form of
Jesus Christ who is deemed worthy by His resurrection from the dead. At this
saying, some mocked, but others believed. One of those who believed was
Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, the court of Mar's Hill. Later a fruitful
church was established at Athens.
B. Paul
in Prison Writing Epistles
J. Sidlow
Baxter stated, "Acts is not one of the epistles, yet it introduces them.
Acts is a liaison between the Gospels and the Epistles." Paul wrote most
of his Epistles while he was in prison awaiting trial. The letters were written
to different churches established in the world by Paul and other followers of
Christ. While he was imprisoned, Paul witnessed to and won many of his guards
and visitors. Onesimus (Philemon) was one of the converts from his prison
ministry. Some scholars think that he was released for awhile but when a renewed
persecution began and he was taken captive again. Finally, after many years of
frustration in prison, Paul was tried, condemned, and put to death. His last words
were, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faithÉ" (II Timothy 4:7). What an
accomplishment, to die full of faith, hope and victory as Paul did.