We shall now turn for a few moments to the ministry of the apostle of the Gentiles, and see how he fulfilled the great commission. We have already heard him on the subject of “ repentance.” Let us hear him also on the great question of “remission of sins.”
Paul was not of the twelve. He did not receive his commission from Christ on earth, but, as he himself distinctly and repeatedly tells us, from Christ in heavenly glory. Some have spent not a little time and pains in laboring to prove that he was of the twelve, and that the election of Matthias in Acts 1 was a mistake. But it is labor sadly wasted, and only proves an entire misunderstanding of Paul’s position and ministry. He was raised up for a special object, and made the depositary of a special truth which had never been made known to any one before, namely, the truth of the church—the one body, composed of Jew and Gentile, incorporated by the Holy Ghost, and linked, by His personal indwelling, to the risen and glorified Head in heaven.
Paul received his own special commission, of which he gives a very beautiful statement in his address to Agrippa, in Acts 26, “Whereupon as I went to Damascus, with authority and commission from the chief priests”—what a different “ commission” he received ere he entered Damascus!—” at midday, Ο king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.” Here the glorious truth of the intimate union of believers with the glorified Man in heaven, though not stated, is beautifully and forcibly implied. “ But rise, and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins”—αφςσιν the same word as in the commission to the twelve in Luke 24—” and inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in me.”
What depth and fullness in these words! What a comprehensive statement of man’s condition! What a blessed presentation of the resources of divine grace! There is a very remarkable harmony between this commission to Paul and that to the twelve in Luke 24 It will perhaps be said there is nothing about repentance. True, the word does not occur; but we have the moral reality, and that with singular force and fullness. What mean the words, “ To open their eyes?”
Do they not most certainly involve the discovery of our condition? Assuredly. A man who has his eyes opened is brought to the knowledge of himself, the knowledge of his condition, the knowledge of his ways; and this is true repentance. It is a wonderful moment in a man’s history when his eyes are opened. It is the grand crisis, the momentous epoch, the one turning-point. Till then he is blind, morally and spiritually blind. He cannot see a single divine object. He has no perception of anything pertaining to God, to Christ, to heaven.
This is truly humbling to proud human nature. Think of a clear-headed, highly educated, deeply learned, intellectual man, a profound thinker, a powerful reasoner, a thorough philosopher, who has won all the honors, the medals, the degrees, that this world’s universities can bestow; and yet he is blind to everything spiritual, heavenly, divine. He gropes in moral darkness. He thinks he sees, assumes the right to judge and pronounce upon things, even upon scripture and upon God Himself. He undertakes to decide what is fitting for God to say and to do. He sets up his own mind as the measure in the things of God. He reasons upon immortality, upon eternal life, and eternal punishment. He deems himself perfectly competent to give judgment in reference to all these solemn and weighty matters; and all the while his eyes have never been opened. How much is his judgment worth? Nothing. Who would take the opinion of a man who, if his eyes were only opened, would reverse, that opinion in reference to everything heavenly and divine? Who would think for a moment of being guided by a blind man?
But how do we know that every man in his natural, his unconverted state is blind? Because, according to Paul’s commission, the very first thing which the gospel is to do for him is “ to open his eyes.” This proves, beyond all question, that he must be blind. Paul was sent to the people and to the Gentiles—that is, to the whole human family—to open their eyes. This proves, to a divine demonstration, that all are by nature blind.
But there is more than this. Man is not only blind, but he is in “ darkness.” Supposing for a moment that a person has his eyesight, of what use is it to him if he is in the dark? It is the double statement as to man’s state and position. As to his state, he is blind. As to his position, he is in darkness; and when his eyes are opened, and divine light streams in upon his soul, he then judges himself and his ways according to God. He sees his folly, his guilt, his rebellion, his wild infidel reasonings, his foolish notions, the vanity of his mind, his pride and ambition, his selfishness and worldliness—all these things are judged and abhorred. He repents, and turns right round to the One who has opened his eyes, and poured in a flood of living light upon his heart and conscience.
But, further, not only is man—every man—Jew and Gentile, blind and in darkness, but, as if to give the climax of all, he is under the power of Satan. This gives a terrible idea of man’s condition. He is the slave of the devil. He does not believe this. He imagines himself free—thinks he is his own master—fancies he can go where he pleases, do what he likes, think for himself, speak and act as an independent being.
But he is the bond-slave of another! he is sold under sin, bound hand and foot. Satan is his lord and master. Thus scripture speaks, and it cannot be broken. Man may refuse to believe, but that cannot touch the fact. A condemned criminal at the bar may refuse to believe the testimony from the witness table, the verdict from the jury-box, the sentence from the bench; but that in nowise alters his terrible condition. He is a condemned criminal all the same. So with man as a sinner; he may refuse the plain testimony of scripture, but that testimony remains notwithstanding. Even if the thousand millions that people this globe were to deny the truth of God’s word, that word would still stand unmoved. Scripture does not depend for its truth upon man’s belief. It is true whether he believes it or not. Blessed forever is the man who believes; damned forever is the man who refuses to believe; but the word of God is settled forever in heaven, and it is to be received on its own authority, apart from all human thoughts for or against it.
This is a grand fact, and one demanding the profound attention of every soul. Everything depends upon it. The word of God claims our belief because it is His word. If we want any authority to confirm the truth of God’s word, we are in reality rejecting God’s word altogether, and resting on man’s word. A man may say, “How do I know that the Bible is the word of God?” We reply, It carries its own divine credentials with it; and if these credentials do not convince, all the human authority under the sun is perfectly worthless. If the whole population of the earth were to stand before me, and assure me of the truth of God’s word, and that I were to believe on their authority, it would not be saving faith at all. It would be faith in men, and not faith in God; but the faith that saves is the faith that believes what God says because God says it.
It is not that we undervalue human testimony, or reject what are called the external evidences of the truth of holy scripture. All these things must go for what they are worth; they are by no means essential in laying the foundation of saving faith. We are perfectly sure that all genuine history, all true science, all sound human evidence, must go to establish the divine authenticity of the Bible; but we do not rest our faith upon them, but upon the scriptures to which they bear testimony; nor if all human evidence, all science, and every page of history, were to speak against scripture, we should utterly and absolutely reject them, and cordially, reverently, and implicitly believe it. Is this narrow? Be it so. It is the blessed narrowness in which we gladly find our pence and our portion forever. It is the narrowness that refuses to admit the weight of a leather as an addition to the word of God. If this be narrowness, we repeat it with emphasis, and from the very center of our ransomed being, let it be ours forever. If to be broad we must look to man to confirm the truth of God’s word, then away with such broadness, it is the broadway that leadeth straight down to hell. No, reader, your life, your salvation, your everlasting peace, blessedness, and glory, depend upon your taking God at His word, and believing what He says because He says it. This is faith—livings saving, precious faith. May you possess it I God’s word, then, most distinctly declares that man in his natural, unrenewed, unconverted state is Satan’s bond-slave. It speaks of Satan as “ the god of this world,” as “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” It speaks of man as “led captive by the devil at his will.” Hence, in Paul’s commission, the third thing which the gospel is to do is to turn man from “ the power of Satan to God.” Thus his eyes are opened; divine light comes streaming in; the power of Satan is broken, and the delivered one finds himself, peacefully and happily, in the presence of God. Like the demoniac in Mark v., he is delivered from his ruthless tyrant, his cruel master; his chains are broken and gone; he is clothed, and in his right mind, and sitting at the feet of Jesus.
What a glorious deliverance! It is worthy of God in every aspect of it, and in all its results. The poor blind slave, led captive by the devil, is set free; and not only so, but he is brought to God, pardoned, accepted, and endowed with an eternal inheritance among the sanctified. And all this is by faith, through grace. It is proclaimed in the gospel of God to every creature under heaven—not one is excluded. The great commission, whether we read it in Luke 24 or in Acts 26, assures us that this most precious, most glorious, salvation is unto all.
Let us listen for a moment, ere we close this paper, to our apostle, as he discharges his blessed commission in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia. Most gladly would we transcribe the whole of his marvelous and most precious discourse, but our limited space compels us to confine ourselves to the powerful appeal at the end. “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man”—Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and glorified—” is preached”—not promised in the future, but preached now, announced, as a present reality—” unto you the remission of sins. And by him all who believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
From these words we learn, in the clearest possible manner, that every soul in that synagogue was called upon, there and then, to receive into his heart the blessed message which fell from the preacher’s lips. Not one was excluded. “ Unto you is the word of this salvation sent.” If anyone had asked the apostle if the message was intended for him, what would have been the reply? “ Unto you is the word of this salvation sent.” Was there no preliminary question to be settled? Not one. All the preliminaries had been settled at the cross. Was there no question as to election or predestination? Not a syllable about either in the whole range of this most magnificent and comprehensive discourse.
But is there no such question? Not in that “ Great Commission” whereof we speak. No doubt the grand truth of election shines in its proper place on the page of inspiration. But what is its proper and divinely appointed place? Most assuredly not in the preaching of the evangelist, but in the ministry of the teacher or pastor. When the apostle sits down to instruct believers, we hear such words as these, “Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate.” And again, “ Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.”
But let it never be lost sight of, when he stands up as an ambassador of Christ, the herald of salvation, he proclaims in the most absolute and unqualified manner a present, a personal, a perfect salvation to every creature under heaven; and everyone who heard him was responsible, there and then, to believe. And every one who reads him now is equally so. If anyone had presumed to tell the preacher that his hearers were not responsible, that they were powerless, and could not believe—that it was only deceiving them to call upon them to believe—what would have been his reply? We think we are warranted in saying that a full and overwhelming reply to this, and every such preposterous objection, is wrapped up in the solemn appeal with which the apostle closes his address, “ Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.”