Tag: Dispensation of Grace

A dear brother emailed me his question about Otis Q. Sellers‘s view of the circumstances of the Apostle Paul’s transition from his Pentecostal commission to the dispensation of Grace, which he announced at Acts 28:28.  Answering him forced me to think carefully about the complexity of Paul’s situation in the late 60s and its significance for understanding one of the distinctives of Sellers’s biblical theology. I thought I’d memorialize this exchange here. I took the liberty of lightly copyediting my friend’s text.—AGF

I’ve been going through Otis’s study on Romans [my friend writes]. It’s been a long time since I spent time in this challenging Book. In Romans 1:7, Paul addresses his letter written approx. AD 58 clearly, “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints . . . ” In numerous places—too many to cite—Paul confirms that he is writing primarily to a Jewish audience. I’m now on Chapter 6. A question struck me which I had never thought of before and that I could not provide a reasonable answer to myself, so I am going to ask you, Tony.

The question centers on Acts 28 where Paul is in Rome (AD 61+/-) and he has beckoned the “chief of the Jews together” beginning in verse 17. Here God sets the stage for one of the greatest historical events in world history. When they are gathered together before Paul, he explains what preceded his coming and why he is in Rome. It is because “for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” And what was the response of the chiefs of the Jews? They said, “We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.”

My question is how do you explain that these chief men of the Jews in Rome said they had never received letters concerning Paul, and they had no knowledge about the Lord’s death, burial, resurrection, the first coming of the Holy Spirit, etc. that was the beginning of the Jewish Christian “sect” when considering the following Scriptures:

• • In Acts 2:5 at the day of Pentecost, “there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven.” And in verse 10, this included “strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes”
  • Paul wrote Romans—a letter direct to the Jewish believers in Rome—expounding the most important and fundamental basis for the Christian faith! A letter that was written several years before he arrived in Rome.

How is it that the chief men of the Jews in Rome at the close of the Acts period were completely ignorant concerning Paul’s experiences, Jesus the Christ, and the new resultant “sect? What am I missing, Tony?

Here’s the answer I cobbled together yesterday. I welcome any critical feedback that may occur to my visitors.

I think you hit on an important issue, and once I started down that rabbit hole, I couldn’t stop. Let me think out loud on paper (so to speak).

There were the Jews in Rome who believed; the Jewish population and leaders in Rome generally; and what the Roman Jewish leaders meant when they said they had heard nothing about Paul. Acts 28 doesn’t say Roman Jews were ignorant of Christianity. What they said, as you know, is:

“We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.”

They don’t say, “We have never heard of Jesus,” or “We know nothing about this new sect.”

Rather, they immediately add “for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

What they claim not to know is that Paul himself is a matter of concern, either from letters sent ahead from Judea or from brethren who had come to Rome and reported against him. That is, “We haven’t received any dossier on you. We know Christianity is controversial, however, and we’d like to hear your version.” Continue reading “When in Rome: Paul’s two-front defense of the Gospel”