“This man, (Paul) is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel,” Acts 9:15.
This year in my Bible study, we’re digging into the book the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans. The Gentiles are mentioned repeatedly. Paul was a chosen vessel to take the gospel to the people groups who were not Jewish. God set Paul apart for a specific purpose, to proclaim the gospel to a pagan people and He used a proud, self-righteous Pharisee to do His work. He turned him into one of the greatest missionaries the world has ever seen!
As I thought over Paul’s incredible calling, I became interested to learn the places Paul went on his journeys. Travel was dangerous, 2 Corinthians 11 tells about shipwrecks, danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from fellow Jews and Gentiles, dangers in the cities, the country; danger from false believers. He labored often without sleep, was hungry, thirsty and went without food; and always with the daily pressure of concern for the churches. But through it all, God protected him!
If you were to look at a map, the Gentiles comprised the world outside Israel. Paul was hindered from evangelistic work in Jerusalem because the Jewish leaders hated him. Instead, God called him “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit,” Romans 15:16. So from Jerusalem to Illyricum, Paul preached the gospel of Christ. This area would include modern day: Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, and eventually Rome. He had a desire to go to Spain, but it’s uncertain he ever got there.
I wondered, “who were the Gentiles and what did they worship?” “Where were my ancestors at this time?” Who were these “objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory?” Romans 9:24. It’s pretty certain that most of our ancestors would have been worshiping a variety of “created” things. Think of the ancient peoples at the time of Christ. No matter where they lived on the face of the earth, Europe, China, Asia, India, Africa, North and South America, they all worshiped man-made idols of every shape and size, wood, stone, trees, gods and goddesses, the sun, moon, stars and all things “created” by God or man. The whole world had a pagan form of worship, only Israel had the light of the true God and it was a flickering flame when Jesus Christ entered planet Earth. There were a few godly people like Simeon and Anna and Mary and Joseph who were righteous and devout, waiting for the ‘consolation of Israel,’ but many of the Jews had a form of worship, but without the power of God.
When Paul began his ministry to the Gentiles, it was a formidable task, but God was faithful! “The mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 3:6. And again, “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Colossians 1:27. In spite of whom we were, what a rich inheritance we Gentiles have!
I’m overwhelmed when I think of the mercy of God! In 33 AD, my ancestors were worshiping rocks and the sun at Stonehenge, England. Without hope and without God in the world! Where were yours?
Your friend, Jean