James Nisbet Commentary - Acts 28:24 - 28:24

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James Nisbet Commentary - Acts 28:24 - 28:24


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PAUL IN ROME

‘And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.’

Act_28:24

It was in the spring of a.d. 61 that St. Paul reached Rome. The aim of his life was fulfilled. The prisoners were handed over to the captain of the guard, but St. Paul was separated from the other prisoners, and ‘suffered to dwell by himself, with a soldier that kept him.’ After ‘three days’ he called the chief of the Jews together,’ explained the circumstances under which he had come to Rome, and again stated his ‘hope of Israel.’ He discussed these questions with all who came to ‘his lodging’ from morning till evening. ‘Some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.’

I. The Gospel itself prepares us for its own disappointment.—It is at least a remarkable thing that a religion which speaks so authoritatively, which claims so confidently for itself a heavenly and a Divine origin, should yet declare itself to be come into the world, not for triumph, but for division; should inscribe on its pages the admission that of the earliest witnesses of the Resurrection some doubted; should give directions for the treatment of refusers as well as of acceptors of the message; should state this as the effect of a long and detailed argument in its behalf on the part of its most earnest and persuasive advocate, that some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. We say of such a religion that at least it has taken the sting, by anticipation, out of the argument from failure, and uttered a true prediction as to the degree and measure of its own success. Here, as elsewhere, we recognise that transparent truthfulness about itself, which is one of the distinctive badges of the pure original Gospel.

II. On the other hand, it cannot be said that Christianity regards with indifference this various, this chequered result.—But the Gospel, if it speaks truthfully—much more, if it speaks truly—does predict wrath, as well as promise mercy; it misleads, ignorantly or else intentionally, if there be not as really an eternal punishment as a life eternal. The Gospel is not in-different, though it be distinctly prescient, as to this believing and believing not.

III. When we strive to look below the surface, and to discover why one believes and another believes not; why that proof which is equal for all should convince one and fail with another; why it is that God’s rain and God’s sunshine fertilise this spot and leave that barren; why reason and conscience, mind and soul, equal (in two instances) in vigour and capacity, should view with different eyes the selfsame disclosure; we are in the midst, at once, of those indeed secret things which belong wholly to the Lord our God. And we must be willing, unless we should make shipwreck at once of faith and charity, to leave all judgment in His hands, Who, being the Lord of all, will assuredly do right.

IV. In the face of these unaccountable differences between man and man; some believing, and others (with advantages at least equal) believing not; we come, more and more as life advances, to rest, simply and trustingly, upon the declaration of Scripture, that faith itself is God’s gift, the work of His Spirit, and commonly the direct answer to persevering prayer. We presume not, we believe it to be at present impossible, to state or define to ourselves the logical coherence of the two fundamental doctrines of grace and responsibility.

V. It must be plain to every one that, even among professed Christians, there are still believing men and unbelieving.—Therefore, it is still with us, as it was in the first days of the Gospel, an anxious, a fearful inquiry, Do we yet believe? If we do, we cannot sleep in indifference, we cannot rest in the world, we cannot live in sin. To believe is to see ourselves lost by nature and redeemed by the blood of Christ. To believe is to live no longer to ourselves, but to Him Who died for us and rose again. To believe is to declare plainly, by our whole spirit and conduct, that we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth, seeking a better country, that is, an heavenly. To believe is to have our affection set on things above, our very life hidden with Christ in God.

Dean C. J. Vaughan.