their own ground and led them step by step to the same goal that was before

him in Acts 13.  That goal was Christ.

To the Jew he became a Jew, and led up through Biblical history to

David, and from David to Christ, 'Of this man's seed hath God according to

His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus' (Acts 13:23).

To the Greek he became a Greek, and by reference to their

'superstition', their 'unknown God', the testimony of their philosophers and

poets, led on, equally with his address to the Jews, to the inevitable

'He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in

righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given

assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead' (Acts

Paul's conception of the gospel was the preaching of 'Christ' (Rom. 1:1

-4; 1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 1:16; Phil. 1:18).  That his equipment for the work had

already been going on before his conversion is made evident by the fact that

he only needed the saving revelation on the road to Damascus to vitalize all

he had previously acquired; for we read that, after only a few days' respite,

'straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God'

(Acts 9:20), 'and confounded the Jews ... proving that this is very Christ'

(Acts 9:22), the church in Judæa learning with wonder, 'that he which

persecuted them in times past now preacheth the faith which once he

destroyed' (Gal. 1:23).

As a survey of all his references to them will show, Paul's

acquaintance with the Old Testament Scriptures was very wide and very

thorough. Furthermore, he spoke both 'Greek' and 'Hebrew' (Acts 21:37 -40),

which enabled him to quote sometimes the Greek Septuagint, and sometimes the

Old Testament as it is in the original, a great asset

in his equipment.  This must not be misrepresented as indicating that no one

can exercise the vocation of preacher or teacher today without a knowledge of

Hebrew and Greek, but it does indicate the extreme value of all such aids as

the Concordance and Lexicon to enable the man of God to verify his references

and so build upon a sound foundation.

We have already referred to the fact that a thorough furnishing of the

man of God includes, not only the supply of all necessary material, but the

intelligent use of that material.  We shall therefore not be fully equipped

if our 'manner' spoils our 'matter'.  A good housekeeper not only provides

wholesome food, but sees to it that it is not spoiled in the cooking:

'Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days

reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.  Opening and alleging ...'

(Acts 17:2,3).

Dialegomai, 'reasoning', indicates an argument in which two or more

speakers take part, or in which one speaker argues out the 'pros and cons' of

his subject.  A good example of this method is exhibited in Romans 6 and 7

where the apostle interposes a possible objection four times, and four times

gives a reasonable refutation and positive reply.  The word translated

'opening' is dianoigo, and is used of opening the Scriptures, opening the

heart, and opening the understanding (Acts 16:14; Luke 24:32 and 45).

'Alleging' is paratithemi, 'to place beside'.  Its first occurrence in the