I N D E X
4
NONE OTHER THINGS
`Saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say
should come' (Acts 26:22).
No. 1
Paul's defence must be understood as literally true.
When the apostle declares, in Colossians 1:26, that the
Mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations,
has now been made manifest, his words are a commentary upon
the essential nature of a `mystery' or `secret'. We shall search in
vain the pages of the prison epistles (Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, 2 Timothy, Philemon) for any references to the law
and the prophets, in so far as the distinctive revelation of the
Mystery is concerned.
Speaking of his conversion and commission on the road to
Damascus, the apostle tells us that the Lord said to him:
`... 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
from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee' (Acts 26:16,17).
The word `both' here cannot be set aside; it indicates two
ministries. We read of `these things' and `those things'; of the
`things which thou hast seen', and the `things in the which I will
appear unto thee'.  Here obviously we have two ministries.
Further, while the apostle soon found that his own `people',
Israel, were opposed to him, he also found, during the early part
of his ministry, that the Gentiles, especially the Roman soldiers,