APPENDIX Õ STRUCTURE OF ACTS149

`... we know not what we should pray for as we ought but ... we know that all things work together for good to

them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose' (Rom. 8:26-28).

That purpose, and the links in the chain that stretched from before the ages unto their end, are then set out. The

purpose, which is twofold, is that those who were foreknown, the elect, the firstfruits, the church, or whatever other

name by which this elect company is known, have been

predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, and

that He (the Son) might be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29).

Here we have in part the reconciliation of Colossians 1. We shall find upon examining the teaching of the

epistles of the mystery that the foundation for their teaching and the transition from the one dispensation to the other

is given in Romans 5-8. The links in the purpose are predestination, which goes back before time; calling and

justification, which take place during time; and glorification, which takes place at the close.

The concluding verses are a glorious song of triumph. Starting as it did with `no condemnation', the chapter

concludes with the question, `Who is he that condemneth?' The believers are seen triumphant over the dominion of

sin, death, law, and flesh; not merely victors, but `more than conquerors through Him that loved us'.

`For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor

things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,

which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' (8:38,39).

Thus ends the inner section of the epistle to the Romans. What a wondrous sweep, from the condemnation of all

in the sin of Adam, to the super-conquest of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ! Truly where sin abounded, grace

has superabounded.

We have now seen from various standpoints the great theme of the apostle's ministry. Doctrine, dispensation,

practice, ministry, and the inner portion likewise, all lead up to the reconciliation. As this is so vitally connected

with the hope and blessing of the Gentiles, no time can be called wasted that is spent upon gaining an understanding

of its witness and fulness. Some have found difficulty in the repeated doxologies of the closing chapters, but

doxologies in some form occur throughout this epistle. The apostle is constrained to give his personal contrast with

idolatry in Romans 1:25 :

`The Creator, Who is blessed unto the ages. Amen' (Author's translation).

The first section ends with the words `we also joy (boast) in God' (Rom. 5:11). The second section ends with a

tribute to the triumphant love of God (Rom. 8:32-39). The third not only ends with that magnificent psalm of praise

(Rom. 11:33-36), but finds room for a lesser note of praise (Rom. 9:5) after the recapitulation of Israel's covenant

blessings. The fourth includes the exhortation to glorify God, and concludes with a benediction (Rom. 15:7 and 33).

Another benediction follows in Romans 16:20; and yet another in 16:24. The whole is rounded off by the doxology

of Romans 16:25-27. There is something suggestive of each other in the two great doxologies of Romans 11:33-36,

and 16:25-27, which we leave with the reader as a suggestion for study.

The instructed reader will be conscious that much has been omitted in these pages that is profitable, but we

cannot hope, in the limited space at our disposal, to do more than point the way. Our object has been to show the

purpose of God as exhibited in the Acts, and as reflected in the epistles of the period, and with this in measure

accomplished we must abide.

If it were not that God is over all, and is sovereignly working out His purposes of grace, using the very master

stroke of the enemy as a means of revealing yet greater grace, this chapter would be a sad one. The Acts opens with

the burning question: