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Unlike the Lord, however, his ministry was not confined to public speaking. He trained and taught the believer
in things pertaining to faith, life and godliness, and so the apostle says, `publicly and from house to house'. Saul the
persecutor was thorough:
`As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed
them to prison' (Acts 8:3),
and the same zeal that he manifested as a zealot for the religion of his fathers now characterized him as a champion
of the cross. In the apostle's days the church was often accommodated in the house of a believer (Rom. 16:5; Col.
4:15; Philemon 2). Aquila and Priscilla knew the value of this homely ministry (Acts 18:26), and alas, the
propagandists of the last few days will be aware of it too (2 Tim. 3:6), and will find a ready ear in those who
`wander from house to house' (1 Tim. 5:13).
Having defined his ministry as `serving the Lord', and its true presentation as `with all humility of mind'; its
accompaniments of `tears, temptations and lying in wait of the Jews'; its unreserved exposition, `I kept back
nothing'; its wisdom and consideration, `that was profitable' not for his own profit but `unto you', and having
further particularized this ministry as one of both `public' and `private' teaching', the apostle proceeds to summarize
its substance:
`Testifying (diamarturomai) both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ' (Acts 20:21).
His ministry was a testimony: in verse 24 we shall meet the word again, `to testify the gospel of the grace of
God'. Diamarturomai. - Dia, `through' is emphatic, and akin to our `thorough'. It should never be forgotten that
the Greek word for `witness' (martur) is the word translated `martyr' in Revelation 2:13 and 17:6, and that our word
`martyr' is but the Greek word `witness' in English letters. Paul's testimony was always at the risk of life and limb,
and while it is not necessary for a true witness to be martyred, yet He Who reads the thoughts and intents of the
*
heart, knows whether we hold His truth so dear that Smithfield itself could not turn us back. We boast not. We
realize only too keenly our frailty, but we pray that such may be the character of our `testimony' in His sight.
Paul's testimony was to both `Jew and Greek'. Were we unprepared by this reference, we would probably slip
into the error of thinking that `Jew and Gentile' is the common phrase in the New Testament, whereas it is not so. It
is true, that the A.V. reads in 1 Corinthians 10:32:
`... neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God'.
and this has been made the foundation of a special attempt at `right division', but the fact remains that Hellen
(Greek) and not Ethnos (Gentile) is used here. Again, in Romans 1:16 we read `To the Jew first, and also to the
Greek', but in Romans 2:9,10 the identical phrase is translated, `to the Jew first, and also the Gentile', but this is
without warrant. The same correction is needed in John 7:35, Romans 3:9 and 1 Corinthians 12:13.
`Jews' are coupled with or contrasted with `Greeks' in no less than twenty-one passages of the Acts and Epistles,
and while the Jew and the Gentile do occur together, it is with nothing like the same frequency, and cannot compare
with the reiterated `Jew and Greek' of Paul's epistles. To attempt an explanation of this peculiarity is beyond our
present scope. That it is of purpose we most surely believe, and the series Wisdom, Human and Divine in The
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Berean Expositor Vols. 26 to 29 dealing with Greek wisdom will give direction to the enquiring mind . In
the Jew, God manifested the bankruptcy of human righteousness; in the Greek the utter failure of human wisdom.
To both Paul preached and taught the same need, viz.:
`Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ' (Acts 20:21).
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Smithfield in London was a place where martyrs were burnt at the stake during the Reformation.
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Or see the booklet Wisdom, Human and Divine by the same author and publisher.