It is apparent, therefore, that if the apostle could honestly say that his teaching was `none other things than those

which the prophets and Moses did say should come' (Acts 26:22), we must so interpret his use of the term, the

kingdom of God, as to include the restoration again of the earthly kingdom which constituted part of the hope of

Israel. The term, however, is much wider than anything found in the Gospels, the Acts, or the early Epistles. We

find it used after Israel were set aside, and when Luke would describe Paul's prison ministry he wrote, `Preaching

the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man

forbidding him' (Acts 28:31). The revelation of the mystery therefore must be included in the kingdom of God, and

Colossians 4:11 does not hesitate to use the term to define the goal of Paul and his fellow-workers. It would appear,

therefore, that we must understand the kingdom of God to refer to that all-embracive sovereignty which includes all

spheres of blessing, all callings and all inheritances, and that dispensational truth, seeking to observe the

sub-divisions in that all-embracive kingdom, speaks of the Church, of Israel, and of the Bride, as the case may be.

The direct object of Paul's exposition and testimony was the kingdom of God; the direct object of his persuasion

was concerning Jesus (Acts 28:23). In the next verse the word translated `persuade', peitho, is rendered `believe'. It

is the word used by Agrippa and by those who charged the apostle with having `persuaded and turned away much

people' at Ephesus. The way in which the word is used of the centurion in Acts 27:11, `The centurion believed the

master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul', is rather a foreshadowing of

the attitude of Paul's own people, the Jews, in Rome, for it is recorded of them that `some believed the things which

were spoken, and some believed not'.

One further item of truth must detain us at verse 23. Paul persuaded them concerning `Jesus'. When the apostle

refers to the Saviour in his Epistles, it is his general practice to give Him His title, `Jesus Christ', `Christ Jesus',

`Jesus Christ the Lord', etc., but, on occasion, he uses simply the name `Jesus'. This he does in Hebrews eight

times, and in 1 Thessalonians and 2 Corinthians, where the name occurs eight times, the subject concerned being

associated with the resurrection. Romans and 1 Corinthians contain one occurrence each, and in the seven Epistles

written after Acts 28, Paul uses the name `Jesus' but twice. When we compare Acts 28:23 with verse 31 we are

struck by two things.

(1) To the Jews, before their rejection, Paul used the name `Jesus'.

(2) After their rejection the name is changed. While the kingdom of God is retained, the teaching is concerning

`the Lord Jesus Christ'.

This change is not accidental.

There is another feature that demands attention, and which arises from an examination of verses 23 and 31.

We closed our last section with an intimation to the effect that besides the selection by the inspired writer of the

name `Jesus', there was another point of nomenclature worth considering in Acts 28:23, as compared with verse 31.

When Paul bore his testimony to the chief of the Jews, the basis of his exposition was the law of Moses and the

Prophets. But after Israel were set aside, his testimony is no longer called `expounding' but `preaching' and

`teaching', and the Scriptures are unnamed. Now a false argument might be deduced from this absence of reference

to the then existing Scriptures, but an examination of Paul's subsequent ministry shows that he still retained a

whole-hearted belief and love for the Word of God. In fact, in his last epistle we find the clearest testimony to the

inspiration of `all Scripture' (2 Tim. 3:14-17), yet, even so, there still remains to be weighed the fact of the absence

of any reference to the Scriptures in the last verse of the Acts, which is set in such pointed contrast with the

twenty-third verse.

If we turn the page and look at the first epistle that follows, that to the Romans, we observe that the gospel of

God is that `Which He had promised afore by His prophets in the holy Scriptures' (Rom. 1:2), and that the very

doctrine of justification by faith is `as it is writte, The just shall live by faith' (Rom. 1:17). Indeed `What saith the

Scripture?' (Rom. 4:3) might well be taken as epitomizing Paul's attitude in these early epistles. Altogether Paul

uses the word graphe, `scripture', fourteen times. Seven of the occurrences are in Romans, two in 1 Corinthians and