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were all zealous of the law (Acts 21: 20), they warn Paul of a rumour, and ask him to
conform to a rite. The tangible evidence of the sincerity of the Gentiles is unheeded; the
thought that the Gentiles were blessed with the Jews seems absent; one rumour--that
Paul had taken Greeks into their earthly temple--drove the whole city into an uproar
(21: 27-32), endangering his very life.
Then standing on the steps of the garrison Paul addressed the Jews in their own
tongue, and spoke of his life and conversion up to the day when the Lord said to him:--
"Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience
unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from
the earth . . . . ." (Acts 22: 21, 22).
This was but the climax of an attitude among the Jews that had obtained during the
Acts period:--
"Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins
always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost" (I Thess. 2: 16).
Paul was then taken to Rome where he called for the elders of the Jews
(Acts 28: 17), and expounded to them concerning Jesus out of Moses and the
Prophets, but because they definitely failed to believe he said:--
"Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles,
and that they will hear it" (Acts 28: 28).
The history of the gift of the Gentiles is therefore closely related to the apostacy of the
Jews, and it was one of the steps that led to the setting aside of Israel in Acts 28:
The gift, it will be remembered, was prompted by the fact that the Gentiles had been
made partakers of Israel's spiritual blessings (Rom. 15: 27). With the setting aside of
Israel there was also the postponement of the hope of Israel, and consequently the hope of
the Gentiles blessed with Israel--the very cause of the gift had been removed.
After Acts 28: 28 Paul was led to write from his prison five epistles: Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, II Timothy and Philemon. In these the subject of gifts is
again met with, but it is no longer influenced by the thought of being blessed through
Israel. The Philippians sent a gift to Paul (Phil. 4: 10-18). Paul rejoiced "not because I
desire a gift, but I desire fruit that it may abound to your account" (verse 17). There is no
question now of whether it would be accepted by any body of men, but Paul writes to
assure them that it was "a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God" (verse 18).
In the matter of the gift to the poor saints at Jerusalem, all of the churches to whom
Paul wrote before Acts 28: had some part or interest--the Galatians, Thessalonians,
Corinthians and Romans. What Paul was doing is reflected in the epistles written at the
time. After the change of Acts 28: he writes to other churches, and in each epistle
makes mention of his imprisonments (Eph. 3: 1; 4: 1; 6: 19, 20; Phil. 1: 7, 13, 14, 16;
Col. 4: 3, 10, 18; II Tim. 1: 8; 2: 9; 4: 16).