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Peter, by his own mouth, himself confesses that Gentile salvation was never in his
thoughts either at Pentecost or after. To the seeking Cornelius he said:--
"You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company,
or to come near to a foreigner, but God hath showed me that I should not call any man
common or unclean" (Acts 10: 28).
The word "reconciliation", which it has been suggested is the keynote of this new
section of Acts is one of intense significance, and is found only in the epistles of Paul. It
is never used by Peter, James or John. It signified that the exclusiveness of Israel's
position among the nations was passing, and that the far-off Gentiles were being brought
back again into favour.
This is not the place to make the large digression necessary for an examination of the
subject of reconciliation, but two passages will suffice to suggest its importance in the
Acts. The first is Acts 17: 16-30, where the apostle speaks of the long centuries of
Gentile darkness during the period of Israel's ascendancy, but where he also indicates
that the time had arrived when the Gentile would come back into favour. Here are his
words:--
"God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . . . hath made of one blood all nations
of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation . . . . . The times of this ignorance God
looked over, BUT NOW commendeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17: 24-30).
The second passage is Rom. 11::--
"I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through
their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the
fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the
Gentiles; how much more their fullness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am
the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office; if by any means I may provoke to
emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting
away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life
from the dead" (Rom. 11: 11-15).
Here it is explicitly stated that salvation came to the Gentile through the fall of Israel.
Further, it is taught that the fall of Israel enriched the world, the diminishing of Israel
enriched the Gentile, and the casting away of Israel brought about the reconciling of the
world. In addition, Paul here claims to be the apostle of the Gentiles, and shows that the
Gentile was being enriched at that time to provoke Israel to jealousy. But not until we
reach Acts 28: do we know for certain that Israel would not repent. There, in the
very last chapter, we find Paul sending for the chief of the Jews and telling them that "for
the hope of Israel" he was bound with a chain (28: 17, 20). Not until the chief of the
Jews there had refused his all-day testimony did Paul pronounce the judgment of which
he had warned them in Acts 13: 40, quoting Isa. 6: 10, and declaring that the
salvation of God was sent to the Gentiles (28: 28).