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"Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and
that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14: 22).
And so at length these two men return to Antioch in Syria, whence they had been sent
out, having "fulfilled" the work which they had been set apart to do. They rehearse
before the Church at Antioch "all that God had done with them, and how He had opened
the door of faith unto the Gentiles".
#26.
The open door and the many adversaries (15: 1-35).
pp. 79 - 83
In I Cor. 16:, written rather later than the periods covered by Acts 15:, we read:
"For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries"
(I Cor. 16: 9).
There is reason to believe that Paul is referring here to the period covered by
Acts 19:, and if so, we have only to read Acts 19: 23 - 20: 3 to see that he had
opposition in abundance. The figure of the door is repeated in II Cor. 2: 12 and refers to
the same period, though not to the same place.
In Col. 4: 3 the Apostle again uses the figure of the door:
"Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance" (or, of
the word).
We have not to search far here for "the adversaries", for he immediately adds "For
which I am also in bonds". It seems that wherever and whenever a door was opened for
the exercise of ministry, the Apostle knew well enough that there would be adversaries.
Acts 14: ends with the blessed fact that God had opened the door of faith unto the
Gentiles. Acts 15: opens with the attempt of the adversary to counteract this movement
of grace, and we find the Apostle plunged into a fight, upon the issue of which, speaking
humanly, hung the fate of the glorious gospel that had been entrusted to him for the
Gentiles.
At the outset of our study, let us remember, even with shame if need be, that it is
almost impossible for any of us, when engaged in strife and conflict, even for the most
worthy ends, to be entirely free from bias. This is very evident when one studies the
various interpretations of Acts 15: It would be rather a waste of time to go over these
differences in detail, but there is one mistaken view to which we must refer, or suffer
from a bad conscience by keeping silent. In the scheme of interpretation to which we