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"We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle . . . . .
By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of
our lips, giving thanks to His name. But to do good and communicate forget not, for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. 13: 10, 15, 16).
Later on, the Apostle was to write to the Philippians concerning his own service:
"Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice
with you all" (Phil. 2: 17). And again, in II Tim. 4:: "I am now about to be offered"
(II Tim. 4: 6).
Sacrifice lies very near the heart of all true service, and the Apostle often uses this
figure. So, in Eph. 5:, in connection with the believer's walk, we read:
"Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saviour" (Eph. 5: 2).
The same figure is used by the Apostle when he expressed his appreciation of the
fellowship of the Philippians in connection with his needs as a minister:
"I have all and abound, I am full, having received of Epaphroditus a sacrifice
acceptable, well-pleasing to God" (Phil. 4: 18).
The Gentiles who had believed the gospel through the ministry of Paul and had found
in Christ a Sacrifice all-sufficient for their needs before God, were now, equally with the
Hebrew believers, able to render acceptable service. The outward seal of this acceptance
was that they were "sanctified by the Holy Ghost". Here again it is necessary to draw
attention to the fact that the words translated "The Holy Ghost" are pneuma hagion,
signifying the gift of holy spirit, and not the Giver Himself. The gift of "holy spirit" to
the Gentile believer was a sign convincing enough to break down all prejudice. We see
this very clearly in the story of Cornelius. Peter was very diffident about going to
Cornelius at all and explained that it was an unlawful thing for him to do. However, he
begins to rehearse before Cornelius the work and witness of the Lord Jesus "in the land of
the Jews", and before he gets very far, the Lord intervenes and, to the astonishment of the
believing Jews, the gift of "holy spirit" is given to these believing Gentiles. Whereupon
Peter exclaims, expressing both his previous prejudice and his new conviction:
"Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the
holy ghost as well as we?" (Acts 10: 47).
In order to do justice to the Apostle's further statements about his own ministry, we
must consider the remainder of this section, namely, verses 17-33. There are so many
features of importance, however, in this that it does not seem wise to attempt to crowd
them into a few closing paragraphs. We must therefore let this article dealing with the
acceptance of the offering of the Gentiles suffice for the present, and devote our next
article to a consideration of the close of this section and the doubt expressed by the
Apostle that the offering which was quite acceptable to God, might not be so acceptable
to His redeemed people.