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converts are not mentioned until Acts 13: 42. But why were these Gentiles brought in
then? Had the Jews then been set aside?
A close reading of Acts 10: reveals Peter's reluctance to go to the first Gentile believer
and when he met Cornelius he didn't seem to know why he had been sent!
"Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask
therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?" (Acts 10: 29).
Before the ascension the Lord Jesus Christ had told the disciples that they should be
witnesses of Him "in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
of the earth" (Acts 1: 8). Peter knew this, he knew Jerusalem was the starting point
(Luke 24: 47) and then all Judea. After that, when the nation had repented, they, as a
kingdom of priests, were to take the message of the Messiah to Samaria and then to the
uttermost parts of the earth. That was God's revealed plan but . . . . . the Jewish nation
was not committed to Christ. The vast majority had still not repented. There was still
opposition so . . . . . why go to a Gentile? The answer to that question is, of course, found
in the writings of the one who is called the Apostle to the Gentiles, namely Paul. Romans
was one of the last epistles written during the Acts period and Rom. 11: 1, 2 makes it
very clear that, even then, the nation of Israel had not been cast away.
". . . . . Hath God cast away His people? God forbid . . . . . God has not cast away His
people" (Rom. 11: 1, 2).
In Rom. 11: 11-25 Paul explains the position of the Gentiles and the reason for their
being brought in during the Acts period, before the nation of Israel had repented:
". . . . . but through their (Jews) fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke
them (Jews) to jealousy (emulation or fruitfulness is a better rendering of the word
`jealousy')" (Rom. 11: 11).
This chapter of Roman goes on to explain that some of the natural branches (the Jews)
had been broken off and some branches of a wild olive (the Gentiles) had been grafted in
(Rom. 11: 17). This was done to stimulate the cultivated olive tree (the Jews) to bear fruit
and the very use of this illustration shows that the olive tree of Israel had not, at that time,
been cut down. The metaphorical application of this horticultural practice is exactly what
we see in the Acts. For instance, at Antioch Paul went to the synagogue of the Jews,
(Acts 13: 14), and afterwards to the Gentiles. What was the effect on the Jews when
they saw the multitude of Gentiles?
". . . . . they were filled with envy . . . . . then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It
was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye
put it from you, and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles" (Acts 13: 45, 46).
The Jews were provoked but sadly not to fruitfulness nor emulation, but to envy.
Thus this group of Jews were cast away, this unfruitful branch broken off. This event
must be seen in the context of Rom. 11: It was not at Acts 13: that the Jewish nation
was set aside. Here just one of the branches had been replaced. This is obvious from the
next chapter which opens with: