Articles
Divided Over The Word - Acts 14
Divided Over The Word - Acts 14
God did miracles, signs, and wonders through the hands of Paul and his companions thus confirming that their preaching was His word.
The preaching of the Word is divisive, it separates people into believers and unbelievers. “…the people of the city were divided; and some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles” (vs. 4).
It is interesting to see WHO becomes the believers. It isn’t always what we would expect. The Jewish people had the great advantage of having the long history of God’s working in and through them. They had the great promises of God through Abraham. They had the word of God through Moses and the prophets. They had the history of God’s working with them as His people.
God had given witness to the gentiles that He was God in that “He did good and gave them rains from heaven and fruitful seasons” (cp. vs. 17). Such showed that God exists, that God has great power, and that God is invisible. It was THIS God who created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. It is THIS God who wants them to be saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
It was many of the Jewish people that disbelieved. It was from among the Jewish people, with their leaders, that these preachers were first persecuted (vs. 5). It was these unbelieving Jewish people that followed Paul from town to town. It was these unbelieving Jewish people that stoned Paul.
The above may sound anti-Semitic but it isn’t intended to. Luke states that it was BOTH the Gentiles and the Jews with their rules” who opposed them (vs. 5). There was also plenty of opposition and persecution that came by way of unbelieving Gentiles. The Roman rulers imprisoned, beat, and killed the early Christians. Often there was a combined effort made against the disciples.
The bigger problem seems to be that those who are the ‘great’, the powerful, the rulers; these have problem humbling themselves before the Lord. Whether they were the leaders among the Jews or among the Gentiles, their very position and power was a stumbling block to their faith. Those who were the lowly, the outcasts, the crippled; these were the ones who believed and were saved. Such caused Paul to write that among God’s people "there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” (1 Cor. 1:26). It is these believers that God made into a kingdom of Priests (Rev. 1:6). It is these believers that God will glorify and dwell with throughout eternity.
Yes, the word of God is divisive in that it separates believers from unbelievers. Which side are you on?
Hugh DeLong
