⁴⁶Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’” ⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.

Until now the Christian movement had largely been seen as a movement within Judaism, despite the growing tensions. Certainly, Paul and Barnabas viewed this teaching not as antithetical to Judaism but as a theological fulfillment of all the Scriptures had taught. But we are beginning to see here the growing tensions breaking out into outright schism, caused not by Paul but by the Jewish rejection of the message.

We see here the principle of preaching the message to the Jews first. This principle is evidenced further in Paul’s subsequent travels: in the towns he visited, he tended to go to the synagogues first. But, as he taught in his writing, the partial hardening of Jews (Rom. 11:7, 25, 30–31) caused him to turn to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:11–15, 19–20, 31–32). In fact, he saw that his missionary zeal to reach the Gentiles was fulfilling what God wanted the Jewish people as a whole to do. So he applied the promise of Isaiah 49:6 to himself: “I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, that You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.” Israel was to be that light; Paul took that as his personal commissioning.

But he never lost sight of the preferential treatment the Jews were to have in receiving the message first. Often in the ancient world when a speaker tried to make a convincing case for some point, he would flatter his audience by saying something like, “I know you are able to judge wisely and will see the truth of what I have said.” This flattery would add to the persuasion for agreement. But Paul, rather than inviting them to judge his message, declares they have judged themselves! This was the speech of a prophet, not a lecturer in some philosophy. And the Jews’ rejection of the message revealed that they have judged themselves “unworthy of eternal life.” Paul declares before this mixed audience that he would, therefore, turn his attention to the Gentiles with the message and offer of eternal life. At this the Gentiles in the audience break out into excited praise. There was no mention in the message of having to adopt Jewish customs, but to simply believe the message of Jesus Christ.

Lord, thank You for the eternal life You have given me.