From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 7 of a series. Read part 6.

The great theme of the preaching of both Peter and Paul was the eternal plan of God to redeem a Church for Himself from among both Jews and Gentiles, in the promised Holy One.

When the early deacon Stephen testified against the Jewish leaders at the cost of his life, he declared that they stood in the long line of those had resisted the Holy Spirit, persecuting the prophets who spoke of the coming of the Holy One of Israel. "As your fathers did," he declared, "so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers" (Acts 7:51-52).

The young man Saul, who soon became the Apostle Paul after the Holy One of Israel confronted him on the Damascus road as recorded in Acts 9, later testified that after his conversion,

"...when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple...I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.' So I said, 'Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.' Then He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.' " (Acts 22:17-21)

The Great Theme of Peter and Paul

Even while Paul was afterward in Arabia for three years receiving instruction directly from the Lord (Galatians 1:17-18), Peter was also sent by God to preach to Gentiles. We read in Acts 10 that God sent him to the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius, to whom he proclaimed that the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ

was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43)

This would likewise become the great theme of the Apostle Paul as he preached Christ throughout the Roman Empire: The Holy One of Israel, having completed the work for which the Father sent Him to earth, is now the Head of the Church and the Righteous Judge of all:

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-7)

The True Identity of the Holy One

Paul declared that the prophesied Holy One who had come in the flesh is the eternally pre-existent God:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:15-18)

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit [i.e., vindicated as the Holy One by His resurrection, cf. Romans 1:4], seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)

Thus Paul preached the Gospel of the Holy One of Israel to the Jews in the very synagogues to which he had once gone to persecute the church:

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." (Acts 17:1-3)

God's Plan In Christ The Holy One

Paul likewise declared the eternal plan of God to redeem a people from among both Jews and Gentiles who would likewise be holy - declared so by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ in salvation. We now stand accepted before God in the Holy One, "the Beloved" -

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace... (Ephesians 1:2-7)

Furthermore, Paul declared that Christ

loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

Therefore, Paul said, Christ's people are commanded to live separated, holy lives in this present evil world:

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24)

Thus, as he neared the end of his earthly pilgrimage, having "fought the good fight," Paul declared his confidence in the Holy One who is coming again to judge the world:

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)

Next: The Holy One - The Surety of Wavering Jewish Believers

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