It is that message. that the Apostle Paul immediately proclaimed, where he saw Jesus as an enemy to the purity of Jewish monotheistic religion.
Now it dawned on him that the Messiah of Israel was nothing less than God incarnate. And so when he was preaching. In the synagogues, that Jesus was the Son of God. He was using that title in the fullest measure. that it could be used to apply to Christ.
From the letters he penned. To the churches he established or impacted. Once he was converted, the Apostle Paul had a full and fruitful ministry, proclaiming, as you just heard from R. C. Sproll, the good news of Jesus, the Son of God.
Welcome to this Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind, where each week we feature the preaching ministry of Dr. Sprawl. We're studying a new series this week in the book of Acts. You'll hear several sermons from Acts highlighting the ministry of the Apostle Paul. But if you'd like to study all of Acts, you can request the hardcover edition of R.
C. Sproll's commentary on Acts when you give a donation at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight.
Well turn your Bible to Acts chapter 9. Paul's conversion has already taken place earlier in the chapter. We pick up now in verse 20. gears up to swirl. Immediately.
He preached the Christ in the synagogues. That he is the Son of God. And then all who heard were amazed, and they said, Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem? And has come here for that purpose so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests. But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving.
that this Jesus is the Christ.
Now, after many days were passed. The Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul, and as they watched the gates day and night to kill him, The disciples took him by night. and let him down to the wall in a large basket. And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him.
And did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him. and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him. and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
And so he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists. But they attempted to kill him. And when the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea. and sent him out to Tarsus.
And then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, Had peace. and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were multiplied. We remember that Saul had left Jerusalem on a mission.
to root out Christians in Damascus. And he got orders from the high priest. That authorized him to drag them from their homes and bring them back. And so he left the city. Breathing out threats with an entourage, a retinue of mounted soldiers or helpers with him.
And he left in strength. But was interrupted. On the route to Damascus, by the intrusion into his life by the risen Christ, in which the Apostle Paul was first converted. And he left Jerusalem in strength. He entered.
Enter Damascus. Being led by the hand because God had struck him blind. And recall that then he had been taken to the street named Strait, where there Ananias ministered to him, laid hands upon him, the Holy Ghost anointed him, and the scales like flakes fell from his eyes, and he was able to see. We read in the text this morning. that this one who came Blind into the city of Damascus, being led by the hand, became so powerful in such a short period of time.
That he had to leave the city because there was a conspiracy there to kill him, and he left by way of being secreted out a window on the wall of the city and lowered down in a woven basket like so much dirty laundry.
So you can imagine the radical shifts. In the circumstances and situation of the apostle from the time he first left Jerusalem. in power Led in humility into Damascus, and then flees from the city in weakness in a basket. That his life may be spared. But in between his entrance into Damascus and his departure by the basket.
He had a mighty Ministry. And I want to spend some time looking specifically at the first statement that Luke tells us about this interim period. of the Apostolic Ministry. In Damascus. Immediately, we are told.
He preached the Christ in the synagogues. That he is The Son of God. I want to stop for a few moments. and focus on this. That Paul's message The moment He began preaching in the synagogues there in Damascus.
Was about Jesus as the Christ, and he declared to the Jewish people there that Jesus was the Son of God.
Now, it's important for us to notice this because this is the only time in the book of Acts. That the title Son of God is used for Jesus. When we went in a biblical overview from dust to glory, you recall that I spent some amount of time talking about the titles. that are given to Jesus in the New Testament, such as the title Christ, the title Lord, and I spent a lot of time on the significance of the title Son of Man, because that's Jesus' favorite title for himself.
Well, we see two titles juxtaposed in the New Testament with respect to Jesus. On the one hand, the title Son of Man, on the other, the title Son of God. And as I've mentioned to you before, it's tempting. In light of the church's confession that we believe that Jesus was one person with two natures. A human nature and a divine nature.
We reach back into church history to the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century, where the church confessed her faith about Jesus, saying that Christ is vera homo. Verodeus Truly man. truly God. And the two natures perfectly united in one person.
Now, that's part of our confession as Christians. But the temptation is to think that when Jesus uses the term Son of Man, That that title refers to his human nature. And when he uses the title Son of God, That title would refer to his divine nature. But if we draw that conclusion we will be making a serious error. It's true.
That when Jesus is called the Son of Man, it has something to do with his human nature. But the principal and chief significance of that title, Son of Man, is that it refers to the Old Testament personage who is a heavenly character, a heavenly person who dwells in the presence of the ancient of days and who is sent from heaven to descend to the earth for a mission.
So, in a sense, the title Son of Man describes more of Jesus' divine nature. than it does his human nature. Likewise, when we come to the title Son of God, we would assume. that its primary reference would be to his deity. But again, we would trip over ourselves if we drew that inference.
without great care.
Now, I want to take some time this morning to look at it because here's how Paul announces Jesus in his beginning of his ministry. He preaches in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. What did he mean?
Well, in the Old Testament That title, Son of God. was used in several ways. In the first instance, The angels of heaven. Are called the sons of God. And the sons of God, in that sense, are still creatures, they're not divine beings.
Then Israel herself as a nation is called the Son of God. Remember the quotation in the New Testament from the Old? Out of Egypt. Have I called my son?
So, in God's redeeming of the people of Israel, he adopted them. into his family. and called the whole corporate nation. His son. Kings in the Old Testament.
were called the sons of God. And also, as the concept of the Messiah developed over time in the Old Testament, the ministry of the Messiah, who would come both as a king and as a suffering servant and so on, also became known as the one who would be known as the Son of God. And so when we get into the New Testament. We hear Jesus at his baptism, when he embraces all of the responsibilities to be the Messiah, when he's anointed by the Holy Ghost, God speaks audibly from the clouds and announces to those who are there: This is my beloved Son. In whom I am well pleased.
And then later on, again, God speaks from heaven audibly, saying basically the same message: This is my beloved Son. Hear him. Listen to him. And so what are we to make of this? In the first instance, in the New Testament, the idea of sonship.
is inseparably related to obedience. Remember the controversies that Jesus had with the Pharisees over their relationship with Abraham. Remember, the Pharisee says, We're the children of Abraham. Jesus says, you are not. He said, if you were the children of Abraham.
You would do what Abraham would do. Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and you reject me every minute. And before Abraham even was, I am. Do you remember that interaction there? And then he said, you're not the children of Abraham.
But you are of your father. The devil Now, that's quite a contrast between being called the children of Abraham. and being called children of Satan. Why did Jesus say that these opponents of his We're children of the devil.
Well, he answers that question for us. He said, You are the children. Of the one You obey. And you're obeying Satan. Not Abraham, not Moses.
Not God. And since you obey Satan, It can be said that you're the children. of Satan.
Now, conversely, the same idea is used to describe sonship. With respect to Jesus. Mm-hmm. You are the child of the one whom you obey. Jesus is uniquely the Son of God in the sense that He of all people in history.
Was completely and absolutely obedient to the Father. In his humanity. He was the Son of God. In his humanity, because of his sinlessness and because of his perfect obedience, he warranted this title. the Son of God.
And so we could just stop there and say, well, here. The term Son of God has nothing to say about Jesus' divine nature. It simply refers to his human nature in his perfect obedience. No, no, no, no, no. Because the New Testament, though, it clearly talks about his sonship in terms of obedience.
Nevertheless, goes beyond it. Two, the transcendent aspect of Christ's unique relationship to the Father.
Now, some of you will recall when we preached through the gospel. Of John, that at the very beginning of our study of the Gospel of John, in the prologue to the Gospel of John, at the end of that, Jesus is described by John As the mono Ganace. The only Begotten. of the Father. Remember that?
Now, that's a loaded term. It doesn't mean the first begotten. But the prefix mono means the uniquely begotten one, the only one that ever had been begotten of the Father, the only one that ever will be begotten of the Father, that there is a unique begottenness that is in view there with respect to Jesus.
Now it's that language of begottenness. That provokes one of the most serious controversies in all of church history. In the fourth century, That made it necessary for there to be an ecumenical council of the whole vast expanse of Christendom. to come together to Nicaea To meet in council when Arius denied the deity of Jesus. And there he is arguing from the text: if the Bible says Jesus was begotten, That means he had a beginning.
And if he had a beginning. He's not eternal. And if he's not eternal. He's not God.
So we ought not to be attributing deity to deity. To Christ. That was what the Council of Nicaea was all about. That's what the Nicene Creed was all about. When the Nicene Creed responded with the famous phraseology that Christ was homoousius of the same substance, that Christ is co-substantial and co-eternal with the Father.
And then it uses the language of begottenness. Where it says in the Creed. that Christ was begotten Comma Not Made. In other words, the church acknowledges that the Bible speaks of the begottenness of Jesus, but the begottenness here. Refers to an eternal relationship, an eternal begottenness that makes it set apart from any other kind of begottenness you ever follow by that term monoganes, that Christ is individually, singularly, the only one ever uniquely begotten eternally of the Father because he is very God of very God.
There never was a time when the Son was not. And so the church sang her confession. Saying glory. A divine attribute. Glory be to the Father.
And glory be. To the sun. And glory be to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, that is from all eternity. is still going on.
God is still triune. He was always triune, and he evermore shall be triune. Is now and evermore shall be world without end. Amen. It's that Radical message, and I use the term radical.
Carefully, coming from the Latin rodex, which means root, it is that. root message. That the Apostle Paul Immediately proclaimed. Where he saw Jesus as an enemy to the purity of Jewish monotheistic religion.
Now it dawned on him. that the Messiah of Israel was nothing less than God incarnate. And so when he was preaching. In the synagogues. That Jesus was the Son of God.
He was using that title. in the fullest measure that it could be used. to apply. to Christ. And of course When he did that But he made that declaration He was met.
with astonishment and amazement by his hears, First of all, because of his about face. They said, isn't this the one? Who destroyed everybody who called on this name Jesus in Jerusalem? And had come here for that purpose that he might bring him bound to the chief priest. And the answer to that question, ladies and gentlemen, was yes.
Yes, this is the same guy. This is a guy who came. Here. to bind the followers of Jesus and drag them back. to Jerusalem.
And when he left Jerusalem, He didn't come. As a one-man vigilante against Christians, he came with the full authorization of the high priest. He came With the warrant for the arrests of Christians issued by the highest authority in Israel. The high priest. At Jerusalem.
However, something happened between the beginning of that mission and his arrival in Damascus. What happened simply was this. He met The highest. High priest. He met the eternal high priest.
The high priest who is high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who will never retire, who will never abdicate his office, who will never leave his office by dying, as all the lines of high priests in Israel had one after another. Their term was limited, their duration was finite. But the high priest. Change the orders. Gave a new commission.
Overruled and trumped the high priest in Jerusalem. And gave Paul. A whole new mission. Which he began to carry out, we are told. Immediately.
And so first. He was greeted by amazement. But we are told Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelled in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ.
Well, this went on for just a few days. until the astonishment of the local Jewish community turned to rage and they plotted to kill him. But Paul heard of the plot, and we saw already that he escaped their hands by being let down. From a house in those days, the city walls would often include within them homes that were built right on the wall that were part of the wall. And so the friends of Paul took him into the house and dropped him.
out of the window in this basket in the midst of the night so that he could escape.
So we are told when Saul came to Jerusalem. He tried to join the disciples, but they're afraid of him because they still don't know what's taking place. But Barnabas, Whose name means son of encouragement interceded for Paul. Vouched for Paul to the disciples who were gathered here in Jerusalem and told how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And so again, we are told he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus in Jerusalem and disputing against the Greek-speaking Jews, the Hellenists, and then they tried to kill him.
But when the disciples found this out, they brought him down to Caesarea. and sent him out to Tarsus. Then, this brief interlude, the churches in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace. And they were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord.
And in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were mollified.
Now, before we heard of the conversion of Saul. Following on the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. We had heard something of Peter's ministry. In Jerusalem. And then we have this brief interval where we're introduced to Saul, read of his conversion, and of his brief ministry there in Damascus, and then back to Jerusalem for a short while until he's then sent back to Tarsus.
But his ministry began in Damascus. and it began proving that Christ was the Messiah. and it began proclaiming Jesus in his fullness. in his perfect humanity. and his perfect deity.
as the sun of the living God. And that is a ministry that we benefit from even today, especially as we read much of the New Testament. Each believer is a story of God's grace, and it's a great privilege that He chooses to use each of us in the body of Christ. This is the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W.
Bingham. We'll be skipping through Acts over the next several weeks with a focus on the ministry of the Apostle Paul. But you can study this book line by line and chapter by chapter when you request R. C. Sproll's hardcover commentary.
It's well suited for both devotional reading and study.
So request yours when you give a donation at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast show notes before midnight tonight. Your support is enabling this daily teaching outreach to reach more people in more places around the world. And speaking of around the world, if you live outside of the US or Canada, you can still show your support by making a donation at renewingyourmind.org slash global. And we'll unlock the e-book edition of this commentary as our way of saying thank you.
So whether at renewingyourmind.org or renewingyourmind.org slash global, respond today before this offer ends in only a few hours. Thank you. He wrote letters like Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians, but he also preached.
Next time, R. C. Sproul will consider Paul's sermon at Antioch.
So make plans to join us next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind.
