The Privilege of a Costly Commission

I. What does it mean to be the Prisoner of Christ?

Paul was going to follow his meditation on our standing in Christ with a prayer - notice v.14 begins exactly the same way, as he is resuming his earlier thought.

Paul is actually the prisoner of Rome. But Rome has only imprisoned him because of the controversy he would cause amongst the Jews. Due to Paul’s passionate desire to unite Jew and Gentile, he had been in Jerusalem to deliver donations that the Gentile churches made for the poor Jews in Judea. However, due to the controversy that his preaching always seemed to cause, the Jewish Christians were under the mistaken impression that Paul was trying to get them to stop being Jewish. For the good of the Judean Church, Paul agreed to join four men who had a vow and pay their expenses (Acts 21:17-25).

However, when Paul went to the Temple to perform the sacrifices that the law required for this vow, some unbelieving Jews from Asia Minor saw him there and deliberately started a riot by claiming that Paul was desecrating the temple. This inflamed the Jews into an emotional frenzy and they tried to beat Paul to death.

Before they could do that, the Roman Centurion in charge of keeping the peace in the temple, came down and rescued Paul. But because of the uproar, he couldn’t figure out why they wanted Paul dead, so he had to arrest Paul to get at the truth. Paul made a defense to the mob in Aramaic, because using the language of Palestine would calm the mob down enough that he could be heard. He gave his testimony, how he was saved on the Damascus Road. However, when he got to the bit where Christ sent him to the Gentiles, the mob rioted again.

The poor Centurion, who couldn’t speak Aramaic, was quite confused when the mob suddenly rioted again, and started the procedure to flog Paul to get at the truth. But Paul used his Roman citizenship to prevent the flogging. This meant, however, that the Centurion never got his answer as to what was going on. He brought Paul before the Sanhedrin, where Paul again made his defense. However, Paul knew that the group that had crucified Jesus over twenty-five years earlier was unlikely to give him a fair trial. So he used the disagreement between Sadducees and Pharisees to split the assembly. This worked so well that a fight broke out. But the fight made the Centurion have to rescue Paul, again without getting a full answer about what was going on.

Just when it looked like the Centurion would finally get results, he had to suddenly send Paul away for his own safety. more than 40 men took an oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Providentially, Paul’s nephew got wind of the plot and told the Centurion. The Centurion then had to send Paul away to Caesarea, without finding out the full story. His opinion at this stage was that Paul had done nothing deserving of death or imprisonment, but as he never had the chance to conduct a full interrogation, due to so many people trying to kill Paul.

Governor Felix heard a trial where the Sanhedrin hired a lawyer to slander Paul. Felix didn’t take the bait and knew that Paul was innocent of the charge of sedition, however, as Felix was also rather corrupt, he delayed judgment, hoping for a bribe. When Paul was too upright and too poor for that, Felix’ corruption kept Paul bound for two years. Now Felix wasn’t a very good governor, so much so that Rome recalled him after two years and replaced him with a better one, Governor Festus.

Festus called for another trial to see who this prisoner was, and the chief priests wanted to have Paul tried in Jerusalem so they could have Paul killed before he got there. However, Festus insisted on having the trial in Caesarea. Again, Paul defended himself successfully. But Festus, wanting to get in the good graces of the Jewish leadership, agreed to hold a Jerusalem trial. Paul knew that he couldn’t hope to get a fair trial there, not after what happened the last time, so he again used his Roman Citizenship and appealed to have his case directly to Caesar. This took it out of Festus’ hands, so he had no choice but to send Paul.

But this put Festus in a bind. He had nothing to write about, since Paul was innocent and he knew it. To solve it, he called an expert in Jewish Affairs, King Herod Agrippa. Paul defended himself again, this time not taking care to explain all the Jewish bits of his testimony. Accordingly, Festus himself thought Paul was crazy, but Agrippa understood him. Agrippa agreed with everyone at the end of this trial that Paul deserved his freedom, but Paul’s appeal had forced his hand, and he had to send Paul to Caesar anyway.

After a long and dangerous voyage, Paul made it to Rome, where he wrote several Prison Epistles, including Ephesians.

So How does all this make Paul a prisoner of Christ? All the circumstances that forced the various Roman officials to push Paul in the direction of Rome were due to his uncompromising preaching of the Gospel to Gentiles as well as Jews.

When the Apostles preached the Gospel to the Jews, before God moved them to preach it to the Gentiles, they did receive opposition, but nothing that made the Romans care. The Romans didn’t care what you preached about, only about keeping the peace.

If Paul had spoken to Gentiles, but not about the Gospel, he wouldn’t have been controversial. There’s no evidence that Paul was a particularly difficult person himself. The only reason he seemed to cause controversy wherever he went was because the Jews found the Gospel so threatening. They believed it was threatening their way of life, when in fact it was the completion of the Jewish faith.

All the circumstances that Paul faced existed entirely because he preached the simple Gospel of faith in Christ for forgiveness of sins, and he preached this Gospel to Jew and Gentile equally. No gospel, no prison.

II. What is the Dispensation of God’s Grace?

The Word translated “Dispensation” or “Stewardship” is lit. “Household Law,” meaning that God commissioned him to preach the Gospel. He didn’t choose this commission, God chose him. 1 Cor 9:16-17

1 Corinthians 9:16–17 NKJV

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.

God chose Paul on the Damascus Road.

Later, he gave Paul three years of direct revelation, teaching Paul directly about the Gospel. Gal 1:11-18

This commission is a tremendous gift, a gift so great that it’s more than worth all the suffering Paul went through.

III. What is the Mystery of Christ?

What is a Mystery?

What it is not

It is not that Salvation is by Grace through Faith in God’s Word. Gen 15:6

It is not that Gentiles could experience salvation if they believed. Ps 22:27

It is not that Gentiles would participate in the Kingdom of God. Isa 11:10

What it is

That the Gentiles are equal with Jews in partaking of Christ’s Promise

That the Gentiles are part of the same Body of Christ

that the Gentiles receive an inheritance along with Jews

This is the heart of Dispensationalism

God administrates his universe differently in different times in history

Salvation is always by the same means - Receiving God’s Grace by Believing His Word.

God progressively reveals himself in history. As time goes on he tells us more about himself. things we couldn’t have known before.

The Content of what you need to know changes, since God gives more of his word at different stages in history

The differences in God’s administration of his world are the various “Dispensations” of history

“innocence” - Adam and Eve had one law - Don’t eat the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One threat - if you do you die. One task, performed together - Fill and Dominate the Earth. Social Institution of the Family created.

“Conscience” - The Conscience of Mankind is now active, people know right from wrong. Task is now to develop the fallen earth in spite of the curse. Sacrificial System instituted to allow man to draw near to God. Ended with the Flood

“Civil government” - After the Flood, God blessed man. Eating of meat, and animal’s fear of man made existing in this world easier. Promise of the Rainbow guaranteed no flood ever again. Government was instituted to restrain the innate evil of mankind. Ended with the Tower of Babel and the Call of Abraham.

Promise - With the failure of all nations to follow and worship God, God chose to channel all of his promises through one man, Abraham, and his descendants. He was supposed to stay in the promised land and obey God. Despite many failings of the Patriarchs and the nation of Israel, God preserved them, and moved them to Egypt. Ended with the Exodus.

Law - God brought the new nation out of Egypt and gave them the Law of Moses, not as a way of salvation, but as a way of life. Israelites were commanded to follow and obey God from the heart, and were blessed when they did and cursed when they didn’t. Eventually God gave them the land, and a King. The Captivity was a judgment from God that changed his relationship with Israel permanently.

Grace - A new era of Grace was revealed by the coming of Jesus Christ. Now our universal responsibility is to believe in Jesus Christ to receive Eternal Life. A brand new institution, the Church, was invented to make the propagation of the Gospel possible. It will end when Jesus returns, with the terrifying judgment that is the Tribulation.

Millennium - Once Jesus returns to earth, he will set up the Kingdom of God on earth. Now man’s responsibility is to obey the One who Sits on the Throne in Jerusalem. All who enter will have received eternal life. Many will be born in that age, and they must choose to obey. When Satan is released, many will chose rebellion and be destroyed at the final battle. The Great White Throne Judgment concludes human history as we know it.