Dr. Robert Martin

To testify the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).

In the last chapter we began to consider the foci and recurring themes of Paul’s preaching. We examined Acts 20:21, where Paul speaks of his “testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” And we saw that in this statement, he identifies a primary focus and recurring emphasis in his preaching, i.e., the themes of repentance and faith. In this chapter, we continue this study by examining the words in verse 24 that he uses to summarize and characterize the ministry that he received from the Lord Jesus: “to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

Note that here (as at verse 21) Paul again uses the word “testify” (diamartu,romai) to characterize his preaching. Once more, according to the meaning of this word, he says that he declared what he calls “the gospel of the grace of God” solemnly, earnestly, and emphatically, as is befitting a message concerning eternal life and death. Moreover, he did not offer mere advice on religious themes, but emphatically preached this message as absolute truth and absolute obligation. No substitute was permissible. As he says to the Galatians, “Though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8). And no rejection of this gospel will be overlooked, for, as he tells the Thessalonians, when Christ comes, he will “render vengeance . . . to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:8).

Paul here calls the central message of his preaching “the gospel” (to. euvagge,lion). This word, although it was given a glorious use by Christ and his apostles, was not their invention. In the Greek language of the First Century A.D., the word “gospel” already had a recognized usage, meaning “good news” or “good tidings.” For example, an inscription from that time hails the birth of the Emperor Augustus as the beginning of “good tidings” (euvaggeli,a) for the world. The Jews also were familiar with the verb form of the word from the Septuagint translation of important passages in Isaiah’s prophecy.

O thou that tellest good tidings (o` euvaggelizo,menoj) to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings (o` euvaggelizo,menoj) to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! (40:9)

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings (euvaggeli,sasqai) to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s favor (61:1-2).

These passages, of course, foretold what Christ and his apostles called “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Luke 16:16), i.e., the good news of Messiah’s reign, according to the provisions of which the blessings of peace and salvation were to be preached to the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. On the lips of Christ and his apostles, the word “gospel” captured an essential part of the “kingdom” message, i.e., that Christ the anointed King secures and freely offers salvation to sinners. This was the “good tidings” preached in his name. It pointed to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the coming of Christ and heralded the good news of salvation and the arrival of the great year of jubilee.

Perhaps one text more than any other helps us to understand the importance that Paul attached to the “gospel.” In Rom. 1:14-17, he says, “I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.” Above all else for Paul, coming to Rome meant opportunity to preach the gospel to the residents of the city. And why did he prize so highly the opportunity to preach this message? The answer is that the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,” i.e., in the gospel is revealed a saving righteousness that comes from God himself, which, when received in faith, saves sinners. The heart of the gospel offer is nothing less than a saving righteousness!

But what essential collateral truth is embodied in this good news of a saving righteousness from God offered to sinners? Well, as Paul tells the Ephesian elders, when he preached the gospel, he testified “the good tidings of the grace of God” (20:24). But what did he mean by the expression “the grace of God”? At this point, it is helpful to revisit what we saw in the last chapter about the foundational truths embodied in gospel preaching. The foundation of “good news” preaching lies in the great facts that God has revealed concerning our condemnation in sin and salvation by grace. The “bad news” is that we are transgressors of God’s righteous law, under the law’s condemnation, and deserving of eternal damnation. The even worse news is that we can do nothing to save ourselves. We cannot by our own works atone for our sins or secure a saving righteousness. And, being dead in sin, we could not even repent of our sins and believe in the atoning death and the saving righteousness of Christ offered in the gospel. The “good news,” however, is that “the grace (ca,rij, the free gift) of God” supplies every need of helpless sinners. Unable to save ourselves, God freely gave us a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, his own beloved Son (John 3:16; Eph. 1:6). Unable to atone for our sins, God freely gave his Son to die in our place, to bear the penalty that our sins deserve, so that he can righteously forgive all our transgressions (Rom. 3:24-25). Unable by our own works to secure a saving righteousness, God freely gives us his Son’s perfect righteousness, putting it to our account, even as he put our sins to his Son’s account (Rom. 5:15-21). Dead in sins, unable to believe in his Son, he freely gives us faith, so that we “believe through grace” (Acts 18:27). Unable to repent, he freely gives us repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25). None of these things are deserved by us or owed to us by God. All these things are the free gifts of God’ sovereign and merciful generosity. But this is precisely the point, that these things are undeserved gifts that are freely given by God to those whom he has chosen from the beginning unto salvation by “the election of grace” (Rom. 11:5).

The “good news” is that in a marvelous display of grace, in a remarkable outpouring of generosity and divine philanthropy, where we have earned only eternal damnation, where this is the wages owed, God freely offers salvation to sinners through the merits of his Son! As Paul says to the Romans, “The wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (6:23). Or, as he says to the Corinthians, “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). That’s grace! That is what the “good news” is about. In a remarkable display of undeserved mercy and favor, God freely, sincerely offers helpless sinners life and salvation. That message was central to the ministry that Paul received from the Lord Jesus, for the sake of which he was willing to hazard his life.

Those of us who have been the objects of God’s marvelous saving grace ought to recognize and acknowledge what has happened to us. Paul says to the Thessalonians that “our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father . . . loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace” (2 Thess. 2:16). He tells Timothy that God “saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal” (2 Tim. 1:9). In his own case Paul says that “the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1:14). When God’s grace arrested him, an unbelieving blasphemer, who hated Jesus’ disciples so much that he sadistically tried to eradicate them, became a believer and a lover of the brethren and a preacher of the gospel that he once tried to destroy. That’s grace!

The blessing of “eternal comfort and good hope” that is ours, which quiets our hearts against the accusations of our sins, which enables us to draw near to God with a cleansed conscience, which will allow us to go to our graves with confidence of awaking to see the face of our Savior–all is the product of God’s sovereign, free grace. His remarkable love for us, which stands behind our eternal election and salvation and all the mercies that follow in their train, has given us these things–all undeserved, contrary to the wages that our sins have earned. And, as in Paul’s case, that “grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal” (2 Tim. 1:9), has taken away our hatred of God and his people and his truth and put love in its place. And it has conquered our unbelief and replaced it with faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need not exhaust ourselves trying to clear up the mystery of divine grace, i.e., trying to answer the question, Why would God do such a thing? Robert Hall, after wrestling long with this question, observed:

We are far from suppressing our conviction that this is a great mystery. We rejoice, on the contrary, in its incomprehensibility. We delight to lose ourselves in the impenetrable shades which invest the subject; because in the darkness and cloud which envelop it God dwells. It is the greatness which forms the mystery of the fact; the matchless love and condescension constitute the very nucleus of the difficulty. It could only be brought within the sphere of our comprehension by a contraction of its vast dimensions, by a depression of its natural grandeur. A prostration of it to the level of our feeble capacities would only render it incapable of being the magnet of souls, the attraction of hearts, the wonder of the universe.¹

Instead of drawing back in doubt and confusion because of the mystery of grace, let us draw near with thanksgiving, acknowledging the glorious gift that the gospel has been and is and will yet be in our own case. God indeed has made many “precious and exceeding great promises” (2 Pet. 1:4), but the glorious offer of a free and full salvation through the merits of Jesus Christ, received simply through faith in him, eclipses them all.

If you are an unsaved sinner, and God’s providence has placed this book in your hands, please understand that “the gospel of the grace of God” is your only hope of salvation from the wrath to come. Two facts are against you. You are under condemnation because of your sin and you cannot save yourself. It is far beyond your capacity. The Bible says, “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight” (Rom. 3:20). This rule will stop you in every effort to save yourself. This is the bad news! And yet, your case is not hopeless! When Naaman the Syrian wanted to be cleansed of his leprosy, there was no remedy except the gracious provision that God made for him. Washing in the rivers of his native Damascus would avail him nothing. He must go to God’s Jordan. Yet, if he would go there in faith, and do as God bid him, he would be cleansed. In like manner, dear sinner, the gospel is a true Jordan, in which a helpless sinner like you may wash and be clean. In the gospel of his grace, God offers to forgive all your sins, if you will but repent of them and believe on his Son.

Do not think that “the gospel of the grace of God” is not for you. He offers salvation indiscriminately. Thomas Guthrie has said,

While there is eternal life in the gospel sufficient for all, none are specially excluded from its benefits. Those only are excluded who exclude themselves, and refuse to be saved on God’s own terms. His proclamation of mercy to a lost, rebel world, is clogged with no exceptions. . . . Whatever be men’s sins and crimes, none are excluded, by name or by character, from the amnesty which God proclaims, from the benefits of eternal life, “Whosoever cometh unto me,” says Jesus, “I will in nowise cast out;” on no account; for no crimes—no depth of guilt—no length of resistance to my gracious offers; let him come with all the sins on his head which any man ever committed or it is possible for man to commit; let him come in life’s last worthless hour, I will not turn away from him from the vilest, hoariest sinner; I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked nor am I willing that any should perish, but that all should come to me and live. . . . Lay hold on eternal life. There is enough of it to supply the wants of all. No child of Adam stands excluded from its precious blessings.²

If we were to scatter money in a crowd, how quickly the people would scramble for it. If we were to offer food to the starving, how energetically they would seize it. If we were to throw a rope to a drowning man, how eagerly he would grasp it. Dear perishing sinner, with that kind of eagerness and earnestness, lay hold on Christ in the gospel, as he is freely offered to you for your salvation. Nothing else will satisfy your need. Nothing else can save you but “the gospel of the grace of God.”

The “gospel of the grace of God” was a vital, recurring theme in Paul’s preaching–a central part of “the whole counsel of God” by which sinners are profited. Any preacher who does not imitate Paul by preaching earnestly and emphatically and frequently on this theme has diverged from the apostolic model and is greatly in error. The churches need men who can say with Paul, “I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”
 
Notes:

1. Robert Hall, “The Glory of God in Concealing,” in The Works of Robert Hall (New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833), 3:317-18.

2. Thomas Guthrie, “Man’s Great Duty,” in The Way to Life (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1867), 10-11.

Copyright © 2014 Robert Martin. All Rights Reserved.