“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees…Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?…All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often would I have gathered thy children together…and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate…And Jesus went out, and…his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matthew 23:33-24:2)
Knowing from Jesus’ prophecy that all this would occur on this generation of leadership in Jerusalem, Paul set about establishing a new base of operations. And the city to which all roads in the empire led presented the best option for evangelizing the whole world.
Rome had become home to a vast population of Jews who had been brought back to the capitol of the empire as slaves after wars, or as traders who had immigrated voluntarily for economic opportunities. In 59 BC, the social influencer Cicero noted their separatist tendencies from pagan Roman society. “You know what a big crowd it is, how they stick together, how influential they are in informal assemblies….the great section of Rome on the other side of the Tiber is occupied and inhabited by Jews…they have houses of prayer and meet together in them, particularly on the sacred Sabbaths when they receive as a body of training in their ancestral philosophy.”
Unfortunately, just as back in Judea, the religious leaders were opposed to accepting Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. In 41 AD, after 16 years of witness testimony of his resurrection could not be denied or suppressed even when met with punishment and death, in AD 41 the Emperor Claudius ordered the Jews not to hold meetings, and in AD 49 Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. “because in their resentment against Christ they were continually creating disturbances.”
And by ~AD 61 “when about a decade later Paul arrived in Rome and called the chief of the Jews together “they said unto him…we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.” (Acts 28)
By the Jews.
Because by AD 58 when Paul wrote “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints…your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:7-8) he was writing to “Gentiles” (Romans 1:13)
“And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified [from his personal experiences] the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus [as the prince who is to come]both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets. And some believed…and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word; Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet (chapter 6) unto our fathers,
- Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
- Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear / receive it.” (Acts 28)
This sentence has been grossly misinterpreted to deny salvation to the Jews.
The correct interpretation is found in the original prophecy quoted by Paul, where it is clear that it is responsibility for being God’s messenger of salvation that is being taken from one people because of their rebellion against their Maker, while the message is maintained through another messenger nation.
“Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt…Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire…Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people…and a wonder:
- Jewish tradition says Isaiah was killed by being sawn in two by King Manasseh after delivering this message.
- This was still not a popular message when John the Baptizer repeated it and was subsequently beheaded by King Herod
- This was still not a popular message when Jesus preached it and was likewise executed by the rulers of the Jews.
- And this absolutely continued to describe Israel’s leadership during Paul’s ministry as he announces the exact same message to the rebellious Jewish leaders:
- Jerusalem is going to be trashed once again because of their theocratic rulers’ corruption
- and the kingdom of God – rule not only in the spirit dimension but over the national territory – is being transferred to another set of rulers.
Due to Rome’s practice of bestowing citizenship on allies, “Gentiles” are not limited to ethnic or geographically based Europeans. As detailed in the post on nations as cultural brotherhoods that transcend genetics, “Gentile” nations expanded beyond continental European Japhethites with Rome’s conquering armies to include peoples in what we call the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
From a biblical perspective, we’re back to the Hebrew inclusiveness.
However wonderful that sounds, Paul only reluctantly transferred leadership from the Jews to Gentiles. For starters, he knew that Israel would suffer from its failure to live up to its mandate to provide leadership.
“The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low…he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail…Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness.” (Deuteronomy 28)
Secondly, there wasn’t a strong base of Gentile leadership yet, let alone much opportunity for training to raise up a smooth transition of succeeding generations of leaders.
In desperation for both Israel and the plan of salvation as a whole, Paul writes the letter to the strongest Gentile church positioned both spiritually and geographically to shepherd the flock.
“all they which dwelt in Asia [the bridge between West and East] heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:10)
The letter to the church at Ephesus is the first, and only, letter to a Gentile Church urging them to take charge, and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that prior to this there was a clear separation between Jewish believers – the leaders – and Gentile believers – the led.
The majestic chapters of Ephesians emphasize the unity in the church of Christ that has come about for both Jews and Gentiles within God’s household / administration (Eph 1:15–2:22, especially Eph 2:11–22)…Yet the concern is not with the church for its own sake but rather as the means for mission in the world (Eph 3:1–4:24). The gifts Christ gives its members are to lead.
Notice how circumstantially Paul delivers this assertion. He lays out rationale after rationale why they should believe him, before he finally spits it out.
This – the inclusion of Gentiles into leadership and not simply membership within the kingdom of God – is THE supreme revelation given by Jesus to Paul.
Paul was unquestionably one of the Pharisees who did see Jesus again after, as promised to these very Pharisees, accepting him as coming in the name of the Lord, i.e. speaking with the same authority as Moses.
The post Another Melchizedek like Moses provides evidence that Paul is also a priest-king under the Order of Melchizedek. Paul’s letter to the 1st century AD Gentile Ephesians carries the same weight as Moses speaking to the international multitude of Hebrews gathered at Mount Sinai in the 2nd millennium BC.
“ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise are made nigh by the blood of The Promised Seed / Christ
- Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints,
- and [more than just faceless, nameless citizens] – of the household of God; [remember the household are the ministers, not an insult, but closest to the king, known personally to the king, highly valued in a king’s entourage]
- And [even more – unity in relationship!] are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…ye also are builded together [with them] for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
For this cause I Paul,
- the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles [appealing to their sentiment],
- If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: [appealing to shared history]
- How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; [appealing to spiritual authority]
- Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; [appealing to rule of two or more witnesses, and Peter steps up as seen below]
That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs / rulers, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
- that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; [beyond simply salvation]
- And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
- Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
- To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church / congregation of believers including those following Moses at mount Sinai / and the originally solely Jewish New Testament Church the manifold wisdom of God
- According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord…
- that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
- Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity [of the long-standing conflict between Jews and Gentiles] of the Spirit in the bond of peace.“ (Ephesians 2-4)
And Peter steps up and provides the necessary second witness to this doctrine as truth.
“To the strangers [aliens, non-Jews] scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…
- ye are a chosen generation,
- a royal priesthood,
- an holy nation,
- a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God…among the Gentiles: that…they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (I Peter 1:2, 2:9-12)
After Paul’s letter resulted in all in Asia – Ephesus’ sphere of influence – abandoning Paul’s leadership, Paul writes the instructional pastoral manuals to his spiritual sons Jewish Timothy and Gentile Titus.
Think about it. Paul would have written these at the beginning of his missionary journeys if Gentiles had qualified for these positions at that time!
“Titus, [a Gentile yet] mine own son after the common faith…For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee [because there were church splits between those who followed Paul’s Gentile appointments and those who remained under Jerusalem leadership]…that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers…Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.” (Titus 1:4-14)
Paul’s concern that the Gentiles would fumble the ball passed to them were valid.
Will Durant, famed author of the 11 volume History of Civilization, devotes an entire book entitled Caesar and Christ to this challenge. “For fifty years after St. Paul’s life a curtain hangs over the church, through which we strive vainly to look; and when at last it rises, about 120 A.D. with the writings of the earliest church fathers, we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul” (The Story of the Christian Church, 1970, p. 33)…
After a critical mass of membership and leadership shifted from the Jews to the Gentiles., the Roman state religio-political complex substituted worship of the Christ with his Spirit for worship of the Caesar with his genius – guardian deity or spirit, incarnation, prophetic skill, generative power – with virtually no changes in pagan practices.
the Kingdom of God was established on earth by Jesus Christ in the year 33 AD, in the form of His Church, led by Peter. And where is the Kingdom of God on earth? It would be in the Tabernacle at each and every Catholic church, where Jesus Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist! He’s waiting for you to come see Him and talk to Him, right now!
And while there may have been a Reformation against the abuses of the Church, virtually all denominations simply substituted anti-Jewish Luther, Calvin, Knox, Darby, and a host of others for the apostle and prophets.
