Two Minutes With The Bible

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Father Of Believers
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3).

Has it ever occurred to you that the most loved, the most honored, the most respected person of all history is — not Christ, but Abraham. Christ ought to be most loved, honored and respected, but Abraham is. Besides the millions of professing Christians there are untold millions of Jews and Mohammedans who speak with reverance of “our father Abraham.”

Clearly this is why God used this man to show how to be saved and justified before a holy God. As Paul is God’s great example of grace, so Abraham is God’s great example of faith — saving faith.

“If Abraham were justified by works,” says Rom. 4:2, he has something to boast about — but not before God, who sees and knows all. But Abraham was justified. How? “What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness” (Ver. 3).

God, of course, had planned salvation through the redemptive work of Christ and has always saved anyone who simply trusts Him and takes Him at His Word. Since Abraham, of course, more of God’s Word has been revealed and we know the details of Christ’s death for sinners. If we now take God at His Word and simply trust Christ as Savior we are completely justified, for salvation is not; cannot be, by works:

    “But to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5).

    “…through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38,39).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

An Indisputable Fact
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The theological confusion in the Church today is basically the result of her rebellion against the authority of Paul as the divinely-appointed apostle for the present “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:1-3).

On every hand Paul is referred to merely as one of the apostles, sometimes even as one of the twelve, though the record of Scripture proves that he could not possibly have qualified as one of the twelve (See Matt. 19:28 and cf. Acts 9:1).

In Galatians 1 and 2 the Apostle throws down the certificate of his apostleship, as it were, to those who questioned it in his day. He opens his argument with the declaration:

    “…I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

    “For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11,12).

The Scriptures teach beyond the shadow of a doubt that Paul’s apostleship and message were absolutely unique and separate from that of the twelve or of any who had preceded him. This is what Christendom as a whole has refused to accept. Is it any wonder, then, that they confuse God’s prophesied kingdom program with “the mystery,” committed to Paul for us in this present dispensation?

The Scriptures emphasize not only the Apostle’s constant use of the first person pronoun, “I,” “me,” “my,” but the unique character of his apostleship and message. Ignore this fact and confusion must inevitably result; accept it and a hundred seeming contradictions in Scripture disappear.

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Bible Is For You
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


As we examine the Bible one fact stands out with particular emphasis and clarity: The Bible was written for the people, for the populace at large, not for some special class among them.

St. Paul addressed his epistles to both “laity” and “clergy”: “To all that be in Rome” (Rom. 12), “unto the church… at Corinth… with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (I Cor. 1:2), “unto the churches of Galatia” (Gal. 1:2), “to all the saints… at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Phil. 1:1), etc.

When Paul proclaimed the gospel at Berea his hearers did not take even this great apostle’s word for granted, but “searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so,” and for this God called them “noble” (Acts 17:11). They were the true spiritual aristocracy of their day. Our Lord, when on earth, encouraged — even challenged His audiences to “search the Scriptures” for themselves (John 5:39).

Indeed, since God has revealed Himself and His plan of salvation in the written Word, we are responsible, each one for himself, to study the Scriptures. When Dives begged Abraham to allow Lazarus to go and warn his five brothers about the horrors of Hades, Abraham replied: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them,” and when Dives urged that a word from Lazarus would be more effective, Abraham answered: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:29-31).

Do not depend upon your clergyman to interpret the Scriptures for you but see for yourself what they say, for “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12), and it will not be enough in that day to say: “But my minister or priest told me…” You are responsible to “search the Scriptures” for yourself to “see whether those things are so.”

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Kingdom Reign Of Christ
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Kingdom Reign of Christ, often called the Millennium, is, of course, still future, but even this dispensation will commence with a clear indication that our Lord’s beneficent reign will not change the unregenerate heart. Man is still a failure.

This will be evident from the fact that to put the rebellion down our Lord will have to “break” the nations “with a rod of iron” and “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psa. 2:9). Indeed, He will have to “rule them with a rod of iron” (Rev. 2:27). It is not strange, then, that we read in Revelation 20:7-9:

    “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

    “And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

    “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

This final rebellion is followed by the casting of Satan and all unbelievers into the lake of fire and the bringing in of the new heavens and the new earth in which all the reconciled find their all in Christ (Rev. 20:10-21:1; Eph. 1:9,10; Col. 1:19,20). It is interesting and instructive to see in the book of Revelation how the Lamb slain occupies the center of the glory of the universe. Not one saint from any age will ever boast of his own righteousness in that day. All will acknowledge their own unworthiness and proclaim the praises of the One who died that they might live and be justified and gloried. And even the unsaved and all demons and angels will acknowledge Jesus as Lord in that day. Because He humbled Himself and submitted Himself to “even the death of the cross… God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:

    “THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, OF THINGS IN HEAVEN, AND THINGS IN EARTH, AND THINGS UNDER THE EARTH;

    “AND THAT EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER” (Phil. 2:8-11).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Two Anxious Mothers
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Some time ago, in Chicago, a little baby was kidnapped right out of her mother’s arms in a hospital room, while another mother left her baby in a cardboard box on top of a garbage can.

We have the feeling that in all probability the woman who abandoned her baby — and it probably was a woman — was just as much beside herself as the one who had her baby stolen from her arms.

A Registered Nurse told us some time ago that the proportion of mothers who do not want their babies is becoming alarming. We do not believe that these women wouldn’t want their babies under normal circumstances. Everybody loves a baby! But in such cases sin has come in to bring trouble and shame and misery. Some of these mothers are unwed and have been disgraced; others are separated or divorced from their husbands or would have to bring their babies home to nothing but bickering and trouble. Still others have passed diseases on to their babies and wish that they had never been born.

This is how sin wrecks lives and homes, but it is wonderful to know that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” as we read in I Tim. 1:15. How does He save sinners? First He bore the penalty of sin for us: “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). But He will save us from sin’s control too, if we let Him. Rom. 6:14 says to believers in Christ: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace,” and millions have proved this to be true.

Salvation is more than a religious term, or a feeling or sentiment, it is actual deliverance from the penalty and power of sin, through the redemptive work of Christ on Calvary, where He “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” for every one who simply but sincerely trusts Him as Lord and Savior.

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

I Have Set Thee A Watchman
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Prophet Ezekiel was appointed by God as a “watchman” over the house of Israel (Ezek. 33:7). He was held responsible to warn the wicked from their way, for while God must deal justly with sin, He had declared: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ver. 11).

If Ezekiel failed to warn the wicked, they would die in their sins, but their blood would nevertheless be required at his hand. If he faithfully warned them, however, and they refused to heed the warning, they would die in their sins, but he would be absolved of all responsibility (See Vers. 8,9).

Would some Christian reader remind us that we are living under another dispensation and that our message is one of grace? True enough, but this does not diminish, it increases our responsibility toward the lost.

If we believers carelessly allow the lost to go to Christless graves are we not morally responsible for their doom, and will we not be held accountable at the Judgment Seat of Christ? (See II Cor. 5:10,11). This is why we find Paul reminding the Ephesian elders that he had not ceased to warn men “night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31).

As the Apostle looked back over his ministry among the Ephesians he could say: “I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men” (Ver. 26). And this had been true of his ministry in general. Indeed, it was now his desire that, whatever the cost, he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify “the gospel of the grace of God” (Ver. 24).

God give us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, a greater sense of our responsibility toward the lost!

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Faith In The Right Person
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Abraham’s faith in God was strong. When God called him to forsake his family, friends and country, he obeyed and “went forth, not knowing whither he went.” When God promised to multiply his seed as the stars of heaven, he believed it, though childless. When, in his old age, God promised that he would still have a son by ninety-year-old Sarah, he believed it even though he had waited so long, seemingly in vain. When God promised to give his seed the land in which he had sojourned, he believed it, though all reason argued against it. When God asked him to offer in sacrifice the son born so late in life, the son upon whom all the promises depended, he obeyed, concluding that it must be God’s plan to raise him from the dead!

Such was Abraham’s faith in God! Three times this is emphasized in Romans 4 alone: He was “not weak in faith” (Ver. 19); he “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,” but was “strong in faith” (Ver. 20).

But it was not the strength of Abraham’s faith that saved him; it was the fact that the object of his faith was God (See again Gen. 15:6). He had placed his faith in the right Person. His faith became “strong” only because he had heard and believed God in the first place.

    “For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness,” and thus “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3,5).

The simplest, humblest believer, who ever so feebly commits himself to God and His Word, is “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Pardon vs. Justification
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Did you read, recently, about the man, named Zimmerman, who spent nearly twenty-five years in prison for a murder which, it is now clear, he never committed! The mistake was discovered two years ago, and he was released, of course, but only after spending almost a quarter of a century in prison for a crime he did not commit!

This was a grim mistake, but even at that, it must be wonderful in such a case, to be free — and to have people actually sympathize with you! Yet, after two years of liberty, Zimmerman says he still feels a bit numb. Waking up mornings he still imagines he hears the harsh sound of the prison bell, and looking about he still thinks he sees bars on the windows.

Things could be worse, though: Suppose he were guilty of the crime, merely pardoned and released. Then everyone would be saying: “There goes that murderer. They pardoned him. Don’t get too friendly with him.” The stigma would always remain – -as long as he lived.

Let us thank God that believers in Christ are not merely pardoned. Rom. 3:24 declares that we are “justified freely by [God's] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Christ died for our sins and satisfied the just claims of the Law, and more: through the Holy Spirit He revolutionizes our lives and makes new creations out of us, for “If any man be in Christ,” says II Cor. 5:17, “he is a new creation.”

    “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

God's Just Judgments
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth…”

The first 15 verses of Romans 2 always make me think of our Lord’s dealings with the rich young ruler of Luke 18: 18,19. “Good Master,” the ruler had said, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

The Lord answered in effect: “Why do you call Me good? There is none good but God, so if I am good I must be God. But do you want to know what to do to inherit eternal life? Simply obey the Law, the Ten Commandments.”

Our Lord, of course, was trying to show the young man that it was impossible to earn salvation by doing good. To keep the Law was impossible for any child of fallen Adam, and breaking the Law could only bring condemnation. Now this absolute justice is the basis for the believer’s confidence in God.

It is wonderful to know that God does not merely pity sinners and smuggle them into heaven if they are sorry. If He did, someone in heaven could point an accusing finger at this writer and say: “What, you here!” Thank God, He has rather taken us before the bar of justice, pronouncing us guilty, but has stepped down, as it were, to pay the penalty for our sins Himself, then justly declaring us righteous! This is why salvation, in Scripture, is based upon Christ’s payment of our just debt. This is why Rom. 3:24 declares that believers are “justified freely, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

    “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Death Of The Cross
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


There are four words which every one of us should consider in connection with Christ’s death at Calvary if we would fully appreciate what our Savior did for us there.

CRUCIFIXION

It is doubtful whether man has ever conceived a more cruel and humiliating way to execute even the vilest criminals. The physical agony alone must have been horrible beyond comprehension. The criminal was nailed to a tree and left to hang there, writhing in the most intense pain until, fevers wracking his body, he died. And then think of the humiliation as he hung there, stripped and naked, to suffer shame and disgrace before the public gaze. Little wonder Phil. 2:8 says that Christ humbled Himself to become obedient “unto death, even the death of the cross.”

SUBSTITUTION

We have not even begun to understand the cross if we do not understand that Christ died there as our Substitute, paying for our sins.

    “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24).

REPRESENTATION

But Christ was more than our Substitute; He was our voluntary Representative at Calvary. He had taken on Himself human form that He might represent man before God and die as Man for men.

    “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…” (Heb. 9:27, 28 ).

    “[He] was made… lower than the angels… that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9).

IDENTIFICATION

It follows from this that if Christ represented me at Calvary, He became identified with me there, and I am identified with Him as I accept this by faith. Hence Paul exclaims:

    “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Value Of One Individual Person
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Just imagine! It had been three weeks since a big Air Force plane had disappeared over the Pacific with a crew of eight and a Navy enlisted man.

Now, in that general vicinity, the pilot of an Air Force cargo plane reported sighting a raft with one man standing up in it, waving for help.

Almost immediately the Air Force dispatched sixteen planes to the area and called upon all ships nearby to help, in the hope of finding this one man.

Again and again we have witnessed the almost unlimited effort and expense that men will go to to rescue even one of their fellowmen from death. This is as it should be, for it is only in this life that we can prepare for eternity and it is important that each of us should have the greatest possible opportunity to prepare, in case through carelessness we may have put this important matter off.

It was with eternity in mind that the Lord Jesus Christ paid the greatest possible price to save men from judgment to come, and what the Bible calls “the second death.”

“Christ also hath once suffered for sins,” says I Pet. 3:18, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Titus 2:14 says that “He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” I Pet. 2:24 declares that He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” and in Gal. 2:20 St. Paul exclaims: “He loved me and gave Himself for me.”

After three weeks alone on the ocean, the man referred to above was keenly conscious of his need. He stood up and waved frantically, in the hope that someone on the plane might see him and bring help. Some people, adrift in this world of sin and trouble, go on for many years before they become aware of their need-or at least, before they will acknowledge it. But not until we do acknowledge our sin and our need, can we expect help or salvation. “Christ

Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). Good people do not need a Savior, but who is really good? Rom. 3:23 says that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and our consciences bear witness. But let us rejoice that “Christ died for our sins,” and trust Him for salvation.

    “He that believeth on the Son [of God] hath everlasting life” (John 3:36).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Law Misunderstood
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


There are three misconceptions that most people entertain about the law of God and its Ten Commandments:

    Most people have a vague notion that the law always was in existence and that it must have been given to the first man, Adam, or soon after. Actually, God gave the law to Moses for Israel about 1500 B.C., after about 2500 years of human history had elapsed (John 1:17). So mankind lived on earth for about 2500 years without the law or the Ten Commandments.
    Most people suppose that the law and the Ten Commandments were given to mankind in general, while, in fact, it was given to Israel alone (Deuteronomy 5:2,3).
    Most people suppose that the law and the Ten Commandments were given to help us to do right. Even some clergymen teach this, although the Bible clearly teaches that they were given to show us that we are guilty sinners.

It is true that the law, while given to Israel, also shows the Gentile that he is a sinner. This is why Romans 3:19 says:

    “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought in guilty before God.”

But most important of all: Few people realize that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins to deliver us from the just condemnation of the law. This is taught in the following Scriptures:

    “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…” (Gal. 3:13).

    “For God hath made Him to be sin for us, [Christ] who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21).

    “For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE” (Rom. 6:14).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Rightness Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


There are many theological words which most people — even most Christian people — do not under-stand. Among these is the Bible word “righteousness”. Actually, though, this word is very simple and we ought to understand about God’s righteousness even before we learn of His love.

Righteousness is simply an old word for rightness. When we say that God is righteous, we simply mean that what He does is always right; that He will not and cannot do anything that is not right. This is why Paul declares in Romans 1:16, 17:

    “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…FOR THEREIN IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS [rightness] OF GOD REVEALED…”

We are proud to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God because it emphasizes God’s rightness. The gospel does not tell us that God will overlook our sins or wink at them and smuggle us into heaven. It doesn’t tell us that He will forgive us if we are sorry enough or do enough good deeds to counterbalance our sins. By no means.

The “gospel of the grace of God” is based on His rightness. It is the wonderful message that “Christ died for our sins”, that He paid for them Himself so that He might justly offer us forgiveness and declare us righteous.

Romans 3:26 puts it beautifully. There the apostle declares that since our sins were paid for by Christ at Calvary, God can now “be just — and the Justifier of him who believes in Jesus”.

For centuries religious people have said to each other: “We must be truly sorry for our sins and do all the good we can and surely God will forgive and accept us”. But this is not the gospel. The gospel gives us more solid ground to plant our feet upon. It says to every man, woman and child: “Your sins were PAID FOR by Christ at Calvary. Trust in Him and you will be saved”. This is gospel [good news] indeed, for it is based on the just payment of the penalty for sin.

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Sober Christians
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Let us, who are of the day, be sober…” (I Thes. 5:8 ).

Many people entertain the erroneous idea that truly spiritual Christians must always be solemn and long-faced. In fact, they suppose that such Scripture passages as the above teach this.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, for the word “sober,” in our English New Testament does not mean solemn, but completely under control. This is also true of the original Greek word from which the English word “sober” is translated.

Sobriety in Scripture, as in modern English, is the opposite of drunkenness. This is brought out in the rest of the passage cited above. Along with its context, the above exhortation reads as follows:

    “For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken be drunken in the night.

    “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation.

    “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

    “Who died for us that… we should live together with Him” (I Thes. 5:7-10).

Thus those who are “of the day,” and know Christ as their Savior, should not “sleep” on the one hand, or “be drunken” on the other, but should be awake and alert, their faculties completely under control, so that they might witness the more effectively to the saving grace of Christ.

If ever there was a time when true Christians should “watch and be sober,” it is now.

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Paul Tells Others About His Gospel
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


It is true that now there is but one gospel and God’s anathema is pronounced upon any who would presume to proclaim any other (Gal. 1:8,9), but those who suppose that Paul proclaimed the same good news which the twelve before him had proclaimed, should carefully read Galatians 2:1-9.

The twelve had been proclaiming our Lord’s kingdom rights in “the gospel of the kingdom”. The kingdom having been rejected, however, God raised up Paul to proclaim “the Gospel of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24). In Galatians 1:11,12, this apostle declares:

    “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

This is only one of many passages in which he declares that he was commissioned to proclaim a special message by the glorified Lord Himself (Eph. 3:1-4; Rom. 16:25; etc.).

Now in Galatians 2:2, the apostle states: “I went up by revelation[God sent him] and communicated unto them [the apostles and elders at Jerusalem] that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles….” But was he not merely checking to make sure that he and they were preaching the same good news? No, for he goes on to say: “But [I went] privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain”.

Verses 7 and 9 then go on to tell how “they saw” and “perceived” the grace that had been given to Paul, so that they publicly and officially gave him “the right hands of fellowship”, acknowledging him as the apostle of grace, sent to the world with a message of grace:

    “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).