Scripture Reading:
Acts 9:15; 13:46-48; 15:3,7; 18:6; 22:21; 26:20; 28:28; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Gal. 2:2,8; Eph. 3:1,6-8; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11
Paul was the only person in the Bible who was given the title, “The Apostle to the Gentiles.” The Apostle Peter was sent to a Gentile at one time, but this was a special time that the Lord was dealing with Peter for a special work. Peter was never called the Apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, the Scriptures are clear that Peter’s ministry was to the Jews, or the circumcision. Christ, Himself, ministered to some Gentiles, and yet He says in Matthew 15:24,
“But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
So, we see that Paul was the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” This is important in Bible study. We need to see that God used Paul in a different way and to a different group of people.
Throughout all the Scriptures we find that the Gentiles, all people of the earth, had the opportunity to come to the Lord. However, while the Lord was dealing with the nation of Israel, everyone had to come as a Jew.
As the Apostle to the Gentiles, God revealed a new message through Paul. In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul tells us much about the message for us today. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 3 that this message was never made known to men of other ages. In other words the Old Testament prophets never knew about the message that Paul was to reveal.
All the Scripture is given to us to read, study, and learn, but not all the Scripture is given for us to practice today. For example, we all know about the Lord telling Noah to build an ark. This was very important for that time because of the flood that was to come. However, the instructions to Noah are surely not our instructions today. We would be foolish to spend our time in building an ark like Noah’s. We would waste our life fulfilling what God gave to Noah to do, and it would all be useless. God has promised there would be no more such floods! And yet, we hear some people today say that they want to do everything in the Bible. Or some will say they want to do everything Jesus did while He was here on earth. It is not possible to do either of these things. We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15,
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”
This is why we need to see what message the Lord has for us today, and go accordingly. Remember, ALL Scripture is FOR us (to study), but not all Scripture is written TO us (to practice). In the next lesson, we will go further into this. You may want to be reading all of Ephesians chapter 3. We will study this in our next lesson.
