BibleTools.info

Spake boldly - three months - We have often remarked that St. Paul, in every place, made his first offers of salvation to the Jews; and it was only when they rejected it, that he turned to the Gentiles; see Acts 18:6. And the same line of conduct he pursues here: he goes to the school of Tyrannus, at least a public place, to which all might resort, when they obstinately rejected the Gospel in the synagogue.

Disputing and persuading - Διαλεγομενος, και πειθων, Holding conversations with them, in order to persuade them of the truth of the doctrine of Christ.

Persuading the things - Endeavoring to persuade them of the truth of what was affirmed respecting the kingdom of God.

There is still another lesson for us in the experience of those Jewish converts. When they received baptism at the hand of John they did not fully comprehend the mission of Jesus as the Sin Bearer. They were holding serious errors. But with clearer light, they gladly accepted Christ as their Redeemer, and with this step of advance came a change in their obligations. As they received a purer faith, there was a corresponding change in their life. In token of this change, and as an acknowledgment of their faith in Christ, they were rebaptized in the name of Jesus. AA 285.1

As was his custom, Paul had begun his work at Ephesus by preaching in the synagogue of the Jews. He continued to labor there for three months, “disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.” At first he met with a favorable reception; but as in other fields, he was soon violently opposed. “Divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude.” As they persisted in their rejection of the gospel, the apostle ceased to preach in the synagogue. AA 285.2

The Spirit of God had wrought with and through Paul in his labors for his countrymen. Sufficient evidence had been presented to convince all who honestly desired to know the truth. But many permitted themselves to be controlled by prejudice and unbelief, and refused to yield to the most conclusive evidence. Fearing that the faith of the believers would be endangered by continued association with these opposers of the truth, Paul separated from them and gathered the disciples into a distinct body, continuing his public instructions in the school of Tyrannus, a teacher of some note. AA 285.3