[00:00:00] Hello listeners, welcome to my podcast. We will continue from yesterday, Acts, a Commentary by E. M. Blaiklock. The Sequel, Acts 9, 1.0-31. Luke is approaching that part of his narrative in which the Apostle to the Gentiles steps to the forefront of the stage and Peter retires from view. He has held the plan of his book consciously in mind from the beginning. His significant introduction of the Hellenistic Jews has been observed,
[00:00:29] and the glimpses he has shown of the wider world into which the Gospel was to move in the ministry of Paul. He has now told us of Paul's conversion, and intends, before moving on to the account of Paul's missionary journeys, and those events whereby the global purport of the Gospel was realized, to write of Peter's call to a wider evangelism. Chapters 9 and 10 therefore cohere and form a twofold and powerful introduction to that which is to follow.
[00:00:59] The two great leaders are shown side by side, united before a major task, and in significant rebuttal of the attempts of those who, in the ancient and the modern world, with mischievous tongue or irresponsible pen, have sought to divide them.
[00:01:17] Cornelius and house and remark on the symmetry with which Luke sets forth the two stories, the simultaneous preparation of the hearts of Ananias and of Saul, and the simultaneous preparation of those of Peter and Cornelius, the questioning and hesitation of Ananias, the one doubting whether he might make friendship with the Gentiles, the other doubting whether he might approach the enemy of the Church,
[00:01:43] the unhesitating obedience of each when the divine will was made known, the state of mind in which both the Pharisee and the Centurion were found, each waiting to see what the Lord would say to them, this close analogy will not be forgotten by those who reverently read the two consecutive chapters. Perversely, to see such parallelism as a mark of fiction is to take small account of the literary methods of the ancient world.
[00:02:10] In 2 Corinthians 11.32.33, Paul later amplifies the story of his escape from Damascus, 24.25. It was a complex of events with which he was to become painfully familiar over the next 20 years, a challenging gospel, Jewish resentment, the crystallizing of that resentment into organized violence, the enlistment of civic authority and precarious escape. Thanks for listening, we will continue tomorrow.