EXCERPTS FROM THE MINISTRY

The Lord’s Commission

According to 9:22, Saul proved to the Jews in Damascus that “this One is the Christ.” The title “the Christ” denotes the Lord’s commission, that is, the Lord’s work. Christ means the anointed One. The Lord Jesus is God’s anointed One. As the anointed One of God, the Christ, He is the unique One. Only He has been anointed by God and appointed by Him to carry out His commission, to do work God assigned to Him.

In Matthew 16:15 the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). The revelation given to Peter includes the two aspects of the Lord Jesus, the aspects of His Person and His commission. Christ’s commission is to accomplish God’s eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and second coming. His Person embodies the Father and issues in the Spirit for a full expression of the Triune God.

Saul of Tarsus, who was blinded for a period of time, received a heavenly vision concerning the Lord Jesus. He saw the same thing Peter did in Caesarea Philippi; that is, he saw that Jesus the Nazarene is the Son of God and the Christ.

The Lord Jesus is both human and divine. As a divine-human person, He is the God-man. The Lord is the One with a dual status—human and divine. In Acts 9 Saul does not emphasize the Lord’s humanity, for everyone, including the opposers, recognized that Jesus was a human being and not a phantom. He was truly a man, and His humanity was recognized by all. But the opposers did not see that Jesus is the Son of God. Therefore, immediately after Saul turned to the Lord, the first thing he testified concerning Him is that Jesus, the man from Nazareth, is the Son of God. As we have pointed out, this was blasphemy to the Jews, and they wanted to do away with Saul for proclaiming it.

In addition to proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God, Saul also testified that He is the Christ. He is unique, the only One anointed and appointed by God to carry out God’s commission. As the Christ, the Lord has been anointed and appointed to fulfill God’s purpose, to accomplish God’s plan. Only He is qualified to carry out God’s eternal redemption. As to His Person, He is divine. As to His work, He is the God-anointed and God-appointed One to carry out whatever God intends.

A Pattern for Our Gospel Preaching

In Acts 9 Paul set up a very good pattern for our gospel preaching today. No matter what portion of the Bible we may use in preaching the gospel and no matter what the subject of our preaching may be, we must always emphasize these two aspects of Christ. We need to preach both the Person of Christ and the work of Christ. However, much of today’s preaching does not place the proper emphasis on Christ’s Person and work. Instead, the gospel may be preached in a vague, general way. People may be told that Jesus is the Savior and the Redeemer, but there may not be the needed emphasis on the two basic aspects of Christ. Our gospel preaching must be different. We need to emphasize the fact that the One we preach is divine. He is the Son of God, and His source is divine. We should also emphasize His work as the One anointed by God to carry out His commission. This means that we should preach the Son of God and the Christ.

Believing That Jesus Is the Christ, the Son of God

John 20:31 says, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Here we see that in order to have eternal life, we need to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the Son of God. We need to believe in His divine Person as the Son of God and in His work, as the anointed One of God. The title “the Christ” is related to the Lord’s work, to His office and mission. The title “the Son of God” denotes the Lord’s Person. His Person is a matter of God’s life, and His mission is a matter of God’s work. He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God. He works for God by the life of God so that man also, by believing in Him as the Christ and the Son of God, may have God’s life and thereby become a child of God. John 20:31 makes it crystal clear that to believe in the Lord Jesus is to believe in His divine Person and in His divine work.