Acts 13:42-52 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles sought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.… The Jews contradicted, the Gentiles were glad as effects of the same gospel. The gospel is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. As on the highest Alps, up there where the summits join the clouds, there are masses of ices which, when acted on by the sun, pass down as refreshing streams, beautifying and fertilising the country through which they pass, and side by side with those, other masses of ice which, when acted upon and loosened by the same sun, rush down as roaring avalanches, carrying death and destruction in their path, and at last dashing themselves to pieces on the crags beneath; so it is to men to whom the gospel comes. It may be with one man operating as "the power of God unto salvation," blessing him and making him a blessing, whilst with his neighbour, if it is not producing this benign effect, it is hardening his heart, adding fearfully to his power for evil in the present world, and preparing for him the darker condemnation of the next. If the gospel is not the sun to soften the wax, it is the sun to harden the clay. (J. A. Macfadyen, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. |
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