Saturday, February 20, 2021

Who Are Those "afar off"?

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For THE PROMISE is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:38, 39
 

 "It is not possible to mistake “the promise” to which reference is here made. It was “the promise of the Spirit,” as in verse 33; that is to say, that which was fulfilled to the apostles should also be fulfilled to them if they would accept, and follow, the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
---The words, “all that are afar off,” have reference to the Gentiles, as Paul shows in Eph. 2:11-18, in distinction from the Jews, who are addressed as “you and your children.” 
 
Thus the same promise of the Spirit is extended to the church at large, “even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”This whole instruction as regards both duty and promise is neutralized between two classes in the present age."
Joseph Waggoner