Preaching the kingdom of God
That is, the Gospel, as in ( Luke 4:43 ) ( 16:16 ) ; he preached up
Jesus as the King Messiah, and declared that his kingdom was
come, and opened the nature of it; that it consisted not in meats
and drinks, but in righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost; which is the kingdom of grace here, and is within a man,
in his heart, where grace reigns through righteousness, unto
eternal life: and he gave them same account of the kingdom of
glory, and the way unto it; and showed, that without regeneration
and sanctification, no one could be meet for it; and without the
justifying righteousness of Christ, no man could have a right
unto it, or be possessed of it:
and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ:
his person, as God and man; his office as Mediator, being
prophet, priest, and King; his incarnation and birth; his life
and miracles; his doctrine and obedience, sufferings and death;
his resurrection, ascension, session at God's right hand; his
intercession, and second coming to judgment; with all the truths
of the Gospel, in which he has a concern; as redemption, peace,
reconciliation and pardon, by his blood and sacrifice, and
justification by his righteousness, and salvation and eternal
life through him. These things had been the subject of the
apostle's ministry, throughout the whole of it: he began at
Damascus with preaching Jesus as the Son of God and the true
Messiah; and he ends at Rome, with teaching the things concerning
him: at his first setting out in the work of the Lord, he
determined to make known none but Christ, and him crucified; and
in this resolution he continued through the whole course of his
life, and abode by it to the end: and this he did
with all confidence;
with all freedom and liberty in his soul, though he was bound in
his body with a chain; with all plainness, openness, and
faithfulness; and with all courage and boldness, though in the
midst of adversaries:
no man forbidding him;
not the Roman emperor, nor the Roman senate, nor any other
magistrate; nor could the Jews hinder him, nor was his mouth to
be stopped by any; nor could the open door of the Gospel be shut,
or its course be impeded; for though the apostle was bound, the
word of God was not, but ran and was glorified; and was made
known, and even owned in Caesar's palace; some say Nero's
cupbearer, and Poppea his concubine, were converted by him: and
he not only continued preaching the Gospel during the two years
of his imprisonment at Rome, but also wrote several epistles to
churches, and particular persons; as the epistles to the
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the Hebrews,
and to Philemon, and the "second" epistle to Timothy: some copies
add here, "Amen"; and at the close of the Alexandrian copy, stand
these words, "the Acts of the holy Apostles"; and at the Syriac
version these, "the End of the Acts of the blessed Apostles, that
is, of their Histories".