"The door of faith."
The narrative of the returned missionaries, as given to the assembled Church at Antioch, took two forms—in part it was a personal narrative of what they had done and suffered; and in part it was a report of the acceptance which the gospel message had received in the countries they had visited. And in this part of their account, one thing appeared to them to be of peculiar interest—God had manifestly "opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." The expression is a sufficiently striking one to be made the subject of earnest meditation. Two ways of explaining it may be suggested.
1. God had given them large and free access to the Gentiles for the preaching of the faith in Christ.
2. God had manifestly made faith, not circumcision, the ground of admission to his kingdom; and so the Gentiles could be saved. Gospel privileges were offered to everyone that believed. For St. Paul's use of this figure of the "door" variously applied, see 1 Corinthians 16:9, 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3; and comp. Revelation 3:8. The figure is a suggestive one. The special favor of God had been enjoyed by the Jews, and in a manner limited to them. They had been, as it were, shut up with God in his house; none else might come in, for the door was shut. But now, in the greatness of God's mercy to men, he had opened the door, made a new and most gracious condition of admission, and invited "whosoever would" to enter in. The grace of this was too surprising to the Jewish mind, and it was a long time ere it could receive the truth. Such testimonies as Barnabas and Paul brought from Gentile lauds did much to establish the free right of all believing men to enter the one Father's house, through his graciously opened door.
I. THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES FOUND FREE ACCESS TO THE GENTILES. They had gone forth fully understanding that the door was open to preach the gospel to the Jews. They knew that, wherever they went, they could enter the synagogues, expound the Scriptures, and preach Christ; but events that happened brought home to them the conviction that Jewish privileges were no longer exclusive, and that God had "granted unto the Gentiles also repentance unto life." Recall the incidents which brought to the missionaries this conviction. They found Divine providence leading them to speak to Gentile audiences. They found that Divine grace had been before them, creating in the Gentile mind a preparedness for and a susceptibility to the gospel message. And they found that the condition of entrance into the new gospel standing and gospel privileges was one which the Gentiles could meet, since faith is common to human nature, and in no sense special to any one race. It would even seem that the missionaries felt their work among the Gentiles to be more hopeful than that among the Jews. And it led them to cherish serious thoughts about the vast work to be done among the Gentile nations, now God had so evidently opened the door to them all. Illustrate from the way in which the Church of Christ has been led on to preach the gospel to one nation after another, by the opening of providential doors; especially illustrating from China, and more recently Central Africa. The inspiration of Christian missions is this fact, "God has opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles."
II. THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES HAD LEARNED TO DECLARE THAT FAITH, AND FAITH ALONE, WAS THE GROUND OF ADMISSION INTO GOD'S KINGDOM, They addressed an audience that was still largely under Jewish mental bonds. Even the early disciples seem for a long time to have cherished the idea that Christianity was only a reformation of Judaism. The very apostles could not readily accept the truth of salvation by faith alone. They thought that at least the Jewish requirement of circumcision must be made. But Barnabas and Paul rendered their testimony to the fact of their finding the "faith-condition" quite sufficient. They had required no other of their Gentile converts, and God had sealed them by the gift of his Spirit, and they had manifested every sign of the true Christian life. Faith is the only door into the kingdom, but there is no entrance save by this door. Still the gospel message is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."—R.T.
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