O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not come!
This statement of Peter's silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, »So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life.«
Then, throwing off all reserve, Paul and Barnabas said, »We were bound to proclaim God's Message to you first. But since you spurn it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of the Life of the Ages–well, we turn to the Gentiles.
»Repent,« replied Peter, »and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, with a view to the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
that they may turn from darkness to light and from the obedience to Satan to God, in order to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified through faith in Me.'
but I proceeded to preach first to the people in Damascus, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and to the Gentiles, that they must repent and turn to God, and live lives consistent with such repentance.
»Be fully assured, therefore, that this salvation –God's salvation– has now been sent to the Gentiles, and that they, at any rate, will give heed.«
And in no other is the great salvation to be found; for, in fact, there is no second name under Heaven that has been given among men through which we are to be saved.«
To me who am less than the least of all God's people has this work been graciously entrusted–to proclaim to the Gentiles the Good News of the exhaustless wealth of Christ,
to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth–the truth that `Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'