Do You Know? That You Know?: Spiritual Maturity Results From Knowing Christ

The story of God's salvation which Paul proclaims begins here: to make known to the Gentiles that God is for them too! Paul hinted at this earlier when he wrote that God's salvation was for every creature under heaven. But he is more pointed here. Official Judaism would not deny God's universal salvation; after all, Isaiah taught that salvation would extend through one restored nation to all nations. Yet according to the prophet, God's salvation of the Gentile nations depended upon Israel: they would be saved only through and because of the faithfulness of the Jewish nation. Even in Paul's day, Hellenistic Judaism was committed to an evangelism program, seeking to convert and proselytize non-Jews. But Gentile converts to Judaism were second-class citizens both religiously and sociopolitically. In light of this religious tradition, Paul's teaching about Gentile conversion is controversial precisely because it is so egalitarian: believing Gentiles and Jews share God's universal salvation equally in Christ. (1:23; see also 1:20)