MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Anonymous, “The new man was repentant Jews united with their believing brethren …”

Thank you for your comment. The “new man” is not referring to repentant Jews. Paul doesn’t imply anywhere in Ephesians that he’s referring to apostate Jews or to Jews who were living like Gentiles, otherwise Paul would have used language describing them as being grafted back in (cf. Romans 11). But he doesn’t. Rather, Paul is directly and explicitly referring to nations / ethnic groups who are completely distinct from Jews, to those who were “in time past Gentiles in the flesh” (Eph 2:11) and were “strangers from the covenants of promise” (Eph 2:12), not to those in times past who were once called Jews or who forsook the covenant of promise. Two completely distinct groups are in view to create “one new man from the two” (Eph 2:15).

As for Paul’s words in 2 Tim 2:17, a couple of quick points. First, it would be good to recognize a figure of speech known as a synecdoche. Paul is not saying that he preached to the entire earth in a wooden literal sense, as you seem to understand it, but rather synecdochically he’d be using a part for the whole (or a whole for the part). Synecdoche expressions are not uncommon in the Biblical texts. We see other examples in:

Luke 2:1-3 — says that “all the world” was taxed. This is not literal.
Mark 1:5 — says that everyone in “all the land of Judea” and Jerusalem were “all baptized” in the Jordan river. This is not literal.
Ezra 1:2 — says that Cyrus was ruler over “all the kingdoms of the earth.” This is not literal.
Romans 10:18 — says that the Gospel was preached “to all the earth” and “to the ends of the world.” This is not literal.

Second, Paul is also saying that through him the Gospel “might be fully known” and that the Gentile world “might hear” … not that they already have. This would still be future tense from Paul’s temporal frame of reference. But if you want to understand 2 Timothy 4:17 in a literal and present tense sense, then please explain when Paul was ever thrown into a lion’s den or attacked by a lion. He obviously uses figures of speech in his epistles.

Anonymous, “All the Ethnos (gentiles, people, nations) meant to hear the gospel had heard it by the time Paul died in AD68. There are no more Ethnos (nations) that need to hear the gospel.”

You might want to give the angel of Revelation 14 a heads up and let him know he can just ignore God’s upcoming directive. Nobody else needs to hear the Gospel since everyone who needed to hear it already did. Nearly 2000 years ago.

Revelation 14:6-7, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

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