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Back to Study the Book of Second Corinthians

Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; (Isaiah 49:8).

It is interesting to read the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah and to understand Paul’s thinking at this point. It is in this chapter that the Spirit of Christ declares that salvation at the hand of Christ will not stop with Israel but will include the Gentiles also.

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

Being a learned Hebrew, Paul knew this passage well. He understood that the time spoken of by Isaiah had arrived. It was time for the Gentiles, the Corinthians, to come from Satan’s prison and learn of the Lord. Paul, as a servant of Christ, was carrying forward the work of the Servant of the Lord by bringing the light of God to the Gentiles.

Since this glorious redemption, so long awaited by the devout of Israel, had finally arrived, the saints in Corinth were to take heed that they continue to walk in the righteous ways of Christ—the ways that had been taught to them by the Apostle Paul. The acceptable time, the day of salvation, is now.