I.　"I became a minister…to complete the word of God"—Col. 1:25:

A.　The word of God is the divine revelation, which had not been completed before the New Testament was written.

B.　In the New Testament the apostles, especially the apostle Paul, completed the word of God in regard to the mystery of God, which is Christ, and the mystery of Christ, which is the church—v. 25; 2:2; Eph. 3:3-4.

C.　In Colossians 1:26 the mystery is in apposition to the word of God in verse 25:

1.　This mystery concerns Christ and the church, the Head and the Body—Eph. 5:32.

2.　The unveiling of this mystery through the apostle Paul is the completing of the word of God as the divine revelation—Col. 1:25.

D.　Concerning the revelation of Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ, Paul completed the word of God and revealed to us God's economy in a full way—Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4.

E.　In our experience today, to complete the word of God is to experience Christ subjectively in our daily living so that the proper church life may come forth for the expression of the Triune God in Christ—Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:17a; 1:22-23.

F.　If we would be those who complete the word of God, we must minister Christ as the life-giving Spirit and stand with the church as the living expression of Christ on the proper ground of locality; this is our burden, our ministry, and our warfare—1 Cor. 15:45b; 1:2; 12:12-13, 27.

II.　"Who are You, Lord?"—Acts 22:8:

A.　"When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me"—Gal. 1:15a, 16a:

1.　The desire of God's heart is to reveal His Son in us so that we may know Him, receive Him as our life (John 17:3; 3:16), and become the sons of God (1:12; Gal. 4:5-6).

2.　Nothing is more pleasing to God than the unveiling, the revelation, of the living person of the Son of God in us—1:15a, 16a; 2 Cor. 3:14-18; 4:3-6.

3.　The focal point of the Bible is the living person of the Son of God, who is the embodiment of the Triune God realized as the all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit for us to enjoy Him, partake of His riches, and live Him—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Phil. 1:19; Gal. 6:18.

B.　"Why are you persecuting Me?…I am Jesus, whom you persecute"—Acts 9:4b, 5b:

1.　This "Me" is corporate, comprising Jesus the Lord and all His believers.

2.　This was a unique revelation in the universe, for by it Saul began to see that the Lord Jesus and His believers are one great person—the wonderful "Me."

3.　The revelation of the corporate "Me" must have impressed and affected Saul for his future ministry concerning Christ and the church as the great mystery of God and laid a solid foundation for his future ministry—Eph. 5:32.

C.　"I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a minister and a wit-ness both of the things in which you have seen Me and of the things in which I will appear to you"—Acts 26:16:

1.　A minister is for the ministry, and a witness is for the testimony:

a.　The ministry is related mainly to the work, to what a minister does— 13:2; 14:26.

b.　A testimony is related to the person, to what a witness is—1:8; 23:11.

2.　Christ did not reveal things to Paul without Himself as the content of those things; thus, in all the visions Paul saw Christ; the Lord indicated that He would reveal more things to Paul, and in those things the Lord Himself would appear to him—22:14-15; Eph. 1:17.

D.　"The God of our fathers has previously appointed you to know His will" (Acts 22:14); the will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expres-sion—Rom. 12:2, 5; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, 22-23.

III.　"What shall I do, Lord?"—Acts 22:10:

A.　"Rise up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do" (9:6); this is related to Saul's knowledge concerning the Body of Christ—Col. 1:24.

B.　"To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me"—Acts 26:18:

1.　To turn from darkness to light is to have a transfer from darkness into light, and to turn from the authority of Satan to God is to be transferred out of the authority of Satan into God—v. 18a; Col. 1:13:

a.　The authority of Satan is Satan's kingdom, which belongs to darkness— Matt. 12:26; John 12:31.

b.　To be transferred into God is to be transferred to the authority of God, which is God's kingdom, belonging to light—3:5; 1 John 1:5.

2.　Forgiveness of sins is the base of all the blessings of the New Testament jubilee—Acts 26:18b.

3.　As the result of having our eyes opened and of being transferred from the authority of Satan to God, we receive an inheritance; this inheritance is the Triune God with all that He has, all that He has done, and all that He will do for His redeemed people—v. 18c; Col. 1:12; Eph. 1:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:4.

4.　The divine inheritance is among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ; this sanctification is both positional and dispositional—Acts 26:18d; Matt. 23:17, 19; Rom. 6:19, 22.

IV.　"I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19); this was a vision in which the apostle saw the divine things concerning the dispens-ing of the Triune God into His chosen, redeemed, and transformed people for the building up of the Body of Christ according to God's eternal economy—Rom. 8:11; Eph. 4:16; 1:10; 3:9.