# I have many in this city



## steadfast7 (Oct 22, 2011)

Acts 18.10 records God's encouragement to Paul to be bold with the words: "I have many in this city who are my people." The reformed have traditionally understood this to refer to the elect. 

In what sense can the elect be named God's people prior to their regeneration and response to the gospel with faith? Are they not properly reckoned enemies of God, under his wrath, and without hope in this world?


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## Pergamum (Oct 22, 2011)

They are lost Sheep, always loved, and sure to be found. 



> Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.
> 
> Ro 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.



We were enemies that God loved. Thank God we are enemies no longer.


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## Rich Koster (Oct 22, 2011)

Our understanding is bound by time. God's is not.


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## steadfast7 (Oct 22, 2011)

Could it be said that Paul had a special revelation of God's point of view regarding that city? But we mortals are not to say that the non regenerate in any given location are God's people, per se.


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## Pergamum (Oct 22, 2011)

I would say that if you are engaging an unreached people-group, that you can work with a confidence that God will have representatives from every tongue, tribe and nation and this probably means that God has his Sheep in most or all unreached regions in which we are focusing.


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## VictorBravo (Oct 22, 2011)

steadfast7 said:


> Could it be said that Paul had a special revelation of God's point of view regarding that city? But we mortals are not to say that the non regenerate in any given location are God's people, per se.



It's not just "could it be said?" Acts 18:9-10 plainly says it was a special revelation: 



> Act 18:9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
> Act 18:10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.



The elect are those whom God has chosen from before the foundation of the world. If he has chosen them, he can say they are his. The timing of their regeneration and conversion is known only to him. So, yes, you can say that we creatures cannot say who among the unconverted are his and who are not.


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## steadfast7 (Oct 22, 2011)

My original question is not about whether we can speculate about who is elect or not but how the elect, before their inclusion into the visible church can be deemed the people of God? Does God really not make a distinction in time here?


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## a mere housewife (Oct 22, 2011)

Dennis, are not God's people His elect, whom He eternally foreknows? God the Son covenanted for them from all eternity, and came and died for their sins. God the Father gave the Son for them. How could they belong to anyone else?


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## toddpedlar (Oct 22, 2011)

steadfast7 said:


> My original question is not about whether we can speculate about who is elect or not but how the elect, before their inclusion into the visible church can be deemed the people of God? Does God really not make a distinction in time here?



Maybe not. You should consider why it is that the Lord spoke to Paul at that time in that way. I'm not sure I understand the reason for your puzzlement in this. Before the elect are regenerate, they are unregenerate. They can be said to be God's people in the sense that God has elected them from before the foundation of the world, but they are most certainly NOT God's people in the sense that the regenerate members of Christ's visible body are.


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## steadfast7 (Oct 22, 2011)

Are there, then, many senses to the term "people of God"? Peter says that once we were not a people, but NOW we are the people of God. I always thought one became a person of God after regeneration.


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## a mere housewife (Oct 22, 2011)

steadfast7 said:


> Are there, then, many senses to the term "people of God"?



[Here I can't find the popcorn smiley, used to indicate mutual interest -- but I would also like to know more about the various senses to that term.]


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## toddpedlar (Oct 22, 2011)

Where is the term "people of God" used in the verse you quoted? It's not in God's word to Paul, "I have many in this city." He was simply indicating to Paul that there were elect people in the city, and therefore, as an instrument of God's using, Paul was to preach there. The elect unregenerate are God's surely (they are among those given to Christ that Christ speaks of in Acts 17)... yet to call them "God's people" is to misuse a term (in my opinion). Again, I'm not sure what you're getting at.


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## NB3K (Oct 22, 2011)

Just think we were loved by God before God created the earth. It is a mind blowing thought.


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## steadfast7 (Oct 23, 2011)

toddpedlar said:


> Where is the term "people of God" used in the verse you quoted? It's not in God's word to Paul, "I have many in this city." He was simply indicating to Paul that there were elect people in the city, and therefore, as an instrument of God's using, Paul was to preach there. The elect unregenerate are God's surely (they are among those given to Christ that Christ speaks of in Acts 17)... yet to call them "God's people" is to misuse a term (in my opinion). Again, I'm not sure what you're getting at.


Acts 18.10 says "I have many in this city who are my people." I believe it's reflected in the Greek.


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