MUCH PEOPLE IN THIS CITY
Elder Adam Green
When the Apostle Paul was in Corinth, he experienced resistance from the Jews when he began to speak in the name of Jesus. The Lord sent Paul encouragement in the form of a vision and said to him, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:10). The Lord instructed Paul to preach to the people of the city of Corinth and further explained to Paul that the reason He (the Lord) desired Paul to preach the Gospel to these Corinthians was because He had “much people in this city.”
Now, I would ask a question in regard to the Lord’s statement and the utility of the Gospel. If it were true that individuals are not saved, do not come to Christ, and do not belong to God (as saved and born again children of God) until after they hear and believe the Gospel, why did God say that He already had much people in this city? Would not it have been the case that He did not yet have any people in the city, but desired to invite them to accept Christ and become His children through the preaching of the Gospel?
But no, God told Paul that He already had much people in the city. If God already had much people in the city, then no amount of preaching by Paul or any other minister would have made them God’s, for they were already God’s – they already belonged to Him. No man has ever preached another human being into a state of belonging to God. The Gospel illuminates life that is already in existence (II Timothy 1:10), and is of spiritual value to a person only after he has been brought to God by the work of His Spirit in regeneration. The Gospel does not give God that which is already His.