Acts 28,28 — Why? 177 appreciate why it, and not the Isaian citation (6), completes Paul’s thought and reveals his true intention here. 1. Acts 28,28 – important elements Most all elements of this verse are important: “therefore”, “you must know”, “this salvation”, “was sent”, “to the nations” — “and they will listen”. They yield, we will argue, a conclusion that Paul attempts to motivate his fellow Jews to conversion. First of all, v. 28 is a logical conclusion (ou\n) to the citation from Isaiah. To Paul’s way of thinking, v. 28 follows in some logical fashion from the facts of that citation. Something should be gained, in other words from the statement of the Spirit about “your fathers”, words which Isaiah is to direct “to the people” and which are now applicable in turn to the disagreeing Jews of Rome (7). What is to be gained from the Isaiah citation is knowledge, and it is imperative (8) that Paul’s listeners (uJmivn) learn: “you must know”. The knowledge necessary for these Jews to know is expressed: God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles. Thus, the attitude expressed by Isaiah and applied to certain members of his audience by Paul must result in, or be followed by this audience’s knowing, apparently for the first time, the fact that divine salvation has been offered to the Gentiles. (6) Cf. A. WEISER, Die Apostelgeschichte (ÖTBK; Göttersloh 1981-1985) II, 683: “Nach Auffassung der meisten Exegeten bringt Lukas am Schluss — anders als Paulus Röm 9–11 — zum Ausdruck, dass sich die nicht an Jesus glaubenden Juden selbst ausserhalb Israels gestellt haben… Mit der Umkehr Israels als des gesamten Götesvolkes rechnet Lukas nicht mehr”. However here WEISER does not exclude, “der Umkehr einzelner Juden”, 683. WEISER represents the thinking of earlier exegetes about Acts 28,26-27, but each “…mit unterschiedlichen Akzenten z. b. Conzelmann (Die Mitte der Zeit, 177); Eltester (Israel, 124f.); Gnilka (Verstockung, 143; 149f); Haenchen (Apg, 112 [allerdings zu einseitig: “die christliche Mission seiner Zeit wendet sich nur noch an die Heiden”]; Jervell (Israel, 71); Lohfink (Sammlung, 93); Prast (Presbyter, 329); Roloff (Apg, 375); Schneider (Apg, II 420); Wilson (Gentiles, 226-233, 251) 683-684”. (7) E. HAENCHEN, Die Apostelgechichte (Göttingen 1959) 647-648: “…damit wird hier (wie in 13,48, 18,6) der Übergang der rettenden Verkündigung von den Juden zu den Heiden begründet”; but nowhere in his commentary does Haenchen explain why this past fact is told to this limited number of Jewish leaders in Rome, who are confronted with the Pauline preaching only now. Later, we will show differences between 28,28 and the earlier 13,48 and 18,6. (8) gnwsto;n ou\n e[stw is a formula used elsewhere in Acts by Luke (Acts 2,14; 4,10; 13,38); he means thereby to indicate emphasis and new knowledge.