Beale V. 6 Analysis

G. K. Beale points out four ways in which Jesus is correcting the disciple’s wrong thinking in v. 6. He says that Jesus corrects them for assuming “it was proper for them to know the precise time,” for assuming “the kingdom would be only physical in their expression,” for their “apparent ethnocentric presupposition in 1:6 that the nature of the kingdom would be essentially Israelite ethnically and not nationally,” and for assuming that “Israel’s end-time restoration and kingdom would be fulfilled at one point of time at the very end of history” Beale’s points hold some water, though he makes some unnecessary assumptions and his conclusion does not necessarily follow. It is true that Jesus was correcting the disciples for assuming they could know the exact timing of the restoration (v. 7). …show more content…
6 to the “ends of the earth” in v. 9. Yet on this point, Jesus does not correct the disciple’s understanding of the final restoration being ethnocentric, He rather makes clear that their mission must not be exclusively ethnocentric during the time before the restoration by directing them first to Jews, and then to Gentiles (v. 9). In other words, Jesus is not necessarily indicating, as Beale argues, that Jesus points to the day of Pentecost as the day of Israel’s restoration, especially considering v. 7. It is also not evident in the text that Jesus is correcting the disciples for assuming the kingdom would be only physical in their expression. Beale points to v. 8 to defend this idea. One must consider though that the disciples were taught by Jesus for forty days about the kingdom of God from the prophets. These promises of the prophets included some spiritual promises and some physical promises as