What does Acts 28:28 mean?
Paul is dismissing the Jewish leaders who have rejected his evidence that Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the prophecies of the Jewish Messiah. His proof was clear: the Jews have no scriptural reason to reject Jesus. Perhaps they are clinging to their positions of influence in the synagogue. Or it's possible they've only recently returned from Rome after being evicted by Emperor Claudius (Acts 18:2). Something in the world has a tighter hold on them than the God they claim to serve (Acts 28:23–27).Paul has met Jewish leaders like this in all his travels starting in Damascus, the city where he first came to faith in Christ (Acts 9:20–25). From the beginning, Jesus told him he would share His message with Jews and Gentiles (Acts 9:15), but Paul seems to have very different expectations of the two groups. Jews are God's chosen people. They worship God as a nation. As a nation, they are called to provide and present the Savior of the world (Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 11:10). They have detailed Scriptures that describe the Messiah. If Jews as a nation—or at least Jewish religious leaders—refuse to accept that Jesus of Nazareth fits those descriptions, it is because of their hard hearts (John 5:39–40), not because of any misunderstanding (Acts 28:26–27).
So, when Paul presents his evidence in synagogues, he expects all the Jews to accept it; he doesn't expect this of Gentiles. God has had to show Paul repeatedly that his primary mission is to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46; 14:27; 18:6; 22:21). Still, it breaks Paul's heart when Jews reject their Messiah (Romans 9:1–5).
God is not finished with the Jews, however. In the church age, He provides salvation to Gentiles and Jews and joins them in the church (Ephesians 4:4–6). In the end times, God will call back Israel as a nation to know and follow Him (Jeremiah 31:31–34). In fact, the purpose of the inclusion of the Gentiles into God's people is to make the Jews jealous for their God (Romans 11:11).
Some manuscripts include a verse after this one: "And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves" (Acts 28:29, NKJV). It is probably not original to Luke's text, but it neither adds nor subtracts from the passage. In fact, it reiterates Acts 28:25.
