Acts 22:21

A common misinterpretation of Acts 22:21 is to view it as evidence that God has abandoned or rejected the Jewish people in favor of Gentiles alone, suggesting a supersessionist theology where the church fully replaces Israel; this ignores the broader context of Paul's ministry, which prioritized preaching to Jews first (as in Romans 1:16), his ongoing sorrow for his kindred (Romans 9-11), and the fact that the vision explains the riots against him rather than a wholesale shift away from Israel, while Scripture consistently teaches God's enduring faithfulness to His covenants with the Jews alongside the gospel's expansion.

In Acts 22:21, Paul recounts a divine vision where the Lord commissions him to depart and carry the gospel 'far hence unto the Gentiles,' revealing God's sovereign plan to extend salvation beyond Israel to all nations, affirming Paul's unique apostolic calling as the apostle to the Gentiles while fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the inclusion of non-Jews in God's redemptive purposes, and underscoring the universal scope of Christ's mission as proclaimed in the Great Commission.