In Acts 2:14-37, The Apostle Peter is credited with having preached that great sermon on the day of Pentecost as a result of which about 3,000 souls were added to them. Verse 14 reads thus: "But Peter, standing up with the eleven... preached)..." In verse 37 (read), "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?" To which Peter is said to have told them in verse 38, "repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Peter's message to them was the universal message of the gospel. Christ preached it to his disciples while on earth. They preached it after his resurrection. I believe that all of the apostles were preaching at the same time, what Peter is recorded as preaching. The language of verses 14 and 37 include "the eleven" and "the rest of the apostles", to whom the multitude inquired "what shall we do?" For a discourse on the area the apostles had available for each one to preach to his own huge number separated from Peter and each other by sufficient distance to grant all of them to have been preaching at the same time, see J.W. McGarvey's New Commentary on Acts of Apostles, published A.D. 1892, page 52 (Acts 3:11).

Quote:

"The structure that is here called a "porch" was a colonade constructed along the inner face of the enclosing wall of the outer court. It consisted, according to Josephus, of rows of stone columns twenty-seven feet high, with a roof of cedar resting on them and on the wall, so as to constitute a covered portico, with its inner side open toward the temple.

On the eastern side of the court there were two rows of these columns, making that portico

sixty feet deep and as long as the wall, which Josephus estimates at a furlong, though its exact measurement today is fifteen hundred and thirty feet. Across the southern end, which now measures nine hundred and twenty two feet, there were four rows of columns, making three walks or passages between them, each thirty feet deep, and consequently the depth of this portico was ninety feet.¹ These immense covered porticos, or cloisters, as Josephus calls them, served as a protection from the sun in the summer, and from the rain in the winter. They contained space sufficient for the great multitude of the disciples when assembled in one mass; and also for many separate meetings of large numbers to listen to different preachers speaking at the same time. All the twelve apostles might be preaching at the same hour, each to a large audience, and yet be far enough apart to avoid confusion of sound," end quote.

According to Josephus (note 1 above) there was a total of 14,555 square feet for each of the twelve apostles. According to what McGarvey saw in 1872 there was a total of 9,555 square feet for each apostle and his separate assembly.

The main idea sustained in the whole of this composition is that all of the apostles preached the same gospel (Paul included) regardless of what was recorded and credited to any one or all of the apostles in writing in our present record of the gospel (God's power unto salvation (Rom 1:16). The article "the" demands one and only one gospel. Therefore whatever was preached to Matthew by the Holy Spirit regarding marriage and divorce must have been delivered by the Holy Spirit to all of them, though not recorded in writing. (Jno 20:30; 21:25.).-KG. Wilks, McGregor, TX 76657.

NOTE: This article was received shortly before we learned of Bro. Wilks' death. He asked if I could publish it.--DLK