What was Paul's appeal to the Jews during his ministry of establishing churches?
During his church-planting ministry, Paul appealed to Jews to come out of blindness and legalism and step into the Light of God's Grace. He referred to Abraham and used Isaac and Ishmael as pictures of Law and Grace, drawing on Old Testament examples. This was his consistent appeal while roaming the Roman Empire.
Les teaches that when Paul was roaming the Roman Empire and establishing churches, his appeal to the Jews was to come out of their blindness and out of their legalism and step into the Light of God's Grace. Paul constantly referred to Abraham, and he used Isaac and Ishmael as an allegory or picture of Law and Grace. He kept flipping back into the Old Testament, using the Jew as examples, as he appealed to them. This same theme runs through Galatians, where the whole six chapters deal with Grace rather than Law. That period continued until Acts 28, when there is an interruption in Paul's ministry: he is arrested and taken to prison in Rome.