Sermons of the Apostles: Peter in Acts 2

FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2023 

CHRISTIANITY / BIBLE / ACTS 

You can learn a lot about the early church, just from reading the little sermons given by the apostles in the books of Acts.   

I'm currently working on a project where I'm extracting out the sermons given by the apostles.  The purpose of this exercise is very simple: to get at the essentials of what the early church believed from the very first days of the church.   

By looking at just the apostle's sermons, we can get a sense of their theology in regards to who they thought Jesus was, and why he was essential for salvation.   

The first extract is one of the most famous: Peter addressing the crowd at Pentecost, right after the infilling of the Holy Spirit:

But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say.  In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.  But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:

‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says,

‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people,

and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

and your young men will see visions,

and your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

And I will perform wonders in the sky above

and miraculous signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

The sun will be changed to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know—  this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles.  But God raised him up, having released him from the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held in its power. For David says about him,

‘I saw the Lord always in front of me,

for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced;

my body also will live in hope,

because you will not leave my soul in Hades,

nor permit your Holy One to experience decay.

You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of joy with your presence.’

“Brothers, I can speak confidently to you about our forefather David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  So then, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne,  David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay.  This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it.  So then, exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out what you both see and hear.  For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says,

‘The Lord said to my lord,

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet.”’

Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.”

Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”  With many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!”So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added.

Acts 2:14-41 - New English Translation

https://netbible.org/bible/Acts+2


Commentary:

It's interesting to note that in the first ever recorded sermon on the death and resurrection of Jesus, Peter leaves out a phrase that you hear all the time in modern day Christianity: that Jesus died for our sins.  

Peter certainly tells us that Jesus did, in fact die; that he did, in fact, resurrect from the dead; and that belief in him will lead to your salvation, and that belief in Jesus does allow for your sins to be forgiven.  But he never says explicitly that Jesus died for your sins.  One might argue, and argue correctly, that the theology of atonement is present implicitly in this mini sermon, but it's strange it's not stated more bluntly.   

One thing for sure, belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus all seem to be equally important for a person's salvation, at least that's what Peter seems to be hinting at.   

But the punch line of this sermon isn't the atoning death of Jesus, but the resurrection life of Jesus and the pouring out of the promised Holy Spirit.   The part about Jesus dying was a necessary consequence of God needing to show us that Jesus is far more powerful than death, and the big idea you need to understand from this sermon is that by believing in Jesus, not only will your sins be forgiven, but you too can look forward towards resurrection yourself.   

My entire life as a Christian has been the constant reminder of the theology of the atonement: Jesus dying for my sins.   It does not matter what church or denomination I went to, they all harp on that point, and the one who goes the furthest in reminding of you of it constantly is the Catholic Church.  

But when you read the four gospels and the book of Acts, there's hardly a word spoken about it!  Rather, the emphasis is always on the resurrection of Christ from the dead, not the atoning sacrifice.   That bit of theology comes later on, and mostly from the pen of Paul, but even he is far more interested in the resurrection than the atonement.   

One could almost say, using only the four gospels and the book of Acts, that it wasn't the crucifixion and death of Jesus that saves us from our sins, but his resurrection from death.   If you think about it logically and critically, it makes a lot of sense to think of it that way. 

"Jesus resurrected from death for our sins"

- Pseudo Boethius 


COMMENTARY ON JUDGES 2:1-5

BIBLE / OLD TESTAMENT / JUDGES

A small passage, but it has HUGE ramifications: 

Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,  and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?  So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”  As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.  And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord.

- Judges 2:1-5 ESV

The story here is simple, as it is tragic.  When God brought the Jews out of Egypt, he told them, multiple times, that they were to completely wipe-out all the people that were living in the Promised Land,  but they refused to do this.  Instead, they allowed them to continue living in the land, and even started hanging out with them, and inter-marrying with them.  This was a direct violation of God's command, and God was not happy.  As a result of their compromise, the Jews brought unnecessary pain and suffering upon themselves.  

Amongst today's bible scholars, God is often criticized for his no-compromise policy with the evil inhabitants of the promised land.  He is called, by some, a genocidal maniac, and a monster.  Killing all the people of a given land offends our modern sensibilities.  But God told the Israelites multiple times that these people needed to be killed, because they were evil.  The Israelites were to carry out God's wrath on a people who were anti-God,  but they refused. 

So what can we learn from this passage here in the 21st century?  

What we can learn is this: we must never, ever compromise with those things that will take us from a pure and focused devotion to God.  Once you start compromising with the things of the world, you will end up in a world of hurt.   

As Christians, we know there are a bunch of things in this world that are far less than Christian, even (sadly) other Christians!   Many of these things are obvious: illicit sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, pornography, violence, godless political movements, and so on.   But in this world of mass media and high speed internet access, we must always be on guard for all sorts of things that can easily upset our equilibrium.  

It's no fun playing defense constantly.  It's tiresome, boring, frustrating, and it just plain wears you out.  Hence, one needs to adopt the policy that God gave to the Jews: you are to go on the offense.  You are to take no prisoners.   You are to conquer all that is laid out before you, and be victorious.  And God will grant you victory.   

Now that does not mean that you have license to finish the job that the Jews left unfinished, and go kill every ungodly person or wishy-washy woke-a-doke "Christian" you can find.  The rules have changed since the time of Moses and Joshua, though the mission has not. You must confront godlessness where-ever you find it.  And the primary "land" that you have been given to conquer is yourself, your family, and your household.   

The weapons of are warfare are not swords, guns or knives.  Rather the offensive that we are to engage in requires bibles, prayer, spiritual books, wise men and woman, sacred music, good churches, and even more prayer.  Our battlefield is the spiritual realm, and we fight our battles on our knees.  But it's much easier to fight those battles when you empty your life of all distractions from your task.   

Be merciless in getting rid of anyone or anything who is exerting a negative influence in your life.  

Be merciless in getting rid of any TV or radio show that just pushes your buttons and manipulates your emotions.   

Be merciless in getting rid of any books or magazines that don't feed your soul and refresh your mind.  

Be merciless in getting rid of any internet podcast, blog or website that isn't telling you the absolute truth.   

Be merciless in avoiding any company trying to sell you things that openly supports the cultural Marxism of wokism.  

Be merciless in working against any politician or political leader who pushes a cultural Marxist / woke agenda.  

Be merciless in getting rid of any food or beverage that provides empty calories without any healthy benefits.   

Be merciless in getting rid of any music or movies that don't encourage you and lift you up.   

Be merciless in your pursuit of discipline, prayer, spiritual reading, and godly people.   Hold on to such things tightly!

Be merciless in your pursuit of God.  Do not allow anything to get in your way, but pursue Him no matter what.  

And be merciless in raising your voice and condemning the godless sin and violence that has overtaken the earth at this hour.  

When God saw that that Jews were happily compromising with the very people he wanted dead, he brought pain and suffering on them all.   Eventually, God will have had enough of the evil in this world, and he will act.  There's no doubt about it.

Right now you need to choose who's side you want to be on.  There have always and forever been just two sides: that of the world, or that of God.   Choose wisely!   And the consequences of your choice will be felt not only here on earth, but in the life to come, and for all of eternity. 

2023-03-21
- Pseudo Boethius