THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

The cross in Acts

In the book of Acts, Luke continues the story he has told us in his Gospel, from the resurrection of Jesus to the imprisonment of Paul in Rome about thirty years later. It is the story of the growth of the Christian church from its first beginnings in Jerusalem, through those countries we now know as Syria and Turkey, and on to Greece and Rome. Luke records a summary of several sermons preached by Peter, and by Paul after his conversion, and other hints from which we can assess what was the heart of their message. We do not know all the sources Luke used for this book, but he certainly knew Paul very well and probably knew Peter and others who were closely associated with these events.

In many instances we are told that the disciples preached “the word of God” or the “word of the Lord” or simply “the word”. In a few instances it is “the kingdom of God” they proclaimed. However, when we are given more detail as to what that “word” was all about, the focus is always on Jesus, who he was, what he had done, and what he was offering to those who would put their faith in him. The main emphasis is on his death and resurrection.

One thing becomes evident in all the references to the death of Jesus in the book of Acts—there are no direct statements concerning the atoning nature of his death. Statements such as “he died for us”, “he died for our sins”, “he bore our sins” or “he was made sin for us”, which are so common in the letters of the New Testament, are not found here. I believe there are five reasons for this.

First, Luke was primarily a historian (and, as scholars recognise, a very good one) rather than a theologian. He records events rather than providing teaching. Though he wrote later, he was concerned to record what happened and what was preached at the time and not to record later theology.

Second, the earliest preaching of the gospel was to Jews. Most Jews of that time would have been familiar with the Old Testament writings and have had some expectation that one day God would send his Anointed One, who would deliver his people. Though there were differing ideas about the sort of person he would be or what he would achieve, this was a common expectation. It was natural, therefore, that the emphasis of the early Christians would be on proving to their hearers that this man Jesus, who had caused such a stir during his three years of teaching and healing around Galilee and Judea, and whom their leaders had persuaded Pilate to crucify, was indeed the one. And as Israel’s Messiah, his resurrection also proved him to be the world’s Lord. It is instructive to note all the terms used of Jesus in the early preaching and witnessing of the disciples.

He is the Christ or Messiah, the one foretold by the prophets (2:31, 36; 3:18, 20; 5:42; 9:22; 17:3; 18:5, 28), or David’s foretold descendant and God’s “anointed one” (4:26), both of which are messianic concepts.

He is “exalted to the right hand of God” in fulfilment of Psalm 110:1 (2:33-35; cf. 5:31; 7:55, 56).

He is “Lord” (2:36; 7:59, 60) or “Lord of all” (10:36). The Greek word used in the New Testament for “Lord” is the same word used for God in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament of that time.

He is God’s “servant” (3:13, 26) or “holy servant” (4:27, 30) and the “Righteous One” (3:14; 7:52), terms that echo the prophet Isaiah.

He is the “author of life”, whom they had killed! (3:15).

He is Prince and Saviour (5:31; 13:23) and there is salvation in none other, there being “no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (4:12).

He is the “Son of Man” (7:56), the figure in the book of Daniel to whom will be given “authority, glory, and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (7:13, 14).

He is “judge of the living and the dead” (10:42) and God has given proof to everyone that “he will judge the world with justice…by raising him from the dead”(17:31).
He is the one who will “bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (13:47—see Isaiah 49:6).

Third, there is not the emphasis on explaining the significance of the crucifixion that we find in the letters of the New Testament, because of the settings in which the early proclamations of the gospel were made. All the settings Luke describes are evangelistic settings. In other words, apart form the early preaching in Jerusalem, they were telling the good news of the gospel to those who had never heard of Jesus, or if they had, they would have had no idea who he really was. It was natural then to focus on his person, rather than on the saving nature of his death. We read that the early converts “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (2:42). What this teaching, which was addressed to those who had become Christians, consisted of, we do not know. I can imagine it contained much of what was later spelled out in more detail and depth in the letters that we have.

A fourth reason has to do with the nature of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Up to the point that Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples did not have much clue at all about what was going on. Jesus had told them that he had come “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). During his last meal with them he had clearly said that his body would be broken and his blood poured out “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). When he did die, it did not make sense. People die every day, often cruelly. That this death should be anything different, or have cosmological significance, was way beyond their perception. However, people don’t rise from the dead every day! It is understandable that this is what got their attention and started them thinking in totally new categories. It is understandable, also, that it was the resurrection they would focus on in their effort to convince their fellow countrymen that Jesus was indeed the promised messiah, which is what they did.

The fifth reason is that the full meaning of his death is something that takes time to digest. In my own personal experience this was the case. As a lad of about seventeen I experienced the forgiveness and the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life that is offered to us in the gospel. However, it was some time before it dawned on me that it was by means of the cross that Jesus had purchased that forgiveness on my behalf. The resurrection was obvious to the first disciples. After all, they had talked and eaten with him over a period of forty days after he had been well and truly dead and buried. No doubt, the significance of his death and why that had been necessary in order to reconcile us to God was one of the things he had talked about over those forty days. However, this was not at all as obvious as the fact that he was alive. It was Paul, after his conversion, possibly a year or two later, who grasped most clearly the implications of Christ’s death. I will explore the reasons for this in the next chapter.

What the early disciples did do, however, was to offer men and women the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection. In Acts the benefits are primarily twofold—forgiveness (2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38) and the gift of the Holy Spirit (2:38; 5:32; 8:17; 9:17; 10:44; 19:6). They could not only be fully reconciled to God, but he would come to live within them as a permanent abiding presence, transforming them from within and creating a new community of his people. This had been foretold by the Old Testament prophets, specifically Jeremiah (31:31-34) and Ezekiel (36:25-27). Receiving these benefits was conditional on their repentance, their trust in Jesus and their willingness to accept him as the Lord of their lives, signifying this repentance by being baptised (e.g. 2:38; 3:19; 5:31, 32; 10:43, 47; 17:30).

Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15 that “he received” the teaching that “Christ died for our sins” as of “first importance” (v. 3) is relevant here. He would have received this doctrine from members of the primitive church, probably within the first seven years after Jesus’ death, so it would have been part and parcel of their teaching. Similarly, in the same letter he tells how he “received from the Lord” the tradition of the Lord’s Supper with its emphasis on the body of Jesus given for us (11:23, 24). “Received from the Lord” probably means that, though he got it from the apostles, the teaching went back to Jesus himself. In addition, the allusions we find to Isaiah’s Suffering Servant in Acts are highly significant. He is God’s “holy servant” (3:13; 4:27) and it is Isaiah 53, where forgiveness and justification through sacrificial death are so prominent, that is specifically focused on by Philip in his discussion with the Ethiopian (8:32-35). In all the instances in Acts it is the Jesus who has died and risen who offers men and women forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Before leaving Acts, there is an interesting passage which occurs in Peter’s first sermon to the crowds in Jerusalem that is worth commenting on. He declared, “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (2:23). Here we have the mystery that we find also in other parts of the Bible, the mystery of the relationship between God’s sovereign purposes and human choice. It was God’s purpose from the beginning to send his Son to pay the price for our sins, in order to bring us back to himself. Indeed, the book of Revelation describes Jesus as “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (13:8). Octavius Winslow summed this up in a neat statement: “Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy;—but the Father, for love!” And yet, that in no way excuses those who were responsible for the deed. Maybe the answer to the mystery can be found in the word “foreknowledge”. God is not limited to time in the way we are. After all, he created time—in the big bang about 13.7 billion years ago according to modern scientific theory. But though he can foresee the future, this does not mean that he determines our actions and that we are not responsible for the choices we make. Maybe this is a mystery we have to live with and will no doubt become plain enough when we gather round the throne in glory. The early disciples did not hesitate to put the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus where it belonged (see also 3:13-15; 4:10, 11; 5:30; 7:51-53). Alan E. Lewis comments on this point:

Note the unmistakable and unflinching linguistic connections in the NT (paradosis) between God “giving up” the Son, and the Son “giving himself up” to death, on the one hand, and, on the other, human acts of betrayal and surrender, i.e., the “betraying” of Jesus by his disciples and his being “handed over” and “delivered up” to the Jewish and Roman authorities who destroyed him. See esp. Mark 9:31; 10:33; 14:10, 41, 42; 15:1, 15; Romans 8:32; Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 11:23.

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