The Sermons of Peter

 

PETER'S PENTECOST SERMON

 

Imagine for a moment you are a devout Jew or a proselyte of the first century. Your native country is, say, Mesopotamia or Greece. You've made a long journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost - the Feast of First Fruits. Keep in mind that you have the Jewish paradigm of preexistence, that certain things preexist, not literally, but in the mind of God, in his plan. You are VERY monotheistic. You have no concept that the one God of Israel - Yahweh, who alone is God, who alone created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, - is 3-in-one, or one-in-3, a Trinity, or that the messiah is actually to be God incarnate. That kind of language is more like the polytheistic religions that are all around you which you adamantly and vehemently reject. Perhaps you've heard rumors of a prophet in Israel like the prophets of old, or even that this prophet claimed to be the Messiah. According to what you've heard, you've concluded that this is not the Messiah because the Romans executed him and Israel is still awaiting her liberation.

 

You are in the crowd on the Day of Pentecost when the disciples of this executed prophet cause a commotion. You hear them telling of the mighty works of God in your own tongue and not theirs. You hear Peter's sermon on that day (Read Acts 2:5-36). Among other things, you hear Peter say,
 

You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know. (Acts 2:22)

 

You also hear Peter's conclusion,

 

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36)

 

Perhaps you were one of the three thousand souls added to the Kingdom of God that day.

 

My point is, there is NOTHING in this message that even implies that Jesus was God. The opposite is explicitly stated - he was a man attested by God. It is very clear that believing Jesus was God Himself clothed in human flesh is not a requirement for salvation. What is required is that you believe that Jesus was a man who was attested by God, the same God who has made the man Jesus both Lord and Messiah. God raised this man, Jesus, from the dead - which verifies the claim that he (Jesus) is the messiah.

 

THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN

 

Again, imagine with me that we are first century Jews in Jerusalem. It is the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And so we have gone up to the temple to pray. There is a lame man at the gate, lame from birth and more than 40 years old, asking for alms of those who entered, he is there every day, he's a fixture. We give him some alms as we enter the temple. A minute or two later there is a big commotion. The lame man has entered the temple, walking and leaping and praising God! We are filled with wonder and amazement! How did this happen? We hear Peter's explanation (Read Acts 3:11-26).

 

Among other things, we hear Peter say,

 

"The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And by faith in his name hath his name made this man strong, whom ye behold and know: yea, the faith which is through him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

 

Now when Peter speaks of "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers" we KNOW who he's speaking of - YHWH - the ONE God, the ONE AND ONLY ONE God, who ALONE created the heavens and the earth. Then we hear Peter call Jesus YHWH's SERVANT. We know exactly what Peter is saying. He is speaking our language! We know that Isaiah the prophet had foretold that YHWH would have a servant, a very special servant.

 

Is 52:13ff: Behold, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at him - so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals - so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

 

Note that the Servant is not YHWH - that concept never occurred to us, and NOTHING that Peter has said suggests it to us.

 

We also hear Peter say;

 

"Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."

 

Again, Peter is speaking our language! THE prophet! The one raised up from among us Jews! The one like Moses! The SERVANT of Isaiah 52! The one spoken by Samuel and ALL the prophets! In the name of Jesus this lame man walks! Jesus must be THE prophet, the SERVANT, the one of whom every prophet spoke! To top it all off, Peter has said that "God (YHWH) has raised him from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." YHWH has raised this man from the dead! And there were witnesses! He (Jesus) must truly be the messiah.

 

No implication, no hint, no suggestion, that Jesus IS actually YHWH. The very idea would be blasphemous to the extreme. Nothing that Peter has said suggests that idea to us. What Peter has said is right in line with our concept, our very Jewish concept, of who and what the Messiah is. Peter and John are claiming that they are witnesses to the fact that YHWH raised Jesus from the dead, and that YHWH is affirming Peter and John's message by healing this lame man through them, and therefore Jesus is the Messiah.

 

PETER'S MESSAGE TO CORNELIUS

 

Now imagine with me that we belong to the household of Cornelius. Cornelius is a Roman centurion, a professional Roman soldier. As such, Cornelius has sworn an oath that Caesar is Lord, which is an oath of fealty, of obedience. Yet Cornelius is characterized by Luke in Acts 10:2 as a devout man who prayed constantly to God. We know about what has happened to Cornelius, how an angel appeared to him and told him to send for Simon Peter who is staying in Joppa (Read Acts 10.). We are in the room with Cornelius as Peter speaks. Remember, we are Romans, not Jews - our conception is that Caesar is Lord of the earth. We, being educated Gentiles, might have some concept of God as some kind of timeless, static, absolute being a la Plato's World of Forms or Aristotle's "Immovable Mover."

 

Among other things, we hear Peter say,

 

"...God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the word which he [God] sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)..."

 

Nothing Peter has said suggests to us that Jesus is NOT only a man. God "sent" him to Israel and Peter has called him "Christ" which means, "Anointed" which means, "Messiah." That's a Jewish term and is probably of only nominal interest to us. However, when Peter casually says that Jesus "is Lord of all", THAT is an extremely dangerous and discomfiting statement because the implied antithesis is that Caesar is NOT lord.

Peter continues,

 

"...God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."

 

Again, no suggestion that Jesus is God. On the contrary, Peter identifies a certain man from a certain place - Jesus of Nazareth - and says that God was with him.

 

Peter says,

 

"They [the Jews] put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses...He [Jesus] is the one ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead."

 

While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit "fell on all who heard the word" - that would be us. The Jews who came with Peter are amazed that we - uncircumcised Gentile heathen - are speaking in tongues and extolling God. We have received the Spirit just like they did! We now know that Jesus is Lord - not Caesar. Jesus is the one ordained by God to be the judge of all - not Caesar. We now know that "every one who believes in him [Jesus] receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

 

Next: The Sermons of Paul