Everyone
who got where he is
had to begin where he was.
Robert
Louis Stevenson [1850-1894]
**************************
Rethinking the Spiritual
Significance of
the Question Posed to Peter in Acts 2:37
As
Jesus prepared to ascend back to the Father, where He would send
forth the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which had been
foretold not only by himself, but also by the prophet Joel (Joel
2:28-32), He gathered his eleven remaining apostles and commissioned
them to "be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,
Samaria and to the remotest part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The
desire of the lord was that the people of Israel, the nation chosen
by God, be given, yet again, the opportunity to receive the message
of the coiming Kingdom of God, the good news message. Time and again
they had rejected this offer of grace; their history was filled with
such rejection. Yet, the loving patience of the Father remained
steadfast. He desired for none of them to perish, but for all to
repent (i.e.
make
that life transforming turn
from darkness to light). The lord Jesus, their promised Messiah, was
that Light. "He came to his own, and those who were his own did
not receive him" (John 1:11). How this must have grieved the
lord, yet he remained patient; he remained hopeful. In his
commission, he instructed his apostles to begin with the Jews, the
very ones who had rejected him, as they shared the grace of God
through the telling of the "Jesus message of the coiming Kingdom
of God." The desire of God was that they would turn to Him;
indeed, that all men would. He would then extend "glory, honor
and peace" unto them, "to the Jew first and also to the
Greek" (Romans 2:10).
When
seeking to understand the New Covenant writings, we far too often
fail to factor in this divine imperative: It was to the people of
Israel that the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God was first
to be extended by the Spirit-filled ambassadors of God's anointed one
Jesus. Yes, all men would be welcome, and all men would be called,
but it was to begin
with
the Jews. Failing to perceive this fact will cause a failure to
perceive the true meaning and significance of the early days of the
called-out Assembly, and it will lead to some erroneous conclusions
and false theology. When you and I examine these early events through
"Gentile eyes," rather than from the perspective of the
Spirit's operation to effect an initial transformation within the
house of Israel, we will err greatly in the understandings we reach.
This is seen dramatically, for example, in Acts 2 as we examine the
"sermon" of the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost
immediately after the outpouring of the Spirit upon the disciples in
the upper room. That proclamation had a very specific audience in
mind; it was never intended to be a proclamation for all men
everywhere until the end of time. "But Peter, taking his stand
with the Eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: 'Men of
Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you,
and give heed to my words'" (Acts 2:14). "Men of Israel,
listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by
God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through
him in your midst, just as you yourselves know..." (vs. 22). He
ended this speech by saying: "Therefore let all the house of
Israel know for certain that God has made Him both lord and Messiah
-- this Jesus whom you crucified" (vs. 36).
The
first proclamation from the apostle Peter had nothing to do with
Gentiles. He and the others were to go first to the people of Israel,
and that is exactly what he did. This message was to the JEWS. Even
more specifically: it was to the Jews of that time and that place,
many of whom had been the very ones calling for the death of their
Messiah. It was a powerful repudiation of their rejection, and it was
a call to repentance for that specific denial of what God had
graciously done for them in the person and work of His son. The words
of Peter lashed them painfully, as the whip had lashed the back of
the one they denied. They were pierced to their inner core, as the
spear had pierced the side of the one they had denounced. This
message would have been lost on the Gentiles; not so with the house
of Israel. The arrows of this powerful message were directed right at
the heart of these Jewish men and women. "Now when they heard
this, they
were pierced to the heart"
(Acts 2:37a). They were convicted of the enormity of their crime.
They had "blown it" big time; they had "screwed up"
... this was not a minor infraction. They had called for, and
actively participated in, the murder of their own Messiah! How could
there possibly be any hope for them after this? Surely, their doom
(individually and as a nation) was assured. God would never forgive
this affront to His grace and mercy! Right?! Why would He?! All of
this was most assuredly running through their minds as they realized
that Jesus was indeed the Messiah ... and they had murdered Him!! In
their sense of horror at this revelation they had only one plea to
Peter and the other apostles: "Brethren,
what shall we do?!"
(Acts 2:37b).
We
today, as we view this whole passage through "Gentile eyes"
(and, too often, also through sectarian
eyes),
view this question as an appeal of "the lost" on how to
"get saved" (i.e.,
how to get into "the one true called-out Assembly" and thus
avoid being cast into the the lake of fire at the White Throne
Judgment and destroyed). In fact, many of you who read the above
question by these Jews probably felt I misquoted it. After all, we
generally ADD a phrase to it: "What shall we do to
be saved?"
That is NOT what they asked, however. A good many, at this point, may
not even have been fully convicted that they were "lost."
What they were
convicted
of, however, was a horrific failure to recognize their Messiah, and
even worse: they had called for his execution. Had they as a nation
now forever forfeited the blessing of having their Messiah among
them? Was this a one time offer, never to be repeated? Their question
was: "Men and fellow Jews, what shall we do now?!" (Acts
2:37b, The
NT in Modern English,
J.B. Phillips). These were Jews appealing to "fellow Jews"
for some enlightenment on how to FIX this and facilitate the return,
if that was even possible, of their Messiah. It is interesting, and
often overlooked, that Peter, in his second
sermon
to a Jewish audience (he begins it with the words "Men of
Israel, ..." -- Acts 3:12, just as he had in the first sermon),
assures them that if they would repent, their sins wouldl be wiped
away and their God would "send Jesus, the Messiah appointed for
you" (Acts 3:20). Yes, there was hope for the Jews who had
rejected and killed their Messiah. God had raised him up from the
dead, and He was still willing to share the gift of His son with
these Jews, if only they would turn to Him. Jesus was still willing
to be their Messiah; were they
willing
to receive
him
as such? And if they are,
are they willing to visibly, publicly manifest
- show that
conviction and commitment to Him?
James
spoke of the necessity for genuine people of faith to reflect
that
faith in their daily lives. There are many ways to do this, one of
which is to recreate through one's own action the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. If these Jews were now believers
in who Jesus was, and what he accomplished for them, then there was a
way to make this new relationship (acquired by grace through faith),
to which they had turned
to
embrace, visible. It was a ritual of washing; something the Jews were
all familiar with, although now it would be a ritual of washing in
the name of, by the power and authority of, Jesus the Messiah. They
must, in addition to saying
they
believe, SHOW that they believe. What better way for a JEW to do this
than to be immersed in and raised up from "a watery grave,"
an action that in a very visible way recreates the very atoning work
of the one they rejected, but who they now accept. It is this
Peter
advises them to do as an evidentiary act of faith and repentance.
Faith and repentance occur within the heart and mind of a person, but
if they are genuine then they will be evident in our daily walk in
the light with him. Immersion is only one of many such
manifestations. James, our Lord's brother, tells us that true faith
will SHOW itself (James 2:18). Such acts are not done to acquire
faith,
any more than such evidentiary acts are done to effect repentance.
Such acts show
the reality already within one's heart. If these "men of
Israel," therefore, desire to bring the Messiah, whom they had
rejected, into their midst, they must turn in faith from the
"perverse generation" (Acts 2:40) of which they were a
part, and turn toward the Lord with fullness of faith, commitment and
devotion. When this conviction takes hold in their hearts, then God
takes hold of them in love and mercy. They are, then, by grace
through faith, freed of their blood-guiltiness for taking the life of
Jesus, and the Father sends forth both the Spirit and the son into
their midst. This is the significance, within this
context and
to this
people,
of what is written in Acts 2:38. It was the FIX that would bridge the
gap between these "men of Israel" and their Messiah.
We
have taken a beautiful "Jesus story" showing the love of
God to a rebellious people, and we have reduced that redemptive
narrative to a few lifted texts (lifted out of their context to
become proof-texts) that we then seek to employ as validation of our
sectarian sacraments. In so doing, we have missed the whole point and
purpose of this account, forcing it instead to revolve around baptism
in water, thus elevating this one act to the level of law for all men
for all time. The only thing we reflect by this abuse of the text and
context is our own sectarianism and sacramentalism, and our own
failure, like the pre-Pentecost Jews, to perceive our savior. The
question of the Jews to Peter and the apostles that day was not about
how to get into the right congregation, or how to "be saved"
from "being cast into the lake of fire at the White Throne
Judgement." It was about how they were going to FIX the fact
that they had murdered their Messiah, and what they needed to do,
both individually and collectively, to have that sin removed, in the
hope that the Messiah might return to them. It is this question
Peter answered that day.
This
is why Peter, in his second sermon (Acts 3), makes no mention at all
of baptism in water, even though he is essentially repreaching that
first sermon. He points out to the "men of Israel" that
although they have murdered the Messiah, such action was nevertheless
predetermined by the Lord God. "The things which God announced
beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Messiah should
suffer, He has thus fulfilled" (Acts 3:18). He gives the "men
of Israel" a word of hope: "Brethren, I know that you acted
in ignorance, just as your rulers did also" (vs. 17). This opens
the door to a heartfelt repentance based on the enlightenment they
had received as to the identity of Jesus. It paved the way for their
acceptance by God, for the coming of a refreshing renewed
relationship with the Father, and for the return of the Messiah to
their midst (although this would be at present in a spiritual
indwelling rather than a physical presence). Now we come to the Acts
2:38 parallel in this second sermon: "Repent therefore and
return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may
send Jesus, the Messiah appointed for you" (Acts 3:19-20).
Baptism is never mentioned in this passage. It is never even hinted
at. Peter certainly would not deny its worth as a manifestation of
the reality of one's faith and turning, yet he shows us that this
particular act was never meant to be the
precise
point of one's salvation from the "second death." What is
important
in this context with these "men of Israel" is that they all
must now TURN TOWARD the Messiah, rather than continuing along that
crooked path AWAY FROM the Messiah, a path the Jews had traveled far
too long.
The
people of Israel who heard Peter on these two occasions were indeed
called to "salvation," but it was a salvation of another
kind. Peter said, "Be saved from this perverse generation!"
(Acts 2:40). Peter's focus was on that
generation;
the one in which these people lived; these descendants of Israelites
who, like them, had repeatedly spurned the grace and mercy of God.
The word translated "perverse" is the Greek word "skolios,"
which means "crooked, curved, twisted." From this word
comes the medical term "scoliosis,"
which refers to an abnormal curvature of the spine. We've all heard
the Mother Goose nursery rhyme: "There was a crooked man, and he
walked a crooked mile, ..." The generation of Jews assembled
before Peter that day were "men of Israel" who were walking
a twisted path, spiritually speaking, rather than the "straight
path" that led to the Light and Life of men. It is in this
sense
that they were characterized as a "perverse generation."
Those Jews on Pentecost who were now aware of the true identity of
Jesus needed to get off that "crooked path" upon which the
"crooked people" were walking, and they needed to return to
the "straight path." That straight path to the Father was
Jesus the Messiah. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6). Peter
called them to be "saved" from that blind mass of twisted
people walking a twisted path, and turn to the straight path of
Jesus. Even Jesus himself characterized the Jews of his day with the
same words: "O unbelieving and perverse generation; how long
shall I stay with you and put up with you?" (Luke 9:41). Later,
Jesus said that he would "be rejected by this generation"
(Luke 17:25), which certainly constituted a spiritual perversity.
Even Moses spoke of the faithless Israelites thusly: "They have
acted corruptly toward Him; to their shame they are no longer His
children, but a perverse and crooked generation" (Deuteronomy
32:5). In essence, Peter was telling these "men of Israel"
to come out of and be separate from the unbelieving generation of
Jews around them. Don't continue to be a part of their unbelief, for
unless you extricate yourselves from their midst you will experience
the same fate that must befall them for their disbelief. The apostle
Paul would later urge the brethren in Philippi to evidence within
their own walk the attitude and actions of Jesus the Messiah
(Philippians 2:5), "so that you may prove yourselves to be
blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst
of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights
in the world" (vs. 15).
Peter
calls these "men of Israel" to preserve themselves from the
perverse disbelievers around them. Paul, quoting from the Old
Covenant writings, wrote, "I will dwell in them and walk among
them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate. And do not
touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you. And I will be a Father
to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me" (2
Corinthians 6:16-18). What was the SIN of these people that was
before their eyes as they appealed to Peter on that Pentecost almost
two millennia ago? It was the sin of rejecting, plotting against,
mocking and murdering their Messiah. In his second sermon, Peter
would graciously state that they did so in ignorance. Nevertheless,
they had "missed the mark" of the Messiah about as far as
it could be missed. They now sought a way out of the hopelessness
they felt by being party to such a godless deed. The way out was
simply to turn from that path in genuine faith and begin to walk in
the light with the Anointed One of God.
"They
were pricked in their heart; stung with remorse at the exceeding
wickedness of their crime in the crucifixion; they must have been
amazed at the stupid blindness with which they had acted" [H.
Leo Boles, A
Commentary on Acts of the Apostles,
p. 45]. The words of Peter to them that day stung
them
deeply and fiercely. This particular Greek word is "only used
here in the New Testament; the word does not even occur in profane
Greek. It was the sharp, painful emotion, the sting,
produced by Peter's words. Cicero, speaking of the oratory of
Pericles, says that his speech left stings
in
the minds of his hearers" [Dr. Marvin Vincent, Word
Studies in the New Testament,
vol. 1, p. 455]. These men of Israel were inwardly pricked or stung
by the indictment of Peter. Their sin was enormous, for they had not
only refused to listen to or follow the teachings of Jesus, they had
gone so far as to call for and insist upon his DEATH. "They now
believe that Jesus is the anointed one – their Messiah, and they
are pierced to the heart with the thought that they have murdered
Him. ... The idea of salvation from their sin could
scarcely yet have had a place in their minds" [J.W. McGarvey,
New
Commentary on Acts of Apostles,
vol. 1, p. 37]. The concern of these individuals that day was far
more focused than "heaven or hell" theology. They had
killed the son of God!! What now was going to befall their beloved
nation?! How could this possibly be fixed? "What shall we do to
escape the penalties which must fall on the nation that has so sinned
against light and knowledge; who have had the true Light in their
midst, but have comprehended it not, and have crucified the lord of
glory?" [The
Pulpit Commentary,
vol. 18, p. 90]. For a people whose theology was tied intimately to
the land and the nation, this was HUGE! Their sin was against GOD and
His son, and they could only assume punishment from above was about
to descend upon them with a fury they could not even imagine!! What
hope could they now realistically experience when they had crucified
the very one who was their hope of a bright future?! "So, with
deep anguish they cried out, 'Brothers, what shall we do?!'"
[The
Expositor's Bible Commentary,
vol. 9, p. 282].
When
all seems hopeless, when darkness seems to overwhelm us, when we can
perceive no way out, no ray of hope -- it is then
that
God's grace, mercy and love shine the brightest! "Incredible as
it must appear, Peter told them that there was
hope
for them even
now"
[Dr. F.F. Bruce, Commentary
on the Book of the Acts,
p. 75]. They thought all was lost, but some divine qualities
remained: "Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; and the
greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). God's great
steadfast love plus our faith in Him results in a HOPE that will
never fail us. It abides,
as will we, if we embrace by faith His gracious free gift of life.
That free gift of grace, however, has a high price: it cost Jesus his
life, and it will cost us ours as well. He died for me that I may
live for him, both in active service here to his commission, and then
forevermore with him in the new heavens and earth. There is nothing I
can DO to merit this free gift, but I can
resolve to
spend my life showing my gratitude for that gift. What was the FIX
for the "men of Israel" that day? It was plainly and simply
"a complete change of heart, a spiritual right-about-turn"
[ibid].
As Peter would later explain, "God made no distinction between
us and them, cleansing
their hearts by faith"
(Acts 15:9). When they were pierced by the word of grace, they
believed; a commitment belief that led to a transformational turn in
their life-journey. As Peter told the "men of Israel" in
his second sermon, "Repent of your sins and turn to God, so that
your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from
the presence of the Lord, and He will again send you Jesus, your
appointed Messiah" (Acts 3:19-20, New
Living Translation).
Hallelujah, what a Savior!!
Written by Al Maxey and edited by Bruce Lyon
