Real Restoration: Acts: Paul’s Sermon at Antioch in Pisidia

In Acts 13, we read Paul’s first recorded sermon, delivered early during his first missionary journey —

(Act 13:16-41 ESV) 6 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.”

“You who fear God” is a reference to Gentile believers in God. Paul was speaking in a synagogue, and there were Gentiles present for Torah study.

17 “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.  18 And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.  19 And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.  20 All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.  21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.  22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 

Just as Peter and Stephen did, Paul reminded his listeners of God’s redemptive story. Unlike Stephen, Paul’s theme isn’t Israel’s disobedience and rejection of God’s prophets. Rather, Paul emphasizes God’s movement in history. God “chose our fathers,” “made the people great,” “led them,” “put up with them,” “gave them their land,” “gave them judges,” “gave them Saul,” and “raised up David.” The lesson is God’s love and providential care for Israel.

“23 Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.”

Again, the subject of Paul’s sentence is “God.” God, who has repeatedly shown his love for Israel by giving them many good things, has now given them Jesus.

“Savior” is a term used of God repeatedly in the Old Testament. To call Jesus “Savior” before a Jewish audience was to call him “God.”

24 “Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.  25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'”

John the Baptist was widely recognized to have been a prophet, and Paul reminds them that John said he would shortly be followed by the Messiah. Paul is building his case that Jesus is the Messiah.

26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.”

“Message of salvation” is likely a reference to —

(Isa 52:7 ESV) 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Paul then turns to more recent history —

27 “For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.  28 And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.  29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.”

The idea that Jesus was crucified on a “tree” had apparently become a standard part of the Christian message by this time, even though the language means that Jesus was cursed under the Torah. It may be that the Christians’ Jewish opponents were using the crucifixion as evidence that Jesus could not be the Messiah, and so the Christians adopted their position as an ironic proof text.

(Gal 3:13-14 ESV)  13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” — 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Thus, Paul can argue that Jesus became accursed on our behalves, suffering the curse that we deserve.

30 “But God raised him from the dead,  31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.”

Paul then, as always, turns to the resurrection, and as in 1 Cor 15, refers to the witnesses of his resurrection. The resurrection shows that the Messiah is much more than an earthly king — he is King of the Universe.

32 “And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,  33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

“‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

34 “And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

35 “Therefore he says also in another psalm,

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,  37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.  38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,  39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.  40 Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

41 “‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.'”

Finally, Paul takes his listeners through a series of prophecies to show that Jesus is the Messiah and died as the scriptures say.

This is the conclusion of his sermon. There’s no invitation to be baptized or even to have faith in Jesus. Rather, Paul contents himself with demonstrating that Jesus is the Messiah. You see, the fact that Jesus is the Messiah is the core of Paul’s gospel.

The modern Churches of Christ don’t teach this, not really. We ask our converts to recite “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” but how many of our converts could tell us the meaning of “Christ”? Most, I suspect, would say that it means he’s divine, a part of the Godhead. We emphasize “Son of the Living God” purely in the sense of the Nicene Creed. Our theology is Fourth Century.

In the Old Testament, “Son of God” refers to the king sitting on David’s throne. This is, of course, Jesus, who is part of the Godhead.

In the Old Testament, this is primarily language of kingship, rule, and authority, not the language of triune relationship. (Although I’m quite orthodox in my understanding of the nature of the Trinity. And it’s a vitally important theological fact. But it’s not what we are called to confess.)

The Nicene Creed says,

We believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God,
begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made;
who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father.
And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead,
whose kingdom shall have no end.

Now, I agree with every word of that. But how does that compare to Peter’s and Paul’s preaching?

Yes, the words “Christ” and “Son of God” are there, but many who recite this creed do not understand that “Christ” and “Son of God” are references to the Messiah as king of Israel, sitting on the throne of David.

Yes, there’s mention of the “kingdom,” but no reference to citizenship or faithfulness. Rather, we hear “church” rather than “realm in which Jesus is in authority as the king.” They are similar concepts, but not exact synonyms — and certainly submitting to the rule of a king is a very different thought from being baptized to be forgiven of sins.

These are not contradictory ideas at all. Both are true. But we choose to emphasize the abstract part that demands very little of us. It sells better.

Notice how “faith” has been reduced to belief is certain propositions. There’s nothing here about a transformed life or submission to Jesus as king. Yes, he’s called “Lord,” but what does that title compel me to be or to do?

The Nicene Creed was hammered out in an effort to resolve a doctrinal dispute, and the result of this creed and the many that followed was to subtly shift Christianity from being about God’s story and mission — both of which are entirely missing — to intellectual acceptance of the right propositions. Having the right positions on the issues became more important than actually serving in God’s mission.

It didn’t happen all at once, and it’s rarely gone to the extreme of eliminating all obligations to obey. But the shift is quite dramatic in historical terms. We see it in the division of the Roman Catholic Church from the Eastern Orthodox Church over whether communion bread is to be leavened and over whether the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son or just the Father. Really.

We see it in the Reformation division between Lutherans and Calvinists due to disagreement over consubstantiation. We see it in the French religious wars during which the Huguenots (French Calvinist Prostestants) and Catholics treated each other so horribly, with many deaths and atrocities on both sides, that France turned to atheism after the French Revolution rather than have anything to do a “Christianity” that focused on torturing “heretics.”

And we see it in the continued divisions within the Churches of Christ and among most American denominations. We place inferential doctrines at the center of our faith rather than loyalty to our King, who sits on the throne of heaven, weeping that his brothers and sisters have turned the mission of God to redeem the world into fights over nuances and unrevealed truths.

Many declare a church that sends no missionaries, serves no poor, saves no souls, and evidences no love as “sound” if it sings a cappella, while declaring an otherwise identical church “apostate” if it uses a piano, even though it sends missionaries who convert hundreds, feeds the poor by the thousands, baptizes scores, and brightly shines with the love of Jesus.

Conformity to questionable theological speculations is far more important to many among us than love, evangelism, missions, and serving the needy. And yet, if we truly knew God and his story, that couldn’t happen.

Our theology is often more Grecian than Jewish, and owes more to Plato and Aquinas than Jesus and Paul.