One In Jesus

Of course, an element of all of this has to be social justice. Well … “social justice” isn’t really the best term and is likely more confusing than helpful.

In the Law and the Prophets, the repeatedly stated reasons for the Exile were a lack of faith, idolatry, breaking God’s commandments, and a lack of concern for the poor and vulnerable of society, especially the fatherless, the widows, and the sojourners.

When we read Luke, we find Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, inspired by the Spirit to announce the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom in terms of God’s blessings on the needy.

In Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus announces blessings on the poor and curses on the rich.

In Acts, we find the newly founded church sharing their possessions, food, and homes not only in hospitality but to care for those in need. Continue reading →

“Exile and Repentance” seems rather an odd topic for a single blog post, much less a ridiculous 19 posts (so far). But I hope that the series has helped us all see scriptures in a new light.

It’s not that what we’ve been traditionally taught is wrong but our traditional reading of the text has been very incomplete. We’ve very nearly read the Jewish background out of the texts, forcing countless round texts into square holes.

The OT was written to the Jewish people. The NT was written to a church that was partly Jewish and partly Gentile, but it was largely written by Jews to address Jewish concerns derived from the Jews’ understanding of their place in God’s covenant history. Continue reading →

Acts 5

We’ll move more quickly through the rest of Acts, just to show how this understanding of the scriptures makes better sense of the text than our usual reading.

For example, when the Sanhedrin called the apostles in for questioning, Peter responds,

(Act 5:29-32 ESV) 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.  30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.  31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.  32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

It’s a peculiar phrase to our ears in v. 31: “to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” The Sanhedrin, Torah scholars all, would have understood Peter to be speaking of the need to repent to obtain forgiveness from God to end the Exile. But why “to give repentance”? We don’t normally think of repentance as a gift! Continue reading →

Faith and repentance

So Peter asked the devout crowd in Jerusalem to repent. They were good and religious Jews, but they had no faith in Jesus as Messiah — and to turn to God, they had to turn to Jesus. There was and is no other path.

Some weeks ago, in the comments, the question was raised how this could be? After all, many — perhaps most — of these devout Jews had never even heard of Jesus. Fewer still had heard that he’s the Messiah. Fewer still had any idea that he was and is God the Son. How could they repent from not believing what they’d never been taught.

But under anyone’s interpretation, the fact is that faith in Jesus as Messiah is required for salvation. Whether or not that concept is found in “repent” in Acts 2:38, the concept is obviously a central claim of Christianity and Peter’s urging that the crowd be baptized in the name of Jesus Messiah certainly required faith in Jesus as Messiah. So what I’m saying is hardly revolutionary. It’s just that I’m posing the question in an unfamiliar way — but it’s an important way of asking the question. Why on earth does God require faith in Jesus at this juncture in  history? Why not simply repent of sin? Continue reading →

“Repent”

(Act 2:38-39 ESV)  38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

To no one’s surprise, the solution is to repent. The Prophets had been preaching repentance for 1,000 years! Of course, Peter preaches repentance! The question is what does repentance require?

Well, what sin was the audience charged with? Rejection of Jesus as Messiah and LORD. How would they repent of that rejection? By accepting Jesus as Messiah and LORD. Faith.

In this passage, “repent” means “have faith in Jesus as the Messiah and LORD.” Every word of Peter’s sermon points to this claim. Continue reading →