This week we slowed our pace to analyze the development of early beliefs about Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy about a coming Messiah. We looked at the variety of "primitive" terms Peter used to describe Jesus as he tailored his message to such a faithful, Jewish audience.
We discovered that although Peter's Colonnade speech was structured as a "forensic judicial speech," it was very similar to the flow of his Pentecost sermon. Because of this, we were able to compare and contrast the calls to repentance (2:38 & 3:19). It is interesting to see the variation in terms amidst the consistency of the overall message. Peter's ultimate goal was redemption for his fellow Jews who had—in complete ignorance—killed the prophesied Messiah.
2. COMPARING SERMONS
PENTECOST SERMON (ACTS 2) COLONNADE SERMON (ACTS 3)
STRUCTURALLY PROCLAMATION REPENTANCE PROCLAMATION REPENTANCE
FINISHED & POLISHED ROUGH HEWN
THEMATICALLY DENIAL & VINDICATION OF JESUS DENIAL & VINDICATION OF JESUS
REMNANT THEOLOGY
GENEROUS TOWARD ISRAEL
CHRISTOLOGICALLY USES A NUMBER OF PRIMITIVE AND ARCHAIC
TITLES USED OF JESUS WITHIN EARLY
CHRISTIANITY
DIFFERENCES PARADIGM OF EARLY APOSTOLIC
PREACHING
HOW THE EARLY CONGREGATION OF
JERUSALEM PROCLAIMED THE MESSAGE OF
JESUS TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AS A WHOLE
3. “PRIMITIVE” CHRISTOLOGICAL
TITLES, TERMS & CONCEPTS
• God’s Servant (Isaiah 42-53)
• Prophet Like Moses (Deut. 18:15, 18-19; Acts 3:22-23)
• “Raising Up” — as in “raising up a leader” (Acts 3:22)
• “The Holy One”
• “The Righteous One”
• “The Name of Jesus” — “The Name” was a pious Jewish
surrogate for God and connoted His divine presence and power.
5. COMPARISON
ACTS 2:38
• Then Peter said to them,
“Repent,
• and let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ
• for the remission of sins;
• and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.
ACTS 3:19
• (Peter responded to the people, v. 12)
“Repent therefore
• and be converted, [ better: “turn” ]
.
.
• that your sins may be blotted out,
• so that times of refreshing may come from
the presence of the Lord,
6. MAIN RESOURCES QUOTED/USED
• PHOTO OF TEMPLE MOUNT: By Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30066666
• Achtemeier, Paul J., Joel B. Green, Marianne Meye Thompson. Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology Hardcover. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001.
• Archer, Gleason. Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Company, 1982.
• Aymer, Margaret. “The Acts of the Apostles.” Women’s Bible Commentary, edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Rindge, Jacqueline E. Lapsley, 536-546. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press,
2012.
• Bruce, F.F. The Book of the Acts. The New International Commentary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984.
• Gentz, William, General Editor. Dictionary of Bible and Religion. New York: Abingdon Press, 1986.
• Longenecker, Richard N. “Acts,” in John and Acts. Vol. 9 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary with the New International Version, edited by Frank E. Gæbelein, 205-573. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1981.
• MacGregor, G.H.C. and Theodore P. Ferris. “The Acts of the Apostles,” in Acts and Romans. Vol. 9 of The Interpreters Bible, edited by George Arthur Buttrick, 3-354. New York: Abingdon Press,
1954.
• Marshall, I, Howard. Tyndale Commentary of the New Testament: The Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980.
• Martin, Ralph P. New Testament Foundations: Volume 2. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978.
• McGarvey, J.W. New Commentary on Acts of Apostles, Volume 1. Lexington: Gospel Light Publishing Company, 1892.
• Packer, J.W. The Acts of the Apostles. The Cambridge Bible Commentary, edited by P.R. Ackroyd, A.R.C. Leaney, J.W. Packer. Cambridge: University Press, 1966.
• Robertson, Archibald Thomas. Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume III. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1930.
• Stott, John R. W. The Message of Acts. Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1990.
• Willimon, William H. Acts. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, edited by James Luther Mays. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010.
• Witherington, Ben. The Acts of the Apostles : A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Eerdmans, 1997.