{"id":39077,"date":"2017-06-10T06:05:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T10:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/?p=39077"},"modified":"2017-06-09T21:07:51","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T01:07:51","slug":"what-is-essential-to-the-gospel-according-to-luke-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/what-is-essential-to-the-gospel-according-to-luke-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"What is essential to the gospel, according to Luke? Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Peter\u2019s second sermon<\/a> the movement has increased to about 5,000 people! (Acts 4:4) The Jewish religious authorities are alarmed, and arrest Peter and John. The next day, they\u2019re questioned. The leadership demands to know:<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cBy what power or by what name did you do this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, \u201cRulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed<\/strong>, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus<\/strong> Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised<\/strong> from the dead. This Jesus is \u2018the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.\u2019 [Psalm 118:22, cf. Isaiah 24:15, Matthew 21:42] There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"The leadership wasn\u2019t expecting this message, and doesn\u2019t know what to say<\/strong>, because the healed man is standing right there!<\/em> But they don\u2019t want this movement to spread – obviously, the majority of them don\u2019t<\/em> believe that Jesus is the Messiah – so they call Peter and John back in, and order them to desist teaching in the name of Jesus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But Peter and John answered them, \u201cWhether it is right in God\u2019s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge;\u00a0for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would guess that really, this is Peter talking for both of them; he\u2019s typically the boldest disciple. Surely they’re not talking in unison. Their answer is: sorry, we can\u2019t obey you, because that\u2019d be disobeying God, the God who raised Jesus<\/strong>, the God whose Messiah Jesus was proved to be. Peter and John possess overwhelming, empirical evidence<\/strong> of this. Remember, they saw, heard, and possibly touched the risen Jesus. And they have also seen, felt, and heard the effects of Jesus pouring out God\u2019s spirit on the disciples, as he\u2019d previously promised to do.<\/p>\n

The Jewish leadership can\u2019t see how they can punish the two, despite this impunity, so they let them go. End scene.<\/p>\n

\"\"This is not really a full sermon, but rather a testimony<\/strong> to Jesus in a tense, formal situation. Peter’s not going for the win here (conversion). So this speech adds nothing to our list of points<\/strong> which must be believed to be saved.<\/p>\n

Peter does here assert that Jesus is in some sense uniquely the way to salvation<\/strong>, and that even though most of his people reject him, God is making Jesus a sort of foundation<\/strong> for his new work. But these things are said (by Luke) to teach the reader, and (by Peter) to rebuke or pronounce judgment on his fellow Jews who rejected Jesus, and perhaps to invite them, in light of this fulfilled prophecy, to reconsider their rejection. But Luke doesn\u2019t present them here as things which must be believed in order to be saved. We\u2019re still working, then, with this list:<\/p>\n