The Message of the Apostles

Well, I missed yesterday, so that's 1 strike against me, but no worries - I got a post in today.  This time we are looking at the original message of the Apostles and how, if at all, it changed when the audience changed.  The way we will do this is to look at the major sermons in Acts and put together the core of the message.  Below is the ESV Study Bible's chart of these major sermons:

Speaker	Text	Audience
Peter	2:14–36	Jews in Jerusalem
	3:11–26	Jews in Jerusalem
	10:34–43	Cornelius's household
Stephen	7:1–53	Jews in Jerusalem
Paul	13:16–47	Jews in Pisidian Antioch
	17:22–31	Greeks in Athens
	20:18–35	Church elders in Ephesus
	22:1–21	Jews in Jerusalem
	24:10–21	Felix and his court
	26:1–29	Agrippa and his court

So, what is the theme in these messages?  I encourage you to look at each one of them, and most of them aren't very long (except Stephen, but he was about to get stoned to death, so we can cut him some slack).

Here are the basics of the sermons to the Jews:

• Jesus, whom you delivered to death, has been raised by God the Father and sits at His right hand in glory.
• Salvation and the Holy Spirit have come in Christ's name for those who repent and believe.
• All of the Old Testament prophecies find their fulfillment in Christ, and he is the promised Messiah, the King of Israel.
• Indeed, the whole Old Testament was to point to the coming of Christ and his preeminence as ruler of all (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, etc.)
• Repent and confess Christ as Lord (see Matt. 16:16-20), and save yourselves from this wicked generation.

To the Gentiles:

• All people bear the image of God, and are therefore not excluded from salvation through Christ based on nationality.
• Less emphasis on the Hebrew Scriptures (the OT), but often the Apostles still explained them to some degree in order to show Christ as the long expected king.
• Christ is the coming judge of the world, and God has raised him from the dead to assure us of this.
• Now that all people (not just Jews) can hear of salvation through Christ, repent and confess him as Lord!

A bodily resurrection of both the just and unjust to be judged by this divine man, Jesus, was not popular with many Gentiles.  This is especially true since much of the pagan world had a rather negative view of the afterlife, and most would have probably wished to avoid it altogether.  However, Peter and Paul do not shy away from proclaiming Christ as ruler and rightful judge of the world - the God-man - who offers salvation for those who confess him as Lord.

Beginning next week, we are leaping from the familiar realms of Scripture into the intimidating world of the Early Church Fathers and life after the Apostles.  It will be exciting and challenging to see what form(s) Christianity takes in the following era, as the canon of Scripture closes, and Christ-followers must determine what to do with it.  What writings are divinely inspired? How did they handle FIERCE persecution? What was considered orthodoxy (right belief)?

Wait and see...