The Gospel preaching of Peter and Paul

This study is useful both for those who are seeking truth and discernment, those who have never heard the gospel as it is preached in the Bible, and also for those of us Christians who look to the Bible to find out what are the appropriate manners in which the Gospel should be preached. We need to look particularly at what the content of the message of salvation was, what issues were emphasized and ask ourselves many questions. What are the commonalities and difference between each account? Was the gospel presented without regards to choice or decision or was choice offered or suggested? Was the message simply presented as information?

This study is useful both for those who are seeking truth and discernment, those who have never heard the gospel as it is preached in the Bible, and also for those of us Christians who look to the Bible to find out what are the appropriate manners in which the Gospel should be preached. We need to look particularly at what the content of the message of salvation was, what issues were emphasized and ask ourselves many questions. What are the commonalities and difference between each account? Was the gospel presented without regards to choice or decision or was choice offered or suggested? Was the message simply presented as information?

What is the Gospel for the sake of this study? When you open the Bible you will notice there are four books with the words "the gospel" in the title -- gospel means "good news" in the Greek. These four Books -- Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John -- contain the ministry, teachings, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. A couple of them -- Matthew and Luke -- also touch upon his birth and early years. To state an obvious - Jesus Christ is the center and heart of the gospel. But I must take this opportunity to warn you in light of the shallowness of the manner in which the gospel is often presented today, it must be crystal clear that what was presented in the Gospels was not merely the name "Jesus Christ", but also his life, his being the Son of God, his ministry, teachings, commands, miracles, death, resurrection and commission. Many Christians just like many Muslims claim to believe in a "Jesus", but their version of Jesus is significantly different than the historic Biblical Jesus of the New Testament. It is sadly a “Jesus” made up in their own minds based loosely on pieces of Scripture, twisted translations, out of context application or “proof text” to justify sinful behavior.

The Bible continually warns us to not be gullible on this matter concerning the preaching of Jesus and the Gospel. Paul warns the Corinthians in one of his many such warnings,

An inquiring mind may ask, what attributes and ideas about Jesus must one accept for it to be said that one believes in Jesus? We find out only 7 Chapters into our search for answers that for belief to be legitimate and soul saving it goes far beyond the realm of ideas or a simple claim. For Jesus said,

OK, we know that the faith that saves men from hell is an application oriented faith. Now that we understand that, we must also understand that the object of faith is not the applications. The object of faith is Jesus Christ. What particular attributes and ideas about Jesus Christ make up the object of Christian faith?

The obvious answer is - whatever it is the Bible says about him. For if we say we believe what the Bible says of him here but not what it says there, we are not really believing in him at all. We are believing in a Jesus we create in our own minds and will burn for eternity for such false belief.. One example would be if one says he believes Jesus was the Messiah but not the Son of God (which is the Islamic position), then they don't believe in the Biblical Jesus of the New Testament. Another example would be those who claim to believe he is Lord but disagree with some of his teachings that are against the “popular“ way of thinking or their own lifestyle. Thus for one to say they believe in the Biblical Jesus is to agree with everything the Bible says of him - who he was, his instructions, his promises, his commands, his miracles, his death, his resurrection and his commission.

We see for example the Bible teaching that accepting Christ for who he was - his personhood etc.- is essential for salvation.

Whenever we find the apostles preaching the gospel in the book of Acts - as well as in the New Testament letters we find that Jesus' death and resurrection are often and frequently mentioned. Understanding and accepting the purpose of his death and the fact of his resurrection is also essential to what constitutes genuine faith in Christ.

"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this:God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Peter replied, "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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off— for all whom the Lord our God will call."

Here we have the first and thus the basic elements of gospel preaching. The affirmation of the message by miracles is only one element. At the time of Jesus’ ministry and the early Christian Church that emerged on the day of Pentecost there were often miracles accompanying the Gospel message itself. Of course now that the message has been so affirmed we can point to the miracles of the past - and in particular of Christ's resurrection for conformation. Of course the resurrection of Christ was more than an confirmation of his message. It was part of the message itself - that He is the Lord of life. The believer in Him would be raised from the dead to live forever - and that in a glorified resurrected body, the power to be free from corruption and sin.

1. Principle: Incorporate Christ's death and resurrection into the message and affirm it by miracles.

The other elements we need to look at incorporate Christ's death - and in particular the part Peter's audience played in his death. This was to put a mirror to their face pointing out their and shaming them for their ignorance and sin, but also to point out God's graciousness that God would accept them even in spite of murdering the very Son of God sent to save them - if they would only repent.

Before getting to the response section as to what they should do, it is significant that Peter takes the time to elaborate on who he is claiming Christ to be - namely that God made him out to be both Lord and Christ. By "Lord" Peter refers to the deity of Jesus. Peter is stating that one aspect of a persons accepting Jesus is to accept that he is the Lord God, which we refer to as the deity of Christ. To accept Jesus as Christ is to accept what the scriptures say of the Christ and His teachings, of which Peters audience would have been well aware and in no need of further elaboration. In fact Peters message is quite condensed compared to what may be appropriate for people who have little knowledge of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We must realize that the people Peter is speaking to would have listened to and seen Jesus, even being active participants in his death.

2. Principle: Speak of what it means for Jesus to be Lord and Christ and of the appropriateness of repenting, being baptized for the remission of sin.

3. Principle: Convict them of sin and their need for salvation. And having presented the life, the person, the teachings and ministry of Christ, his death and resurrection, then if they ask what they should do to be saved, affirm that they indeed can do something to be saved; and that they need to do something to be saved; namely, direct them to believe in Christ incorporating also repentance and water baptism as appropriate applications and indications of their alleged faith.

"Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.

First of all we notice that there is an affirmation of the gospel message, by a miracle. We notice that in many other Scriptures miracles are also spoken of as confirming the gospel message. For example:

5. Principle: Preach that forgiveness is available but contingent upon repentance - and that repentance consists of obediently responding to and obeying all that Jesus has instructed and turning from your wicked ways.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is "‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

We first must recognize that all the examples we find in Acts may be geared to the particular people and circumstances surrounding the preachers, but we must also have the common sense to realize that there are general methods we can learn and basic principles we reasonable deduct. Having performed a healing miracle Peter found an opportunity to preach. What was it that he decided (by the Holy Spirit) to preach?

The first observation we must make is who is Peter addressing? The rulers and elders of Israel. When it comes to preaching to such people - the proud, the hypocritical religious - we find throughout both the Old and the New Testament the method and approach is to speak to them in a derogatory manner. We see this same approach used in Jesus' derogatory rhetoric in Matthew 23, of John the Baptist's derogatory rhetoric (Matt 3:7), of Stephen’s derogatory rhetoric - the first Christian martyr - in Acts 7, of Peter’s and of Paul‘s derogatory rhetoric , as well as the derogatory rhetoric of, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Malachi, etc.

I understand that those with a utilitarian philosophical way of thinking would respond "it's never going to work." But how well we think it works is not the point! If the Bible tells us that this is the way such people are to be approached and dealt with, then that is how we are to approach deal with them, least we second guess the knowledge and wisdom of God. If they don't like it, then they can and will quite literally go to hell! You see, this brings up a very important question and horrific misconception concerning the presentation of the gospel. In preaching the gospel, is our primary objective to convert people? No it is not! We should not concern ourselves with how we should modify the gospel to make it easy for our audience to accept. Today there are many gospels being preached that have little correlation with what the Bible actually says. People are told to come to an alter and/or pray a prayer for guidance and then told afterwards that by doing so they have become Christians. They are told to ask Jesus into their hearts in some sort of experimental fashion and then they are told that they are saved. This is the new way of doing things, let's go back to the Apostolic glory and purity of how the gospel was preached in the pages of the New Testament. We must go back to the Biblical way of preaching the gospel; the result is the mess we find ourselves in western Christianity today.

7. Principle: The need for salvation is universal. But salvation is exclusive to Biblical Christianity and the New Testament Jesus of Nazareth. Only by believing in the Biblical Christ - Jesus of Nazareth - can people be saved.

Cornelius was informed of the message prior to this meeting, which is many times the case when the gospel is preached in Acts. Thus again while these messages are informative as to the essential elements of the gospel, the uninformed will need more information (Like the gospel of John, for example) Here again we find the basic elements of the gospel -

· Jesus is Lord

· He was affirmed so by miracles

· He was killed

· God raised him from the dead.

· Naturally we have witnesses to this effect.

· There is a judgment to come over which God has appointed Jesus the Judge.

· What do you need to do to be saved? Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins

Then after it was evident that they had come to faith in Christ they were water baptized.

8. Principle: The gospel message contains the same essential elements whether preached to Gentile or Jew.

On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.
After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak."

Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said:

‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Ps 89:20 1Sa 13:14)

No, but he is coming after me, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’ (John 1:27)

"‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ (Is 55:3)

"For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep;
he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

The major Bible history lesson Paul begins with mirrors Stephen's speech in Acts 7. Paul was a witness to Stephen’s Act 7 speech and was a there at the subsequent stoning of Stephen the first martyr. It is interesting that Paul copied Stephen's technique even thought he witnessed and most likely participated in the following stoning and death of Stephen. We also notice that Paul mentions some scripture that Peter also mentioned earlier in Acts when preaching to the Jews.

Paul again mentions the death and resurrection of Christ - this is always mentioned when the gospel is preached. The justification through faith and the forgiveness of sins was the main point of Pauls message as the "Therefore" indicates.

10. Principle: Always remember to include the main course - the main point of the gospel. What makes the gospel "good news"? Justification by application orientated faith and thus forgiveness of sins.

One would think Principle 10 to be stating the obvious, but there is a preaching of "a false gospel" that tells a person to simply pray Jesus into his heart if they need guidance or fulfillment or abundant life, without reference to sin, application orientated faith, justification and forgiveness. Having prayed such a prayer to solve all their problems and receive a better life these people are then falsely declared to be "Christian." Such a gospel a false gospel and is inconsistent with the way the Bible preaches the gospel. we must also notice that Paulends with a warning. This reminds us of Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus. Some may try to imply that Jesus never dealt with the issue of sin in his discussion and only spoke of being "born again." But in fact we note Jesus also ends with a similar warning,

We don't know for sure how much the jailor had heard of the gospel prior to his encounter with Paul, but from the jailor's question we can infer that he was aware of the basic aspects of the gospel. And further more, we can be sure that Paul and Silas would not have sat silent in prison. We also notice that the jailor was aware that Paul and Silas's message had to do with salvation and that he grasped the idea that he needed to be saved.

Many people and evangelists today preach the answer to the "how to" question before even presenting the essence of the gospel. These people preach the "how to" before they express any personal need for salvation through conviction of sin and escape of the wrath of and judgment of God to come. We can infer from the jailor's question that Paul either hadn't gotten around to the "how to be saved" part of the gospel by that time, or he hadn't emphasized it before the question arose.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone— an image made by man’s design and skill.

This sermon is particularly interesting and different in the fact that unlike the previous sermons in Acts it was preached to the uninformed. One should not presume it was Paul's complete presentation, but more of an introduction. Paul's presentations was cut short after he mentioned the resurrection. It is informative as to what are the important elements one should first present to the philosophical or intellectual but uninformed.

Unlike the previous sermons in Acts, Paul this time spends most of the time trying to illustrate what God is like. Paul shows himself aware of their viewpoint, but quickly and surly corrects their misconceptions about God. In some cases he corrects them simply by way of proposition - propositional truth. Propositional truth is always presented in a take it or leave it manner. Paul also uses "reasonableness" to try to convince them of their error. Notice that Paul combines this with ideas they already accept to convince them via the argument "if you believe this, then it logically follows that you should believe this other thing."

What he told them about God's nature:

Conspicuously absent is any explicit statement concerning the atoning work of Christ or the basis of the forgiveness of sins, or even the mention of Jesus by name. But again this was probably because his speech was cut short and most weren't willing to hear further.

14. Principle: When preaching to the uninformed start from where they are at. Start with the nature of God.

15.Principle: Before getting to Christ bring them to an understanding of impending judgment and their role in seeking God and turning to God in the realm of ideas. Then, if they haven't cut you off, introduce Christ and the essential elements of the gospel of Christ.

This is Paul’s introduction to his gospel in his letter to the Romans. Pauls gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Right from the get go Paul reveals his gospel is about salvation and faith. Most of the first 5 chapters are devoted to the issue of justification by faith. Chapters 6-8 are devoted to sanctification and glorification in the Christian life. Then 9-11 about Israel. And after that 12-16 about particular applications of the Christian life. Romans 1:18-3:20 is all about the fact that people are guilty because they sin, which in view of God's judgment and wrath is a condition from which they desperately need to be saved.

16. Principle: Start off the gospel with the need for salvation in view of God's judgment and people's sinfulness.

17. Principle: Answer the question as to how a person can be saved - namely through application orientated faith in the Biblical Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

18. Principle: Next focus on the legitimate qualities which characterize saving faith

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people-- saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.

God expands on this a few verse later. Read this and heed the eternal gospel. Fast and worship God the way He wants and demands you to.

"No, the kind of fasting (and worship) I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

"If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the LORD will answer. `Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply.

"Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. The LORD will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy, too. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring” Isaiah 58:6-11