The Faith and the Message

The book of Acts is the principal source of our knowledge of this earliest period, a work written some fifty years after the death of Christ. As with most of the New Testament writings outside the Epistles, the book itself does not give the name of the author; but early tradition assigns this and the third Gospel to Luke, a physician and for some time companion of Paul on his journeys. As in the Gospel, the author uses various sources at his command. Only a small part of the material comes from direct personal observation. This latter is included in what are called the "we sections," such as the journey to Rome, where the pronoun "we" is constantly used. These parts are vivid, full of detail, and of the greatest value. The earlier portions are of a more general character, and show a tendency to idealize which is very natural with one who looked back with reverence to those first days.

The book shows a definite plan and much skill in composition. Its purpose is to show how the gospel, rejected by all but a small number of the Jews, spread throughout the Roman world from Antioch to Rome. It is not a general history of the church, nor is it described correctly by the name that the church has given it, "The Acts of the Apostles." There were other apostles that worked besides Peter and Paul, but their work did not bear upon the plan of the author, and so he passes them by. No doubt he was governed in this also by the materials that he had at hand. Whatever the reason, it must be constantly remembered that this book gives us only scenes from the early church, not a full history. We know nothing of the beginnings in Galilee or in Rome, nothing of how the great church in Africa arose. We can see that such a man as Barnabas had a long life of active service, but we know only a fragment of his work, and then merely because he touches Paul. Even of Paul himself, there is less than a decade of his life for which we have anything like a full record.

The conviction that their Master was living was what brought together the scattered disciples. But the little company that gathered thus did not think of themselves as forming a new church or beginning a new religion. In their own mind they were still good and loyal Jews. They did not give up any of their old faith or separate themselves from their own people. They went to the temple at the hour of prayer. They spoke in the temple about Jesus to those who would listen. They kept the laws of the old religion as they had always done. Peter was shocked at the suggestion that he should eat meat that was not ceremonially clean. They were astonished when the report was brought back that uncircumcised Gentiles (that is, Gentiles who were not even proselytes to the Jewish faith) had believed and received the Holy Spirit. It is clear that these first disciples had not yet grasped the full meaning of what had come to them.

What, then, was new in their faith and their message? We may answer in a word: Jesus the Christ. "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders, him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye did crucify and slay. The things which God foreshadowed by the mouth of all the prophets, he thus fulfilled. This Jesus did God raise up. God hath made him both Lord and Christ. Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear. Repent that your sins may be blotted out; that he may send the Christ, who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus; whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things."

These words are taken from the reports of Peter's speeches (Acts 2:14-40; 3:12-26). They give us in substance the faith of this early church—the message which they preached, and the answer to the taunts of their foes who mocked at the idea of a Messiah that had been crucified. We may state this faith as follows: (1) Jesus lives; God has raised him from the grave. (2) The resurrection is the evidence that Jesus is the Messiah; God has made him Christ and Saviour by raising him from the dead. (3) His sufferings and death were no accident or defeat, but according to the purpose of God and the word of the Scriptures; his death was for the sins of men. (4) This Jesus is coming again as the Messiah, when he shall judge men and shall set up his kingdom; repent, therefore, and make ready. (5) Those who repent and believe shall receive forgiveness of their sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit; this gift, bestowed by Jesus, is the second evidence that he is the Messiah.

All these conceptions center in Jesus. Jesus lives; Jesus is the Messiah; Jesus died for men; Jesus is coming again; Jesus gives the Spirit. Jesus is the creed of the early church. His personality and his mastery of these disciples explain all else. The resurrection is important, but only as the resurrection of this Jesus whom they had known. He fills the whole horizon of their thought and faith. He determines their thought of God: God is one whose spirit is like that of Jesus; he is "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He determines their hope of the future, the hope that filled the early church with confidence and joy; Jesus was to come and bring the new heaven and the new earth. He determines their thought of religion. It is true they still go to the temple and keep the old laws. But that was the outer form of their life. His spirit and his teaching's rule them; and we see this in the life of the new community: its reverence and joy, its spirit of brotherhood and good will.

There are other writings besides Acts which throw light upon the thought and faith of the first community; these are the first three Gospels. Our present Gospels were not written during this time, but the beginnings reach back to these first years. They show us how deeply the disciples appreciated the living memory of Jesus of Nazareth. They did not simply think of a risen Christ or dream of his return. They cherished his word. They recalled the stories of his deeds of mercy and love. They kept alive his spirit.

At the beginning there were no written Gospels. Everything was passed on by word of mouth. The Oriental has always had a marvelous memory for words. We do not have it because we do not need it in this day of books. There were present in the first community not only the twelve but others who had been witnesses "concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." The living testimony of these men would naturally be prized above any writings. For the future there was no concern, since they thought the return of the Lord so near at hand.

The first interest of these disciples would be in telling the story of Jesus' life and deeds. Their preaching to others would naturally begin with this, just as Peter does at the house of Cornelius: "Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). We can see here what points were emphasized: the anointing with the Spirit at his baptism, his deeds of healing, especially with the demoniacs, and whatever else showed his power and so indicated that he was the Messiah. The story would naturally end with his death, which was for the salvation of men, and his resurrection, which proved him to be the Messiah of God. The words of Jesus would be just as carefully preserved as the story of his deeds. But while the story of his life was used in the preaching and winning of converts, the words of Jesus were used especially in the teaching of the disciples who had been won. Such a word would always be decisive so far as faith and duty were concerned.

These stories of Jesus' deeds and collections of his words are what appear a generation later in our Gospels. They show us more than anything else how the personality of Jesus stamped itself upon these disciples. The narrative is so simple that it is easy to miss its unique value and meaning. The Gospels nowhere try to describe or analyze or define. They are simply witnesses. They let Jesus speak to us and walk before us. And so they bring us what no description and no definition of any creed could bring: the living Christ himself. It makes little difference just how long it was before these oral traditions were set down in writing, or how they were combined in our present Gospels; these words and this picture carry in themselves the conviction of their reality.

We must read these Gospels to understand what the early church was thinking of, and not merely Paul's letters and. the book of Acts. They were telling men not simply of the resurrection, but how Jesus had mercy upon the demoniacs, how he fed the hungry and blessed little children, and how he said to men, "Your sins are forgiven." These disciples may have kept the old law, but we must remember that it was they who gathered the sayings like those of the Sermon on the Mount and handed them down. They told one another the story of the good Samaritan, of the righteousness that was more than that of the Pharisees, of the poor in spirit and the meek and merciful who were to inherit the earth, and of the love that was to be like God's love and go out to the evil and the good. No one of the stories of Acts tells us so much of the real spirit of the first disciples as this.

Directions for Reading and Study

Read Peter's speeches, Acts 2:14-40; 3:11-26; and the prayer of the disciples, Acts 4:23-31.

Make a list of the names or descriptive titles used in referring to Jesus in these passages.

Read Psa 22 and 69, and Isa 52:13 to 53:12.

From these passages select such verses as might have seemed to the early church to describe and foretell the sufferings and death of Jesus, or give any reason for the same.