On the Fringes of the Law

Fourteenth Tuesday after Pentecost

Thanks to Joe for his reassuring comment. Today we return to our Acts Bible Study, Please read Acts 4:3-12. 

 

The Sadducees were essentially the political party of the Jewish priests. They were rich, had considerable land holdings, and a large degree of legal power within the Temple precincts and religious power beyond. They worked hand and hand with the Roman military occupation, knowing that their power could be usurped at any time by the Romans.  

The Apostles belonged to the mass of Palestinian Jewry. They were called the am ha-eretz, which literally means "the people of the land." We might say "the peasants." The power of the Apostles resided in their gifts of healing, public speaking, and the message of salvation through Jesus. 

At this early point there was no conflict over obedience to the Jewish Law (Torah). All these earliest Christians were Jews. Only when the mission to the gentiles begins will there be conflict over the Torah. 

Healings and miracles seem to have the same function for the Apostles as they did for Jesus. It is the healing that attracts the crowd. When the crowd has been attracted, then the Apostles can proclaim the message. 

The message in these earliest Apostolic sermons is kept fairly simple. Repent--believe in Jesus Christ--You will receive salvation. Salvation was a matter of both this life and the next. For the crippled beggar healed in chapter 3, salvation was very much a matter of the here and now. I know a few of you have read my little book The Lord Is My Salvation (alas no longer in print). In it I show that in the Old Testament the word "salvation," used fairly seldom, always refers to salvation in the here and now. "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation," sings the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:3, after the crossing of the Red Sea. 

In the New Testament "salvation" still includes the element of the here and now, but has a new component--eternal life. For the Sadducees the concept of eternal life has no meaning. They believe that death results only in a long and rather uncomfortable sleep in Sheol. That's why it's better to grab all the wealth, power, and pleasure you can in this life. 

The early Christians took a totally different view. Salvation was a matter of the whole of life, both now and beyond, both physical and spiritual. 

In v. 12 Peter says that salvation comes only through Jesus. For us Christians who take a somewhat wider view of salvation, we must either find a larger context to put Peter's words in, or we must simply say that we disagree. I'll be looking for the larger context. 

Another thing I want to be looking at throughout Acts is "the name of Jesus." How does the name of Jesus function throughout Acts? Why do we pray, not so much to Jesus, but "in the name of" Jesus today?

 

Faithfully,

Christian