The Better Covenant Commentary

Name: The Better Covenant Commentary | Acts-Revelation
Brand: Welton
Price: 11.89 EUR
Availability: OnlineOnly

Acts-Revelation

Dr Jonathan Welton(Autor*in)

Welton (Verlag)

1. Auflage

Erschienen am 23. April 2023

788 Seiten

E-Book

ePUB ohne DRM

Systemvoraussetzungen

978-1-7376443-3-0 (ISBN)

11,89 €inkl. 7% MwSt.

Systemvoraussetzungen

für ePUB ohne DRM

E-Book Einzellizenz

Als Download verfügbar

Beschreibung

Weitere Details

Inhalt

Acts The book of Acts, which is a continuation of the gospel of Luke, was likely written by Luke between AD 60 and 64. Scholars are unsure exactly where Luke was when he wrote it, but probably he was in Antioch, Ephesus, or Rome. Luke-who was a physician-traveled with the apostle Paul and wrote an orderly, detailed account with eyewitness testimony. Like the gospel of Luke, Acts was expressly written for Theophilus, who was most likely a government official who had become a believer. Structure and Main Themes The book of Acts picks up the story started in Luke after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it tells the story of the early church. Because Acts is a story, like the Gospels, it does not have as much rhetoric or structure as the New Testament letters. However, the timeline of events in Acts does give us a basic structure. Here is a simple breakdown. Acts 1-8: This is the earliest story of the church. It begins in Acts 1, when Jesus leaves the disciples forty days after His resurrection. He had appeared to them over and over, and now He is about to ascend into heaven. He gives his last instructions and ascends. Then, ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples in tongues, fire, and wind. From that experience, the apostles begin preaching and performing miracles in Jerusalem, and many people are saved. Acts 9: This chapter marks a shift, as it records the salvation of Saul, who had been persecuting the church. Acts 10-20: These chapters tell about the traveling ministry of Saul, who became known as the apostle Paul. This is his public ministry that occurs while Paul is free. Acts 21-28: In Acts 21, Paul is arrested, and he spends the rest of the book of Acts being passed from government leader to government leader, eventually ending up in Rome. Paul's story continues from there, but we do not have that story written in the New Testament. The book of Acts stops while Paul is imprisoned in Rome, but we know from history that Paul lived several more years. While we don't know exactly why Acts ends so abruptly, with no real conclusion, we do know that it is not just the story of Paul or even the early church-but of the expansion of the Kingdom, and that story is still unfolding. In this commentary, we will look at the book of Acts through its presentations of the gospel. Depending on how one defines it, Acts contains somewhere between 12 and 18 of these presentations. In the book of Acts, we find the actual sermons that the early church used, and we can read how the apostles presented the gospel to new people. Before we get into the text, it is important to note a common thread among the gospel presentations of Acts. In them, the apostles over and over again referred to the Old Testament covenants and explained how Jesus related to them. The Old Testament contains many shadows that point to Jesus. It also contains three main covenants: God's covenant with Abraham, God's covenant with David, and God's covenant with Israel/Moses. Each of these covenants was still in play when Jesus arrived on the scene. Matthew 1:1, which says, "This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham," makes it clear that both the covenant with Abraham and the covenant with David were fulfilled in Jesus. God promised Abraham an heir or seed through whom the whole earth would be blessed. And God promised David an heir who would sit on an eternal throne. Both of these are fulfilled in Christ. This idea is unpacked throughout the New Testament, as we will see in the sermons of Acts and the New Testament letters. In the book of Acts, the early church leaders consistently preached Jesus as the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. That was their gospel message. But the Mosaic covenant, also known as the old covenant, was different. The Mosaic covenant is complicated, and we do not have space to fully cover it here.33 However, it differs from the other two in that it was not a promise of a future blessing. Instead, the Mosaic covenant was more of a set of rules for how to be blessed, accompanied by curses for disobedience. The old covenant is spelled out in Deuteronomy. The only future promise it contained was the promise that God would someday circumcise their hearts which, by doing so, would enact a new covenant (Deuteronomy 30:6). When that time came, it would be the end of the old covenant, which was always intended as temporary. So when Jesus came and introduced the new covenant, He was announcing the end of the old covenant and replacing it with the new. This backdrop regarding the covenants of the Old Testament is essential to understanding the gospel presentations in the book of Acts. Finding the Better Covenant The first sermon in Acts begins in Acts 2:22, right after Peter quotes Joel's prophecy about God pouring out His Spirit on all people. That was a day of manifestations. People spoke in tongues, heard the wind, and saw flames of fire. Then, three thousand people got saved. This was essentially the first day of the early church. So, we have to ask ourselves, How did they know how to get saved? And what did saved mean? The answer is found in the first gospel presentation, which Peter preached. We find the first section of it in Acts 2:22-33: Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him: "I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Here, we see that Peter starts out the very first gospel message by declaring that Jesus is the person David wrote about in Psalm 110. Peter claims that in Psalm 110, David was prophesying about his future descendant, Jesus, who would be resurrected from the dead. In His resurrection, Jesus fulfilled God's promise to David that he would have a descendant who would sit on an eternal throne. Simply put, Jesus fulfilled the Davidic covenant. This was the good news that Peter proclaimed in the very first gospel message. He concluded in Acts 2:34-41: "For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ' Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah." When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 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." With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Peter uses the resurrection as proof that Jesus had fulfilled the Davidic covenant because God promised David an heir who would live forever. When Jesus came back to life, He qualified Himself for that role because He was the first human who could live forever. In response to Peter's declaration that Jesus had fulfilled the Davidic covenant, people start repenting. They realized that Jesus is the promised son of David, the one they had been waiting for, and they had killed Him! They responded in grief, shock, and horror to the reality that they had killed the one who fulfilled the Davidic covenant. This was the first presentation of the gospel, and it caused three thousand people to respond. The number three thousand is significant. On the...

Systemvoraussetzungen

Als PDF speichern Als Link merken