With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus… (Acts 4:33)
At my church, we’ve recently been rethinking what the message of the gospel is.
And as we have, some passages that have always puzzled me have started to become crystal clear.
For example, why is it that in passages like the above, the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins is skipped? That would seem to be a crucial part of the gospel message.
Certainly, Jesus dying for our sins is true and important. But it seems whenever the cross is mentioned in Acts, the apostles focused instead on how the people rejected their rightful King. (Acts 2:23, 36; 3:14-15; 4:10-12, 25-28; 5:30-31)
Then there’s this famous passage:
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
Again, the cross is completely skipped over in favor of the resurrection? Why?
I think it’s because of what the resurrection means. Paul tells us in at the beginning of Romans,
[Jesus] was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. (Romans 1:4)
We often think of the term “Son of God” in terms of Jesus’ deity. But in Jewish thought, kings were considered “sons of God.” By his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was appointed the ultimate “Son of God”, King of kings and Lord of lords.
So when Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” he’s really saying the same thing twice: Salvation comes as we confess Jesus as Lord, believing that God appointed him as our rightful King through his resurrection from the dead.
We see all this in the first gospel message in Acts where Peter said,
God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God…
Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:32-33, 36)
Keep in mind, that “Messiah” and “Christ” both mean God’s anointed King.
What am I trying to say?
The heart of the gospel is not, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” true though those words may be.
The heart of the gospel is not, “Jesus died for your sins to save you so that you could go to heaven,” though through Jesus’ death, we now do have the promise of eternal life in his Kingdom.
The heart of the gospel is “Jesus is Lord — your rightful Lord.”
So when we call people to repent, we’re not simply saying, “Tell God you’re sorry for your sins.”
We’re saying, “Come back under his good reign. Be saved from this corrupt generation that has rejected its rightful King.” (Acts 2:23, 36-40; 3:13-15, 19-20)
As we go through this book, look for that theme. Because it will come up time and again, especially in the gospel messages the apostles preached.
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—
the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:12-13, NIV)