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发帖数: 5754 | 1 excerpt from J.Scott's "The Message of Acts":
I have myself found it an aid to faithfulness to express the apostles’
message in the following framework:
First, the gospel events, namely the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is
true that Peter referred to Jesus’
life and ministry (22) and went on to his exaltation (33), and elsewhere to
his return as judge. The apostles felt
free to rehearse his whole saving career. Yet they concentrated on the cross
and the resurrection (23–24),
both as historical happenings and as significant saving events. Although a
full doctrine of the atonement is not
yet developed, it is already implied by the references to God’s purpose (23
), to the suffering servant passages
(3:13, 18), and to the ‘tree’, the place of the divine curse (5:30; 10:39;
13:29). The resurrection had saving
significance too, since by it God reversed the human verdict on Jesus,
snatched him from the place of a curse
and exalted him to the place of honour.
Secondly, the gospel witnesses. The apostles did not proclaim the death and
resurrection of Jesus in a vacuum, but in the context of Scripture and
history. They appealed to a twofold evidence to authenticate Jesus, so that
in the mouth of two witnesses the truth might be established. The first was
the Old Testament
Scriptures, which he fulfilled.。。。The second was the testimony of the
apostles. ‘We are witnesses’, Peter kept repeating (e.g. 2:32; 3:15; 5:32;
10:39ff.), and this eyewitness experience was indispensable to the
apostolate. Thus the one Christ has a double attestation. We have no liberty
to preach a Christ of our own fantasy, or even to focus on our own
experience, since we were not
eyewitnesses of the historical Jesus. Our responsibility is to preach the
authentic Christ of the Old and New
Testament Scriptures. The primary witnesses to him are the prophets and
apostles; ours is always secondary to theirs.
Thirdly, the gospel promises. The gospel is good news not only of what Jesus
did (he died for our sins and was raised, according to the Scriptures) but
also of what he offers as a result. He promises to those who respond to him
both the forgiveness of sins (to wipe out the past) and the gift of the
Spirit (to make us
new people). Together these constitute the freedom for which many are
searching, freedom from guilt, defilement, judgment and self-centredness,
and freedom to be the persons God made and meant us to be.Forgiveness and
the Spirit comprise ‘salvation’, and both are publicly signified in
baptism, namely the washing away of sin and the outpouring of the Spirit.
Fourthly, the gospel conditions. Jesus Christ does not impose his gifts upon
us unconditionally. What the gospel demands is a radical turn from sin to
Christ, which takes the form inwardly of repentance and faith, and outwardly
of baptism. For submission to baptism in the name of the Christ we have
formerly repudiated gives
public evidence of penitent faith in him. Additionally, by this same
repentance, faith and baptism we change allegiance, as we are transferred
into the new community of Jesus.
Here, then is a fourfold message—
two events (Christ’s death and resurrection), as attested by two
witnesses (prophets and apostles), on the basis of which God makes
two promises (forgiveness and the Spirit), on
two conditions (repentance and faith, with baptism).
We have no liberty to amputate this apostolic gospel, by proclaiming the
cross without the resurrection, or referring to the New Testament but not
the Old,or offering forgiveness without the Spirit, or demanding faith
without repentance. There is a wholeness about the biblical gospel.
It is not enough to ‘proclaim Jesus’. For there are many different Jesuses
being presented today.
According to the New Testament gospel, however, he is historical (he really
lived, died rose and ascended in the arena of history), theological (his
life, death, resurrection and ascension all have saving significance) and
contemporary (he lives and reigns to bestow salvation on those who respond
to him).
Thus the apostles told
the same story of Jesus at three levels—
as historical event (witnessed by their own eyes),
as having theological significance (interpreted by the Scriptures), and as
contemporary message (confronting men and women with the necessity of
decision).
We have the same responsibility today to tell the story of Jesus as fact,
doctrine and gospel. |
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