00:00:00 – 00:00:12
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us. I hope your Wednesday is going well. Appreciate you joining us as we continue through the fifth chapter here of the Book of Acts. We are in the 27th verse.

00:00:14 – 00:00:26
Clint Loveall
Let's see. We'll go a little bit and then stop. We'll just kind of see how far we go. This is an extended story. So the apostles, Peter,

00:00:27 – 00:02:38
Clint Loveall
people are getting upset. And so this is some of the conversation. When they brought them, they had to stand before the council, and the high priest questioned them and said, we gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and determined to bring this man's blood on us. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus whom you had killed by Him. hanging on a tree, God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things. And so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. So as the apostles are drugged in front of these religious leaders, the ongoing conversation is we told you to stop and you didn't stop. And we've just seen the church pray for boldness. Here Peter speaks boldly. We have to obey God rather than human authority. This is a place the church has found itself in certain parts of the world throughout history. And it is the place that the early church grew up in this kind of mention as for lots of reasons, people were unhappy about the proclamation and the evangelism of the early church. Peter here again brings up Jesus, you had him killed, you being the religious establishment. God exalted him to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Now this is a bigger statement than Peter knows it is at this point in the book, but it's an offensive statement, particularly to those of Israel, who are being told they have to repent, in other words, that they've done something wrong. So this probably doesn't do a lot to smooth over the tension, Michael.

00:02:38 – 00:05:10
Michael Gewecke
There's a development happening here that would be easy to miss at the pace that we take these studies, so I just want to point that out so that we're all on the same page, because I think there's a intentional connection back to chapter 4 all the way verse 17 here. So when the disciples, when Peter and John are in front of religious leaders before, they're called and they're ordered not to speak or teach it all in the name of Jesus. And then Peter and John answer, whether it's right in God's sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. It's sort of a way of saying, you know, what the right thing to do here is is held out there. You know, we'll let time and discernment play that out. Here, The answer is far more specific. You know, we've told you to not teach in this man's name. And Peter and the apostles, as Luke tells this story, we must obey God rather than any human authority. And they say this now the second time they've been told to do a thing. They've not done it. And here, after that prayer for boldness, they are showing up with a bold face and a bold front even in front of these religious leaders. I think this is going to get nuanced as we go. The history of the church has shown lots of people come to a text like this, and they sort of throw the baby out with the bathwater. They make these broad statements about, well, it's all of the religious leaders, it's all of the Jews. Here, it's going to get far more nuanced than that. There's debate, discussion, disagreement even. But here, it's very clear. when it comes down to whether or not the apostles will live, preach, and witness in the name of Jesus Christ or not, they will choose to live in the name of Jesus Christ, and they will do so all the way up to the highest seat of Jewish power. And that is a big deal because they're still worshiping in the temple. They're still living their lives as Jews, just as Jews that have seen the light. of Jesus Christ, that is going to be on a road that is going to cause them to diverge at some point in the future that they don't know yet. But at this point, that tension holds, and they're making clear, we're not asking for someone's opinion. We've decided, and we will be bold. We will be preaching in the name of Jesus, whether you tell us to or not.

00:05:10 – 00:05:39
Clint Loveall
Yeah, there's certainly their courage is on display here as they speak to use the words of the text, boldly to the these religious leaders who do have some authority, certainly not unlimited authority, but they do have standing in the community, and they do represent some amount of power over the disciples. There's one interesting thing. Michael, we had some of this conversation, I think, back when we looked at the Pentecost story.

00:05:41 – 00:07:05
Clint Loveall
You and I serve in the Presbyterian Church, and while we have a rich theology of Holy Spirit. I think in general, Holy Spirit is a confusing concept to people. In the more charismatic Pentecostal Church, there's a better sense of how the Spirit interacts with the church. In our tradition, we would maybe talk about times when people have been healed or inspiring people. We might use different language, but I find it fascinating here at the end, Peter says, we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit. And what's fascinating about that is how deeply the early church understands that the Holy Spirit is a physical presence among them, that is a member of this church that joins them in their tasks, is working toward healing, is working toward evangelism, is with them making these statements. And I think that certainly the mainline church could learn something from that, because I often think maybe we underestimate both the need and the presence of the Holy Spirit in regard to kind of our day-to-day efforts to be Christians and be Christian churches.

00:07:05 – 00:10:23
Michael Gewecke
The text that comes to mind is the one that says that God's strength is made known in our weakness. And I think that this is a story that's illustrating that in really strong language. Because when they talk about obeying God rather than human authority, the very next line is the God of our ancestors, this is claiming the same God as the same God as the the high priests as these religious leaders. And it's that God of our ancestors who did the raising up of Jesus, even though you're the ones who had him hung on a tree. And then God exalts him. So God's action again, right, as leader and savior that he might give repentance to once again Israel and the forgiveness of sins. This is a we statement all the way through. This is we. And then it to, and we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit. How is it that these men have this boldness, and how is it that these men have these words, that they can speak with such authority and such clarity? We've already had in the book of Acts how surprising it is that they now suddenly are able to speak in this way, that they have this kind of gravitas and this kind of presence, that they can say these words and be so compelling. but the thing that I think is really, really striking is it's not because they had some kind of transformational retreat experience where they went and they suddenly became confident in themselves. It is directly attributed to God's action. The Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. And we do, I think sometimes in the modern world, we get ourselves focused on the, well, is this spiritual or is this physical, the New Testament text as it talks about the Holy Spirit is very rarely comfortable making those distinctions. The Spirit shows up in physical places. The Spirit is honored and seen in the moments of obeying. The line between is this God's spiritual miracle or is this physical human reality? I just don't think that those tensions hold very frequently in the scripture. The great news, Clint, for us is God often calls us into circumstances. We don't know what to do. We don't know what to say. We're, we trust God with our lives, but we get into a moment we say, God, I don't know what you want from me here. The really great good news is the Holy Spirit is not just a good idea. It's God promising to be present with you and to work in and through you. And that does bring with it a hope and a confidence that that can lead to boldness. If we trust God, we trust that God is never going to leave us or forsake us. Then Clint, there are moments in which we're going to find ourselves lacking, but God's showing up in strength. And this story is not teaching that in a didactic sense, but I do think it is illustrating that as something that's happening in this moment.

00:10:23 – 00:10:35
Clint Loveall
There's an interesting, there's an interesting word choice here, Michael, that kind of leans that direction. In verse 31, God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior in our

00:10:37 – 00:11:37
Clint Loveall
translation. And leader is not a particularly common biblical word, though I think the Bible has a great deal to say about leadership. Just did a little checking. That word is typically the word prince, and it often means a chief leader. So the idea of a prince, a royal son, and a savior, who is in charge, who does have authority. And in that one word, we see a really interesting summary of how Peter here in Luke's portrayal understands Jesus, that he is both Savior and and divine son who leads, royal son, who has authority. That's a very interesting word, and particularly appropriate, it seems to me, given the context of what he's saying here.

00:11:40 – 00:12:20
Clint Loveall
The way… And then, I'm sorry, and then just, and again, to come full circle, we've seen this. We started early on in the Book of Acts with this word, and we get to it again today, witnesses. that the book of Acts is just going to ask us time and time and time again, are we witnessing? Are we the people of Christ doing our calling, our job, which it fundamentally understands to be witnessing? Here, Peter is witnessing. We know these things are true, and we have to obey God and sharing them. Witness, witness, witness, just continues to be such an important theme in this book.

00:12:20 – 00:13:38
Michael Gewecke
But if you're a Christian, Clint, you might think of witness as a good thing. You're sharing good news with people who need it. I think we should remember in verse 28, you know, these leaders say you are determined to bring this man's blood on us. Witnessing from their perspective is not the purveyors of good news showing up and saying nice things. They are hearing these words and the teaching in the name of Jesus to be a direct confrontation. And I do. You think it nuances texts like this because people who are in power and people who have a lot to gain by their name or notoriety, whatever the constitution of that is, they are often the ones most critical of the proclamation of the gospel because ultimately they stand to lose if the least are made great, if God mends the broken places, if God's power shows up, even in those who have weakness. So I do think the witness is not just good news to the loss. The witness can then present as bad news to those who are challenged by it. And I think rightly the religious leaders are hearing that, and they are responding to that in this proclamation.

00:13:38 – 00:14:25
Clint Loveall
I don't know if it's intentional. If it is, it is beautifully done. When they say you're determined to bring this man's blood on us, what they mean is to make us guilty. But that is, in fact, exactly what the disciples are trying to do, right? To cover all with the sacrifice of Christ, to offer Christ's blood to everyone. So, again, I don't know, I don't know if that's intentional irony in the text, but if so, man, that's really well done, because there is a sense in which that's exactly what they're trying to do, but not in the way that the religious leaders misunderstand. it. And man, if that's on purpose, good on you, Luke, because that's incredible.

00:14:25 – 00:15:00
Michael Gewecke
There's a lot more, or there is more to this story, and I think it's really important. So I certainly hope that you won't stop here, continue on along with us as we continue going through this journey tomorrow. But what we're going to find is that as the disciples proclaim this, every person is making choices of how they're going to respond. Some are going to be put off and react violently. And some are going to wonder and be gripped and the spirit of God's going to work. So don't miss tomorrow. The story will continue. We hope to see you then. Thanks, everybody.