Series: The Theological Blueprint — Study 15 (Study Edition)

"Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst..." — Acts 2:22

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED...

  • If you could hear the very first gospel sermon, what would it say?
  • Who performs every saving verb in the apostles' preaching?
  • What happened when a crowd tried to worship the apostles?

THE FIRST SERMONS ARE ON RECORD

1 Imagine recovering audio of the church's first sermons — the gospel as the eyewitnesses themselves announced it, before councils, creeds, or centuries of debate. We have the next best thing: the book of Acts preserves the apostolic preaching — Peter at Pentecost, at the temple, before the Sanhedrin, at Cornelius's house; Paul in Antioch and Athens. These sermons are the gospel's birth certificates. Whatever the apostles preached is Christianity's original message. So read the first one slowly, and notice how it introduces Jesus.

2 Read Acts 2:22–24. "Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him... this Jesus... you crucified and killed... God raised him up." Every phrase is placed. Jesus is "a man" — introduced as such at maximum solemnity, to a vast crowd, by his chief apostle. The miracles are things "God did through him" (the anointing of Study 11). And the saving verbs all have one subject: God attested, God did, God raised. The sermon's grammar is the Blueprint's theology.

1, 2. (a) Why are the Acts sermons so important? (b) How does Peter introduce Jesus, and who performs the verbs?

ONE PATTERN, EVERY SERMON

3 Trace the pattern through the whole book, because its consistency is the argument. Peter at the temple: "The God of Abraham... glorified his servant Jesus... you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead" (3:13–15). Before the Sanhedrin: "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior" (5:31). At Cornelius's house: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power... God was with him... God raised him on the third day... he is the one appointed by God to be judge" (10:38–42). Paul in Antioch: "what God promised... he has fulfilled... by raising Jesus" (13:32–33). Sermon after sermon, city after city: God acts; Jesus is the man through whom, and upon whom, God acts — anointed, attested, delivered, raised, exalted, appointed.

4 And when Paul stands before the philosophers of Athens — his one recorded sermon to pure pagans, the audience most ready to hear about incarnate deities — listen to his climax. Read Acts 17:30–31. God "has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." By a man whom he has appointed. To Athens, of all places, where gods-in-human-form were a familiar idea, Paul preaches the exalted man — because that was the message.

3, 4. (a) What single pattern runs through every sermon? (b) What did Paul preach to Athens — the audience most open to incarnate gods?

THE DAY THEY TORE THEIR CLOTHES

5 The book of Acts even stages the perfect control test. At Lystra, after a healing, the crowd concludes the missionaries are gods: "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" — Barnabas is Zeus, Paul is Hermes, and the priest brings oxen for sacrifice. Here is the question the scene poses: how do godly men respond to being worshiped as God come in human form? Read Acts 14:14–15. "They tore their garments and rushed out... 'Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God.'" Torn garments — the Jewish gesture of horror at blasphemy. The category "a god in human likeness" was not a truth the apostles reserved for their Master; it was a pagan error they died a little inside to hear. Their gospel pointed away from every man — themselves included — "to a living God."

6 Notice also what the sermons ask of hearers. Read Acts 2:36–38. "Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ... 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.'" The demanded confession is Messiahship and God-conferred Lordship — "Jesus is the Christ," "Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:11) — never a formula about divine essence. Three thousand were baptized that first day on that creed; the Ethiopian, the jailer, and the crowds after them, on the same. The saving confession of the apostolic church is fully sayable by everyone who has walked through this Blueprint.

5, 6. (a) How did Paul and Barnabas react to being hailed as gods in human form? (b) What confession did the sermons actually demand?

PREACH WHAT THEY PREACHED

7 Someone may ask: is this argument from silence? No — it is an argument from content. The sermons are not silent about who Jesus is; they are loudly, repeatedly, positively specific: the man attested by God, the servant glorified, the Anointed empowered, the crucified one raised, the Lord made Lord, the man appointed judge. The apostles preached to audiences who misunderstood everything possible — and their recorded corrections always run the same direction: not us, not idols, not vain things — the living God, and the man he raised. The gospel's original architecture is simply the Blueprint's: one God, acting through his Messiah.

8 And that is liberating for your witness. You do not need to master metaphysics to preach the apostolic gospel; you need their story, which you now have: God anointed Jesus; wicked hands killed him; God raised him and made him Lord and Christ; forgiveness is offered in his name; a day of judgment is fixed, with a risen man on the bench — therefore repent, believe, be baptized. It converted three thousand before lunch on its first outing. It has lost none of its power. Preach what they preached.

7, 8. (a) Why is this an argument from content, not silence? (b) What is the apostolic gospel you can preach today?

📖 KEY SCRIPTURES IN THIS STUDY

Acts 2:22–24, 36–38 · Acts 3:13–15, 26 · Acts 5:30–31 · Acts 10:38–43 · Acts 13:30–33 · Acts 14:14–15 · Acts 17:30–31 · Philippians 2:11

💬 SHARING THIS TRUTH

A way in: "Want to read the very first gospel sermon ever preached — and notice how it introduces Jesus?" Discussion questions:

  1. "In Acts 2:22, how is Jesus introduced, and who did the mighty works?"
  2. "Why did Paul and Barnabas tear their garments at Lystra?"
  3. "What confession did Pentecost's hearers make to be baptized — and can you make it?"

✅ IN REVIEW

  • The Acts sermons are the gospel's birth certificates — the eyewitnesses' own announcement.
  • One pattern throughout: God acts — anoints, attests, raises, exalts, appoints — through the man Jesus.
  • To Athens: judgment "by a man whom he has appointed."
  • At Lystra, "gods in the likeness of men" was a pagan error the apostles tore their clothes over.
  • The saving confession: Jesus is the Christ and God-made Lord — preach what they preached.

For the full evidentiary treatment, see the complete Study 15 in this archive.

Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one — so preached his witnesses from the first morning: the living God, and Jesus of Nazareth, the man he attested, raised, and enthroned — good news, still.