Salvation and Provocation

Is the gospel political? We might ask Martin Luther, who, 508 years ago this week, nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. It was hardly just a religious argument he was making. The Protestant Reformation he began that day would completely alter the political landscape of Western civilization. And, in 1521 when Luther stood trial for his beliefs, he was tried before King Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was condemned, not just as a heretic, but also as an outlaw.

So, is the gospel political or can we preach the gospel and leave politics out of it? If we ask that of our passage this morning, we will quickly see that it shows us the political authorities of the day reacting to the preaching of the gospel by Peter and John, arresting them and putting them on trial. These political powers sensed some kind of threat to their own authority, and for good reason: Those who believe that all authority belongs to Jesus and his kingdom will inevitably find themselves at odds with the authority of every other kingdom in the world.

Let’s follow along as we watch the authority of Jesus through the preaching of Peter and John annoy, challenge, and silence the political powers of their day.

Authority Annoyed

First, we see Peter and John annoying the authorities as they preach the good news of the kingdom of God. The chapter begins, “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (vv. 1-2). The word annoyed shows us that the news had gotten out about these characters and about the things they were saying there in the temple precincts. And whatever they were saying, the authorities had had enough of it.

The Jewish Authorities

Just who were these authorities?

The priests were the dominant authorities in 1stcentury Judaism, far outnumbering the total number of Pharisees in the first century. [1] They were not just religious leaders, performing their assigned tasks in and around the temple. They spent most of their time in the various places where they lived helping ordinary Jews settle disputes and other legal problems. They were “the local representatives of mainline ‘official’ Judaism” and the primary teachers of Israel’s law.[2]

The priests arrive on the scene with the “captain of the temple,” the chief of police for the Temple complex.[3] Along with them came the Sadducees. The Sadducees were composed of the chief priests and other members of the aristocracy who enjoyed the greatest privileges one could have in ancient Israel. They were in charge. They had real political power. It was with them that representatives of the Roman Empire had to interact in order to maintain orderly governance of the region.

Peter and John were arrested and the next day they were put on trial before the “rulers and elders and scribes,” along “with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family” (vv. 5-6). Verse 15 calls this group “the council,” an official 71-member tribunal called the Sanhedrin, essentially Israel’s supreme court.[4]

Political Concern

So, when these authorities get involved, we know that we are not just dealing with a religious matter but something that is of political interest. Whatever it was that Peter and John were saying, it was serious enough for the political authorities to take notice.

At issue, of course, is the healing of the crippled man in the previous chapter. The unnamed but well-known individual is still on the scene, apparently there at the trial itself according to verse 14, serving as something of the evidence on behalf of the defendants.

But what annoyed these Jewish authorities was not that Peter and John had done a good thing for a person in need. They were “greatly annoyed,” verse 2 says, “because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”

Informed Bible readers will know that “the resurrection from the dead” would have been an annoyance to the Sadducees who didn’t believe in any kind of post-mortem existence and certainly not in any kind of bodily resurrection in the future either (Lk 20:7; Acts 23:8). But the Sanhedrin wasn’t just made up of the Sadducees; it also included members of the Pharisees, who did affirm the belief in resurrection. The Sadducees were used to being annoyed by the beliefs of the other side of the political aisle.

Something else is going on here, something that has annoyed not just the Sadducees but the Pharisees, too. Something that has created a bi-partisan response in opposition to the teaching of Peter and John.

The Revolutionary Resurrection

What is it about “proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” that would be so offensive to Israel’s political authorities? That’s the question we need to have answered to understand what is happening here.

Belief in resurrection at all was a serious concern for the Sadducees, not because they were post-enlightened rationalists who couldn’t believe in such things, but because of what resurrection would mean for them personally.[5] Based on texts like Ezekiel 37, resurrection had become a powerful metaphor for Israel’s reconstitution as a theocratic state, of the return from exile which would mean rebellion against Rome and the overthrow of the Empire’s control over them. That sounds great on the one hand, but it would mean the end of Sadducean power and privilege. God’s coming “day” would not be so inviting to people who were already enjoying their best life now.

It is in that sense that we can see that the Sadducees were the political conservatives, hoping to maintain the peace and the status quo of the moment because it meant the prolonging of their own power and comfort. Why hope in something like “resurrection” instead of just making peace with Rome?

The Pharisees, on the other hand, were looking for revolution. The Pharisees, though less authoritative for the nation as a whole, had the respect of the ordinary, poorer class in Israel, who would, of course, be encouraged and motivated by the idea of afterlife, including resurrection. They longed for the powers that be to be turned upside down and were willing to fight for it if necessary. “Resurrection” would not be an offense to the Pharisees and the people they represented. They were looking for resurrection and its revolutionary power.

So, why would they be annoyed by what Peter and John were teaching?

Authority Challenged

Some annoyances can be ignored because they don’t pose any real threat, like the nerdy middle-schooler saying he is stronger than the captain of the high-school sports team. But sometimes the annoyance must be answered because it is perceived to be a threat.

In verse 7, Peter and John are on trial before the Sanhedrin, and they are asked, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” The wording in Greek has the subject “you” at the very end of the question to emphasize that the Sanhedrin senses there is some rival power at work here that is posing a threat to their own authority. Peter and John were not agents of the Sanhedrin, that’s for sure. [6] So the Sanhedrin wants to know: “Who or what gives you the right to challenge us?” Who or what is the power that challenges all other authorities in the world?

Resurrection Power

Notice carefully how Peter answers the question. First, he says that the power that challenges all other powers is resurrection power. He says in verse 10, “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.” It is the power of Jesus, crucified and risen, that challenges all other powers.

Yes, the power is a person. Jesus is the one who says, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.” But this person who has all authority is the crucified and risen Jesus. Leave out the cross and the empty tomb and you’ve stripped Jesus of the power he possesses to challenge all other powers.

Really? Yes, you see, because what “greatly annoyed” these authorities, according to verse 2, was not that Peter and John were proclaiming Jesus. In Acts 19, “Seven sons of a Jewish high priest” were invoking the name of Jesus to exorcise evil spirits, and the evil spirits had a field day with them. Many people today invoke the name of Jesus as justification for them to act in all sorts of ways. The result is not salvation but further destruction. Not everyone who acts in the name of Jesus is on his side.

Is there power in the name of Jesus? For sure. But invoking his name for the authorization to advance one’s own power and authority and agenda is blasphemous. Many today who call themselves Christians, invoking the name of Jesus, are flirting with such dangerous and deadly power.

It is resurrection power that challenges all authorities. What “greatly annoyed” these authorities, verse 3 says, was that the Peter and John were “proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”

Rejected Power

See here what this means. Verse 11: “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” The power that challenges all authority is not only resurrection power. It is also rejected power. It is a power and an authority that no other power is willing to accept.

Verse 11 is using imagery that comes from Psalm 118 (verse 22), a passage that in the first-century was quite well-known.[7] The psalm celebrates the fact that God is on Israel’s side, and Israel’s trust in him, waiting for him to come through, will not disappoint. What the “builders” will reject and cast aside—like a mason assessing that a particular stone is insufficient for the job he is doing—God will make the keystone of a far more impressive structure that will save his people.

The power that challenges all other authorities is the power that all other authorities will reject. You know what that authority is? Do you know what that power is? It is the power of Jesus, but it is the power of Jesus crucified and risen. Cross and empty tomb. Death and resurrection.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Cor 1:22-24)

Restoration Power

The power that challenges all other powers is resurrection power, and it is a power that all other powers will always reject. But make no mistake: it is the power that restores. It is the power that heals. It is the power that saves. And no other power has this kind of power. As Peter says in verse 12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

You see, it also will not do to separate resurrection power from Christ himself, the one who was crucified, the one who has been raised. “Resurrection someday” is no serious threat to anyone. Both the Sadducees and Pharisees can put up with that, albeit for different reasons. The Sadducees among us will just ignore you. “Resurrection is irrelevant to the real issues of today,” they’ll say. The Pharisees among us will encourage you and say, “Come join our side and let’s make use of this resurrection power to take down our enemies!”

But to say that the resurrection power is already here in Jesus? Now that will provoke all other authorities to act. They simply cannot put up with that threat forever.

But what can we say? “There is salvation in no one else.” The words salvation and saved in verse 12 come from the same root word translated healed in verse 9. The salvation we are talking about is not only about the fate of a person after they die. It is about what God is already up to, right now, in the name of Jesus, crucified and risen. It is about the saving power of Jesus, crucified and risen, going forward to confront a world that is broken, sick, and speeding headlong into further darkness and death.

That is the power, the only power, that can stand up to all other powers in the world today.

Authority Silenced

And when that power, the power of Jesus crucified and risen, confronts the powers of the world, it wins. It always wins. It silences all other would-be powers. They simply do not stand a chance against this power.

Undeniable Power

When Peter and John finish their defense, the authorities recognize that there is an undeniable power at work in them. Luke tells us, in verses 14-16, that they were silenced. “They had nothing to say in opposition.” Behind closed doors they admit, “A notable sign has been performed through them. Everyone knows it. We cannot deny it.”

The undeniable power was not found only in the boldness of Peter and John that verse 13 mentions. The threat is not simply free speech and the right for everyone to have their own opinion. Peter and John are not just saying things; they were also doing things. Speech could be ignored, perhaps, but not the speech coupled with the actions. The man who was healed was standing right there beside them.

It's time for Christians today to rediscover and reclaim the undeniable power of Jesus crucified and risen. And what if we did? What might that power do to our world? What is it we Christians should be hoping to see happen? Salvation. Healing. Peace. Yes! These are our hopes, this is what we celebrate.

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Phil 4:8)

Warnings and Threats

Why can’t the Sanhedrin just celebrate the fact that such a wonderful thing has happened? Why can’t they join the rest of the city in the celebration? Verse 21 says that they observed how all the people “were praising God for what had happened.”

But power and authority brings its own unique kind of temptation. We all know this. When something good happens in the world, why can’t we all rejoice? But we’ve learned the drill from our own political authorities: take credit yourself for everything that is good, lay blame on others for everything that is not.

And then warn and threaten, like the Sanhedrin decides to do in verses 17-18. It wasn’t the good deed itself that was a threat, but the possibility of them losing power. “We can’t let this spread any further,” they say in verse 17. “We have to stay in control.”

But Jesus says real power goes in the other direction. The world only knows the power of human might and domination. “The rulers of the Gentiles,” he said, the “great ones exercise authority” and “lord it over” everyone else. But Jesus calls his people to a different way.

It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt 20:25–28)

Be with Jesus

I know how this can sound to many Christians today. Like weakness. Like caving. Like flimsy “tolerance,” if not a complete selling out to the devil.

But what is it really? It is boldness, as the Sanhedrin recognized in verse 13. The boldness that comes when even ordinary people like Peter and John are regularly with Jesus and learn to embrace the power that in Jesus the resurrection of the dead—the new creation—has begun. Salvation can be found nowhere else.

This “salvation” is revolutionary good news for every society, and we need to learn to embrace its revolutionary power again. Our world today needs to hear it, because it is the way of peace and healing. But this message will always be a provocation to all the other powers and authorities of the world. Every single one of them. The church’s challenge today, as always, is to speak truth to power, to speak this truth in the power of the Holy Spirit—see Acts 4:8—and never back down. Jesus is Lord. And that means no one else is.

An Anglican bishop once quipped that everywhere Paul went there was a riot, but everywhere he went they serve tea. We need to recover in our own day the saving and provoking message of Jesus. Built on the solid foundation of Jesus as the cornerstone, the church with its saving message that Jesus is Lord—that Jesus, crucified and risen, is the hope of healing that we all need to hear—that church and that message will most certainly provoke the powers that be.

But have no fear. “The gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

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[1]Josephus, Against Apion, 2.108.

[2] N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 209.

[3] C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, vol. 1, International Critical Commentary, ed. J. A. Emerton, C. E. B. Cranfield, and G. N. Stanton (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2004), 219.

[4] Darrell L. Bock, Acts, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Robert W. Yarbrough and Robert H. Stein (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 189.

[5] Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, 211.

[6] Bock, Acts, 190.

[7]Barrett, Commentary on the Acts,229.