Bible Study: Preaching in the Early Church
What is the true gospel, the gospel revealed in the Bible? There are several ways to approach Scripture to learn what the gospel is.
One would be to focus on the teachings of Jesus, who sometimes called his own message "the gospel of the kingdom of God." We could see how he described the kingdom of God in his parables and in his other teachings. We have done this in previous studies.
But this is only part of the biblical picture. We should also remember that Jesus told his disciples some things privately, and told them not to tell the public until after his crucifixion and resurrection. So perhaps the gospel was more clearly revealed after the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles for their mission. Because of this possibility, we should also find out what Jesus' disciples actually taught.
In this study, we will focus on the book of Acts. In later studies, we will examine the letters of Paul. And in each case, we will compare the apostolic gospel with the message of Jesus to see if they are the same.
1. When Matthew wrote his book about the life and ministry of Jesus, he was inspired to end the book with some final instructions—the last words of Jesus that the readers needed. What did Jesus tell his disciples to do? Matt. 28:19-20. In a different book, how does Mark present the mission of the church? Mark 16:15-16. Luke also tells us what Jesus expected his apostles to preach. How did he describe it? Luke 24:46-47.
Comment: Jesus gave only one commission to his church, but this commission can be phrased in several different ways. It can be called the gospel of the kingdom of God, but none of the commission verses happens to use that particular phrase. The content of the message is much more important than the label we use for it.
The content of the message is repentance and forgiveness of sins, which will be preached in Jesus' name, that is, by his authority, continuing the ministry he began. People who believe are to be baptized and taught, and they will be saved. It's a message of repentance, salvation and teaching.
It is a self-replicating message and mission, since one of the commands that Jesus' disciples are to teach is the command to go and make more disciples. It is to be taught and retaught to every generation.
2. The book of Acts reports Jesus' last-minute instructions to his followers. What did he say? Acts 1:8.
Comment: Jesus gave his apostles the task of being his witnesses. The word witness is an important word in the book of Acts. Throughout the book, Luke shows that the apostles were witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem, Samaria and all the way to Rome.
"Witness" is a courtroom term. In a trial, witnesses are called to tell what they have seen and heard. Similarly, the apostles preached what they had seen and heard of Jesus. They were his witnesses, testifying to the truth about him.
The Greek word for "testify" is martyreo, and the word for "witness" is similar: martyr. We get the English word martyr from the fact that many people who were witnesses for Jesus were killed because of their faith. Their willingness to die for Jesus was a powerful testimony that they firmly believed that salvation was given only through him. They were his witnesses to the very end.
3. Luke includes numerous sermons in his "history of the early church." What was Peter inspired to preach about on the Day of Pentecost? Acts 2:14-36. Peter began by explaining the miracle of tongues. What was his focus after that? Verse 22. What was his main point? Verse 36. What were the people supposed to do with this information—what difference was it to make in their lives? Verse 38.
4. Peter gave another sermon in chapter 3. Again, he began by explaining a miracle (verse 12). What then did he preach about? Verses 13-18. What were the people encouraged to do? Verse 19.
Comment: The focus of these sermons is Jesus. Peter said that Jesus would return and restore everything, but his focus was not on the future. Rather, he focused on what Jesus had already done, and how people were to respond to that in the present.
Peter talked about Jesus' life, death and resurrection, his fulfillment of Scripture, and his identity as Lord and Christ. Peter called for repentance and baptism, and he offered the Holy Spirit and forgiveness. That was his concluding exhortation, the main point he wanted people to get.
5. The next sermon in Acts is a long message by Stephen, who preached to the Jewish court. He began with an overview of history (Acts 7:1-50). What accusation did he then make against the Jewish leaders? Verse 52. This made them angry. What then did Stephen testify before the court? Verse 56.
Comment: Stephen's witness made the Sanhedrin so angry that they cut his sermon short and stoned him to death. His witness to Jesus made him a martyr.
We do not know for sure how he would have concluded his speech/sermon, but as it turns out, his dying words were a message about forgiveness through Jesus (verse 60).
6. The next sermon that Luke reports is the sermon Peter gave in the house of Cornelius. This is a short sermon, perhaps because Cornelius already knew much of the message (Acts 10:36-37). But Peter repeated the most important parts. What was the focus? Verses 38-41. How did Peter summarize the commission Jesus had given the apostles? Verse 42. How did he conclude? Verse 43.
7. Luke then gives us some sermons by the apostle Paul, who spoke to four different audiences: Jews in Pisidia, gentiles in Athens, Jews in Jerusalem, and civil rulers. Although Paul used different approaches for these audiences, some aspects of the message remained the same. In the synagogue in Pisidia, Paul began with Israel's history (Acts 13:16-22). What did he concentrate on for most of the sermon? Verses 23-37. What was the conclusion, the main point? Verse 38.
8. In Athens, Paul faced a different crowd. He could not begin with Scripture or Jewish history. But he could start with a contemporary situation (Acts 17:22-23) and introduce them to the Creator God (verses 24-28). What did Paul exhort the people to do? Verse 30. How did Paul end his message? Verse 31.
9. In front of a Jerusalem crowd, Paul gave a more personal history—his own history before conversion, then his conversion and his commission. How did Ananias describe Paul's mission? Acts 22:15.
10. In front of King Agrippa, Paul again gave his personal testimony. As Paul describes it, what did Jesus tell him to preach? Acts 26:16-18. How did he describe his own preaching? Verse 20. How did he summarize his own message? Verse 23.
Comment: Keeping in mind that some of the sermons were not finished, let us see what they have in common:
- All of them mention God.
- All of them mention Jesus.
- Seven of them mention Jesus' death.
- Seven mention his resurrection.
- Four say that he is now exalted.
- Seven mention forgiveness of sins.
- Five mention repentance.
- Three mention the need for faith.
- Five of them mention Scripture.
- None of them use the word "kingdom."
Luke tells us that the early church preached the gospel of the kingdom of God, but from the examples he gives us, we see that it is not necessary to use the word kingdom when we preach the true gospel. And it is not necessary to describe a future age.
The gospel is good news right now, but it is good only if we are able to participate in it— and we do that through Jesus Christ. He is the one we need to hear about, since he is the one who makes it possible.
The book of Acts shows us that gospel preaching should focus on Jesus Christ, especially his death and resurrection, and on repentance, forgiveness and salvation through him.
But is there a problem here? How does this Jesus-centered message of the early church compare with the gospel that Jesus himself preached? Was the message changed away from what Jesus wanted? Or did he actually preach about himself as the key to the kingdom? We'll look at that in our next Bible study.
Michael Morrison
For further reading
For further study about the gospel, you may want to consult one of these titles:
- Green, Michael. Evangelism in the Early Church. Eerdmans, 1970; Harold Shaw, 1995.
- George Eldon Ladd. "Kingdom of Christ, God, Heaven," in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter Elwell (Baker, 1984). Ladd also wrote Gospel of the Kingdom (Eerdmans, 1959), and there are several relevant chapters in his Theology of the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1993).
- Harry Poe. The Gospel and Its Meaning: A Theology for Evangelism and Church Growth. Zondervan, 1996.
- Robert H. Stein. "Kingdom of God," in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by Walter Elwell (Baker, 1996). Stein also wrote The Method and Message of Jesus' Teaching (Westminster/John Knox, 1995).
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