The Purpose – Savior Acts 5:32
The Book of Acts – Chapter Five Another Restatement Acts 5:22-32 16 | The Purpose – Savior | Acts 5:31 “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). Jesus as Savior is a radical and dominant theme throughout all the Scriptures. Jesus’ name (Greek for Joshua) means “the Lord is salvation.” In the angel of the Lord’s mission statement to Joseph, he declared Jesus Savior. “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus declared to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:9-10). Nothing outside the boundaries of this mission will occupy His energy, desires, or focus. Jesus came to be the Savior! Inherent in the term “savior” is the concept of one who saves or delivers from danger to a position of safety. The scope of the threat defines the greatness of the saving. If Jesus came to save us from our sins, we must understand the danger of sin to understand the wonder of salvation given by the Savior. “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:41-42). What is the content of the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)? We might view the physical content of such consequence. The absolute destruction of physical life is because of sin, and we cannot overlook it in our time. We must include the destruction of relational involvement in the content. Sin tears families apart; hate rules many lives. What is the eternal spiritual death experienced in hell forever? Did not Jesus save me from all of this and more that the writer did not describe? The uniqueness of the Gospel message is that Jesus did not come merely to accomplish deliverance, but He became salvation! Many people have done great acts of sacrifice, benefiting us with freedom and delivering us from great danger. However, they did not become our freedom. Jesus became the “Prince” so He could become my “Savior.” He is the originator who is the cause of my safety but has never been caused Himself! He is the beginning so that He could be the end of sin in my life. Jesus could not redeem what He did not assume! In His absolute sovereignty as God, He assumed the lowness of humanity. He did not become a superhuman but assumed the state of our exact likeness. To do so, He relinquished every advantage He had as God, all the benefits of His attributes. He assumed our nature! He assumed conception in His mother’s womb; He assumed being born as a baby without knowledge. He assumed his childhood, life as a teenager, and adulthood with everything experienced within such a state. He assumed the struggles, frustration, and utter dependency upon the fullness of the Spirit. In the crucifixion, He assumed the fullness of our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), death, and total damnation resulting from sin. In being raised from the dead, He assumed the victory of resurrected life. He contained all of this! “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). He is our Savior! All Jesus assumed is contained in Peter’s confession. “We ought to obey God rather than men. (The Resurrection) The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. (The Restoration) Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. (The Representation) And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:29-32). In “the restoration,” God exalted Jesus to His right hand, which is THE PLACE. THE POSITION of this place is “Prince,” and THE PURPOSE of this position is “Savior.” He cannot be one without the other. Because He assumed who we are as the “Prince,” originator, founder, leader, chief, or first, He is now the “Savior.” What is the purpose of this ministry as “Savior?” Peter precisely said, “to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). The verb “to give” is not the main verb but is an infinitive, and it distinctly states the purpose or the result of the main verb’s action. “Him” (direct object receiving the action of the main verb) “God” (subject) “has exalted” (main verb) “to His right hand” (indirect object of the main verb’s action) “Prince and Savior” (direct objects give content to “Him”) “to give” (infinitive verb stating purpose). The verb “to give” is a translation of the Greek word “didomi.” It is the ninth most frequent verb in the New Testament, most often expressing the procedure whereby a subject deliberately transfers something to someone or something so that it becomes available to the recipient. In this case, the Trinity God exalted Jesus to His right hand as Prince and Savior so He can give repentance and forgiveness! This exaltation radically highlights the motive of God’s heart! He is not motivated to get or receive but to give and help. Once again, God’s love permeates His action toward humanity. His nature of bleed, suffer, and die causes Him not to think about Himself but about others. It is the redemptive heart of God revealed to us! Repentance “to give repentance.” The Greek word translated as “repentance” is “metanoia.” It involves a change of self (heart and mind) that abandons former dispositions and results in a new self, behavior, and regret over former behavior and tendencies. We have defined repentance as “giving up a former thought to embrace a new thought.” The core nature of the individual is involved in such an embrace. However, repentance becomes a lifestyle of openness to all the newness God wants to bring to our lives. Resistance to new revelation, guarding the present against change, and settling for the old is not within the perimeter of repentance. It is an attitude of receptivity in which the believer lives. Repentance demands change, which may be the most challenging issue of life! Our security is not in the familiar; our security is in Jesus. We must not remain in what we have always known because we fear the risk of the new. Our faith is not in the new but in Him who guides us into the new (John 16:13). Jesus is dangerous, but He is safe! We are not open to every new fad, religion, or cultural wave that comes our way. The issue is Jesus and what He gives us. He is the Savior who gives us repentance! Repentance is a gift from God, a startling truth! It is a display of the great truth of “prevenient grace!” We often consider repentance a preliminary action to invoke God’s forgiveness in our lives. Often, we experience as the prodigal son the pig pen of sin (Luke 15:15-16). Finally, when we come to ourselves as he did, the action of repentance begins. We make our way to the Father in godly sorrow and confess our sins. However, this is an arrogant and self-centered approach to repentance. We are incapable of godly sorrow for sin, except the Spirit of Jesus probes deep into our inner hearts. We have no awareness of guilt except the Spirit of Jesus reveals to us our condition. God must come to us and give to us repentance. We do not repent to receive the movement of God in our lives; the movement of God takes place, and we respond to His presence. Repentance is not something we do but a response to what God is doing! If He gives it, it is not ours. Jesus invites us to participate in that which He owns. In our passage, Peter directs his statement to the council, the leaders of Israel. God has marvelously moved to bring these leaders another opportunity to embrace Jesus. When Jesus came, how did they respond? They “murdered (Jesus) by hanging on a tree.” But God reversed their hateful action by raising Jesus! In a sense, they are back to the beginning of the process, confronted with Jesus again. They rejected Him not only at the crucifixion but in the first phase of persecution. For months the message of Jesus resounded throughout all of Jerusalem. Jesus authenticated His message through miracles. In the second phase of persecution, the leaders drag Peter and the apostles before the council. This same Jesus confronts them again, and they reject Him again. Will they repent? Salvation is not a product made by Jesus with a time stamp, terminating its use. That would focus on salvation apart from Jesus. Jesus is our Salvation! Salvation is not what He does but who He is, our Savior! Peter boldly declared this in the first interrogation by the council. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Salvation is “in” Jesus! If salvation is “in” Jesus, when does it become minimized? When does He deteriorate and become ineffective? Any elimination of salvation from our lives is never on His part but always on ours. If I experience hell, such a state of dwelling will not happen because He has rejected me but because I have rejected Him. It was not on His part but always on mine! Once again, Jesus extended repentance to the leaders of Israel. It was not a second chance, for the opportunities offered were too numerous to count. How many more chances will they have? It is beyond measure! Let it be boldly stated on your behalf as well! Jesus has not discarded you or me. He still gives us repentance without measure, in constant confrontation, and saturated with love! Reconciliation “forgiveness” As “Prince and Savior,” Jesus gave new content to “forgiveness,” taking us beyond what we usually experience in forgiveness. Jesus “reinstates” us! “I can forgive, but I cannot forget” is a familiar statement. The offense is always there between us, but we set aside the hatred, desire for revenge, and bitterness. We will never return to the kind of relationship before the offense; it is spoiled forever. We must be astounded by the quality of Jesus’ forgiveness! It is a vivid discovery in Peter’s denial of Jesus. He blatantly denied any connection to knowing Jesus three times (Matthew 26:69-75). The extreme evil was revealed in his strong declaration to Jesus that He would die with Him before he would deny Him (Matthew 26:35). Peter could not conceive how he could ever have a renewed relationship with Jesus. Yet, in our passage, we hear the declaration of Peter, who has experienced the complete and enveloping forgiveness of Jesus. The forgiveness of Jesus returns the sinful person to the state of relationship before he sinned. Jesus forgives and forgets. Another aspect of the new content Jesus gives to forgiveness is “review.” The depth of forgiveness is in the depth of the offense. If the offense is minor, the forgiveness is minor; if the offense is major, the forgiveness is major. Peter’s answer to the council highlights the depth of our guilt. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree” (Acts 5:30). The leaders of Israel were deeply aware of this, for they said, “And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” (Acts 5:28). Jesus related this in a comparison within the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. The evil servant embezzled from the master “ten thousand talents” (Matthew 18:24). However, the evil servant refused to forgive a fellow servant for “a hundred denarii” (Matthew 18:28). There are many attempts to calculate this into our currency. I have used the figures of $2,370,000 compared to $16.95, giving us a picture of our guilt. Peter does not highlight the thirty pieces of silver, the evil plotting behind the scenes, or the blatant denial of the Scriptures. The depth of the leaders of Israel’s sin was their rejection of Jesus. Regardless of the act of sin’s content, the heart of the sin is always the murder of Jesus. We “crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:6). Sinful deeds against my fellowman are ultimately a sin against God (Psalms 51:4). We must see all sinful deeds in their consequence to Jesus, not their physical actions! That means all my sin is in my rejection of Jesus, yet He brought me into reconciliation with His heart! Another consideration is the “repayment.” I owe Him! The forgiveness of sin always has a price. There is no forgiveness without someone paying the consequences of the sin. If someone steals from me, I may forgive them. However, I must personally pay for the loss of those funds. I can forgive if someone hits me in the face, breaking my teeth and jaw. However, I must endure the pain, go to the dentist, and absorb the expense. Jesus is the Savior who paid the penalty for all my sins! The declaration of Jesus is that forgiveness of all sin is no problem (Matthew 12:31). He is the payment for all my sin; forgiveness is in Him. Rejection “of sins” Jesus is the Savior targeting all “sins!” It is a translation of the Greek word “hamartia,” plural in the text. Jesus includes all sins! Jesus is definite in His statement to the Pharisees who accuse Him of being possessed by the devil. He said, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” (Matthew 12:31). There is no unforgivable sin! The only unforgivable issue is blasphemy, a condition of a person’s inner spirit. Jesus distinguishes between them. He cannot forgive blasphemy; He must eliminate it. Jesus provided for this by giving “repentance.” “Hamartia” means “missing the mark.” We miss God’s actual end and scope of our lives because of the inner spirit of rebellion. Self-will and self-centeredness rebel against dependency and abandonment. We missed the mark by being filled with an attitude of independence. We become our god, fulfilling the desires of our self! The Savior completely saves us! He forgives all the expressions of our self-centeredness and gives us repentance. There is no adequate defense for missing the mark. We all miss the mind and heart of Christ. It is the imagery of the bow and arrow with the assignment to hit the target’s bullseye. But how can I possibly accomplish this task? I have no experience in shooting an arrow from a bow. I do not get to practice life. Events totally out of my control are thrown at me regularly without warning. With limited experience and knowledge, I attempt to do the best I can only to experience missing the intended target. It is a hopeless possibility in the context of unrealistic expectations. Again this reality only verifies the truth that you and I are helpless. Failure and destruction are inevitable when we live out of our self-centered resources. God did not create us to be independent. But the task is before us; who is adequate to shoot the arrow and hit the bullseye? The answer is our Savior, Jesus! He is the true end and scope of our lives. In merging with His Person, we become a new creature. He always hits the mark! We become the demonstration of Him. Jesus came to save us from the futile attempts of our self-centered righteousness. He does not provide strength; He is the strength. He does not give us instruction or training, so we are adequate; He is truth and wisdom (Colossians 2:3). In merging with His mind, heart, and will, we express His Divine nature. Jesus gives us another opportunity to be His! We can participate in Him to hit the bullseye!