The Message of Jesus: What Did the Apostles Preach About in the Early Church?
The church today continues what Christians did almost 2,000 years ago. While we don’t do everything exactly the same way, we want to continue the work of the early church. To understand what they did, we can look at the book of Acts in the Bible. The gospel is an important part of this book. Let’s see what the apostles taught.
The kingdom of God
Our first clue comes in verse 3: After Jesus came back to life, he taught the apostles “about the kingdom of God.” But when we read about all the times the apostles preached in Acts, they don’t use the word “kingdom” in their sermons. They could teach about God’s kingdom without using that exact word.[1]
Paul, one of Jesus’ followers, spent three months talking about God’s kingdom in a Jewish synagogue (Acts 19:8). The Jewish people already believed in God’s kingdom, but it took Paul three months to explain it, because his message was different. In Ephesus, he described his message about the kingdom as a message of repentance, faith, and grace (20:21, 24-25).
Jesus taught this same message. After his resurrection, he taught his followers more about God’s kingdom (Acts 1:3). Luke 24:27 tells us what he taught: He explained all the parts of the Bible that were about himself. He summarized his message: “everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled” (verse 44).
What was written? Jesus explains: The Messiah would die and come back to life after three days. Then people everywhere would learn that they could turn away from wrong things and be forgiven through Jesus (verses 46-47). The good news about God’s kingdom is really about Jesus dying and coming back to life, and about people changing their lives and being forgiven. God’s kingdom is good news because we can be part of it when we believe in Jesus and accept his forgiveness.
Witnesses
Jesus told his followers “You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48). A witness is someone who tells others what they saw, like in a courtroom. The word “witness” shows up a lot in Acts.[2]
In Acts 1:8, Jesus told his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus wanted the disciples to tell people what they had seen in Jesus.
The apostles were “witnesses” of Jesus in three ways:
- telling people that Jesus came back to life – 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 10:41; 13:31
- telling them about Jesus’ death, return to life, and how he can forgive people – 5:32; 10:43; 26:22
- telling them about Jesus – 1:8; 10:39; 22:15; 22:18; 23:11; 26:16
The apostles mostly talked about Jesus, especially about him coming back to life, and how people could receive God’s forgiveness through him.
Peter’s Pentecost sermon
The first sermon in Acts is Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost. He says:
Fellow Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you…this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up. (Acts 2:22-24)
Peter ended by saying: “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified” (verse 36). Peter wanted people to know that Jesus was the leader they had been waiting for.
What were people supposed to do? Peter told them to change the way they were thinking – to believe and be baptized. Then they would experience God’s forgiveness and his Holy Spirit (verse 38).
Healing in Jesus’ name
Peter’s second sermon is in chapter 3; he is speaking to Jewish people at the temple. After they saw him do a miracle, they were ready to listen. He told them that Jesus died and had come back to life.
What should people do about this? They needed to repent, be forgiven, and wait for Jesus to come back (3:19-21). If they wanted to be part of God’s people, they needed to follow the leader God had given them.
Luke summarizes Peter’s preaching in 4:2 — They were “proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.” Jesus’ resurrection shows that we can also be resurrected if we accept him as our leader.
Preaching
There are many more sermons in Acts that you can read on your own.[3] The main point is clear: the apostles mostly talked about Jesus, especially his death and return to life, and they encouraged people to believe in him.
We can also learn what they taught by looking at words like “preach” and “proclaim” in Acts. Here are examples of what they preached about:
Acts 4:2 — proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead
5:42; 8:5; 17:3 — proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah
8:4; 13:5; 15:35 — proclaiming the word, the word of God, the word of the Lord
8:12 — proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ
8:25, 40; 14:7, 21; 15:7; 16:10 — proclaiming the good news
8:35; 17:18 — proclaimed the good news about Jesus, and the resurrection
10:36 — preaching peace by Jesus Christ
11:20 — proclaiming the Lord Jesus
13:32-33 — the good news that God fulfilled the promise by raising Jesus
13:38 — proclaiming forgiveness of sins through Jesus
14:15 — bringing good news, that you should turn to God
17:23 — proclaim what you worship as unknown
20:24 — testify to the good news of God’s grace
20:27 — declaring the whole purpose of God
26:23 — proclaiming light to Jews and gentiles
Peter’s message to Cornelius contains the main points:
- Jesus did miracles (v. 38)
- He was killed on a cross (v. 39)
- God raised him from the dead (v. 40)
- He will come back to judge all people (v. 42)
- People should believe in him and they will be forgiven (v. 43)
The apostles kept telling people about Jesus even when others threatened to kill them. Their message changed people’s lives. It was so important that they were willing to live for it – and even die for it.
The gospel of…
Scripture describes the gospel in numerous ways. Here’s how the word is most often used:
- good news of Jesus Christ — 15 times
- good news of God – 9 times
- good news of the kingdom – 7 times
- my gospel, our gospel – 6 times
- the gospel of peace – 2 times
- good news of God’s grace – 1 time
- good news of the glory of Christ – 1 time
- gospel of your salvation – 1 time
The message can be about God’s kingdom, Jesus Christ, forgiveness, making peace with God, or being saved. Most often, it’s called the good news about Jesus Christ. The message belongs to him, it’s all about him, and he’s the reason it’s good news. When we preach about Jesus, we are preaching about the kingdom. Because of Jesus, God forgives us and welcomes us to live forever with him and other believers in love and joy. Because of Jesus, our lives have meaning and purpose right now.
Entering the kingdom
Jesus said that when we tell others about him, we should help them become his followers (Matthew 28:19-20). We do this by telling them to change and believe in him, baptizing them, and teaching them to do what Jesus taught. This is wonderful news: God accepts us now, he lives in us now, we are part of his family now, we are in his kingdom now!
The good news about God’s kingdom includes forgiveness, but people can experience this only through faith and repentance. So when we tell others about Jesus, we also encourage them to believe, and to look at Jesus in a new way. When people trust in Jesus and accept him as their leader, they enter his kingdom – even if they’ve never heard the word “kingdom.” What matters most is their relationship with Jesus, not the exact words we use.
Endnotes
[1] Luke uses the word “kingdom” eight times in Acts as a summary word for the message:
- Jesus taught about the kingdom of God (1:3).
- The disciples asked about the kingdom (1:8).
- Philip taught the Samaritans about the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ (8:12).
- Paul and Barnabas told the Christians in Antioch that we enter the kingdom of God through many hardships (14:22).
- Paul argued in the synagogue for three months about the kingdom of God (19:8).
- Paul told the Ephesian elders that he had preached the kingdom (20:25). But in verse 21 he described his message with the terms repentance and faith; in verse 24 he said he preached “the gospel of God’s grace”; these are equated with the gospel of the kingdom.
- Paul preached “the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus” (28:23).
- In Rome, Paul “preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (28:31). A message about the kingdom is linked to a message about Jesus Christ.
[2] Witness comes in several forms, both verbs and nouns, all built on the root martyr-. We get the English word martyr from this Greek root. People who were faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ sometimes became martyrs for their faith.
[3] For a more detailed study of the sermons in Acts, see https://learn.gcs.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=4238 and https://learn.gcs.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=4239.
Author: Michael Morrison