Aug 19, 2012
Peter's Christocentric Message
Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:22–36 is examined as a case study in Spirit-empowered, Christocentric proclamation. The transformation of Peter — from the man who called down God's curse upon himself while denying Christ to the bold herald of the risen Lord — is traced under four headings: his current strength, his refined zeal, his Protestant recovery from sin, and the Christ-centered shape of his message. The sermon argues that the gospel is precisely and exclusively the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for sinners, not its ethical consequences or the command to believe that follows it, and calls believers to fly immediately to Christ's blood and righteousness when they sin rather than to self-loathing or self-atoning disciplines.
