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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Acts 22:30-23:35
Paul shouted a short statement to the Sanhedrin in order to divert their attention off of him. But, man, was that statement ever full of truth! He cried out, “I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!” (Acts 23:6b). I think if you had to write a summary of the message of the Bible in ten words or less, “the hope of the resurrection of the dead” would be a good one. There are so many layers of meaning just in that short phrase!
The most obvious meaning is that there is some form of physical life after death. That in itself offers hope to the innate human desire for immortality. Yet it offers even more hope for those who believe in Christ and the promise of abundant life for eternity. However, as with everything in the Bible, there is a spiritual parallel to that physical hope. Thus, the hope of the resurrection of the dead means that our dead souls, separated from the God of life because of sin, can be made new and whole again. The interesting aspect of these parallel meanings is that you can’t have one without the other.
That covers the “what” in the meaning of Paul’s statement. But there is a “who” in that statement as well. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (Jn. 11:25a). Thus, neither the physical nor the spiritual resurrection from the dead can exist without Jesus. He is the life that overcomes our death. And it is this truth that He demonstrated throughout His ministry on earth. Because He is the resurrection, He is our hope. He is the only chance any of us have for true life. So the ultimate truth in Paul’s statement to the Sanhedrin is that he was being judged because of Jesus.
Acts 24-25
Paul made another interesting statement in chapter 24. He said, “I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.” (Acts 24:14b). A few things jump out at me in this statement.
- Jesus also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn. 14:6). So when Paul said that he worshiped God according to the Way, he acknowledged that He came before God through Jesus.
- Paul also acknowledged that Jesus completes the law and the prophets. Without that belief in Jesus, any perceived understanding of the law and the prophets is not a full understanding. The Jewish religious leaders, who spent a lifetime in study and thought they knew, missed the whole point.
- All of that leads to the irony that those who claimed to uphold the law were the very ones denying, and thus breaking, it. Which is why we see this situation, where the ‘upstanding’ leaders of the Jews stood falsely accusing a man who had done nothing wrong. I guess in all their study, they missed commandment #9 – “Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Ex. 20:16).