1 God: "THIS JESUS” as Declared By the apostles in the Book of Acts

“THIS JESUS” in the Book of Acts compiled by rory moore

 "Who are you Lord?"   A perspective to consider....

What follows is the words of the original Spirit-filled disciples and what they said regarding Jesus Christ, as they preached the Gospel.  

In their words, not mine. 

 I have never heard anyone use the book of Acts to illustrate what the Spirit-filled disciples testified about God and about Jesus Christ.

Carefully compiling their words as they told the people who Jesus is, they knew the majority were wrong in what they believed about Jesus.  

What I discovered was in not a single instance did they testify what church indoctrinated people say. No "dual nature". No "God became a man" no "pre-existent son",  no "Deity of Christ" phrases. No "God incarnate".

I hope you will consider with care *their words* without the usual man made explanations.

Acts 1.. "YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESSES.."

Prelude.

1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God....

8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, THIS JESUS, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Acts 2:22, in the first post-ascension gospel declared by the newly Spirit filled disciples:

and Peter said…. JESUS OF NAZARETH, ** A MAN** approved of God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs WHICH GOD DID BY HIM among you, ...

23 him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay:

24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be held by it. 
25 For David said concerning him,  I beheld the Lord always before my face;…..

29 Brethren, …the patriarch David, both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne (i.e. king David's);

31 he foreseeing this spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

32 ===> THIS JESUS did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.

33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this, which ye see and hear.

34 For David ascended not into the heavens: but he said,

The LORD said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand,  Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly,
that God has made him both Lord and Christ, THIS JESUS whom ye crucified.

Acts 3: Peter again: to Jewish rulers.

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified >>His servant Jesus<<<, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

14 But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

15 ==> but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead <===, a fact to which we are witnesses.

20 and that ===> He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you 

26 For you first, ===> God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

Acts 4:

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them.., 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”..
.....And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
===> through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

Acts 5: WHAT PETER SAID TO THE SANHEDRIN:

29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
30  The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,  whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.

31  He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior ,

to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

.......................................

42  every day, in the temple and from house to house, 
they kept right on teaching and preaching ===> Jesus as the Christ.

Acts 6 is the account of church growth, deacons, and Stephen who taught and served, "Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit:"  As Stephen speaks to the elders of Israel:..........

ACTS 7  Stephen begins quoting the Old Testament:

32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.

37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel,

==>‘God will raise up for you a prophet ***like me from your brethren***.

48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; :

52 Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become

54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick,...

55 But being ***full of the Holy Spirit***,

he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

56 and he said, “Behold, I SEE the heavens opened up

 and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Who did he see? God or the son of man standing at the right hand of God??

Acts: 8 what Philip preached:

5 And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ.

12 But when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

The Ethiopian:

32  Now this was the passage of the Scripture he was reading, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, So he opened not his mouth:

33   In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: His generation who shall declare? For his life is taken from the earth.

34   And the eunuch said, WHO is the prophet speaking of?  

35 And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Jesus.

36 And as they went on the way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said, [here is] water; what hinders me to be baptized?

What did the Ethiopian confess?:

 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 

 Paul in Acts 9:

Had you been with Saul (Paul)  in Acts 9,  you would have heard:

4  and he fell upon the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

5  And he said, WHO ARE YOU, Lord? And he [said], I am Jesus whom you persecute.

Then Saul obeyed the voice and found the disciple named Ananias:

:17 And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, [even] Jesus, who appeared to you in the way has sent me, that you may receive  sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

18 And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened. And he was certain days with the disciples at Damascus.

And immediately in the synagogues  he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God.

Acts 10

:21  And Peter went down to the men, and said, see, I am he that you seek: what is the reason for you coming to me? 22  And they said, Cornelius a centurion, a righteous man that fears God, and well reported of by all the nation of the Jews, was warned [of God] by a holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words from thee.

34  And Peter opened his mouth and said .....

36 The Word which **he sent** to the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace  by Jesus Christ (He is Lord          *kurios-Master/ruler)     of all.) --

38 ***Jesus of Nazareth***, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; 
 for God was **with** him. ...whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree.

 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people,  and to testify that ===> this is he <i.e. Jesus> who is ordained of God [to be] the Judge of the living and the dead.

43  To him bear all the prophets witness, that through his name every one that believes on him shall receive remission of sins....  

44

While Peter spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word. 45 And  that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.

46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God

Acts 11 is a re-telling of chapter 10 events to the brethren in Jerusalem
Acts 12 is the death of James, Peter's arrest, divine intervention, Herod struck down by God...

++++++++++++

ACTS 13.. Saul (PAUL) a prophet and teacher is called to be an apostle and is sent to preach to the gentiles..

At Antioch he preached to the Jews in the synagogue saying:

16 Paul stood up, and said, Men of Israel, and you that fear God, hear:

17  The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they sojourned in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm led he them forth out of it. …He raised up David to be their king; to whom also he bare witness and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after MY heart, who shall do all MY will.

23 Of this man's <King David> seed has God according to promise brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus;

To Jews and proselytes in Antioch:
 26 Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us is the word of this salvation sent forth.

27  For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled [them] by condemning [him].

28  And though they found no cause of death, yet asked they of Pilate that he should be slain.

29 And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.

30  ==> But God raised him from the dead:

33 that God has fulfilled the same to our children, ==> in that HE raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ==> You are my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

==> 38  Be it known to you therefore, brethren,

 that through **this man** is proclaimed to you remission of sins:

39  and **by him** every one that believes is justified from all , ==> from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

47 For so has the Lord commanded us, [saying], I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.

48 And as the Gentiles heard this, they were GLAD, and glorified the word of God: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

Acts 14.. Spreading of the gospel.

And it came to pass in Iconium that together they both went into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude of both the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.

5 And when there was an assault made both by the Gentiles and also the Jews, with their rulers, to use them spitefully and to stone them, 6 they were aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and the region that lieth round about.  7 And there they preached the Gospel.

Acts 15  The “in house” Controversy with The LAW of the Old Testament and the New Testament churches..

Acts 16 continues this instruction: 4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, that had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.  
vs 30: what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 17:  Paul at Berea

Paul at Berea Numerous points here are worth noting and pondering. So many of us missed the significance. Paul is led by God and circumstances; let’s LISTEN to him and imagine you are hearing Paul speak:

In Berea,  11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,
===> examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. <==

-I must point out they searched the scriptures and not the “church fathers” or books on theology. How wise this is, and in doing so, we seek to eliminate reliance upon the unscriptural words and phrases I will include in a non-scripture dictionary.

Paul preaches in Athens.. on Mars Hill

22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, 

I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’  ===> Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you...

24 The God who made the world (Gen 1)  He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth...
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him,
though He is not far from each one of us;  

28 for in Him we live and move and exist

30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 

KEY VERSE ALERT!
Acts 17:31  because He has fixed a day in which HE <God> will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him  <the man> from the dead.”

Acts 18:  Paul at Corinth (NASB5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word,

  ==> solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

24 Now a Jew named Apollos ...powerfully refuted the Jews in public, ==> demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ...

((the same revelation as Peter's revelation in Mt. 16:16 And Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Acts 19  (NASB) Paul at Ephesus

Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples.  2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

Acts 20  (NASB) Paul in Macedonia and Greece

17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. ..

saying to the elders:

20 I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks

==> of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you <the elders> overseers <aka bishops>, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

I would like to point out God did not shed blood and God did not die. If God shed blood as some believe, then God also died. And that is impossible.. God is not a man, He told us so. Jesus is a man, he told us so

Acts 21  (NASB) Paul Sails from Miletus

<In Jerusalem, Paul is arrested and the Jews seek to kill him:>

21:28 This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” 40 When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,...

ACTS 22   Paul’s Testimony:

6.. it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, 7 and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 

‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 

8 And I answered, ‘WHO ARE YOU, Lord?’

 And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene,  whom you are persecuting.’

Questions: was God then, a Nazarene?
If Jesus is God, how could Jesus not say to him "I am God?
Peter had said…. JESUS OF NAZARETH, ** A MAN** approved of God to you."

10 And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’

Ananias ministers to Saul:

12 “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him.

14 And he said, ‘THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth.

Ananias: "16 Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name." 17 “ when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,

18 and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, ===> because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ <===

remember “ME”, vs. 8?: And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

"God of our fathers": Acts 3:13   The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. Acts 7:32 I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not behold. (from Acts 7, where God (YHWH) said to Moses "I am the God ..." (note. When did Jesus ever state "I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob" when speaking to anyone..? ) Acts 24:14 But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the **God of our fathers**, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets

Acts 23 (NASB) Paul testifying to the Jewish leaders, the "Council". (Sanhedrin)

Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day..
“Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

..10 And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. 11 But on the night immediately following,
===> the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

Acts 24, after Paul's arrest, his first trial before his accusers.

Paul's defense: 10 When the governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul responded:

13 Nor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse me.

14 But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the **God of our fathers**, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets

...‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”……..

24 some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

Acts 25  King Agrippa hears from Festus what he had heard from Paul:

18 When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him (Paul) not of such crimes as I was expecting, 19 but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.

24 some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

We have followed Paul now into Acts 26; you are there and what will Agrippa hear from Paul?

Acts 26 (NASB) Paul’s Defense before Agrippa

:26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” ...I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; 3 especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.  and for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.

8  Why is it considered incredible among you people if God raises the dead?

9 “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

 13 at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? 

 It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15 And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

22 So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place;

23 that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead

Acts 27. (NASB) Paul (not Peter) Is Sent to Rome.. Travel, shipwrecked, survival.. on the way to Rome.

21 When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.

23 For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,

24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’…..

Acts 28..   Paul Arrives at Rome

11 At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship …

16 When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

17 After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, “Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. ..

20 … therefore, I requested to see and to speak with you, as I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.”

23 When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.

30 And he stayed two full …31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.

For study:

Who is Jesus' God here?

Jn 17:3 Jesus said to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to the Father: but go to my brethren, and say to them,

=>> I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.

Jesus said God is "MY GOD" FOURTEEN TIMES in scripture.

The LAST STATEMENT IN John 20 for WHAT TO BELIEVE  who "JESUS IS":

*these are written*==>> that YOU may BELIEVE

==>> that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God <==

 and that believing ye may have life in his name.