The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 282

Ml!lllllia.hship and Lordship of Christ. 2. Christ's command," Go into all the world," etc., sends UB be.ck to the announcement of the angels at Bethlehem; they preached a Saviour, not a se.lvation. 8. The apostles preached Christ at Pentecost, and at the healing of tbe hme man, and declared Jesus &11 both having died and risen again, and being exalted 11·ith present saving power. 4. Stephen preached, in his defence, the Messiahship and death of the Lord Jesus, closing with a firm declaration that he was risen. 5. Philip preached unto the eunuch, and his subject was Jesus the Key to the prophecies, suffering and tliumphant. 6. St. Paul preached to the Philippian jailor, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." The peculiarity of the eo.rly preaching evidently was the presentation to men of a personal, living Saviour, with whom men may have personal dealings for their full salvation. Then true preaching must present a living Christ to· men as having done all for them, able to be all to them, and to do all tn them, and so the true preaching of Christ covers his whole redemptive work. Preaching Christ sets him forth bdore men in his cradk, on his cross, and with his crown. I. IN HIS CRADLE. Or, Christ in incarnation, the Divine Man. This is the mystery of Bethlehem. It may be shown (1) that the Man Christ Jesus reveals God to man,and man to himself; (2) gives example of the human life that can alone be acceptable to God; and (3) is the assurance of the Divine sympathy with sinning, suffering man. He " took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham," and " being found in fashion as a man" he is able to save us men. II. ON ms oaoss. Or, Christin sacrifice, the Divine Sufferer. This is the mystery of Calvary. A suffering Saviour shows: 1. The intensity of sin : its utmost effort crucified. him. 2. The helplessness of sin. It did its worst, and was defeated. "It was not possible that he should be holden of it." A suffering Saviour: 3. .Attracts men. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." No persuasions can so urge and win men as those thnt come from the cross where our Sin-bearer died. 4. Removes out of the way the hindrances to our fellowship with God. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" ill WITH ms CROWN. Or, Christ in triumph, the Divine King. This is the mystery of Olivet. The kingly Jesus is: 1. The '-PX'l"YO", Leader of his people," the Captain of their salvation," their Bringer-on. 2. The Head and Lord of the new kingdom, "exalted to give repentance and remission." "Head over all things to his Church." 3. The Bestower of the Holy Spirit, which is his present inward agency, himseU abid- ing with us and in us. So we preach Christ, the Man; the Divine Man; ours, our Brother; and with this preaching we arouse interest in him. We preach Christ, the Sufferer, who draws us to himself in sympathy and love. "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow." We preach Christ the King, and bid you bow down now and submit to his gracious and holy reign.-R. T. Vers. 9-13.- Warnings from Simon Magus. "His name indicates a Jewish or Samaritan origin." He appears as the type of a class but too common at the time- that of Jews trading on the mysterious prestige of their race and the credulity of the heathen, claiming supernatural power exercised through charms and incantations. For other illustrations, give account of Elymas (eh. xiii. 6); the " vagabond Jews, exorcists," at Ephesus (eh. x.i.L 13); the so-called Simon of Cyprus mentioned by Josephus; and Apollonins of Tyana. Explain the state of the times ; men were thoroughly dissatisfied with the empty formalities of religion, and were sick of the routine demands of rab- binical traditions, and were more or less distinctly yearning and crying for the spiritual. Their thouuht and feeling laid them open to the influence of the sorcerer and juggler, who appea~ed to be possessed of mysterious and spiritual power. "All over the known world, the nations were at that critical hour in history agitated by a vague 'inrest and a feverish anticipation of some impending change. Everywhere men mrned dissatisfied from their ancestral divinities and worn-out beliefs. Everywhere they turned in their uncertainty to foreign superstitions, and welcomed any religion v. uich professed to reveal the unknown. Along with this came a strange longing to penetrate the secrets of the world, to communicate with the invisible. 'l'o persons in this expectant and restless condition there could be no lack of prophets. Asia bred them, Egypt ripened them, the West swarmed with them.• OIL VIII, 1-40.] THE ACTS OF THE A.POSTLES. 279