We are all one in Christ...

Acts 2: 32; 36

 ³²This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses…. ³⁶Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah,^* this Jesus whom you crucified.’  

Acts 2 is the first of four passages in the Acts of the Apostles (see also 8:4; 10:44 and 19: 1-10) that answer the fundamental question being asked by first century people: ‘for who did Jesus the Messiah live, die and rise again?’ There is no doubt that Jesus lived, died and rose again. There were eye witnesses who were prepared to die for these facts.  Nobody dies for a known lie unless they are insane. Peter was a realist; he knew the consequences of following Jesus. Remember he denied Jesus rather than die beside Him. Now, in this passage, he is witnessing to the resurrection at the heart of the meeting place of those who killed him and he is clear that Jesus rose again. He is also very clear that the ‘entire house of Israel’ that is the Jewish people are the object of the loving, resurrection power displayed in the coming of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the Church. In chapter 8:4 we find that the Samaritans are part of the same plan for the church; in chapter 10:44 we find the ‘God Fearers’ non Jewish believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are ushered into the church and in chapter 19 we find gentiles, that is non-Jews are part of God’s plan for the community of believers. All these groups are confirmed by the Holy Spirit falling on them and demonstrating their inclusion through the speaking in languages they did not learn: a miraculous sign of their inclusion that the first included believers’ from these groups received. We are now in the position to answer the question who did Jesus rise from the dead for: who are to be included in the Church? The Jews, Samaritans, God Fearers and Gentiles are all included in the resurrection plan for the new community where Jesus reigns as both ‘Lord and Messiah’. Jesus rose again for all people no matter their ethnic identity. The resurrection is the empowerment act of inclusion: no more division we are all one in Christ.