We need a better answer: Reading Acts with David Gooding

A not so beautiful world

Commenting on the encounter of the apostles with the beggar who was lame from birth at the temple gate Beautiful (Acts 3:1ff), David Gooding rightly reminds us that a gospel worth believing in must be a gospel that offers real answers to real issues in life.

"The sight of a congenitally deformed human being is distressing enough in itself; but for anyone who believes in a loving Creator, to see such a person lying helpless on the doorstep of the Creator’s temple is to be reminded of a distressingly poignant question. Why, if there is a Creator who is all-loving and all-powerful, do any of his creatures suffer congenital deformity in the first place? How is it there are any people with mental or physical disabilities who need the compassion of their mere fellow creatures? ... [G]ranted we accept with the mind that the wreckage is the result of mankind’s original rebellion against the Creator, the heart still has its irresistible questions. Does not the Creator himself hear the cries of his broken creation? And if he does, does he not propose to do something about it himself beyond asking us to show care and compassion? If not, how could we who happen at the moment to be healthy continue long to worship him in his temple for his love and compassion? Would not the cries and groans of the deformed outside the temple gate choke our praises?" (pp82-83)

We need more than Good Samaritans

Gooding continues by pointing out why our typical social/community concern programs will fall short:

"Though all the Christians in the world gave all their cash and worked their knuckles to the bone in the relief of suffering, it could never be the final answer to questions of this kind. And as far as the world outside is concerned, if all that the Christian gospel could say in the face of the world’s pain was that we ought to act the good Samaritan and do our best to help each other, our gospel would in the end deserve not the world’s gratitude, but its pity, if not its contempt. Christianity would need to have a better answer than that if it is to speak credibly in the name of an all-loving and all-powerful Creator." (p.84)

A better (and longer) answer

Thankfully, Gooding observes, the gospel according to Acts does offer a far better answer. This is addressed in several steps by the apostles on that beautiful day:

Step 1: "Having no money on him to give to the man, Peter gave him something far better. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth he performed a miracle, removed his disability and gave him perfect soundness of body. The man was naturally ecstatic with delight, and he accompanied the apostles into the temple walking, leaping, and praising God." (p.84)

While this is praiseworthy, Gooding rightly observes that this in itself is not enough.

"If the risen Christ did enable his apostles to perform such miracles from time to time—and I do not doubt he did—why did he not command them to drop everything else and proceed systematically to rid the whole country of every conceivable kind of sickness? ... [W]hy did not Christ have them take the next twenty years and heal every sick person in the Roman Empire?" (p.84)

Rather, step 1 sets the stage for the next part of the answer - understandably, a longer answer. 

Step 2: "[T]he Jerusalem crowd who recognized the man with the disability and could see for themselves that an astounding miracle had taken place had their questions as well, and came flocking round the apostles looking for an explanation.

Perhaps the sight of a lame man now walking and leaping and praising God struck a chord deep in their minds. Having attended their synagogues from childhood, they would have heard the law and the prophets read every Sabbath day (Acts 13:27). Some passages in the prophets were positively lyrical when they talked of the coming messianic reign. Take Isaiah 35:5–6 for example:

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened 

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy ...

... But now what was this? A lame man leaping!? Was this the messianic age begun? Were

the prophets being fulfilled in front of their very eyes? And literally at that?" (p.85)

Gooding reminds us that the meaning of this miracle, just like every other miracle recorded in the Bible, will only become more apparent when understood in the light of its broader context - in this case,  through the eyes of Jewish Scripture (i.e. the Old Testament).

But that is not all.

Step 3: "Peter’s answer to this question is beyond dispute: No, this was not the messianic age begun. His exposition of Joel on the day of Pentecost had pinpointed their position: they were in the last days of this present age (Acts 2:17) ... [T]he messianic age of the restoration of all things would not begin until the return of the Messiah (3:20–21).

The miracle just performed was, like many of the miracles the Lord himself did, simply a sign, a pointer to that coming age, a sample in advance of the eventual restoration of all things, an exhibition of the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5). It was, therefore, a powerful assurance that the messianic age would come one day." (pp.85-86)

This would of course lead to yet another question: 

Step 4: "Why not now? If Peter and John had the power to heal one congenitally lame man, why not all such? How could it be moral, let alone Christian, to have the power and not use it for the benefit of every sufferer?" (p.86)

Gooding answers this by following closely the apostle Peter's exposition of Israel's Scripture (i.e. the Old Testament) which culminates in these three implications:

• "the time of universal restoration would come, the time that God had envisaged and spoken of right from the beginning of the world (Acts 3:21), the time when creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:21), when never again will people with physical deformities or mental disabilities be laid on the doorstep of God’s temple to appeal for charity and compassion." (p.91)

• "If the crowd would have it, their sins could be wiped out, they could be prepared for participation in Messiah’s coming reign of peace and glory ... [I]n God’s mercy, time for repentance had been built into his program: the Messiah, now ascended, would not immediately proceed to destroy his enemies and set up his kingdom (Acts 3:19–21)." (p.91)

• "On the other hand, ... [t]hey needed to repent. Moses himself had warned them that when God raised up ‘the prophet like Moses’, that prophet would have to be listened to. Anybody who did not, would be completely cut off from his people (3:22–23). God would not wait forever to set up Messiah’s reign of peace." (p.91)

An unpopular answer

While the beautiful reality of the healed man was plain for all to see, the people's response to the apostle's message was mixed. Ironically, Gooding observes that "here began that rift between official Judaism and early Christianity that was later to widen into an unbridgeable chasm." (p.93)

The message of this gospel is still as unpopular for many today. Gooding explains:

"The world today no more wants to hear the diagnosis of its sin, the summons to repentance and faith in Christ, than the crowd in the temple did. It will, if we let it, lecture us on ethics, indeed on Christianity itself. ‘If you would be real and true Christians,’ it suggests, ‘you would give up all that doctrine and dogma and preaching and trying to get people converted, and get on instead with helping the poor and the sick in the true spirit of Jesus.’ The truth is that the world wants the church’s charity; it does not want the church’s Saviour ... It would have a paradise without repentance, God’s merciful service without his Servant." (p.92)

And yet, the reality remains unchanged as well:

"Our earth is not a self-created machine which just happens to have gone a little wrong but which we with our increasing know-how and technology can put right, granted only international cooperation and a sincere effort on the part of everyone. Behind our earth and universe stands a personal Creator and a personal Saviour. Not all the technological engineering, medical treatment, social aid, economic strategy, political prudence, and education of the masses that could ever be brought to bear upon earth’s problems could finally solve them and produce a paradise, so long as the world remains at odds with its Creator and rejects its appointed Saviour (Acts 3:20)." (p.92)

Still the only adequate answer

As such, we would do well to heed Gooding's exhortation:

"So let us be sure of this: there will be no restoring of the kingdom, no ‘times of refreshing’, no restoration of all the things which the prophets promised would be restored, until the second coming of Christ (3:20–21). Let us listen to the explicit statement of Scripture, and not bolster ourselves up with false expectations.

And let us not quit preaching. The world’s pain is immense: but its prime and pressing need is to repent and be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20). Let us make sure, too, that it is the gospel we preach, and not mere morality. It is a sinful and rebellious world; but God in Christ has taken the initiative, and there is a freeway to forgiveness and reconciliation that is wide open. And let us not be ashamed of our hope, but present it positively and joyfully." (p.92)