What I wrote in the first post in this series about the clear passages of Scripture helping us read the more challenging ones is not just a general statement. It really is true that some Bible passages are so clear that they can be our guide as we read through the whole Bible.
Forgiveness of Sins Through Christ
Not every single passage in this series will be such a clear example of this idea, but Acts 10:43 is:
To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.
Of course, the “Him” here is Jesus. This passage is about the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name and how that’s the consensus of the Old Testament prophetic witness. But we should back up and account for the context in Acts.
Peter has just had his famous vision in which a voice from God tells him to eat foods that he had, as a Jew and in accordance with Old Testament prescription, treated as unclean. In the verses that follow, Peter encounters the Gentile (non-Jewish) centurion Cornelius and understands the point of his vision: that he should in no way hesitate to associate with a non-Jew or consider such a person on that account unclean.
Cornelius, gathered with his relatives and close friends, then invites Peter to proclaim his message to them, and this verse, Acts 10:43, is a part of Peter’s sermon. The sermon affirms again that the Gospel is for all people, without distinction. Then it affirms the good work of Christ, including His death and resurrection. It continues by talking about the organized proclamation of that message—that God chose certain men to go forth with the message of Christ. And finally, our verse. About this Christ, who lived and healed people, died and rose from the dead, and will return to judge the living and the dead, all the prophets are in agreement: Everyone who believes in Him has forgiveness of sins. After the sermon, many believe and are baptized.
Forgiveness Comes by Faith, Not Works
So, what’s the “clarity” that this verse brings? It’s that forgiveness of sins is by faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible contains many passages that talk about the good works of God’s children. A regular misreading of those passages is to say that those good works make you a Christian. Those passages don’t say that, but we sinners (that’s all of us) are always inclined to overvalue our good works, and that distorts even how we understand God’s Word.
This passage of clear Gospel works against that wrong Bible-reading tendency. Christians should instead read such passages as describing the life of someone who has already been made a Christian. And this is one of the clear, anchor verses. Forgiveness of sins is by faith in Jesus’ work, not by our own works.
As a sort of second piece alongside this, there’s the “all the prophets” part. Peter treats this assertion as the main consensus of the prophets, which means of the Old Testament, and we can be comfortable treating it as a reference to the whole Bible for us today. The consensus of the Bible is “faith alone,” “not by works.”
Of course, this is a cradle truth for Lutherans and, in reality, for many other Christian denominations. This verse is a great anchor for that—it’s not just a thing we say but the clear teaching of God’s Word, both of the New Testament (where we read this verse) and of the Old Testament, to which it refers.
Scripture: ESV®
Pick up a new Bible to start memorizing these Scripture verses and many more to be featured in this series.
