Jesus, Lord and Christ

In the second part of Peter's sermon at the Pentecost work of the Spirit, he continues to make his case which will lead to a bold conclusion: Jesus of Nazareth is both the promised Messiah and Lord of all. His arguments rest on two quotations from the Psalms. Using the first, he shows that David did not escape death, but suffered decomposition like all men. Secondly, he showed that David, like all men, has not gone to heaven. He shows the uniqueness of Jesus as the only to have ever escaped the grave and gone to heaven. On this basis, Peter brings his audience to a powerful conclusion which he hopes God will use to bring men to repentance. We note that if the church wishes to dismiss Peter's statements because of their prior commitment to immortal soul doctrines, they deny the plain sense of the passage, make claims which are not from scripture, and undermine Peter's whole argument about Christ.