…but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
— Acts 3:15
This verse comes from Peter’s second sermon, recorded in Acts 3, following the healing of the lame man at the gate called Beautiful. We are told that the man entered the temple courts leaping and praising God — and the people who witnessed it were utterly astonished. As the crowd gathered around Peter and John, Peter immediately seized the moment and began to preach. He urged the people not to be amazed at what had happened as though it were by their own power — for it was the power of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, that had done this.
The Gospel as a Daily Lifestyle
Before we get to the heart of Peter’s message, there is something important to observe in how this moment came about. Many of us tend to think of gospel sharing as something specialised — something reserved for certain gifted individuals, or something that requires a carefully organised meeting or a formal evangelistic event. But Peter and John show us a different picture entirely.
For them, the gospel came out in their regular, everyday conversations. It was their lifestyle. They were so saturated with the truth of the gospel that it spilled naturally into every situation they found themselves in.
Jesus makes this responsibility clear in Matthew 28:19-20:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
— Matthew 28:19-20
This commission belongs to every single believer — not to a select group. Every follower of Jesus has the responsibility to share the gospel with those the Lord places in their path.
And this heart for sharing the gospel must be accompanied by a heart of prayer. Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him in precisely this way:
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ.
— Colossians 4:2-3
When this kind of prayer fills our hearts, going out to share the gospel with those the Lord places in our path becomes the most natural thing in the world.
The Prince of Life Put to Death
Now we come to the extraordinary phrase at the heart of Peter’s sermon — that the Jewish people had put to death the Prince of life.
This is the title Peter gives to Jesus. Rendered in some translations as the Author of life, it is a striking and almost paradoxical description. The one who created life. The one who authored life. The one who brought life into existence. The one who is Himself life — put to death.
Scripture is consistent and clear on this point. Jesus declares in John 14:6:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
— John 14:6
And in John 11:25:
I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.
— John 11:25
When Peter asked Him, where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we can trace this even further back to Genesis, where God formed man from the dust of the earth, breathed into him, and he became a living soul.
There is no question — Jesus is the Author of life. Which makes the sentence all the more astonishing. How can the Author of life be put to death?
Why the Author of Life Had to Die
Death is the opposite of life. It is antithetical to everything life is. And yet Scripture also tells us that death is the very price that must be paid for sin:
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
— Romans 6:23
And in Hebrews 9:22 we are told that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. In Romans 5, Paul tells us that by one man’s sin, death entered the world.
When we hold all of these texts together, the purpose of Christ’s death becomes unmistakably clear. The Author of life, the generator of life, was put to death — in order to pay for the sins of all who would believe upon Him. As 1 John 3:5 tells us, Jesus came to take away sin. And in verse 8 of that same chapter, He came to destroy the works of the devil.
Someone had to die. It was either us — the ones who sinned — or someone who would come to stand in our place and die on our behalf. And this is exactly what Jesus did. He came and lived the perfectly righteous life that we could never live, as only the Author of life could — and then He died. Put to death by the hands of men, so that every person who believes upon Him would receive and enjoy the full benefits of eternal life in Christ.
Received by Faith Alone
And the most wonderful truth of all is that every benefit of this eternal life is transferred to us — not on the basis of our works or merit, but simply on the basis of faith. We believe that these things are true. We trust that Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection were entirely sufficient to reconcile us to God, wipe away our sins, and give us eternal life.
May this be what you believe.
Amen.
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