The Holy Spirit does not emphasize himself, but glorifies Christ. God is not selfish, but he is love. Each Person of the Holy Trinity loves the other, and conducts us to the other. The Son glorifies the Father; and the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son. As the Son let the Spirit carry out the salvation, so the Father gave to his Son all authority in heaven and on earth. He who seeks the knowledge of God must look attentively at the love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for God is but love, and his union continues in love.
Peter did not speak long under the guidance of the Holy Spirit about the truth of the outpouring of the blessed Spirit, but he soon turned his testimony to the person of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead. The portrait of the Lord who sacrificed himself, and his waiting at the tomb filled the disciples’ subconscious. They prayed, reflected on these things, looked into the prophecy, and found an evident clarification. Peter portrayed Jesus of Nazareth before his hearers that they might comprehend the reason for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the end of his coming.
The speaker sensed in the bottom of his heart how the Holy Spirit opposed the sin of the Jews who refused Jesus and killed him. Peter could not comfort the hearers with beautiful words and promised blessings, but had to declare that they were criminals. Yet he did not say that violently and harshly, but made clear their sin gradually, and in the language of love he led them to know their crime completely. It is observable that in the beginning of his speech he did not use the title “Christ”, or “the Son of God”, but called Jesus “the Man of God” that the Jews might go on listening to him and not boil over immediately.
Peter breathed deeply, and for the next time during his speech he demanded attentive listening, and true understanding. He said, “You all know Jesus of Nazareth. This man was supported by God with more signs and miracles than any other prophet before or after him. He raised the dead, cast out demons, forgave the sins, satisfied five thousand hungry people using only five loaves, and stilled the furious storm. These wonderful miracles were not Acts.of man, but of God. The Man Jesus was in full harmony with the will of the Most High that the Almighty worked and came in him. As such the power of heavens began to spread on earth. Christ did not work separately apart from God his Father, but was one with him until the Holy One carried out his will completely through him, as Jesus said: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
It is strange that the Jews refused him who had the power and authority of God. Peter did not say that the chief priests, or the members of the Sanhedrim were responsible for refusing Jesus, but that the hearers were at fault, for they were afraid of their leaders, and therefore they kept away from Jesus of Nazareth gradually and did not defend him. Yet some of them took part in the crying: “Crucify him, crucify him!” Peter stabbed their hearts with the courage of the Holy Spirit, and said to them: “You yourselves killed this Man who was commissioned by God, not by ordinary stoning, but by delivering him to the heathen Romans. You crucified him through them. And this signifies doubled shame.” Peter did not speak to his hearers about robbery, lying, or impurity, but made apparent their attitude toward Jesus as disobedient, blind, and ignorant enemies of God. This sermon of Peter does not signify the condemnation of the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit is holy. He condemns every lawless deed, and uncovers our attitude toward God in disobedience and enmity.
Yet God did not lose the battle, in spite of Christ’s crucifixion, but completed is salvation in his foreknowledge. In spite of the shocking crime he declared his love completely. No one can hinder God’s plan. The Holy One was determined to redeem the world, knowing that this could only be done by his Son’s sacrifice with the hands of the disobedient sinners. The cross is the triumph of God’s foreknowledge and the rule of his inconceivable love for the world. Yet this predetermination of God does not signify indulgence of the Jews, for the Holy Spirit said with all intensity through Peter: “You are the murderers, killers, and enemies of God.”
How great was the difference between the beginning and the end of the speech! First, the apostles stood with the greatest joy of the Holy Spirit, praising and thanking abundantly. And then the Holy Spirit condemned the hearers’ hearts severely, for the love of God is not soft, or superficial, but holy and true.