JESUS the JUST ONE: Three times in Acts our Lord is called “the Just One.” In Acts 3:14, Peter drives home the point to the assembled Jews, “You denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.” They condemned the only truly Just One who every graced humanity, and in exchange asked for a murderer! In chapter 7, Stephen continues: “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers” (v 52). You not only accepted a murderer in His place; you became His murderers! But what of that murderer, Saul, who consented to the death of Stephen? To him it was declared: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard” (22:14). No wonder Paul never tired of talking about our justification through Him!