In Acts 2, does Peter teach that Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection bring salvation?
No. In Acts 2, Peter confirms Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection as facts, declaring that God raised Him and He is alive. Yet the text does not show Peter ascribing salvation to those events. He does not teach that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection themselves bring salvation.
Les teaches that in Acts 2 Peter point blank accuses his hearers: “you killed the Son of God.” Peter confirms Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. But the point is not that those events bring salvation. Peter stresses that God raised Him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. Even though they killed their King and Messiah, they did not thwart God, because God raised Him from the dead. They knew from Psalms 110 verse 1 that God had called Him back to heaven, ready yet to return and still able to give them the Kingdom. Les maintains that nowhere in Acts 2 does Peter ascribe salvation to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection; he merely states them as facts.