We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers,
Parallel Translations
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We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers,
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And we declare vnto you how that the promes made vnto the fathers
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And we declare vnto you, that touching the promise made vnto the fathers,
Cross-references (36)
Passages linked to Acts 13:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
- Acts 26:6 Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
- Ezekiel 34:23 I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd.
- Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
- Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.
- Zechariah 6:12 and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple;
- Acts 13:38 Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins,
- Romans 9:4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;
- Galatians 3:16-18 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ. Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.
- Genesis 3:15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
- Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
- Genesis 22:18 All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.’ ”
- Genesis 26:4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,
- Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
- Deuteronomy 18:15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him.
- Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
- Isaiah 9:6-7 For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.
- Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
- Isaiah 40:9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
- Isaiah 41:27 I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’ and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
- Isaiah 61:1 The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound,
- Daniel 9:24-26 “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. “Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times. After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined.
- Haggai 2:7 and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies.
- Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- Zechariah 13:1 “In that day there will be a spring opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
- Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
- Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Malachi 4:2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
- Luke 1:19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
- Luke 1:54-55 He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.”
- Luke 1:68-73 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people; and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,
- Luke 2:10 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.
- Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,
- Acts 5:42 Every day, in the temple and at home, they never stopped teaching and preaching Jesus, the Christ.
- Romans 10:15 And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 32. We preach to you glad tidings. He doth…
32. We preach to you glad tidings. He doth now challenge to himself the office and honor of an apostle, that he may be heard as a lawful minister of God. And he saith the sum of the embassage enjoined him is, that that is revealed and given in their time which was promised in times past. And in few words doth he comprehend many and great matters. First, he giveth them to understand that he bringeth in nothing which is new, or contrary to the law and prophets, but that he did reveal the fulfilling of that doctrine which they themselves did confess, and were persuaded to have been delivered by God. Whereupon it followeth that they cannot refuse that which he offereth them, but they shall break the covenant made with the fathers by God, so much as in them shall lie; secondly, he commandeth the faithfulness of God, because it doth now in very deed appear that there was nothing promised in times past unadvisedly or in vain; but he doth chiefly extol the greatness of the grace given at length in Christ. For we must note the comparison between them and the fathers, when he saith, that they had gotten that which was promised to the fathers. For the more liberally the grace of God is poured out upon them, the more filthy shall their unthankfulness be, if they shall despise or loathe that inestimable good thing. For what else were this, but to cast down at their feet a treasure even reached out to them, that they might take hold thereof, and so consequently laid in their lap, the hope whereof was reverently embraced by the fathers, when it was showed them afar off, and which they did foster during their whole life.
But some man may ask this question concerning those who lived under the law, whether even they were not made partakers of the promises? I answer, that there is such a society of the same grace among us which doth not hinder the long distance. But this was Paul’s meaning, that their faith stood, as it were, in doubt until Christ appeared, in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen; as he teacheth, (2 Corinthians 1:19, 20.) Therefore we be the heirs of the same kingdom of heaven, and partakers of the same spiritual good things, which God bestoweth upon his children; also, God gave to them some taste of his love in this life, as we taste him now. But Christ, who is the substance of all good things and of eternal life, was only promised to them, but he is given to us; and they desired him, as being far off; we enjoy him, being present.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how…
32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Ver. 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings] Even the sum of all the good news in the world, and that which should swallow up all discontents. The old Church had επαγγελιαν, the promise only; but we now have ευαγγελιαν, the joyful tidings, good news from heaven.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Glad tidings; or the gospel, which is nothing else…
Glad tidings; or the gospel, which is nothing else but the glad tidings of our salvation from sin and hell.
The promise which was made unto the fathers; this promise was frequently made and renewed to their ancestors, and typified by many deliverances, especially from Egypt and Babylon.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Wherefore he saith also in another psalm,.... Psa 16:10…
Wherefore he saith also in another psalm,.... Psa 16:10 or "in another place", as the Syriac version supplies; or "in another section", as the Arabic version; or "elsewhere", as Beza's most ancient copy, the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read:
thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption; which cannot be understood of David: the term "Holy One", is not so applicable to him, who was a man subject to infirmities; at least not in such sense as to Christ, who was holy in his nature, and without sin in his life and conversation; besides, David was laid in his grave, and saw corruption, as the apostle afterwards proves: the former part of this passage is not cited, "thou wilt not leave my soul in hell"; which was not absolutely necessary to be mentioned, it being clearly implied in what is produced; for if he should not be suffered to see corruption, then he could not be left in the grave: moreover, the apostle cites that which he intended to reason upon, as he afterwards does, and by it makes it manifestly appear that the words do not belong to David, but the Messiah, and are a clear and pertinent proof of his resurrection from the dead. The Jew (p) objects to the apostle's version of these words, rendering by "corruption", whereas he says it signifies a "pit"; but it ought to be observed, that the word in its first proper, and literal sense, signifies "corruption"; and a pit or grave is only called by this name, because dead bodies, or carcasses, are therein corrupted; and instances may be given, wherein the word cannot be understood in another sense than in that of corruption, as in Lev 22:25. See Gill on Act 2:27.
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(p) R. Isaac, Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 69. p. 456.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 32. We declare unto you glad tidings] We…
Verse 32. We declare unto you glad tidings] We proclaim that Gospel to you which is the fulfilment of the promise made unto the fathers.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Act 13:32-37. And we declare unto you glad tidings…
Act 13:32-37. And we declare unto you glad tidings — Tidings which should be in a particular manner acceptable to the Jews; that the promise which was made unto the fathers — And was the hope and joy of their posterity through so many succeeding ages; God hath fulfilled unto us their children — Most signally and manifestly; in that he hath raised up Jesus again — From the dead, and thereby hath declared, in the most convincing manner, that he is indeed his Son, the Messiah; as it is also written in the second Psalm — By this it appears that the Psalms were then placed in the same order as they are now; and it is observable that this is the only quotation of the Old Testament so circumstantially made in the New. Thou art my Son, this day, &c. — It is true, he was the Son of God before his incarnation, yea, from eternity. See notes on Joh 1:1-5; Heb 1:2-12; Heb 7:3. The meaning, therefore, here is, I have this day declared thee to be my Son, as (Rom 1:4) Paul says, he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead. And it is with peculiar propriety and beauty that God is said to have begotten him when he raised him from the dead, as Jesus seemed then to be born out of the earth anew. And to show that he raised him up, no more to return to corruption — That is, to die no more; he said, I will give you the sure mercies of David — The blessings promised to David in Christ, which are sure, certain, and firm to every true believer in him. Or, “mercies by the resurrection of him whom I have now set upon the throne of David, are made sure to you, and shall prove eternal as his life and reign.” The resurrection of Christ, therefore, is implied in the words: for without it those blessings could not have been given. Wherefore he saith also, (namely, Psa 16:10,) Thou shalt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption — Words which, it is evident, must refer, not to the inspired writer himself, but to some other person; for David — By whom this Psalm was written; after he had served his own generation, by the will of God — Or, as the words may be rendered, had served the will of God in his generation; fell asleep — That is, died; and saw corruption — In the same manner as other human bodies do, when the soul is separated from them. Observe, reader, the character here given of David; he served the will of God, or, served his generation according to the will of God. This was his business here on earth: he lived for this purpose. What is thy business? Why art thou here? Thou who art yet in the world? Is it not that thou also mayest serve the will of God? Art thou serving it now? Doing all his will? O remember, only he that doth the will of God shall enter the kingdom of heaven, Mat 7:21.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And we - We who are here present. Paul…
And we - We who are here present. Paul and Barnabas.
Declare unto you glad tidings - We preach the gospel the good news. To a Jew, nothing could be more grateful intelligence than that the Messiah had come; to a sinner convinced of his sins nothing can be more cheering than to hear of a Saviour.
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The promise ... - The promise here refers to all that had been spoken in the Old Testament respecting the advent, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Glad tidings! the promise fulfilled, Act_13:32-37.
4. Glad tidings! the promise fulfilled, Act_13:32-37.
32. Glad tidings—The news which Paul brings is not a message of terror or destruction, but glad tidings of salvation, promise, remission of sins.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings] While…
32. And we declare unto you glad tidings] While the first companions of Jesus are His witnesses, we are His Evangelists, the bringers of good news.
how that the promise, &c.] Better, “of the promise,” making this the direct object of the preceding verb.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Bring you good tidings of the promise made for…
Bring you good tidings of the promise made for declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made, A.V.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that…
Act_13:32-34
And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise … God hath fulfilled.
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The glad tidings
I. What they are. The origin of the gospel conception is connected with Jewish history. The people were often assailed by enemies, and in Jerusalem they waited with anxiety to learn the issue. By agreement, a messenger was to be sent, and especially when God crowned them with victory. And as the watchman lifted up his eyes, and the people saw the sight, they cried, How beautiful upon the mountains, etc. Hence, when the angel spoke on the plains of Bethlehem, he used words with which the shepherds were familiar. So when our Lord rose, He gave the disciples commandment to proclaim these glad tidings, to which Paul was obedient here. What, then, is the gospel?
1. It is news. Man did not know it--could not find it, or invent it. Not the least proof that the gospel comes from heaven is that it is beyond the intellect and contrary to the temper of man.
2. It is good news. All the attributes of goodness are in it. Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
3. It is good news about a Person, and that Person the Son of God--the adequate revelation of the Father--and Son of Man--the typical manifestation of humanity. The Person also the atonement for the worlds guilt, and its Deliverer from condemnation and death.
II. To whom they are sent. To you--i.e., everyone.
1. To the sad heart. They come to the wakened mind, to the alarmed conscience, to the despairing spirit. What glad tidings to know that the burden of guilt has been borne and the punishment of sin endured by Christ!
2. To a sad world, whose disappointment, sorrow, and tears makes it a very Marah, which nothing can sweeten but the Cross.
III. With what end. To produce joy--pure, deep, everlasting. (J. Aldis.)
Gods promises fulfilled
God is always true to what He promises to do. He will fulfil every word of what He has promised; yet how few take Him at His word! When I was a young man I was clerk in the establishment of a man in Chicago, whom I observed frequently occupied sorting and marking bills. He explained to me what he had been doing; on some notes he had marked B, on some D, and on others G; those marked B he told me were bad, those marked D meant they were doubtful, and those with G on them meant they were good. And, said he you must treat all of them accordingly. And thus people endorse Gods promises, by marking some as bad, and others as doubtful; whereas we ought to take all of them as good, for He has never once broken His word, and all that He says He will do will be done in the fulness of time. (D. L. Moody.)
The resurrection of Christ glad tidings
He speaks of Christs resurrection--
I. As an accomplishment of prophecy (cf. Psa_118:22, with Luk_20:17)
. We must not, however, suppose this to be an uninteresting fact; for the apostle further speaks of it--
II. As glad tidings to the soul. To the disconsolate disciples the tidings of Christs resurrection were doubtless exceeding joyful. But they ought to be no less so to us, since that event ascertains--
1. The virtue of His sacrifice. Had He not risen, His death had been in vain (1Co_15:14; 1Co_15:17-18). But His resurrection clearly proved that He had satisfied the demands of law and justice.
2. His sufficiency for our help. If He were still dead, it would be in vain to look to Him for help.
3. The certainty of our own resurrection. Because He liveth, we may be sure that we shall live also (Joh_14:19).
As a further improvement of this passage, permit me to observe--
1. How deeply are we interested in the writings of the Old Testament! In them are promises of which we receive the accomplishment.
2. What enemies are they to themselves who despise the ministry of the gospel!
3. What a near relation subsists between believers in all ages! (Theological Sketch book.)
The resurrection of Christ the great promise
I. God promised to the patriarchs and prophets that He would raise Christ from the dead.
1. To Adam, as we read in Gen_3:1-24. The whole four themes of revelation are contained in these words: the first coming of Christ in the flesh; her seed. His death; thou shalt bruise his heel. His resurrection, and the present state of the Church; I will put enmity between thee and the woman. His coming in glory, when He shall bruise the serpents head.
2. To Abraham (Gen_22:1-24; cf. Heb_11:17-19). Isaac was dead, in design; and on the third morning he was raised up. In this transaction Abraham saw the day of Christ, and rejoiced. This would also be a promise to Isaac.
3. To Moses also. Let us examine some types.
(1) The manna represented Christ coming down from heaven, that the Church might feed on Him and live. We learn that a portion of manna was to be brought into the holy place, and there set before the testimony of the Lord. Which teaches us that He who came down from heaven was also to go up thither again, to appear in the presence of God for us.
(2) In Lev_14:1-57, we read of the law of cleansing the leper. There was a bird killed, and a bird flying away. The living bird was to be sprinkled with the blood; the resurrection of Christ is available through the atonement, and the atonement through the resurrection.
(3) So in the history of the two goats. One was to be slain; over the other the priest was to confess all the sins and trespasses of the people, and to send him away into the wilderness. So it is not on Jesus crucified merely that our sins are laid, or they would be there still. But the glory of the gospel is this: He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.
(4) In Lev_23:1-44, we read of the waving of the sheaf. Christ is raised from the dead, and is become the first fruits of them that slept. And as the first fruits were to be waved the morning after the Sabbath, which was the first day of the week, on which day Christ also rose.
4. To David. The second Psalm is immediately connected with our text. On the morning of the resurrection, God owned His beloved Son: then He said, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Again, in Psa_16:1-11, I have set the Lord always before me, etc. Then, again, in Psa_118:1-29, The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner, etc. Which passage is also quoted by Peter, in Act_4:1-37, when questioned as to the miracle performed on the impotent man.
5. To the prophets. In the context there is one remarkable quotation, from Isa_55:3. In that Christ is raised, never to die again; therefore He says, I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
6. We are taught this promise also by the history of Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whales belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
II. He performed this promise. He did what He said. The day after the crucifixion of Christ the priests and Pharisees, who were His enemies, came to Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again, etc. On the day after the Sabbath there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord came and rolled back the stone. What avails the vigilance of Roman soldiers against the angels of God! The Lord afterwards showed Himself alive, by many infallible proofs, to Mary, to two of His disciples on their way to Emmaus, to ten of His disciples when they were assembled with the door shut for fear of the Jews. To some of them at the sea of Tiberias, etc. But some will say, Were the disciples proper witnesses? In a court of justice, what are the requisites of a competent witness? He must have known the person of whom he speaks, so that he may know him again when he sees him. And also he must be trustworthy. Now the disciples were fully competent. They knew Christ. And that they knew themselves to be competent witnesses, and that they knew it was necessary that they should be so, is evident from the words of Peter (Act_1:21). And they were trustworthy also. We know the nature of man too well not to know that he will say anything to gain favour. But what did they gain? Scourging, bonds, imprisonments, death.
III. Therefore we declare unto you glad tidings. And how is the resurrection of Christ glad tidings? Because--
1. It has caused the gospel to be preached. It would not have been preached had it not been for this event.
2. It shows that the justice of God is fully satisfied, and sin fully expiated.
3. It directs our minds to our great Intercessor. It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again; who has also appeared in the presence of God for us.
4. It excites and maintains a lively hope. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
5. Through this hope it draws up the affections of the soul, and mortifies the deeds of the body. The man who believes that Christ has died and rose again, and whose life is hid with Christ in God, turns away with disgust from that which satisfies others.
6. It is the ground of our expectation of His second coming. If He be not risen, He cannot come again; but He is risen, and He will come again. (H. McNeile, D. D.)
The sure mercies of David.
The words do not seem in themselves to have the nature of a Messianic prediction. To those, however, whose minds were full to overflowing with the writings of the prophets, they would be pregnant with meaning. What were the sure mercies of David (Isa_55:3) but the everlasting covenant of mercy which was to find its fulfilment in One who should be a leader and commander to the people? We may well believe that the few words quoted recalled to St. Paul and to his hearers the whole of that wonderful chapter which opens with He, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. The Greek word for mercies is the same adjective as that translated holy in the next verse, holiness being identified with mercy, and so forms a connecting link with the prophecy cited in the next verse. (Dean Plumptre.)
Sure mercies
Consider--
I. What these mercies are.
1. The knowledge of God in Christ. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, etc. Great is this mercy. By this alone we are delivered from idolatry. No man can worship the true God, except in Jesus Christ. The poor ignorant heathen is not the only idolater. The Deist, Rationalist, the man that flatters himself that above all men he is the farthest removed from idolatry, is nevertheless worshipping an idol, which he himself creates--the imagination of his own heart.
2. Forgiveness of sin by Christ. The present completeness of this blessing is the distinguishing feature of true religion from all false religion whatever. And therefore the very outset, the very A B C of the gospel, is, By this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
3. Renewal of heart in Christ. Unto the perfection of mans happiness, association is indispensable. Man cannot live alone; fellowship with God there cannot be without holiness of heart, leading to sincere obedience. Here, then, is a great mercy--that the man to whom God has given the knowledge of Himself, and to whom He has proclaimed forgiveness of sins, shall also experience in himself such a renewal of his affections, that, instead of shrinking from God, he shall now find a congeniality, a sympathy, an association, and begin to find a happiness of companionship, without which no man can really be happy. These are some of the mercies spoken of in this text. And they are at the same time, as you may observe in the margin of your Bibles, holy or just things. They are holy--
(1) Or God would never have done them.
(2) As the purchase of the holy One.
(3) As procured according to law.
(4) In their results.
II. How these mercies are obtained. In answer to this inquiry, consult the prophecy in Isa_55:1-13, the passage referred to by the apostle. Here is a threefold exhortation to hear: the first in connection with the satisfying of the soul--Hearken diligently, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself; the second in connection with coming to the Lord--Incline your ear and come unto Me; the third in connection with everlasting life thus given--Hear, and your soul shall live. Now, mark these: hearken--incline your ear--hear. They are all explained by that great truth which the apostle proclaims when he says, Faith cometh by hearing. We have all these mercies by faith, because we have Christ by faith, and in no other way. God has appointed this medium in order that the attainment might be manifestly of grace--not of study, not of time, not of hereditary descent, not of instruction by man. Now, see what is attained by the appointment of this medium. It is confidence. Faith is confidence; faith places God and man in their proper places--God in authority, man in dependence. Man fell through an attempt to be independent. Man is recovered through a willingness to be dependent. This is attained through the appointment of faith as the medium through which the blessings are conveyed; and faith comes by hearing--hearing the Word of God. Hence the importance of the ministry of the Word. You cannot have the Word proclaimed without a voice to proclaim it; you cannot have a voice without a man to raise it; you cannot have a man without sustenance and support.
III. The description here given of these mercies. Sure.
1. They are infallibly sure to rest on all for whom they were designed.
2. They are immutably sure to all on whom they rest. (H. McNeile, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes one verse 30
See notes one verse 30
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The second quotation here is from the prophet Isaiah.
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So
This word marks an event that happened because of previous event. In this case, the previous event is God's raising Jesus from the dead.
our fathers
"our ancestors." Paul is still speaking to the Jews and Gentile converts in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia. These were the physical ancestors of the Jews, and the spiritual ancestors of the converts.
what God promised to our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children
"God has fulfilled for us these promises that he made to our ancestors"
for us, their children
"for us, who are the children of our ancestors." Paul is still speaking to the Jews and Gentile converts in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia. These were the physical ancestors of the Jews, and the spiritual ancestors of the converts.
by raising up Jesus
Here to raise up is an idiom for causing someone who has died to become alive again. AT: "by making Jesus alive again" (See: Idiom)
As it is written in the second Psalm
"This is what was written in the second Psalm"
the second Psalm
"Psalm 2"
Son ... Father
These are important titles that describe the relationship between Jesus and God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
The fact that he raised him up from the dead so that his body would never decay, God has spoken in this way
"God spoke these words about his making Jesus alive again so that he would never die again"
from the dead
From among all those who have died. This expression describes all dead people together in the underworld. To come back from among them speaks of becoming alive again.
sure blessings
"certain blessings"
translationWords
good news
promise
ancestor
psalm
Son of God
holy
bless
David
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.