Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;
because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.
You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
“Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 30 26. For this my heart rejoiced Joy of the…
26. For this my heart rejoiced Joy of the soul, gladness of the tongue, and quietness of all the whole body, do ensue upon sure hope and confidence; for unless men be quite past feeling, they must needs be careful and sorrowful, and so, consequently, miserably tormented, so long as they feel themselves destitute of the help of God. But that sure trust which we repose in God doth not only deliver us from carefulness, but doth also replenish our hearts with wonderful joy (and gladness.) That is the joy which Christ promised to his disciples should be full in them, and which he testified could not be taken from them, (John 16:22; 17:13.) He expresseth the greatness of the joy when he saith, That it cannot be kept in, but that it will break forth into the gladness of the tongue. כבוד, doth signify, indeed, glory, but it is taken in that place, as in many others, for the tongue And so the Grecians have truly translated the same. The rest of the flesh doth signify the quietness of the whole man, which we have through the protection of God. Neither is this any let, because the faithful are continually out of quiet and tremble; for as in the midst of sorrows they do nevertheless rejoice; so there are no troubles so great that can break them of their rest. If any man object, that the peace of the faithful doth consist in the spirit, and that it is not in the flesh: I answer, that the faithful do rest in body; not that they are free from troubles, but because they believe that God careth for them wholly, and that not only their soul shall be safe through his protection, but their body also.
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv27, 28, 30 Thou wilt not suffer me to remain in grave.
Thou wilt not suffer me to remain in grave.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv26–31 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue…
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Ver. 26. My tongue] Heb. "my glory." With the tongue bless we God, Jas 3:9, which is the best way of ennobling it.
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 On vv26–31 Therefore, because of God’s nearness to or presence with…
Therefore, because of God’s nearness to or presence with him,
did my heart rejoice; Christ’s and his people’s joy is solid and true, real and inward, and may bear the test, res severa est verum gaudium.
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My tongue; in Psa 16:9, it is my glory, as the tongue is frequently called; communicating our thoughts or apprehensions by speech, being the excellency of a reasonable creature.
My flesh; or my body.
Shall rest; or be in the grave, as in a tabernacle, ordinarily a movable, always no durable abiding place.
In hope; that is, of the resurrection, and going out of that tabernacle of the grave.
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 On vv26–31 Therefore did my heart rejoice,.... Because that he had…
Therefore did my heart rejoice,.... Because that he had always the truth, faithfulness, and power of God in his view, and the presence and protection of God with him; and which are sufficient to make the hearts of his people, as well as of him, to rejoice:
and my tongue was glad: in the Hebrew text it is, "my glory"; and so the Syriac version renders it here; which Kimchi explains of the soul, because that is the glory of the body; but our apostle rightly interprets it of the tongue, which is so called, Psa 30:12 and Psa 57:8 and Psa 108:1 because it is both the glory of man, for that being endowed with the faculty of speaking, gives him a glory above the brute creatures; and because it is that by which he glorifies God, by ascribing greatness to him, speaking of his marvellous works, and singing his praises, as Christ did, in the great congregation, among his apostles, a little before his death,
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Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, or "safely"; meaning, that his body should lie quietly in the grave, as in its resting place from all toil and labour, pains and sorrows, and be secure from worms, or any corruption. Or this may be understood of his person being in a quiet, firm, and full hope of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal life and glory.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv27–30 Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades -…
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades - The invisible world. But it does not appear, that ever our Lord went into hell. His soul, when it was separated from the body, did not go thither, but to paradise, Luke xxiii, 43. The meaning is, Thou wilt not leave my soul in its separate state, nor suffer my body to be corrupted.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26–31 Verse 26. And my tongue was glad] In the…
Verse 26. And my tongue was glad] In the Hebrew it is ויגל כבודי vaiyagel kebodi, "And my glory was glad:" but the evangelist follows the Septuagint, in reading και ηγαλλιασατο ἡ γλωσσα μου, what all the other Greek interpreters in the Hexapla translate δοξα μον, my glory. And what is to be understood by glory here! Why the soul, certainly, and not the tongue; and so some of the best critics interpret the place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v29 Act 2:29-31. Men and brethren — Thus he addresses…
Act 2:29-31. Men and brethren — Thus he addresses himself to them, with a title of respect; let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David — Let it be no offence to you, if I tell you that David cannot be understood here as speaking of himself, but of the Messiah to come. David is here called a patriarch, a more honourable title than king, because he was the father of the royal family, and a man of great note and eminence in his generation; that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us — And as no one ever pretended that he had risen, therefore he could not say of himself, that he should not see, or suffer corruption; it being evident he did suffer it. St. Paul urges this same argument, chap. Act 13:35-37. Therefore, being a prophet, &c. — He therefore spoke it as a prophet, with an eye to the Messiah, to whose sufferings the prophets bore testimony beforehand, as also to the glory that should follow; knowing that God had sworn with an oath — In a special revelation from heaven; that of the fruit of his loins — Or, out of his descendants; he would raise up Christ — That is, the promised Messiah; to sit on his throne — That is, promised him a son; the throne of whose kingdom should be established for ever, 2Sa 7:12. He seeing this before — With a firm reliance on the faithfulness of God, spake of the resurrection of Christ in the words just now repeated; not meaning them of himself, or intending they should be taken in any lower sense. But how does that promise of a kingdom imply Christ’s resurrection? Because he did not receive it before he died, and because his kingdom was to endure for ever, 2Sa 7:13.
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 On vv26–31 Therefore - Peter ascribes these expressions to the Messiah.…
Therefore - Peter ascribes these expressions to the Messiah. The reason why he would exult or rejoice was, that he would be preserved amidst the sorrows that were coming on him, and could look forward to the triumph that awaited him. Thus, Paul says Heb 12:2 that “Jesus ...“for the joy that was set before him,” endured the cross, despising the shame,” etc. Throughout the New Testament, the shame and sorrow of his sufferings were regarded as connected with his glory and his triumph, Luk 24:26; Phi 2:6-9; Eph 1:20-21. In this our Saviour has left us an example that we should walk in his steps. The prospect of future glory and triumph should sustain us amidst all afflictions, and make us ready, like him, to lie down in even the corruptions of the grave.
Did my heart rejoice - In the Hebrew this is in the prescott tense, “my heart rejoices.” The word “heart” here expresses “the person,” and is the same as saying “I rejoice.” The Hebrews used the different members to express the person. And thus we say, “every soul perished; the vessel had 40 hands; wise heads do not think so; hearts of steel will not flinch,” etc. (Prof. Stuart on Psa 16:1-11). The meaning is, because God is near me in time of calamity, and will support and deliver me, I will not be agitated or fear, but will exult in the prospect of the future, in view of the “joy that is set before me.”
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My tongue was glad - Hebrew, My glory or my honor exults. The word is used to denote “majesty, splendor, dignity, honor.” It is also used to express the heart or soul, either because that is the chief source of man’s dignity, or because the word is also expressive of the liver, regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of the affections, Gen 49:6, “Unto their assembly, mine honor,” that is, my soul, or myself, “be not thou united”; Psa 57:8, “Awake up, my glory,” etc.; Psa 108:1, “I will sing ...even with my glory.” This word the Septuagint translated “tongue.” The Arabic and Latin Vulgate have also done the same. Why they thus use the word is not clear. It may be because the tongue, or the gift of speech, was what chiefly contributes to the honor of man, or distinguishes him from the brutal creation. The word “glory” is used expressly for “tongue” in Psa 30:12; “To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent.”
Moreover also - Truly; in addition to this.
My flesh - My body. See Act 2:31; 1Co 5:5. It means here properly the body separate from the soul; the dead body.
Shall rest - Shall rest or repose in the grave, free from corruption.
In hope - In confident expectation of a resurrection. The Hebrew word rather expresses confidence than hope. The passage means, “My body will I commit to the grave, with a confident expectation of the future, that is, with a firm belief that it will not see corruption, but will be raised up.” It thus expresses the feelings of the dying Messiah; the assured confidence which he had that his repose in the grave would not be long, and would certainly come to an end. The death of Christians is also in the New Testament represented as a sleep, and as repose Act 7:60; 1Co 15:6, 1Co 15:18; 1Th 4:13, 1Th 4:15; 2Pe 3:4; and they may also, after the example of their Lord, commit their bodies to the dust, in hope. They will lie in the grave under the assurance of a happy resurrection; and though their bodies, unlike his, will moulder to their native dust, yet this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immorality, 1Co 15:53.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv27, 31 Thou wilt not leave[3] my soul in hell. This…
Thou wilt not leave[3] my soul in hell. This is also the Protestant translation; and the manner in which Beza translates it, is both very false and ridiculous, thou shalt not leave my carcass in the grave. For allowing that the Latin and Greek word, which is here translated hell, may signify sometimes, the grave; yet no excuse can be made for putting carcass, where the Greek, as well as Latin, signifies the soul. And for the doctrine of Christ’s descending into hell, even the learned Dr. Pearson on the Creed, observes with Catholics, that the article of the creed, wherein we say, he descended into hell, cannot be the same as to say, his body descended into the grave, because in the foregoing words we profess that he was dead and buried. (Witham) --- Beza plainly confesseth that he translateth the text thus: Thou shalt not leave my carcass in the grave, against the doctrine of purgatory, and Christ’s descending into hell, although he alloweth, that most of the ancient Fathers were in that error. Thus opposing himself to plain Scripture and to the ancient Fathers, perverting the former, and contemning the latter, to overthrow an article of the apostles’ creed. (He descended into hell. New Test. in 1556.)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
My soul in hell. Animam meam in Inferno, Greek: ten psuchen mou eis adou.
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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv27–29 wilt not leave my soul in hell--in its disembodied…
wilt not leave my soul in hell--in its disembodied state (see on Luk 16:23).
neither . . . suffer thine Holy One to see corruption--in the grave.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv27–31 27. Hell—The place of departed spirits, Hades. (See notes…
27. Hell—The place of departed spirits, Hades. (See notes on Luk_16:23,)
Thine Holy One—A term which David under inspiration would hardly apply to himself simply.
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Corruption—Rationalists have denied that the Hebrew word used by David signifies corruption; but they are refuted on this point by Hengstenberg. As he well remarks, corruption refers to the body, as Hades refers to the soul. Good proof that in both David’s and Peter’s theology body and soul are different things, and may exist apart.
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 On vv26–31 26. my tongue was glad] The Heb. has my…
26. my tongue was glad] The Heb. has my glory. Cp. Psa_108:1, where the A. V. has, according to the Hebrew, “I will give praise even with my glory,” while the Prayer-book Version renders “with the best member that I have.”
shall rest] Lit. shall tabernacle.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–31 (26) My tongue was glad.—The Hebrew gives “my glory,”…
(26) My tongue was glad.—The Hebrew gives “my glory,” a term which was applied to the mind of man, perhaps also to his faculty of speech (Psa_57:8; Psa_62:7), as that by which he excelled all other creatures of God’s hand. The LXX. had paraphrased the word by “tongue,” and St. Peter, or St. Luke reporting his speech, follows that version.
Also my flesh shall rest in hope.—Literally, shall tabernacle, or, dwell as in a tabernacle. We may, perhaps, trace an echo of the thought in 2Pe_1:13-14.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv26–31 My heart was glad for did my heart rejoice,…
My heart was glad for did my heart rejoice, A.V.; rejoiced for was glad, A.V; my flesh also for also my flesh, A.V.; dwell for rest, 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 On v29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you…
Act_2:29-32
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David.
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An anti-rationalist argument
Peter avers--
I. That david could not have said of himself the words here quoted, For this he states the threefold reason, that David had died, that he had been buried, and that his tomb was still shown. No one had ever heard of his returning to life; his soul was still in the kingdom of the dead, and his flesh must long since have returned to dust. Yet he had spoken the truth in the words quoted. Then those words must refer to some other than himself. To whom could they refer? For an answer to this question Peter asks his hearers to consider--
II. That david was wont to think and speak of the Messiah. God had sworn to David, and told him concerning the Messiah--
1. That He would be His descendant. The descent could be traced to the Lords mother, who was now present.
2. That He would succeed him on the throne of Israel. Davids line was to be restored and completed in Christ, though the disobedience of his posterity caused the kingdom to pass to another family for a time.
3. That He would die. This is assumed in the apostles quotation, and must be included in the meaning of Davids words. And therefore--
4. That He would rise from the dead. For the prophecy points to a sitting on the throne of David which should follow the death and the resurrection of the Messiah. All these things had been foretold by David, with conscious reference to the promises of the covenant. We need not suppose that he saw the full meaning of what he said; but that which he said of himself, and which exceeded what was true concerning himself, was proper in allusion to Christ, and ultimately found its explanation in the events of His course. And Peter takes this position without apology. What is his reason for so acting? It is--
III. That events well known had fulfilled the prophecy of David. The most striking event of the series is put forward in confirmation of the whole, and the vouchers for it are produced. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. They knew who this Jesus was, and what was His descent. They knew that He had died but a few weeks before at Jerusalem, and had been buried. Probably all the disciples now present had seen Him after His resurrection. All the mixed multitude now present were witnesses that His resurrection was affirmed by His friends, and that His enemies could not otherwise account for the disappearance of His body. They were all, therefore, Gods witnesses. The inevitable conclusion was that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah; and this conclusion involved His kingship and His succession to David. This last was the only point yet remaining to be proved. We admire the precision and steady progress of this argument. Conclusion: Let us pause here and reflect on Peters way of disposing of rationalism. Those whom he addressed followed reason and judged by appearances. He met them by an appeal to facts. Whatever reason might have said beforehand, David, under Divine direction, had recorded certain predictions, and those predictions had been fulfilled. Let God be true, and every man a liar. How else can the rationalism of this day be dealt with?
1. The character of Christ as sketched beforehand in prophecy is presented in the Gospels.
2. The course of Christianity as foretold by the Lord and His apostles has been witnessed thus far through the ages.
3. The promises made to those who repent and believe are clearly fulfilled from day to day. And in the character of Christ, the fulfilment of prophecy, and the Christian life, with its blessed fellowship with God and power of virtuous conduct, there are unanswerable evidences for Christianity. (W. Hudson.)
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
The witness of the disciples
The only possible issue to the life of our Lord was His standing up again in life, and His entrance visibly as a risen Man into the spiritual, eternal world. In that world He had lived while still a mortal Man. The Son of Man which is in heaven is the sentence which contains the key to the innermost shrine of His life. This life which on earth was lived in heaven, brought to bear on mans earthly state all the influences of the eternal world. And as the life of Christ could only fulfil itself in its most quickening core of force by resurrection, so in all His previsions and predictions about His death, He included the idea of resurrection. For precisely such a phenomenon our Lords language should have prepared the disciples; and their record is the more significant inasmuch as He was wholly misapprehended by them, and only when they were compelled by overwhelming evidence to accept it as a historical fact, did they begin to realise the regenerative power with which it might be charged for the world. For the resurrection was entirely transcendent, though, like all Divine facts, when it was revealed it fitted the place in history which was vacant for it--it explained and completed the whole movement of the ages, and keyed the arch which, but for it, would have become a wreck. But the gospel is not a philosophy of resurrection, but a proclamation. It says nothing about antecedent probabilities, secular preparations, or aspirations and hopes. These we investigate and discuss, and are right in so doing. But what the gospel proclaims is the historical fact; of the resurrection, and through this proclamation the whole world of civilisation has come to believe it. But all rests on the original proclamation, the credibility and sufficiency of the original witnesses; the character and amount of the testimony which is behind the affirmation. We have a very clear and succinct statement of the evidence in the words of Paul (1Co_15:3-8), and it seems as complete as can well be conceived. The Epistle was written within the generation which followed the resurrection. The majority of the witnesses were alive when it was written. There is no question of the moral honesty of the testimony. This thing, remember, was not done in a corner. There was a powerful national party at Jerusalem whose very existence was staked on proving it a fiction. Any flaw in the harness, any weak link in the chain, keen eyes would have hunted out and exposed. But there is not a trace anywhere of an answer to the apostles precis of testimony; not a hint that this argument on the resurrection had been answered by denying it as a fact. The witnesses are ample in number, character, and opportunity of knowledge, and their testimony is that of men who had not the faintest idea that there was any one who could raise a valid doubt on the subject anywhere about the world. This leads me to the features of the evidence.
I. Surely the most prominent thing which strikes one about it is its perfect simplicity and naturalness. Pascal notes the naturalness (naivete)
with which Jesus Christ speaks of the things of God and of eternity. With the same naturalness do the apostles speak of the resurrection. In the account of the meeting at the sea of Tiberias (Joh_21:1-25.), the naturalness of their communion with the risen Saviour is the wonderful thing. Transcendently wonderful, as it was, they write about it quite as simply and naturally as about the Sermon on the Mount, or the journey to Jerusalem; and instead of spending all their strength on parading the evidence of it, they are more reticent and more artless about it than about many another far less momentous fact in the history of our Lord. The manner in which the resurrection brought itself at once so perfectly into the natural order of the disciples lives, is to me an absolute proof that they knew they were dealing with a simple though profound and far-reaching fact. They write as if the restoration of their Lord to them, when they had once grasped the fact, was the most natural thing in the world. The only key to this is its truth.
II. It is entirely the evidence of disciples, of those who had a deep personal interest in establishing the resurrection as a truth. Understand what the word interest means. The notion of a company of interested followers of Christ, conspiring for their own purposes to palm this tale upon the world, is abandoned on all hands as utterly inadequate. These were true men, whatever else they might be. The witnesses had the deepest interest in the truth of the resurrection, but it would have been quite worthless to them except as truth. They had nothing to gain but everything to lose by the proclamation, except in as far as the power of the resurrection as a fact lay behind it. They were the best of all possible witnesses; witnesses whose supreme interest is truth. We can, however, well imagine evidence of a different character, which we are tempted to think would have at once forced conviction home on every rational mind. If it had been proved, say to the full satisfaction of the Roman procurator, after a review of all the evidence for and against it, that would have immediately established it as an unquestionable fact in history, and the whole world would have been filled with wonder and adoration. But the actual evidence is a striking contrast to this. It made no attempt to impose itself as a fact forced by the overwhelming weight of evidence on an unwilling world. Like the Incarnation, it was to be a power, and not a portent. In this, too, the kingdom of heaven came not with observation; its mission was to open minds and believing hearts alone. The spirit which seeks a sign, and the faith which is nourished on a sign, are alike worthless in that spiritual order which the Lord came to establish. The spirit which is turned to God, by the word and the work of the Saviour, is inestimably precious in His sight, and is a power in His kingdom of heaven. The Lord put deliberately from Him through life the homage which He might have won, and the power which He might have wielded, by portents and splendours; and obeying the Divine necessity to trust to the truth alone, He put them from Him also in death and in resurrection. My kingdom is not of this world, He said through all--birth, life, death, and resurrection. The fact, then, that the evidence is entirely of the kind described, the evidence of disciples, of men in spiritual fellowship with it, and on whose lips and in whose lives it would be not a portent but a power, is in entire and beautiful harmony with the whole spirit and method of the Divine dispensations, and lies in the true line of the spiritual culture and development of mankind.
III. Granting, then, that the evidence must be that of spiritual witnesses to a fact whose whole virtue was spiritual, can anything be more explicit and complete than the testimony which they bear? We have not the witness of a single, possibly hysterical, or fanatical, follower. The evidence was offered again and again to individuals, to companies, to a great crowd of disciples, with opportunities of tactical satisfaction, leaving actually nothing to be desired. Words were spoken and are recorded which none but the risen Man could have uttered. And the demonstration is crowned by the actual effect of the resurrection, in the instant and complete transformation which it accomplished in the lives of the witnesses. We cannot read Joh_21:1-25. and Act_2:1-47. without the conviction that some such fact as the resurrection is absolutely needed to account for the contrast in the narratives. The disciples were not in a mood even to think about inventing such a fact. They accepted the decease as a death-blow to their hopes. Nothing was further from their thoughts than to lead a movement which would reconstruct and save society. And yet, in a few days, the work is in vigorous progress. As by the touch of some mighty creative Hand, these men are re-made. They are preaching the resurrection with a power which is to shake the whole structure of society, and they are kindling hearts like flame, in the very city where the events were transacted. Peter, heart-broken, going back bravely to his fishermans toils--Peter, standing out as an incomparable teacher and leader of men, founding a Church which at this day is the strongest institution upon earth--Peter the disciple, who denied his Master, Peter the apostle, who won for Him the homage and worship of mankind--what links the two but the fact of the resurrection; the fact that a risen and reigning Christ was behind him, lending heavens own force to every action, and heavens own emphasis to every word? And what happened to them, through the resurrection, happened to the world. It began to work instantly as a tremendous force in organising and uplifting human society. It is said of a city, There was great joy in that city when these evangelists came to it. It is the feature everywhere. Joy, strength, hope, vital activity, all by which men and societies grow, sprang up like willows by the watercourses, wherever the sound of that gospel of the resurrection was heard. For nearly two thousand years that order has been strengthening its foundations and widening its circuit, and its unquestioned, unquestionable basis has been and is the resurrection and reign of the risen Lord. And this you ask me to believe is an imposture or a delusion! Well, I may believe it when I am driven to believe that everything is imposture or illusion; that I am illusion; that the great world around me and the great heaven above me is illusion; that all which man holds noble and beautiful, all that he thinks worth living for, worth dying for, is illusion; and that a mocking demon is the master, the ruler, and the tormentor of the world. Till then I believe and preach Jesus and the Resurrection. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
The witness of the Church
Nothing that our Lord did on earth was enough to establish a faith in Himself which should survive His death. At the end of His career, not even the Twelve retained their conviction. If the Lord had only left us the Sermon on the Mount and the memory of a martyrdom, there would never have been a Church. The risen and ascended Christ is the only intelligible account that can be given of the existence of our faith. From beyond the grave the living Master works. And how? By a Spirit. But for that Spirit to act firmly, enduringly, there must be given an instrument, an organic body, and the office of that body is clearly determined for it by the conditions of its existence. The Spirit of truth proceeding from the Father shall bear witness of Me, and ye also shall bear witness, and so the apostles say, We are witnesses of these things.
I. The Church is the witnessing body; it proves Christs case.
1. Before God the Father. It manifests His glory by justifying His method of redemption; it bears witness before God that He has not sent His Son in vain.
2. In the face of men. It is to convince, so that even an unbelieving world may believe that the Father sent the Son.
II. In accomplishing this conversion of the world, the Church has to prove and testify.
1. That Christ is alive and at work to-day on earth, and that He can be found of them that believe, and manifest Himself to those that love Him.
2. That He is so by virtue of the deed done once for all at Calvary.
III. What proofs can the Church offer for these points?
1. Its own actual life. Its one prevailing and unanswerable proof is, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
2. This personal life of Christ in His Church verifies and certifies to the world the reality of His life, death, and resurrection. The fact that the man at the Beautiful Gate has this perfect soundness--this makes it certain that God did send His Son Christ Jesus to be a Prince of Life. And therefore the living Church bears a book about with it, the gospel book, the witness of those who beheld, tasted, handled the Word of Life. This book, the body of Christ, declares is true, and we know that these apostles spoke true; we are here to prove it, in that we have tasted the present power of that Word whose story they saw and recorded.
3. And again, the body carries with it the apostolic rite, the act commanded by the dying Christ to be done for ever as a memorial and a witness until His coming again.
IV. By believing in a body, a church, our faith lays upon us responsibilities. It gives us a call; it sets us each a task. And is not this just what our religion most lacks? There is so little sense of purpose in our religious life. Religion is a comfortable habit, a refreshment in weariness, a solace and security in the face of death. Yes, but is it the one thing that gives us a living reason for being alive? Is it that which sets us on an aim worthy and enkindling, for which it is well worth while to live? Does it come to us as something which lays upon us a service of delightful freedom under the eye of a Master who waits ever to say, Well done, well done, thou faithful servant? Is not this exactly what we lack? If Christ established a Church, this means that every member has, by believing, a definite, an urgent, a glad and proud task set before him. That task is to witness; and do you doubt whether you have any call to witness for Christ? For what is this witness? It is the evidence you can give by active personal union with your Lord, now alive at Gods right hand, of the authority of the gospel record and of the gospel Eucharist. And is there no one, then, who needs that evidence from you?
1. Can you find no one near you who is struggling with doubt and perplexity as he reads that gospel story? It is your witness and your evidence that alone can recover him his footing.
2. Is there no one who looks out upon the scenery of this bewildered earth and who can see nothing but confused suffering and unjust penalties; who can but cry out his bitter protest, Is God indeed to be found there? Is there a Divine Judge of all the earth? Where are the signs of His love? What if your witness were ready at hand?--if you could but whisper, I know that the love of God has been manifested to all who believe Christ Jesus, every one that so believeth hath the witness in him?
3. Or you may find yourself standing by one whom some strong sin has fast bound in misery and iron. Now is your time to speak, to cry to him, to deliver your testimony--My brother, you may be free, for Christ is not dead--He is risen; He the great breaker of bonds, He is strong as of old to set free the captives. Conclusion: It is for us to be sure that we know, by blessed experience, that Christ was manifested to take away our sins; and that is the message that you have to carry on your lips--We know that it is true. It would be a miserable thing to find yourself standing over some brother, with your human heart indeed yearning to help him, and yet to find yourself speechless and impotent just because you had never taken the trouble to learn, when you had time, the happy lesson which would enable you to say to him the one word that can now save him. (Canon Scott Holland.)
Our witness to the resurrection
Let us see whether it is not a fact that just after the same manner that the angel, the guard, the women, and the apostles did testify in the beginning to this cardinal truth of our holy religion, so in our own time like testimony is afforded. Daily an angel sitteth at the door of Christian hearts with the message that Christ is risen! Daily do the careless and indifferent among mankind find themselves forced to confess that there are thoughts of the future which, if they admit them into their minds, cause them to feel as dead men in the midst of all the business of the world. Daily do the godly who seek Christ rejoice in the sure signs and tokens of His resurrection. First, then, there is such a witness to the resurrection supernaturally present in our hearts. In all this assembly what man or woman can say they have never heard a voice whispering within their hearts the solemn assurance that Jesus hath risen, and that we shall rise with Him? To take an illustration. Are there not many here who have known what it is to miss from their home, from their daily walk in life, the face of parent, of brother, of friend, of husband, of wife, of child? And as you have bent with breaking heart over the sepulchre of your buried affection, has no angel spoken to you: It is not here, the object of your tender love and sorrow. All that is true and real lives still! He is risen. Behold He goeth before you into the courts of the heavenly mansions, there shall ye see Him! There is not a bitter sorrow that is not rolled away together with that stone from the door of the sepulchre of Jesus. And though the traces of our grief be left, though the earthly garments in which we had wrapped all that was lovely in our lives are lying there in a place by themselves, yet do we know by that same angelic voice that the joys that we have experienced in the past we shall possess again in the future, and that in the land whither our Saviour Christ is gone before we shall know and be known once more! The dawn of hope which we see to succeed the dark night of sorrow in these deep water-floods of affliction enables us to perceive that the stone has been rolled away from the heart, and that an angel of God is seated upon it. In our hearts, then, there is a witness to the truth of the resurrection. This Jesus hath God raised from the dead, whereof our hearts are witnesses. But although God hath His own witness in the hearts of men, to His own Divine truth, yet (since He has ever been pleased to work through human instruments) it is manifestly required by Him that we should feel, every one of us--yes, the weakest, the poorest--that our whole life and conversation is intended to be a witness to the resurrection: that we should so live that men may know that we live, yet not we ourselves, but Christ liveth in us, and that the life which we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. (T. L. Claughton, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv27, 29, 30 27. Not leave my soul in hell. In hades,…
27. Not leave my soul in hell. In hades, the unseen abode of the dead. The meaning is that he would not remain under the power of death. David did not speak this of himself, but of the Son of David. See verse 29. Thy Holy One. The Lord Jesus. The promised Messiah.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv27, 29, 30 27. “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in…
27. “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.” We have two words used by the Holy Ghost and translated “Hell” in E. V., i. e., “Hades,” which in R. V. is not translated, but transferred very correctly to our language, while the other word Gehenna in R. V. is constantly and correctly “Hell.” The difference between the two is simply that of genus and species, Hades being a generic word simply meaning the “unseen world,” from Alpha, “not,” and aidoo to “see.” Hence Hades, the unseen, includes both heaven and hell. We have this illustrated in Luke 16, where the rich man and Lazarus are in the same world, actually enjoying conversational proximity. But Dives is tormented by the flame of fire. Hence he is in hell properly so called; while Lazarus is in that intermediate Paradise called Abraham’s bosom, because it was the receptacle of all the spiritual children of Abraham, i. e., the Old Testament saints, saved in the Abrahamic covenant and there detained in a state of felicitous captivity (Eph 4:8) till the Abrahamic covenant was sealed and ratified by the blood of Christ The dying thief went to this paradise the very day of the crucifixion, (Luk 23:43), notwithstanding certain wicked heretics have had the audacity to even change the punctuation of the Greek in this passage in order to sustain the most senseless of all heresies which even brutalizes you by taking away your immortal soul. As our Savior assured the women in the garden that He had not yet ascended into heaven, though He had already, pursuant to His prediction on the cross, met the saved thief in paradise, i. e., in Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16), the intermediate paradise of the old dispensation, where the saints enjoyed unmingled bliss, awaiting the great redemption on Calvary, and their risen and glorified Lord to lead them all into heaven, throwing wide the pearly portals evermore to stand ajar while angels welcome every saint into the New Jerusalem, the city of God, the home of the angels and glorified saints.
1Pe 3:19 : “Being put to death in the flesh and quickened in the spirit, by which going, he proclaimed to the spirits in prison.”
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This is the pillar of popery and modern theories of a second probation for sinners after they die in sin. It is radically and literally untrue as manipulated by those heretics. The capital S in “Spirit” in E. V. was put there by the translators, because they thought it meant the Holy Spirit, which is incorrect, as this construction would break up the antithesis with “flesh.” The simple meaning is that while our Savior’s body was put to death, His human spirit, not the Holy Ghost, was quickened by the Holy Ghost, so that His human spirit leaving His dead body on the cross [poor soul- sleepers even deny that Jesus had a soul] went down to the intermediate world and proclaimed to the lost millions of hell. The E. V. erroneously translates ekeeruxen, which simply means “proclaim as a herald,” “preach,” thus leading the people to believe that Jesus preached the gospel to the disembodied sinners in hell. The word which means to preach the gospel is not in this passage, but it simply means to proclaim as a royal herald. What did our Savior proclaim to the inmates of Hades? He proclaimed His own victory, gloriously and eternally won on the cross of Calvary. The devil had been after Him to kill Him all His life, vainly congratulating himself that if he could kill the man Jesus, the final victory would perch on his black banner, and he would have nothing to do but add this world to hell and reign forever without a rival. While the devil is paradoxically intellectual, his spirit is black as the midnight of hell, uncheered by a solitary ray. Hence he leaped to the conclusion that if he could kill the man Jesus, the last battle was fought and the final victory won. Therefore hell roared with shouts over the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane, cheered and enthused more and more by the successive reports of His condemnation by Caiaphas, Herod and Pilate, meanwhile the black couriers constantly arrive from Calvary, reporting the bloody culmination of their hellish enterprise. Finally, Satan, sitting on his ebon throne in the center of the pandemonium, has ordered ten thousand tall demons to subscribe in glowing capitals, “Victory,” on the black walls all round the palace of damnation. Demoniacal hands have half written the word. Suddenly thunderclaps and lightnings flash from the opening portals of the pandemonium appalling all the inmates of the bottomless pit. Lo! Hark! Who comes there? It is none other than the human soul of Jesus. He has left His dead body on the cross and now walks into hell, the herald of his own victory won on Calvary. He proclaims in the face of all devils hell’s eternal defeat and the redemption of the world. With the tread of a conqueror He walks round the pandemonium, with His Own hands pulling down the trophies of four thousand years of successful warfare and treading them beneath His triumphant feet. The tall peers of the pit wail on all sides, acknowledge Him conqueror and beg Him to depart. He now approaches Satan, the King of Darkness, sitting on his ebon throne in the center of the pandemonium; seizing him by the throat and dragging him down, puts His foot upon his neck, thus verifying the first promise made by Jehovah to Adam and Eve in fallen Paradise: “The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” Having proclaimed His victory in hell, He now crosses that abyss impassable to finite beings, but not to Him, intervening between the flaming hell of Dives and the Abraham’s bosom of Lazarus (Luk 16:26), and there, pursuant to His promise on the cross, meets the thief before midnight, while it is yet Friday, the Crucifixion Day. As the thief died under the old dispensation, he went to that intermediate paradise, i. e., Abraham’s bosom, the jubilant rendezvous of all the souls saved under the Abrahamic covenant in the former dispensation, there in joyful anticipation to await the verification of the covenant by the blood of Calvary. The thief runs to meet Him with a tremendous shout, Father Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the Hebrew children and all the mighty hosts of Old Testament saints rend the firmament with triumphant shouts congratulating King Jesus on the victory won. Now the good old Jewish Sabbath sets in, the most wonderful they had seen in four thousand years. Oh! what an ovation! Golden harps are impoverished in the attempted proclamation. The first day of the week supervenes at midnight, eternally commemorated by the abolishment of the intermediate paradise, the emancipation of all the captives (Eph 4:8), and the resurrection of our glorious Lord. Here begins that wonderful ascension (Eph 4:9), when our Lord “descended into the lower parts of the earth” [which never did mean the grave], the Savior leading the way with the patriarchs and prophets on His right and on His left, followed by the mighty hosts of Old Testament saints, jubilant and ecstatic, reaching the sepulcher at day- dawn, calling His body into life and re-entering it; meanwhile the sacramental host, all invisible because they are disembodied spirits, accompanying our risen Lord the forty days of His abiding with His disciples, and ascending with Him from Mt. Olivet, constituting the mighty trophy of His victory, whom He leads into the heavenly metropolis and presents before the Father. David’s prophetic eye in Psalms 24 caught a glimpse of this wonderful scene, while our Lord, accompanied by the mighty hosts of Old Testament saints, sweeps through trackless ether, passing rolling worlds, glowing suns, wheeling spheres, and flaming comets, finally draws nigh the celestial gates, saluted by seraphic voices:
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and let the King of Glory come in.” “Who is this King of Glory?” “he Lord, mighty to save and strong to deliver.”
The pearly gates fly high and swing wide, multiplied millions of celestial seraphs shout long and loud, “Welcome home, welcome home, welcome home, O King of Glory, Conqueror of Mt. Calvary. Heaven is stirred with such an ovation as archangels never knew, infinitely eclipsing the tremendous shout of the sons of God at creation’s birth. Amid the jubilant congratulations of angelic millions, the triumphal procession, led by King Jesus, moves through the city and halts before the great white throne, “Father, here am I, and the children thou hast given me.” Now Abraham mounts a celestial pinnacle and testifies, followed by the thrilling witnesses to the wonders of redeeming grace, while multiplied millions of unfallen angels listen spell bound. Since our Lord has led the way, heaven is now accessible to every disembodied saint, nothing to do but die, and sweep with a shout into glory.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv26–31 See notes on verse 25
See notes on verse 25
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv27, 31 Hades. (See Scofield "Luk 16:23").
hell
Hades. (See Scofield "Luk 16:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v29 The application of the prophecy:
The application of the prophecy:
v. 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
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v. 30. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne,
v. 31. he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption.
v. 32. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Peter, in this section of his sermon, uses the intimate and confidential address "men and brethren. " He wants to make the people feel that it is in their interest to hear him out in his argument. He had quoted a passage from a Psalm which, as the people knew, was written by David, a passage held throughout in the first person. The question therefore was as to who was speaking when David wrote, he himself or someone else. Now concerning David, whom Peter here calls a patriarch, the ancestor of a kingly race, he could freely say, and without any fear of contradiction, that he died and was buried, his grave being in Jerusalem and well known to all Jews. So the death of David was a fact, and the presence of his tomb implied that this ancestor of kings, on his part, had seen corruption. Of himself David, then, had assuredly not spoken. On the other hand, as the Jews knew, he held the position of a prophet, one through whom the Lord foretold the future, and as such he knew, by a revelation of God, that God had promised him with an oath that a descendant of his would sit upon his throne. See 2Sa 7:12-13. With this knowledge in mind, David wrote this prophecy of the 16th Psalm, speaking of the resurrection of Christ, that He would not be abandoned in the kingdom of death, and that His flesh would not see corruption. Thus Peter proved clearly from his text that Jesus suffered death according to a predetermined and expressed aim of God, but that death could not hold Him, that He plainly must and did arise from the dead. And that this prophecy has been fulfilled the apostles also, the twelve men standing before them, could testify; they were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. Their eyes, their senses, did not deceive them; they had been with the risen Lord; they had received His commission. This fact is of great comfort also to us, who place our faith in the message of the risen Lord, as recorded by these witnesses of His resurrection.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv27, 29 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Peter finishes quoting David.
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General Information:
Since Peter says that David said these words about Jesus, the words "my," "Holy One," and "me" refer to Jesus and the words "you" and "your" refer to God.
neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay
The Messiah, Jesus, refers to himself with the words "your Holy One." AT: "neither will you allow me, your Holy One, to see decay" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
to see decay
Here the word "see" means to experience something. The word "decay" refers to the decomposition of his body after death. AT: "to decay" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the ways of life
"the ways that lead to life"
full of gladness with your face
Here the word "face" refers to the presence of God. AT: "very glad when I see you" or "very glad when I am in your presence" (See: Metonymy)
gladness
joy, happiness
translationWords
soul
Hades
holy
Holy One
reveal
life
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v27 2:27 among the dead: See study note on Matt…
2:27 among the dead: See study note on Matt 11:23.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.