When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
“Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
“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, and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets. For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you. It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘All the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.’ God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 12. Men of Israel He beginneth his sermon with…
12. Men of Israel He beginneth his sermon with a reproving of the people. And yet doth he not simply reprove them because they wonder; for that was altogether profitable and worthy praise; but because they do wickedly ascribe unto men that praise which is due to the work of God. As if he should say, Ye do amiss, in that you stay in us, and stand gazing upon us, whereas you ought rather to look upon God and Christ. Therefore, this is to be amazed evilly, when as our minds do stay in men. And we must note that he condemneth the respect of men; as if, saith he, we by our own power and virtue had done this. Therefore there is an error and corruption in this, if we attribute that unto the godliness and power of men which is proper to God and Christ. And, as concerning power, no man will deny that it cometh of God; yet when they have confessed this in one word, they do not cease to take from God his right, to the end they may adorn the creatures with that which they take from him; as we see the Papists place the power of God in the saints; yea, they include his power in a stone or stock of wood, so soon as the image is consecrated to Barbara or Chrysogonus. But, notwithstanding, let us suppose that they do not offend in that former member; yet do they foolishly think that they have done their duty toward God, when as they leave him the power, and assign the miracles unto the godliness of saints. For why do they run unto them, when they will obtain either rain or fair weather, or be delivered from diseases, unless they do imagine that they have by their godliness deserved that God should grant them this right and privilege? This is, therefore, but a childish starting-hole, when they confess that God is the author of the power; but they thank the godliness of saints for those benefits which they have received. Howsoever they color the matter, we must always know this, that Peter doth generally condemn those which do so look unto men in miracles, that they think that their holiness is the cause thereof. This is the first part of the sermon, wherein he reproveth superstition. And we must note his manner and order of teaching. For because men are inclined to nothing more than to fall from God unto the creatures, it is very expedient to prevent this vice in time. And if the people were forbidden to look unto the apostles, much more doth the Spirit draw us away from calling upon every petty saint.
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 vv12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 Miracles are appointed to convince the unbelievers, and therefore…
Miracles are appointed to convince the unbelievers, and therefore they do wickedly abuse them, who standeth amazed either at the miracles themselves, or at the instruments and means which it pleaseth God to use, take an occasion to establish idolatry and superstition by that, which God hath provided for the knowledge of his true worship, that is, Christianity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–26 12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto…
12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Ver. 12. Why look ye] We are ready to pay our rent to a wrong landlord.
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 vv12–26 He answered, for he said, an ordinary Hebraism, though…
He answered, for he said, an ordinary Hebraism, though no question was put unto him: thus the evangelist tells us that our Saviour answered and said, when there was no previous question spoken of, Mat 11:25. Nay, Jesus answered and said unto the fig tree, Mar 11:14; that is, he spake powerfully unto it.
Ye men of Israel; an ingratiating compellation, they ever valuing themselves and others on that account.
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By our own power or holiness: holiness, were it never so real and great in men, cannot cause the least miracle, although it is itself, all things considered, a very great one.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv13, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26 Observe her, 1. How St. Peter lays hold upon…
Observe her, 1. How St. Peter lays hold upon this opportunity, (when the people are gathered together to gaze upon this lame beggar) to preach a second awakening sermon to the Jews; in which he rebukes them sharply for their cursed contempt of Christ, and the horrible indignities offered to him.
1. They denied him although he was an holy and Just One.
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2. They delivered him up to Pilate when he was inclined to let him go.
3. They preferred Barabbas, the worst of men, and a murtherer, before Jesus, the best of men, and a Saviour.
4. They murthered the Messias, called the Prince of life, because he came to bring life into the world.
Where note, that though probably none of the Jews then and there present, did actually nail Christ unto his cross, yet they having given their consent unto it, they are charged with killing the Lord of life. A plenary and full consent to the sins of others, makes us deeply guilty of others’ sins: Ye delivered up and denied the Holy One; ye have crucified the Lord of life. Act 3:15
Observe, 2. How St. Peter ascribes the whole of his miracle to the power of faith; Through faith in his name, and the faith which is by him, hath given this man perfect soundness in the presence of you all Act 3:16.
Faith is twice named in this one verse, because of the apostle’s faith in working the miracle, and the cripple’s faith in receiving of it, says Dr. Lightfoot: But questionless, it was chiefly the apostle’s faith; for the lame man shewed no faith in Christ before he was healed; he expected an alms, but little thought of receiving the use of his limbs; but the apostle’s firmly relying on the power and promise of Christ for healing, did believe that Christ could and would help and heal him.
Learn hence, That as it is the property and preogative of God to do great things, it is the duty and property of faith to expect great things from God; great expectations from God honour the greatness of God: We dishonour God as much or more, when we believe little, as when we do little.
A great God and a small faith suit not well together; accordingly St. Peter here, knowing the all-sufficiency of Christ’s power, exerts strength of faith, and through faith in the name of Christ, makes this man whole.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v12 We have here the sermon which Peter preached after…
We have here the sermon which Peter preached after he had cured the lame man. When Peter saw it. 1. When he saw the people got together in a crowd, he took that opportunity to preach Christ to them, especially the temple being the place of their concourse, and Solomon's porch there: let them come and hear a more excellent wisdom than Solomon's, for, behold, a greater than Solomon is here preached. 2. When he saw the people affected with the miracle, and filed with admiration, then he sowed the gospel seed in the ground which was thus broken up, and prepared to receive it. 3. When he saw the people ready to adore him and John, he stepped in immediately, and diverted their respect from them, that it might be directed to Christ only; to this he answered presently, as Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. See Act 14:14, Act 14:15. In the sermon,
I. He humbly disclaims the honour of the miracle as not due to them, who were only the ministers of Christ, or instruments in his hand for the doing of it. The doctrines they preached were not of their own invention, nor were the seals of it their own, but his whose the doctrines were. He addresses himself to them as men of Israel, men to whom pertained, not only the law and the promises, but the gospel and the performances, and who were nearly interested in the present dispensation. Two things he asks them: - 1. Why they were so surprised at the miracle itself: Why marvel you at this? It was indeed marvellous, and they justly wondered at it, but it was not more than what Christ had done many a time, and they had not duly regarded it, nor been affected with it. It was but a little before that Christ had raised Lazarus from the dead; and why should this then seem so strange? Note, Stupid people think that strange now which might have been familiar to them if it had not been their own fault. Christ had lately risen from the dead himself; why did they not marvel at this? why were they not convinced by this? 2. Why they gave so much of the praise of it to them, who were only the instruments of it: Why look you so earnestly on us? (1.) It was certain that they had made this man to walk, by which it appeared that the apostles not only were sent of God, but were sent to be blessings to the world, benefactors to mankind, and were sent to heal sick and distempered souls, that were spiritually lame and impotent, to set broken bones, and make them rejoice. (2.) Yet they did not do it by any power or holiness of their own. It was not done by any might of their own, any skill they had in physic or surgery, nor any virtue in their word: the power they did it by was wholly derived from Christ. Nor was it done by any merit of their own; the power which Christ gave them to do it they had not deserved: it was not by their own holiness; for, as they were weak things, so they were foolish things, that Christ chose to employ; Peter was a sinful man. What holiness had Judas? Yet he wrought miracles in Christ's name. What holiness any of them had it was wrought in them, and they could not pretend to merit by it. (3.) It was the people's fault that they attributed it to their power and holiness, and accordingly looked at them. Note, The instruments of God's favour to us, though they must be respected, must not be idolized; we must take heed of reckoning that to be done by the instrument which God is the author of. (4.) It was the praise of Peter and John that they would not take the honour of this miracle to themselves, but carefully transmitted it to Christ. Useful men must see to it that they be very humble. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give glory. Every crown must be cast at the feet of Christ; not I, but the grace of God with me.
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II. He preaches Christ to them; this was his business, that he might lead them into obedience to Christ.
1. He preaches Christ, as the true Messiah promised to the fathers (Act 3:13); for, (1.) He is Jesus the Son of God; though they had lately condemned Christ as a blasphemer for saying that he was the Son of God, yet Peter avows it: he is his Son Jesus; to him dear as a Son; to us, Jesus, a Saviour. (2.) God hath glorified him, in raising him up to be king, priest, and prophet, of his church; he glorified him in his life and in his death, as well as in his resurrection and ascension. (3.) He hath glorified him as the God of our fathers, whom he names with respect (for they were great names with the men of Israel, and justly), the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. God sent him into the world, pursuant to the promises made to those patriarchs, that in their seed the families of the earth should be blessed, and the covenant made with them, that God would be a God to them, and their seed. The apostles call the patriarchs their fathers, and God the God of those patriarchs from whom the Jews were descended, to intimate to them that they had no evil design upon the Jewish nation (that they should look upon them with a jealous eye), but had a value and concern for it, and were hereby well-wishers to it; and the gospel they preached was the revelation of the mind and will of the God of Abraham. See Act 26:7, Act 26:22; Luk 1:72, Luk 1:73.
2. He charges them flatly and plainly with the murder of this Jesus, as he had done before. (1.) "You delivered him up to your chief priests and elders, the representative body of the nation; and you of the common people were influenced by them to clamour against him, as if he had been a public grievance." (2.) "You denied him, and you disowned him, would not have him then to be your king, could not look upon him as the Messiah, because he came not in external pomp and power; you denied him in the presence of Pilate, renounced all the expectations of your church, in the presence of the Roman governor, who justly laughed at you for it; you denied him against the face of Pilate" (so Dr. Hammond), "in defiance of his reasonings with you" (Pilate had determined to let him go, but the people opposed it, and overruled him). "You were worse than Pilate, for he would have released him, if you had let him follow his own judgment. You denied the Holy One and the Just, who had approved himself so, and all the malice of his persecutors could not disprove it." The holiness and justice of the Lord Jesus, which are something more than his innocency, were a great aggravation of the sin of those that put him to death. (3.) "You desired a murderer to be released, and Christ crucified; as if Barabbas had deserved better at your hands than the Lord Jesus, than which a greater affront could not be put upon him." (4.) You killed the prince of life. Observe the antithesis: "You preserved a murderer, a destroyer of life; and destroyed the Saviour, the author of life. You killed him who was sent to be to you the prince of life, and so not only forsook, but rebelled against your own mercies. You did an ungrateful thing, in taking away his life who would have been your life. You did a foolish thing to think you could conquer the prince of life, who has life in himself, and would soon resume the life he resigned."
3. He attests his resurrection as before, ch. 11:32. "You thought the prince of life might be deprived of his life, as any other prince might be deprived of his dignity and dominion, but you found yourselves mistaken, for God raised him from the dead; so that in putting him to death you fought against God, and were baffled. God raised him from the dead, and thereby ratified his demands, and confirmed his doctrine, and rolled away all the reproach of his sufferings, and for the truth of his resurrection we are all witnesses."
4. He ascribes the cure of this impotent man to the power of Christ, (Act 3:16): His name, through faith in his name, in that discovery which he hath made of himself, has made this man strong. He repeats it again, The faith which is by him hath given him this soundness. Here, (1.) He appeals to themselves concerning the truth of the miracle; the man on whom it was wrought is one whom you see, and know, and have known; he was not acquainted with Peter and John before, so that there was no room to suspect a compact between them: "You know him to have been a cripple from a child. The miracle was wrought publicly, in the presence of you all; not in a corner, but in the gate of the temple; you saw in what manner it was done, so that there could be no juggle in it; you had liberty to examine it immediately, and may yet. The cure is complete; it is a perfect soundness; you see the man walks and leaps, as one that has no remainder either of weakness or pain." (2.) He acquaints them with the power by which it was wrought. [1.] It is done by the name of Christ, not merely by naming it as a spell or charm, but it is done by us as professors and teachers of his name, by virtue of a commission and instructions we have received from him, and a power which he has invested us with, that name which Christ has above every name; his authority, his command has done it; as writs run in the king's name, though it is an inferior officer that executes them. [2.] The power of Christ is fetched in through faith in his name, a confidence in him, a dependence on him, a believing application to him, and expectation from him, even that faith which is, di' autou - by him, which is of his working; it is not of ourselves, it is the gift of Christ; and it is for his sake, that he may have the glory of it; for he is both the author and finisher of our faith. Dr. Lightfoot suggests that faith is twice named in this verse, because of the apostles' faith in doing this miracle and the cripple's faith in receiving it; but I suppose it relates chiefly, if not only, to the former. Those that wrought this miracle by faith derived power from Christ to work it, and therefore returned all the glory to him. By this true and just account of the miracle, Peter both confirmed the great gospel truth they were to preach to the world - that Jesus Christ is the fountain of all power and grace, and the great healer and Saviour - and recommended the great gospel duty of faith in him as the only way of receiving benefit by him. It explains likewise the great gospel mystery of our salvation by Christ; it is his name that justifies us, that glorious name of his, The Lord our righteousness; but we, in particular, are justified by that name, through faith in it, applying it to ourselves. Thus does Peter preach unto them Jesus, and him crucified, as a faithful friend of the bridegroom, to whose service and honour he devoted all his interest.
III. He encourages them to hope that, though they had been guilty of putting Christ to death, yet they might find mercy; he does all he can to convince them, yet is careful not to drive them to despair. The guilt was very great, but, 1. He mollifies their crime by a candid imputation of it to their ignorance. Perhaps he perceived by the countenance of his hearers that they were struck with great horror when he told them that they had killed the prince of life, and were ready either to sink down or to fly off, and therefore he saw it needful to mitigate the rigour of the charge by calling them brethren; and well might he call them so, for he had been himself a brother with them in this iniquity: he had denied the holy One and the Just, and sworn that he did not know him; he did it by surprise; "and, for your parts, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers," Act 3:17. This was the language of Peter's charity, and teaches us to make the best of those whom we desire to make better. Peter had searched the wound to the bottom, and now he begins to think of healing it up, in order to which it is necessary to beget in them a good opinion of their physician; and could any thing be more winning than this? That which bears him out in it is that he has the example of his Master's praying for his crucifiers, and pleading in their behalf that they knew not what they did. And it is said of the rulers that if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. See Co1 2:8. Perhaps some of the rulers, and of the people, did therein rebel against the light and the convictions of their own consciences, and did it through malice; but the generality went down the stream, and did it through ignorance; as Paul persecuted the church, ignorantly, and in unbelief, Ti1 1:13. 2. He mollifies the effects of their crime - the death of the prince of life; this sounds very dreadful, but it was according to the scriptures (Act 3:18), the predictions of which, though they did not necessitate their sin, yet did necessitate his sufferings; so he himself saith: Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer. You did it through ignorance may be taken in this sense: "You fulfilled the scripture, and did not know it; God, by your hands, hath fulfilled what he showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer; this was his design in delivering him up to you, but you had views of your own, and were altogether ignorant of this design; you meant not so, neither did your heart think so. God was fulfilling the scripture when you were gratifying your own passions." Observe, It was not only determined in the secret counsel of God, but declared to the world many ages before, by the mouth and pen of the prophets, that Christ should suffer, in order to the accomplishment of his undertaking; and it was God himself that showed it by them, who will see that his words be made good; what he showed he fulfilled, he so fulfilled as he had shown, punctually and exactly, without any variation. Now, though this is no extenuation at all of their sin in hating and persecuting Christ to the death (this still appears exceedingly sinful), yet it was an encouragement to them to repent, and hope for mercy upon their repentance; not only because in general God's gracious designs were carried on by it (ant thus it agrees with the encouragement Joseph gave to his brethren, when they thought their offence against him almost unpardonable: Fear not, saith he, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, Gen 50:15, Gen 50:20), but because in particular the death and sufferings of Christ were for the remission of sins, and the ground of that display of mercy for which he now encouraged them to hope.
IV. He exhorts them all to turn Christians, and assures them it would be unspeakably for their advantage to do so; it would be the making of them for ever. This is the application of his sermon.
1. He tells them what they must believe. (1.) They must believe that Jesus Christ is the promised see, that seed in which God had told Abraham all the kindreds of the earth should be blessed, Act 3:25. This refers to that promise made to Abraham (Gen 12:3), which promise was long ere it was fulfilled, but now at length had its accomplishment in this Jesus, who was of the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, and in him all the families of the earth are blessed, and not the families of Israel only; all have some benefits by him, and some have all benefits. (2.) They must believe that Jesus Christ is a prophet, that prophet like unto Moses whom God had promised to raise up to them from among their brethren, Act 3:22. This refers to that promise, Deu 18:18. Christ is a prophet, for by him God speaks unto us; in him all divine revelation centres, and by him it is handed to us; he is a prophet like unto Moses, a favourite of Heaven; more intimately acquainted with the divine counsel, and more familiarly conversed with, than any other prophet. He was a deliverer of his people out of bondage, and their guide through the wilderness, like Moses; a prince and a lawgiver, like Moses; the builder of the true tabernacle, as Moses was of the typical one. Moses was faithful as a servant, Christ as a Son. Moses was murmured against by Israel, defied by Pharaoh, yet God owned him, and ratified his commission. Moses was a pattern of meekness and patience, so is Christ. Moses died by the word of the Lord, so did Christ. There was no prophet like unto Moses (Num 12:6, Num 12:7; Deu 34:10), but a greater than Moses is here where Christ is. He is a prophet of God's raising up, for he took not this honour of himself, but was called of God to it. He was raised up unto Israel in the first place. He executed this office in his own person among them only. They had the first offer of divine grace made to them; and therefore he was raised up from among them - of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, which, as it was a great honour done to them, so it was both an obligation upon them and an encouragement to them to embrace him. If he come to his own, one would think, they should receive him. The Old Testament church was blessed with many prophets, with schools of prophets, for many ages with a constant succession of prophets (which is here taken notice of, from Samuel, and those that follow after, Act 3:24, for from Samuel the prophetic era commenced); but, these servants being abused, last of all God sent them his Son, who had been in his bosom. (3.) They must believe that times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord (Act 3:19), and that they will be the times of the restitution of all things, Act 3:21. There is a future state, another life after this; those times will come from the presence of the Lord, from his glorious appearance at that day, his coming at the end of time. The absence of the Lord occasions many of the securities of sinners and the distrusts of saints; but his presence is hastening on, which will for ever silence both. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door. The presence of the Lord will introduce, [1.] The restitution of all things (Act 3:21); the new heavens, and the new earth, which will be the product of the dissolution of all things (Rev 21:1), the renovation of the whole creation, which is that which it grieves after, as its present burden under the sin of man is that which it groans under. Some understand this of a state on this side the end of time; but it is rather to be understood of that end of all things which God hath spoken of by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began; for this is that which Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of (Jde 1:14), and the temporal judgments which the other prophets foretold were typical of that which the apostle calls the eternal judgment. This is more clearly and plainly revealed in the New Testament than it had been before, and all that receive the gospel have an expectation of it. [2.] With this will come the times of refreshing (Act 3:19), of consolation to the Lord's people, like a cool shade to those that have borne the burden and heat of the day. All Christians look for a rest that remains for the people of God, after the travails and toils of their present state, and, with the prospect of this, they are borne up under their present sufferings and carried on in their present services. The refreshing that then comes from the presence of the Lord will continue eternally in the presence of the Lord.
2. He tells them what they must do. (1.) They must repent, must bethink themselves of what they have done amiss, must return to their right mind, admit a second thought, and submit to the convictions of it; they must begin anew. Peter, who had himself denied Christ, repented, and he would have them to do so too. (2.) They must be converted, must face about, and direct both their faces and steps the contrary way to what they had been; they must return to the Lord their God, from whom they had revolted. It is not enough to repent of sin, but we must be converted from it, and not return to it again. They must not only exchange the profession of Judaism for that of Christianity, but the power and dominion of a carnal, worldly, sensual mind, for that of holy, heavenly, and divine principles and affections. (3.) They must hear Christ, the great prophet: "Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Attend his dictates, receive his doctrine, submit to his government. Hear him with a divine faith, as prophets should be heard, that come with a divine commission. Him shall you hear, and to him shall you subscribe with an implicit faith and obedience. Hear him in all things; let his laws govern all your actions, and his counsels determine all your submissions. Whenever he has a mouth to speak, you must have an ear to hear. Whatever he saith to you, though ever so displeasing to flesh and blood, bid it welcome." Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears. A good reason is here given why we should be observant of, and obedient to, the word of Christ; for it is at our peril if we turn a deaf ear to his call and a stiff neck to his yoke (Act 3:23): Every soul that will not hear that prophet, and be directed by what he saith, shall be destroyed from among the people. The destruction of the city and nation, by war and famine, was threatened for slighting the prophets of the Old Testament; but the destruction of the soul, a spiritual and eternal destruction, is threatened for slighting Christ, this great prophet. Those that will not be advised by the Saviour can expect no other than to fall into the hands of the destroyer.
3. He tells them what they might expect.
(1.) That they should have the pardon of their sins; this is always spoken of as the great privilege of all those that embrace the gospel (Act 3:19): Repent, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. This implies, [1.] That the remission of sin is the blotting of it out, as a cloud is blotted out by the beams of the sun (Isa 44:22), as a debt is crossed and blotted out when it is remitted. It intimates that when God forgives sin he remembers it no more against the sinner; it is forgotten, as that which is blotted out; all the bitter things written against the sinner (Job 13:26) are wiped out as it were with a sponge; it is the cancelling of a bond, the vacating of a judgment. [2.] That we cannot expect our sins should be pardoned unless we repent of them, and turn from them to God. Though Christ has died to purchase the remission of sin, yet, that we may have the benefit of that purchase in the forgiveness of our sins, we must repent, and be converted: if no repentance, no remission. [3.] Hopes of the pardon of sin upon repentance should be a powerful inducement to us to repent. Repent, that your sins may be blotted out: and that repentance is evangelical which flows from an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, and the hopes of pardon. This was the first and great argument, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. [4.] The most comfortable fruit of the forgiveness of our sins will be when the times of refreshing shall come; if our sins be forgiven us, we have now reason to be of good cheer; but the comfort will be complete when the pardon shall be allowed in open court, and our justification published before angels and men - when whom he has justified, them he glorifies, Rom 8:30. As now we are the sons of God (Jo1 3:2), so now we have our sins blotted out; but it doth not yet appear what are the blessed fruits of it, till the times of refreshing shall come. During these times of toil and conflict (doubts and fears within, troubles and dangers without) we cannot have that full satisfaction of our pardon, and in it, that we shall have when the refreshing times come, which shall wipe away all tears.
(2.) That they should have the comfort of Christ's coming (Act 3:20, Act 3:21): "He shall send Jesus Christ, the same Jesus, the very same that before was preached unto you; for you must not expect another dispensation, another gospel, but the continuance and completion of this; you must not expect another prophet like unto Jesus, as Moses bade you expect another like unto him; for, though the heavens must receive him till the times of the restitution of all things; yet, if you repent and be converted, you shall find no want of him; some way or other he shall be seen of you." [1.] We must not expect Christ's personal presence with us in this world; for the heavens, which received him out of the sight of the disciples, must retain him till the end of time. To that seat of the blessed his bodily presence is confined, and will be to the end of time, the accomplishment of all things (so it may be read); and therefore those dishonour him, and deceive themselves, who dream of his corporal presence in the eucharist. It is agreeable to a state of trial and probation that the glorified Redeemer should be out of sight, because we must live by that faith in him which is the evidence of things not seen; because he must be believed on in the world, he must be received up into glory. Dr. Hammond reads it, Who must receive the heavens, that is, who must receive the glory and power of the upper world; he must reign till all be made subject to him, Co1 15:25; Psa 75:2. [2.] Yet it is promised that he shall be sent to all that repent and are converted (Act 3:20): "He shall send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you by his disciples, both before and since his resurrection, and is, and will be, all in all to them." First, "You shall have his spiritual presence. He that is sent into the world shall be sent to you; you shall have the comfort of his being sent; he shall be sent among you in his gospel, which shall be his tabernacle, his chariot of war." Secondly, "He shall send Jesus Christ to destroy Jerusalem, and the nation of unbelieving Jews, that are enemies to Christ and Christianity, and to deliver his ministers and people from them, and give them peace in the profession of the gospel, and that shall be a time of refreshing, in which you shall share." Then had the churches rest; so Dr. Hammond. Thirdly, "The sending of Christ to judge the world, at the end of time, will be a blessing to you; you shall then lift up your heads with joy, knowing that your redemption draws nigh." It seems to refer to this, for till then the heavens must receive him, Act 3:21. As God's counsels from eternity, so his predictions from the beginning of time, had a reference to the transactions of the last day, when the mystery of God shall be finished, as he had declared to his servants the prophets, Rev 10:7. The institution of all things in the church had an eye to the restitution of all things at the end of time.
4. He tells them what ground they had to expect these things, if they were converted to Christ. Though they had denied him, and put him to death, yet they might hope to find favour through him, upon the account of their being Israelites. For,
(1.) As Israelites, they had the monopoly of the grace of the Old Testament; they were, above any other, God's favourite nation, and the favours God bestowed upon them were such as had a reference to the Messiah, and his kingdom: You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant. A double privilege. [1.] They were the children, that is, the disciples, of the prophets, as children at school; not sons of the prophets, in the sense that we read of such in the Old Testament, from Samuel and downward, who were, or are, trained up to be endued with the spirit of prophecy; but you are of that people from among whom prophets were raised up, and to whom prophets were sent. It is spoken of as a great favour to Israel that God raised up of their sons for prophets, Amo 2:11. All the inspired writers, both of the Old and New Testament, were of the seed of Abraham; and it was their honour and advantage that unto them were committed the oracles of God, Rom 3:2. Their government was constituted by prophecy, that is, by divine revelation; and by it their affairs were for many ages very much managed. See Hos 12:13. By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. Those of the latter ages of the church, when prophecy had ceased, might yet be fitly called the children of the prophets, because they heard, though they did not know, the voices of the prophets, which were read in their synagogues every sabbath day, Act 13:27. Now this should quicken them to embrace Christ, and they might hope to be accepted of him; for their own prophets had foretold that this grace should be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ (Pe1 1:13), and therefore ought not to be neglected by them, nor should be denied to them. Those that are blessed with prophets and prophecy (as all are that have the scriptures) are concerned not to receive the grace of God therein in vain. We may apply it particularly to ministers' children, who, if they plead their parentage effectually with themselves, as an inducement to be faithful and forward in religion, may comfortably plead it with God, and hope that the children of God's servants shall continue. [2.] They were the children, that is, the heirs, of the covenant which God made with our Fathers, as children in the family. God's covenant was made with Abraham and his seed, and they were that seed with whom the covenant was made, and on whom the blessings of the covenant were entailed: "The promise of the Messiah was made to you, and therefore if you forsake not your own mercies, and do not by an obstinate infidelity put a bar in your own door, you may hope it shall be made good to you." That promise here mentioned, as the principal article of the covenant, In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed, though referring principally to Christ (Gal 3:16), yet may include the church also, which is his body, all believers, that are the spiritual seed of Abraham. All the kindreds of the earth were blessed in having a church for Christ among them; and those that were the seed of Abraham according to the flesh stood fairest for this privilege. If all the kindreds of the earth were to be blessed in Christ, much more that kindred, his kinsmen according to the flesh.
(2.) As Israelites, they had the first offer of the grace of the New Testament. Because they were the children of the prophets and the covenant, therefore to them the Redeemer was first sent, which was an encouragement to them to hope that if they did repent, and were converted, he should be yet further sent for their comfort (Act 3:20): He shall send Jesus Christ, for to you first he hath sent him, Act 3:26. Unto you first, you Jews, though not to you only, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, appointed and authorized him to be a prince and a Saviour, and, in confirmation of this, raised him from the dead, sent him to bless you, to make a tender of his blessing to you, especially that great blessing of turning every one of you from his iniquities; and therefore it concerns you to receive this blessing, and turn from your iniquities, and you may be encouraged to hope that you shall. [1.] We are here told whence Christ had his mission: God raised up his Son Jesus, and sent him. God raised him up when he constituted him a prophet, owned his by a voice from heaven, and filled him with his Spirit without measure, and then sent him; for to this end he raised him up, that he might be his commissioner to treat of peace. He sent him to bear witness of the truth, sent him to seek and save lost souls, sent him against his enemies, to conquer them. Some refer the raising of him up to the resurrection, which was the first step towards his exaltation; this was, as it were, the renewing of his commission; and though, having raised him up, he seemed presently to take him from us, yet he did really send him afresh to us in his gospel and Spirit. [2.] To whom he was sent: "Unto you first. You of the seed of Abraham, you that are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant, to you is the tender made of gospel grace." The personal ministry of Christ, as that of the prophets, was confined to the Jews; he was not then sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and he forbade the disciples he then sent forth to go any further. After his resurrection, he was to be preached indeed to all nations, but they must begin at Jerusalem, Luk 24:47. And, when they went to other nations, they first preached to the Jews they found therein. They were the first-born, and, as such, had the privilege of the first offer. So far were they from being excluded for their putting Christ to death, that, when he is risen, he is first sent to them, and they are primarily intended to have benefit by his death. [3.] On what errand he was sent: "He is sent to you first, to bless you; this is his primary errand, not to condemn you, as you deserve, but to justify you, if you will accept of the justification offered you, in the way wherein it is offered; but he that sends him first to bless you, if you refuse and reject tha
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–26 And when Peter saw it,.... That the people ran…
And when Peter saw it,.... That the people ran to them, and looked wistly upon them, and wondered at what was done:
he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? either at this man, who was cured of his lameness, or at the cure itself:
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or why look ye so earnestly on us; suggesting, that they ought to look to God, and observe his divine power, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they had crucified, whose apostles they were, and in whose name, and by whose power they had wrought this miracle; which shows that they were not self-seeking and vain glorious men, but discovers great sincerity and integrity, much love to Christ, and great regard to his honour, and to the glory of God:
as though by our own power and holiness we had made this man to walk? as if it was any natural power of theirs; or for any merit of theirs, because of their strict religion and piety; or "laudable conversation", as the Arabic version; because they were mightier in themselves and holier than others, that they had such a faculty of curing lame persons; all which they utterly reject, and place it to a right account in the next verse. Instead of "holiness", the Syriac version reads "authority"; and to the same, or like sense, the Vulgate Latin, which seems most agreeable.
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 vv12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Peter answered the people - Who were running together,…
Peter answered the people - Who were running together, and inquiring into the circumstances of the fact.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 Verse 12. As though by our own power] δυναμει,…
Verse 12. As though by our own power] δυναμει, Miraculous energy.
Or holiness] Η ευσεβεια, Meaning religious attachment to the worship of God. Do not think that we have wrought this miracle by any power of our own; or that any supereminent piety in us should have induced God thus to honour us, by enabling us to work it. Instead of ευσεβεια, holiness, the Syriac of Erpen, Armenian, Vulgate, and some copies of the Itala, have εξουσια, power or authority; but the first appears to be the legitimate reading.
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 vv12, 17, 19, 22, 24 Act 3:12-16. And when Peter saw it — When…
Act 3:12-16. And when Peter saw it — When he saw a crowd of people collected together, and found that they were exceedingly affected with the miracle that had been wrought, he took that favourable opportunity to preach Christ unto them, especially as the temple was the place of their concourse; thus sowing the seed of the gospel in the ground that was broken up and prepared to receive it. Ye men of Israel — To whom miracles surely are not, or at least ought not to be, strange things: having been wrought for you as a nation, in multiplied instances, from age to age, and many very evident and signal ones having, during the last three years, been performed before your eyes; why marvel ye at this — As if it were a singular fact, the like of which you had never seen? Why do you wonder at what has now happened, when so much greater miracles have lately been performed among you? The fact was indeed marvellous, and they justly wondered at it, but it was no more than what Christ had done many a time. It was but a little before that Christ had raised Lazarus from the dead: nay, and he had lately risen from the dead himself; why did they not marvel at these facts, and why were they not convinced by them? Observe, reader, stupid and thoughtless people think that strange now which might have been very familiar to them, if they had not been wanting to themselves, and void of consideration. Or why look ye so earnestly on us — With that astonishment which your looks express, as though by our own power we had effected this cure; or by our own holiness had deserved that God should perform it by us. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, &c. — This was wisely introduced here in the beginning of his discourse, that it might appear they taught no new religion, inconsistent with that of Moses, and were far from having the least design to divert their regards from the God of Israel; hath glorified his son Jesus — Namely, by this miracle, as he also glorified him in his life and in his death, and especially in his resurrection and ascension; whom — When God had given him to you, and when you ought to have received him as a most precious treasure, and to have preserved him with all your power; ye delivered up — To the Romans as a criminal, and denied — Greek, ηρνησασθε, renounced him; in the presence of Pilate — Or, against the face of Pilate, as Dr. Hammond renders it; that is, in defiance of his reasonings with you; when he was determined to let him go — To release him, being fully satisfied he was innocent of the things laid to his charge. But ye denied the Holy One — Whom God had marked out as such; and the Just One — Just even in the judgment of Pilate, declaring that you would not own him as your king, nor even be contented to admit his discharge, when it was offered and pressed upon you by the governor: and desired — With outrageous clamour, one of the most infamous of mankind, a robber, and a murderer, to be granted unto you — To be spared and released. And while you asked for the deliverance of so vile a wretch, you inhumanly and insolently killed the Prince of life — Even him who had life in himself, and was appointed to be the Author of life, spiritual and eternal, and glory, to his followers. Observe the antithesis: You desired a destroyer of life to be released, and Christ the Lord and giver of life to be crucified, as if a murderer had deserved better at your hands than the Saviour! than which a greater affront could not have been put upon him. You did at once a wicked and foolish thing, in taking away his life, who would have been your life and Saviour, thus forsaking and rebelling against your own mercies; and in supposing you could conquer and extinguish in death the Prince of life, who, having life in himself, could soon resume the life he had resigned! Whom God raised — As we know by the certain and repeated testimony of our own senses; and thereby amply vindicated him; whereof we are witnesses — Constituted such by God, in order to the conviction and salvation of others. And his name — He himself, his power and love; through faith in his name — A confidence in him, a dependance on him, a believing application to him, and expectation of power to proceed from him; hath made this man strong — Hath effected a perfect cure of his lameness. Dr. Lightfoot suggests, that faith is twice named in this verse, because of the apostles’ faith in working this miracle, and the cripple’s faith in receiving it. But it seems to relate chiefly, if not only, to the former: they that wrought this miracle by faith, derived power from Christ to work it, and, therefore, returned all the glory to him. By this true and just account of the miracle, Peter both confirmed the great gospel truth they were to preach to the world, that Jesus Christ is the fountain of all power and grace, and the great Healer and Saviour; and recommended the great gospel mystery of our salvation by Christ. It is his name that justifies us, that glorious name of his, the Lord our righteousness; but we, in particular, are justified by that name, through faith in it, applying it to ourselves. Thus doth Peter preach unto them Jesus and him crucified, being a faithful friend of the bridegroom, to whose service he devoted all his interest.
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 vv12–26 When Peter saw it - Saw the people assembling…
When Peter saw it - Saw the people assembling in such multitudes and wondering at the miracle.
He answered - The word “answer,” with us, implies that a question had been asked, or that some subject had been proposed for consideration. But the word is used in a different sense in the Bible. It is often used when no question was asked, but when an occasion was offered for remarks, or when an opportunity was presented to make a statement. It is the same as replying to a thing, or making a statement in regard to some subject, Dan 2:26; Act 5:8.
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Ye men of Israel - Jews. Compare Act 2:14.
Why marvel ye at this? - The particular thing which he intended to reprove here was not that they wondered, for that was proper; but that they looked on himself and John as if they had been the authors of this healing. They ought to have understood it. The Jews were sufficiently acquainted with miracles to interpret them and to know whence they proceeded; and they ought not, therefore, to ascribe them to man, but to inquire why they had been performed by God.
Why look ye ... - Why do ye fix the eyes with amazement on us, as though we could do this? Why not look at once to God?
By our own power - By any art of healing or by any medicine we had done this.
Or holiness - Piety. As if God had bestowed this on us on account of our personal and eminent piety. It may be remarked that here was ample opportunity for them to establish a reputation of their own. The people were disposed to pay them honor; they might at once have laid claim to vast authority over them; but they refused all such personal honor, and ascribed all to the Lord Jesus. Whatever success may attend the ministers of the gospel, or however much the world may be disposed to do them honor, they should disclaim all power in themselves, and ascribe it to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not by the talents or personal holiness of ministers, valuable as these are, that people are saved; it is only by the power of God, designed to honor his Son. See 2Co 3:5-6.
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 vv12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25 Peter seeing, made answer to the people. This is…
Peter seeing, made answer to the people. This is the second sermon, that is related, which, as St. John Chrysostom, observes, was spoken publicly in the temple. --- Why look you upon us? St. Peter, at the beginning take care to give the glory to God. (Witham)
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 vv12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 why marvel at this?--For miracles are marvels only in…
why marvel at this?--For miracles are marvels only in relation to the limited powers of man.
as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk--Neither the might nor the merit of the cure are due to us, mere agents of Him whom we preach.
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 vv12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 2. Peter’s Third Speech—that in Solomon’s Porch, Act_3:12-26.
2. Peter’s Third Speech—that in Solomon’s Porch, Act_3:12-26.
Peter promptly avails himself, in this bold speech, (made perhaps from some elevated platform or position in the porch,) of the great excitement to base Christ upon this miracle. Do you ask what this miracle means? It declares that your Messiah, by whose power it was alone done, has come to you, even He whom you have slain, Act_3:13-18. The momentous inference is, that you must repent of your crime against him and submit yourselves to his divine authority, Act_3:19-26.
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 vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 12. when Peter saw it] i.e. their wonder, as…
12. when Peter saw it] i.e. their wonder, as may be inferred from his opening words.
he answered] Often used although no previous remark or question precedes. Cp. Act_5:8, where Peter is said to have answered Sapphira, though she had said nothing, as far as we are told, and where the Apostle’s words are a question.
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why marvel ye at this?] Probably we should supply man, because the pronoun at the close of the verse is only the personal and not the demonstrative, and we should read “made him to walk,” and not as the A. V. “made this man to walk.”
look ye so earnestly] The verb is rendered “to fasten the eyes on” in Act_3:4.
by our own power] As he had done to the cripple, so also he makes it clear to the crowd that the name of Jesus is the power by which he has wrought.
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 vv12–26 (12) Why look ye so earnestly on us?—The verb…
(12) Why look ye so earnestly on us?—The verb is the same as that in Act_3:4. The pronoun stands emphatically at the beginning of the verse—Why is it on us that ye gaze?
As though by our own. . . . holiness. . . .—Better, purity, or devotion. The words refer to what may be called the popular theory of miracles, that if a man were devout, i.e., “a worshipper of God,” God would hear him (Joh_9:31). That theory might be true in itself generally, but the Apostle disclaims it in this special instance. No purity of his own would have availed, but for the Name, i.e., the power, of Jesus of Nazareth.
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 vv12–26 At this man for at this, A.V.; fasten ye…
At this man for at this, A.V.; fasten ye your eyes for look ye so earnestly, A.V.; godliness for holiness, A.V; him for this man, A.V. The him at the end of the verse requires that the man should have been previously mentioned. The A.V. felt this, and so, having taken ejpitw as at this, they rendered aujton by this man, as if Peter had supplied the want of the verbal mention by pointing to him. Fasten ye your eyes. (For the use of ajtenizein, see note on ver. 4.)
Vers. 12-26. The two judgments.
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Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1Sa_16:7) That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God". (Luk_16:15) "The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. (Luk_20:17) The above passages, with many others, call our particular attention to the frequent contrariety between the judgment of men and the judgment of God. The section before us gives two striking examples of this contrariety.
I The first is the contrariety between the judgment of the men of Israel as to the cause of the healing of the lame man, and the truth as declared by the apostles. The men of Israel thought that Peter and John had healed him by their own power or holiness. Their blind, carnal mind could not see beyond what lay just before them. They mistook the instrument for the cause. They could not see the power of Jesus Christ in heaven working through the hands of his servants on earth. And this is a type of a widely extended human error or false judgment. In the judgment of carnal men, however sharp their intellectual sight may be, everything is material, and the visible matter has no invisible spirit behind it. Famines, pestilences, earthquakes, are in their view natural phenomona with which the hand of God has nothing to do. Success or defeat in war, prosperity or adversity to the individual or the nation, are owing exclusively to the wisdom and prowess of men, not to the blessing or chastening of God. And it is even so in the Church. They see only the outward visible signs, and they ignore the inward spiritual grace. Holy baptism is a sign, a ceremony, a rite. It has, maybe, a certain significance, a certain admonitory or teaching power in their eyes, but they ignore the active, quickening energy of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament. The bread and wine in the Lord"s Supper are emblems, symbols, tokens, but they apprehend not the body and blood of Jesus Christ "which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful" at the Lord"s table. Sermons, if eloquent, able, and stirring, are things of natural power in their estimation, but they do not take into account the effectual working of the Holy Ghost accompanying the Word preached, and making it the power of God unto salvation. And so it is throughout, both in the world and in the Church. The carnal judgment of men takes into account only the natural and the material; those who have the mind and judgment of Christ recognize the supernatural and spiritual agency of God.
II The other example furnished by this section of the contrariety between the judgment of man and the judgment of God is that which is so pointedly put by St. Luke, both here and in his Gospel: the preference given by the Jews to Barabbas over Jesus Christ. "Ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead." Here, then, we have the Lord Jesus, the well-beloved Son of God; in whom he was well pleased; who always did those things that pleased him; to whom he said, "Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool;" whom God exalted far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; to whom he has given "a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." That was the judgment of God. Now let us see the judgment of men concerning this same Jesus. He was in the world, in all the simplicity of his spotless righteousness, in all the dignity of his sinless humanity, in the majesty of the Son of God; the fullness of wisdom, of love, and of pure goodness beamed forth in his every word and work, but "he was despised and rejected of men." He was reviled as a blasphemer, as one that had a devil, as a gluttonous man and a winebibber, as a friend of sinners, as a seditious, turbulent man, as one that was not worthy to live. So he was brought before the judges of the earth, accused, arraigned as a criminal; smitten, buffeted, scourged, spit upon, condemned; led forth to execution, numbered with the transgressors, nailed to the cross, left to die amidst the jeers and taunts of his murderers. And when Pilate himself offered to release him, the offer was met with the cry, "Not this man, but Barabbas;" and Barabbas was a robber. That was the judgment of man. And have we not here a type of the frequent contrariety between the judgment of men and the judgment of God? The things, the persons, the characters, that God approves, find no favor with a corrupt and perverse world; the things, the persons, the sentiments, that God disapproves, receive the praise of men. The opinions of the day, the voice of the multitude, the prevailing tone of thought amongst men, are no safe criterion of worth and truth. We must ever remember that there are two judgments, the judgment of man and the judgment of God, and that these are often diverse the one from the other. It should be our constant prayer that God"s Holy Spirit may give us "a right judgment in all things;" so that, on the various questions of interest which engage the thoughts of our own generation, we may be found in harmony, not with the conceits of men, but with the all-seeing mind of God.
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 vv13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26 The God of Abraham … hath glorified His Son…
Act_3:13-16
The God of Abraham … hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up.
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St. Peters testimony
I. The vindication of Christianity from a Jewish standpoint. The God of Abraham, etc., not God generally considered, but God in relations acknowledged by the Jews--the God of Abraham, as such, had glorified Jesus. If this were the case, then Judaism was logically at an end. The God of Abraham, in a sense, had glorified Moses, and had so terminated the patriarchal dispensation, which every good Jew would acknowledge was thereby legitimately closed, and religion thus advanced a stage. Now the same God had glorified the great Teacher whom Moses had predicted (Act_3:22), under whom the legal dispensation must pass into the Christian. When that Teacher came He said, as Moses might have said, I come not to destroy, but to fulfil, and when He died He exclaimed, It is finished. By glorifying Jesus, therefore, God put His seal upon the further advance which religion had made out of Judaism into Christianity. A true servant of the God of Abraham was thus logically a Christian.
II. The glorification of the humiliated Christ.
1. No depth of Christs degradation is here left unexplored.
(1) He who claimed to command legions of angels was delivered up.
(2) He who demanded the profoundest homage and the complete allegiance was destined.
(3) This denial came from His own for whom He had done so much, and to whose loyalty He had every right.
(4) It took place in the presence of a heathen governor, whose jurisdiction was thereby acknowledged, and in spite of even his protestations.
(5) And to crown all the release of a murderer was demanded, while the Prince of Life was handed over to the Cross.
2. The glorification reversed all this. Deep as Christ descended it was higher that He rose.
(1) Jesus was released from a more terrible than Roman tyranny after Jews and Romans had been allowed to do their worst.
(2) The belief and confession of the apostles then, and of adoring Christians since, more than compensates for the denial before Pilate--the inveterate denial which has since characterised the stubborn race. The grand testimony of Paul before Felix, Festus and Nero makes atonement for the shameful denial of Caiaphas and his rabble before the Roman judge--not to mention the innumerable testimonies all through Christian history which, before princes and governors have been borne to Christ.
(3) That Cross to which Christ was nailed gave Him power to give life to dead humanity, and that power He now wields from the throne of heaven.
III. The inveterate depravity of the human heart--the denial of the Holy One and the preference of a murderer. Here sin is seen in its ghastliest development, but the ghastliness lies in the circumstances. We are horrified at the Crucifixion, but the Crucifixion was only a detail, the denial was the essence of the act. And this denial of Christ, and the preference of one who is a murderer from the beginning is normal. The sinner is doing to-day that the only logical outcome of which is crucifixion, and letting loose the devil on his life. This is what is being done on a large scale, and the same is being done on a smaller. What is history but the record of the preference of murderers to deliverers? What was the reward of Socrates, of Savonarola, of Cromwell, of the early Christian martyrs, and later Protestant confessors?
IV. The impotence of seeming might and the power of apparent weakness. The power of Rome was at its greatest, and the malignancy and craft of Judaism most intense and concentrated, and both were exerted to crush the Prophet of Nazareth. And both said that He was crushed--killed upon a cross and shut up in a carefully guarded tomb. And then it might seem was that poor, weak Prophet at His weakest and poorest. Who could help Him now? Himself. The Prince of Life, could not be holden of death; and that stone cut without hands has crushed in succession the mightiest despotisms that have dominated the race. And that the weakness of God is stronger than the power of man, let the history of all great and beneficent monuments bear witness. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. The leader is killed but the cause flourishes. The thinker starves; but his thoughts become the potent forces of the world. The inventor dies of a broken heart with the products of his genius lying in ruins around him; but his invention lives, and helps to make civilisation what it is.
V. The potency of faith--Of all things the weakest in the worlds estimate. Are there not circles in which faith and folly are convertible terms? And on what does this faith rest? On what the world would call an accomplished failure. Stark imbecility--then says the world. But here, again, God chooses the weak things to confound the mighty; for in this early instance of its exercise it accomplished what all the science of the world before and since has failed to do; it gave a man perfect physical soundness. And here, and here alone, is the cure for personal, social, literary, commercial, national unsoundness. Everything else has failed. Let this be tried on a large scale, and faith in Christ will give perfect soundness to a crippled world. (J. W. Burn.)
Men denying the Just One
I. The Person against whom the outrage was perpetrated. Men thought Him a mere Jew; and yet He possessed a universality and fervour of love inconsistent with the Jewish character generally. Men regarded Him as only a carpenter; and yet He evinced a strength of mind and soul which enabled Him to grapple with Divine things altogether beyond the grasp of the Jewish doctors. Men thought Him a mere man; and yet there were profound depths and majestic heights about His nature, which entirely separated Him from the common herd.
1. He looked like a man; but His words proved Him more.
2. He looked like a man; but His works proved Him more.
3. He looked like a man; but His life proved Him more.
II. The nature of the outrage that was enacted.
1. It was the culminating act of human transgression.
2. It was sin against their highest good.
III. The outcome of it all. God turned the curse into a blessing. He made the wrath of man to praise Him.
1. From the death of Christ came deliverance from the curse.
2. From Christs death came the magic force which conquered mans rebellion.
Sinais terrors and the Levitical law failed to evoke the deep affection and fervent devotion of men. But the Cross of Christ succeeded. (Homilist.)
The rejection of Christ
How terrible an evil this was Peter showed--
I. By the testimony of a heathen. The sentiment of common humanity was against this treatment. How often has the conduct of professors shocked the prayerless.
II. By the nature of the thing itself. This is set forth in an awful gradation. The rejected One was--
1. Spotless.
2. Righteous.
3. The Prince of Life, without whose interposition no man could have had life.
4. Gods own chosen Servant.
Those who in rejecting Him had repudiated purity, justice, needful grace, and indispensable Divine service, might well prefer a murderer. What is reserved for those who now reject Christ with clearer light and further knowledge?
III. By Gods manifest opposition to it.
1. Men put Jesus to death, but God raised Him from the dead.
2. Men cast Him out, but God declared Him to be His accepted servant by the Resurrection.
Men thought the Crucifixion would put an end to His influence, but God augmented that influence by the energy of the Holy Ghost which empowered the apostles. The argument showed that they had been fighting against God, and that God had completely overcome their evil course.
IV. By the keen rebuke which the apostles were directed to keep up. Whereof we are witnesses. (W. Hudson.)
Ye killed the Prince of Life.--
The Prince of Life
The title suggests--
I. That Jesus is the source of life.
1. Of natural life. In Him we live and move, etc. It is only for Him to say to dead Lazarus Come forth, and He proves Himself to be the source of life. Let us not, then, deny Him the use of the faculties He has given.
2. Of spiritual life. H we admit that we cannot give ourselves physical life, how absurd to think we can give ourselves spiritual life. And yet multitudes are under this delusion. It is only by Christs almighty fiat that the dead in trespasses and sins can hear the voice of the Son of God and live.
3. Of eternal life. Jesus is the life of all the joy, the glory, and the love of heaven.
II. That life centres in Him as regards sensible enjoyment of it. The common comforts of Christ without Christ are monotonous and miserable; but if Christ be enjoyed in them, if He be eaten with our bread, received with our water, breathed with our air, then life has a blessedness and a dignity conferred upon it which the world knows nothing of.
III. That He sustains the life he gives. He giveth power to the faint, as well as life to the dead. Does the life of faith, of hope, of love, wane through trial and loss and disappointment? Christ has inexhaustible resources of vitality for their invigoration. Dost thou fear lest thou shouldest lose thy little life in the fierce conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil? Hear His promise, They shall never perish.
IV. That He brings life to fruition. Be thou faithful unto death, etc.
V. That He does all this in a princely manner. I am come that they might have life … abundantly. (J. Irons.)
We are witnesses.--
Sworn testimony
In the days of George Stephenson some scientists proved conclusively that a rail-train could never be driven by steam power; but the rushing expresses have made all the world witnesses of the splendid achievement. It was proved conclusively that a steamer could never cross the Atlantic; but the work was done, and the passengers on the Cunard and the Inman Lines are witnesses. There went up a guffaw of laughter from some of the wise men at Professor Morses proposition to make lightning his errand-boy, and it was proved conclusively that the thing could never be done; but now the news of the wide world, put in your hands every morning and night, has made all nations witnesses. In the time of Christ it was proved conclusively that it was impossible for a man to rise from the dead. The disciples took the witness-stand to prove to be true what the wiseacres of the day had proved to be impossible. Now let me play the sceptic for a moment. There is no God, for I have never seen Him with my physical eyesight. Your Bible is a pack of contradictions. There never was a miracle. Your religion is an imposition on the credulity of the ages. There is a suppressed feeling which would like to cry out in behalf of the truth of our glorious Christianity. We are witnesses! If this world is ever brought to God, it will not be through argument, but through testimony. You might cover the whole earth with learned treatises in defence of religion--you would not convert a soul. In order to have faith we must have testimony, and if five hundred men get up and tell me that they have felt the religion of Jesus Christ a joy, an inspiration, I am bound as a fair-minded man to accept their testimony. I want to put before you three propositions, the truth of which I think you will attest with overwhelming unanimity.
I. We are witnesses that the religion of Christ is able to convert a soul. You say conversion is only an imaginary thing. We know better. People laughed at the missionaries in Madagascar because they preached ten years without one convert; but there are thirty-three thousand converts in Madagascar to-day. People laughed at Dr. Judson because he kept on preaching five years without a single convert; but there are twenty thousand Baptist Christians in Burmah to-day. People laughed at Dr. Morrison for preaching seven years without a single conversion; but there are fifteen thousand Christians in China to-day. People laughed at the missionaries for preaching at Tahiti and in Bengal years without a single conversion; yet in all those lands there are multitudes of Christians to-day. But why go so far to find evidence? We are witnesses. We were so proud that no man could have humbled us; we were so hard that no earthly power could have melted us. But one day a power seized us, from which we tried to wrench ourselves, but could not. It flung us on our knees, and when we arose we were as much changed as Gourgis the heathen. He went into prayer-meeting with a dagger and a gun, but the next day was found crying: Oh, my great sins! Oh, my great Saviour! For eleven years be preached the gospel of Christ to his fellow-mountaineers, and the last words on his dying lips were, Free grace! Oh, it was free grace! There is a man who was for ten years a hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had sent down its roots until they were interlinked with the vitals of body, mind, and soul; but he has not taken any stimulants for two years. What did that? Not temperance societies. Not prohibition laws, Not moral suasion. Conversion did it, Why, said one upon whom the great change had come, sir, I feel just as though I were somebody else! There is a sea captain who swore all the way from New York to Havana, and from Havana to San Francisco, and when he was in port he was worse than when he was on the sea. What power was it that washed his tongue clean of profanities, and made him sing to the glory of God? Conversion. There are thousands who are no more what they once were than a water-lily is nightshade, or a morning lark a vulture, or day night.
II. We are witnesses that the gospel has the power to comfort. When a man has trouble the world says: Now get your mind off this; go out and breathe the fresh air! plunge deeper into business. What poor advice. Get your mind off of it I when everything reminds you of what you have lost. They might as well advise you to stop thinking. Take a walk in the fresh air I Why, along that very road your dead wife once accompanied you. Go deeper into business! Why, she was associated with all your ambition, and since she has gone you have no ambition left. And yet you have been comforted. How was it done? Did Christ come to you and say: Get your mind off this, etc. No. There was a minute when He came to you, and He breathed something into your soul that gave peace, so that you could take out the photograph of the departed one and say: It is all right; she is better off; I would not call her back. There are Christian parents who are willing to testify to the power of this gospel to comfort. Your son had just graduated and was going into business, and the Lord took him. Or your daughter had just left the school, and you thought she was going to be a useful woman and of long life, but the Lord took her. Or the little child came home with the hot fever that stopped not for the agonised prayer, or for the skilful physician. What has enabled you to stand all the trial? Oh, you say, I threw myself at the feet of a sympathising Saviour, and when I was too weak to pray, or to look up, He breathed into me a peace that I think must be the foretaste of that heaven where there is neither tear, nor a farewell, nor a grave. Is there power in this gospel to soothe the heart? There comes up an answer from comforted widowhood, and orphanage, and childlessness, saying--
III. We are witnesses that religion has power to give composure in the last moment. We are very apt when we want to bring illustrations of dying triumph to go back to some distinguished personage--to a John Knox, or a Harriett Newell. Such illustrations are of no use to me to-night. I want you for witnesses. I want to know whether you have seen or heard anything that makes you believe that the religion of Christ gives composure in the final hour? Oh yes, you say; I saw my father and mother depart. How did they seem to act? Were they very much frightened? Did they take hold of this world with both hands as though they did not want to give it up? Oh, no, you say; she had a kind word for us all, and there were a few mementos distributed among the children, and then she told us how kind we must be to our father in his loneliness, and then she kissed us good-bye and went asleep as calmly as a child in a cradle. What made her so composed? Natural courage? No, you say, mother was very nervous; it was because she was so good. Here are people who say, I saw a Christian brother die, and he triumphed. And some one else, I saw a Christian sister die, and she triumphed. Conclusion: You see I have not put before you to-night anything like guess-work, but affidavits of the best men and women, living and dead. Two witnesses in court will establish a fact. Here are not two witnesses, but millions. If ten men should come to you when you are sick and say they had the same sickness, and took a certain medicine and it cured them, you would probably take it. Now, suppose ten other men should come up and say, We dont believe there is anything in that medicine. Well, I say, have you ever tried it? No, I never tried it, but I dont believe there is anything in it. Of course you discredit their testimony. The sceptic may come and say, There is no power in your religion. Have you ever tried it? No, no. Then avaunt! (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
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 vv12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 12. Ye men of Israel. Peter seized the opportunity…
12. Ye men of Israel. Peter seized the opportunity to preach Christ.
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.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v17 Act_3:18. All His holy prophets.—Best taken as a collective…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_3:18. All His holy prophets.—Best taken as a collective phrase for the prophets as a whole. Most of the Books of the Old Testament foretell distinctly the sufferings and death of the Messiah (Hackett).
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Act_3:19. That your sins may be blotted out.—According to Isa_53:12, Christ’s death was to be the meritorious cause of forgiveness. When the times of refreshing shall come, should be in order that times or seasons of refreshing may come. These “seasons of refreshing” have been interpreted as equivalent to “the times of the restitution of all things” of Act_3:21. Both seasons considered as identical have been explained differently:
1. as referring to the Second Coming of Christ (according to this view spoken of in Act_3:20), which will be (subjectively considered) a season of refreshment, peace, and repose, after the toils and tribulations of life, but objectively regarded a season of the restoration of all things (Alford, Hackett, Spence, Gloag, Holtzmann); 2, as alluding to the inward refreshment of soul which follows after the blotting out of sins consequent on conversion, which refreshment is also a fulfilment of all those gracious promises God had before spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began (Stier, Zöckler). A third, and in our judgment, a better interpretation distinguishes the “seasons of refreshing” and “times of restitution,” making the former the inward quickening which should follow on sincere repentance and experience of forgiveness, and the latter the restoration of all things which should accompany the Second Coming of the Saviour (Plumptre).
Act_3:21. Whom the heaven must receive.—Decidedly preferable to who must possess the heaven (Bengel, Luther, Olshausen, Stier).
Act_3:22. For and unto the fathers should be omitted as a gloss. £ prophet, etc.—Partly cited from the LXX. (Deu_18:18-19), and partly new. Stephen (Act_7:37) as well as Peter ascribes this prophecy to Moses, and interprets it of Christ, Raise up.—Not “from the dead,” but in the sense of causing to appear. Like unto me.—Or as He raised up Me.
Act_3:23. Shall be destroyed from among the people, should be, shall be utterly destroyed. Peter here interprets the Deuteronomic phrase, “I will require it of him,” which meant that he would be excluded from the congregation.
Act_3:24. Samuel.—Though nothing remains from him which can be construed into a prediction of the latter times, he may nevertheless have uttered such; or his name may be introduced simply because he was the “father of the prophets.”
Act_3:25. Children of the prophets and of the covenant.—Not “sons” in the sense of “descendants,” which would be incongruous with the clause “of the covenant,” but sons in the sense of participants of what the prophets and the covenant held out (compare Mat_8:12; Joh_4:22; Rom_9:4, etc.).
Act_3:26. Raised up, as in Act_3:22. From your iniquities.—A conclusion similar to Act_2:40. “Aculeus in fine orationis” (Bengel)—A sting in the tail of his address.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_3:17-26
Solomon’s Porch; Peter’s Second Sermon.
2. The People comforted and counselled
I. The people’s alarm soothed.—That such an appalling charge, pressed home upon the consciences of the auditors, awakened in their bosoms guilty fears is what one would naturally suppose. Possibly this is why Peter so dexterously wove into his discourse words that were fitted to administer comfort to those among them who might be troubled.
1. The disastrous results of their wickedness had been undone. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of their fathers, had glorified His servant Jesus, whom they had delivered up (Act_3:13). Observe the tenderness with which he leads back their thoughts to their glorious ancestry and up to their covenant God, as if he meant to suggest to their troubled hearts that the merciful Jehovah had not yet cast them off. Then note the kindness with which he places in the foreground the fact that their appalling crimes had been, as it were, rendered harmless before he mentions the crimes themselves. It was not without a purpose of love that, both before and after the recital of these, Peter speaks of the resurrection of the Crucified One.
2. Their wickedness had been the result of ignorance. If not total, yet partial; which, though not an excuse, was still an extenuation of their fault (Act_3:21). Peter’s verdict as to the knowledge concerning Christ which was possessed by the rulers and the people is confirmed by the opinion of Paul (1Co_2:8). Both apostles seem to imply that neither the people nor their rulers had an adequate idea of the divinity of the Saviour when they demanded His crucifixion. Nor need this be wondered at, when it is remembered that the crowning demonstration of Christ’s Godhead was only furnished by the Resurrection, and that before this event occurred the conceptions of the apostles themselves as to Christ’s true personality were but dim.
3. Their wickedness had been the means of fulfilling the Divine predictions concerning Christ recorded in Scripture. “The things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He thus fulfilled” (Act_3:18). Though this did not relieve them from blame, it nevertheless tended to mitigate their grief, by showing that Christ suffered in accordance with the Eternal purpose of God Himself (Act_2:23). The like comforts belong to sinners of to-day who, through their connection with the first Adam, are more or less responsible for the death of Jesus; and yet because of their ignorance and want of actual participation in the crime of Christ’s death are not left in a condition of despair (1Th_5:9).
II. The people’s duty set forth. In two particulars.
1. To repent and be converted (or turn again). Always insisted on in Scripture as a condition of forgiveness and salvation (Isa_55:7; Jer_3:12-14; Eze_14:6; Joe_2:12; Zec_12:10; Mat_4:17; Mar_6:12; Luk_13:3; Luk_24:47), repentance signifies a change of mind, heart, and conduct (see on Act_2:38). For this four reasons are assigned by the Apostle:
(1) That their sins might be blotted out and their guilt removed; since without heartfelt repentance, meaning sincere godly sorrow on account of sin, acknowledgment of guilt and desire as well as resolution after new obedience, pardon is impossible.
(2) That times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Lord, seasons of gracious quickening for them, Israel, and through them for the world at large—eras of spiritual awakening, epochs of revival, when men’s souls being refreshed and stirred would manifest an interest in heavenly things, as parched ground, when moistened with showers of rain, puts forth herbs and flowers. Moreover, every such season of refreshing would prove a prelude of, and preparation for, the grand culmination of the future, “the times of the restitution of all things.”
(3) That Jesus Christ (or the Christ) might be sent unto them, that same Christ who had been appointed for (R.V.), and in the days of His flesh preached unto (A.V.) them, but whom they had rejected and the heavens had received, no more to be manifested till the close of time (1Ti_6:14-15). It is clear that Peter meant by this that in answer to every such “season of refreshing” in which longings after heavenly gifts would be awakened in renewed hearts, there would be a sending forth of the Christ, the Risen and Ascended Lord, not visibly, but spiritually, in the plenitude of His power and grace to bless men’s souls by deepening in them the feeling of repentance and turning them away from their iniquities (Act_3:26; compare Heb_6:7).
(4) That finally the times of the restitution of all things might come. This should be the goal of that stupendous restoration movement which was heralded by John the Baptist (Mat_17:11), and initiated by Jesus in the days of His flash. Of which so far as they were concerned their repentance would be the first step (2Co_5:17), and the revelation of the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness (2Pe_3:13) the last—the summing up of all things in one under Christ (Eph_1:10), the subjection of all powers and things to His authority and rule (1Co_15:27-28)—not necessarily the salvation of all intelligent beings, but the subordination of the universe, each part in its place, beneath His sway.
2. To hearken in all things to Christ. And that for a variety of reasons.
(1) That Christ was a prophet whom the Lord God, their own covenant Jehovah, had raised up, and was therefore as much entitled to their obedience as had been Moses himself or any of the prophets from Samuel downwards.
(2) That Christ was a prophet raised up from among themselves, again as Moses and Samuel had been—one of their own flesh and blood (Heb_2:14; Heb_2:17), and therefore one who might be supposed to have their best interests at heart—their emancipation from the guilt and power of sin—and therefore as much entitled as Moses had been to receive their confidence.
(3) That Christ was a prophet like unto Moses, their renowned lawgiver, in respect of the authority He bore; yea, better than he in respect of the announcements He made (Joh_1:17), and on this account more entitled than even he to their respectful attention.
(4) That the soul which would not hearken to Christ would be cut off from amongst the people, exactly as the disobedient Israelite who refused to obey Moses was excluded from the congregation.
(5) That Christ had been fore-announced as their Messiah by the whole race of prophets from Samuel downwards, so that in refusing to hear Christ they were rejecting the voices of the prophets (compare Act_7:51, Act_13:27; Act_13:40).
(6) That Christ had a claim on their submission because of their covenant relation to Jehovah, the God of Abraham their father, to whom He, Christ, had been promised (Act_3:25). If Christ was the seed of Abraham (compare Gal_3:16), they could not reject Him without sin.
(7) That Christ had been offered to them first, so that their responsibility for accepting Him was greater than it would otherwise have been, while their guilt would be more heinous if they declined to receive Him (Act_3:26).
Learn.—
1. That it is dangerous to sin against the light.
2. That all true preaching aims at convicting of sin.
3. That the prime blessing of the gospel is the blotting out of sin.
4. That unforgiven sin blocks the way to higher gifts of grace.
5. That disobedience to Christ is pre-eminently inexcusable.
6. That Christ’s supreme desire is to turn men away from their iniquities.
7. That Christ’s triumph, though long delayed, is absolutely sure.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_3:17. Sins of Ignorance.
I. A man may sin through ignorance.
II. Ignorance is not a valid plea in extenuation of sin.
III. Sins of ignorance require an atonement quite as much as sins of knowledge.
IV. Sins of ignorance require to be repented of as sincerely as sins of presumption.
Act_3:18. The Sufferings of Christ.
I. The character and dignity of the Sufferer.—
1. The Son of God (Act_3:13).
2. The Holy and Righteous one (Act_3:14).
3. The Prince of Life (Act_3:15).
II. The form and severity of His sufferings.—
1. As to form. He suffered
(1) in His reputation (Act_3:14),
(2) in His soul (Mat_26:37-38), and
(3) in His body (Joh_17:12).
2. As to severity. They were aggravated by the fact that they were all foretold and so known to Him beforehand.
III. The reason and purpose of His sufferings.—
1. To glorify God (Joh_17:1).
2. To save sinners (Isa_53:5; Joh_3:16).
I. Foreordained by the Father.
II. Foretold by prophets.
III. Inflicted by men.
IV. Endured with patience.
V. Rewarded with glory.
VI. Recorded in Scripture.
VII. Proclaimed by evangelists.
VIII. Believed on by sinful men.
IX. Studied by angels (1Pe_1:11).
Act_3:19. The Blotting out of Sin.
I. What it implies.—
1. The liability of men to condemnation on account of sin.
2. The exercise of grace on God’s part towards the condemned.
3. The complete release from condemnation of all who experience such grace.
II. What it presupposes.—
1. On God’s part that no obstacle exists to the outflow of grace and exercise of forgiveness; in other words, the removal of antecedent obstacles by the work of Christ.
2. On man’s part the frank acknowledgment of guilt conjoined with repentance of sin.
III. What it secures.—
1. Times of refreshing, or the joy of forgiveness.
2. Times of restoration, or the ultimate attainment of perfect holiness, felicity, and glory.
Times of Refreshing.
I. What they mean.—Seasons of soul quickening, when, the inward life reviving, the soul begins to manifest desires after heavenly things.
II. Whence they come.—From the Presence of the Lord. Such seasons can never be got up, but must always be fetched down.
III. What must precede.—
1. Pardon. Spiritual quickening can belong only to those whose sins have been forgiven; though all may enjoy this heavenly gift who will comply with the second condition.
2. Repentance. Change of mind, heart, will, concerning Jesus Christ and the things of salvation.
IV. What will follow.—Christ with the fulness of His joy and salvation will be sent into the soul that repents and is forgiven.
Act_3:21. Times of Restoration.
I. When they shall arrive.—
1. At the end of Time.
2. With the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ.
3. On the completion of the present world plan.
II. What they shall introduce.—
1. Not the re-erection of the monarchy of Israel, and far less the bringing about of universal salvation. But
2. The delivering up of all things, now in the Mediator’s hand, to God that He may be all and in all (1Co_15:28). Which will imply—
3. The glorification of the Church. And
4. The subjection also of the wicked to the rule of God.
III. How they should be waited for.—
1. By the children of God, with faith, patience, holy living, and eager expectation.
2. By the unbelieving world, with assurance of their certain coming, with apprehension of the peril they will bring with repentance and turning to God and Jesus Christ.
Act_3:12-21. The Prince of Life.
I. Jesus presented.—Jesus did not need to be brought forward. There was no necessity of going up to heaven to bring Christ down. He was there—there in their midst, there in all the perfection of the God-man, in all the majesty of the Godhead, in all the plenitude of His Messiahship, and in all the kindness and helpfulness of the Friend. He was there, but unseen by the multitude. Two obstacles stand in the way of His being seen. First, the disciples, Peter and John. They perceived this. The miracle was being ascribed to them. How promptly they remove this obstacle! how promptly and emphatically they step aside! “Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power and holiness we had made this man to walk?” Thus they stand aside that Jesus may be seen. But blind men cannot see the most conspicuous object. Those whose eyes are thickly veiled are the same as blind. This was the condition of these Jews. Hence the second thing necessary that Jesus might be seen was to remove the veil, to snatch the thick covering of moral and intellectual ignorance and prejudice from their eyes. This the disciples proceed to do with characteristic promptness and energy, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers”—thus they seize the veil at its farthest extremes; there the lift must begin if the uncovering would be successful and complete—“You believe in God, the God of our fathers; this miracle was wrought by His power; it was performed in honour of His Servant, His Messiah. That Messiah, that Servant, is Jesus. He is the Prince of life. He is the Messiah of prophecy. He was crucified in exact fulfilment of the writings of all the holy prophets. He is exalted, has passed into the heavens, has there His dwelling-place—there for a purpose, a purpose sublime and eternal, to bring in the final, complete, and glorious restoration of all things. Behold, then, in the miracle that fills you all with amazement so profound, behold, not the power of men, but of God. Ascribe the glory of this miracle not to us, but to Jesus, your Messiah.” Thus Peter presented Jesus to the multitude. This is preaching Christ, and Him crucified.
II. Sinners condemned.—The Spirit by which the disciples witnessed made no mistakes; a different spirit, I fear, guides not a little of the witness-bearing of the present. That Spirit did not allow the disciples to make the miserable mistake of preaching Christ to those who could get along very well without him. And what a condemnation! How the astonished thousands must have shuddered as Peter passed from one count to another of his fearful indictment! Note these terrible counts: First, he charges upon them the infamy of betrayal: “Whom ye delivered up.” But, second, betrayal, infamous as it is, was not the extent—nay, it was but the first act—of your wickedness, for after ye had betrayed Him, when natural justice demanded His release, when Pilate, the Roman governor, who was neither scrupulous nor tender-hearted, was about to let Him go, ye denied the Holy One and the Just. Third, but betrayal, denial, and rejection, damning as these charges are when in the rejection ye must take a murderer to your bosoms, are not the weightiest counts of this indictment nor the extent of your infamy and wickedness. Ye are guilty of the awful crime of killing the Prince of life. There is no shifting the guilt and responsibility of that death. Thus with firm and steady hand does Peter thrust the iron of a terrible accusation into their guilty breasts.
III. Pardon proclaimed.—Peter was severe in his indictment, but he was wounding to heal. He thrust the keen lance of conviction into their souls, that he might open the way to pour into their hearts the grace of pardon and peace. Hence, the moment he saw that the truth had done its work of conviction, he hastened to apply the balm of Gilead.
1. He softens the indictment by referring their murderous deed partly to their ignorance: “I know that through ignorance ye did it.” Ignorance is no excuse for wrongdoing, especially such criminal ignorance as theirs; still, there is a distinction between a crime committed by one fully informed and the same crime by one largely ignorant of the real character of the act. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” said Jesus. “But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief,” wrote Paul.
2. He urges upon them the consideration that God had overruled their murdorous work to the accomplishment of His eternal purpose. All the suffering which, through their cruelty, Jesus had endured was, in the wise ordering of God, endured on their behalf. While this did not lessen their guilt, it did hold out to them a good hope of mercy and pardon.
3. He calls them to repentance and a different life: “Ye are guilty of the blackest crime, but it is mitigated by your ignorance of what ye were doing, and it has been overruled to the fulfilment of God’s purposes; and the very sufferings that ye caused Messiah prepared the way, in the eternal purpose of God, for the pardon of your sin in crucifying Him. Now, if ye are truly sorry for your sin, and will but turn from it unto God with all your heart, God will blot out your transgressions.” He urges all this upon them by a glorious consideration. This consideration was the fact that the times spoken of by all the holy prophets, the glorious times of deliverance, rest, refreshment, and joy which Messiah was to introduce, had come. Let us now attend to a few of the important lessons suggested.
1. We are reminded that it is strong faith, on the part of the disciples, in the name of Jesus, that works wonders. No one engaged in any way in the Master’s service can afford to be unmindful of this fact. To be faithless is to be helpless and useless, so far as spiritual matters are concerned. You can do nothing for your own or another’s welfare without faith. The faith of the humblest disciple may yet work wonders that will startle and amaze the world. Let this be the first inquiry in every work we undertake, “In whose name?”
2. The wise and true teacher always puts Jesus forward and hides self. How easy would it have been for these disciples to have secured for themselves the fame of that miracle! Is there not a profound lesson here for us all? Are we always careful to bring Jesus forward when our works of kindness and acts of faith turn the eyes of unbelievers toward us?
3. The true gospel-teacher tells men the truth, however severe or distasteful it may be. What a contrast between Peter’s method and that of not a few so-called teachers in our day!—men standing before the godless and guilty with cringing, shuffling, apologetic words and manner, aiming to excuse Moses and David and Isaiah, and all the inspired teachers, and prophets, and apostles, for their hard sayings against sin and sinners, “Oh, you know the race was not enlightened in the time of David”; or “Paul, being a Jew, could not, of course, get entirely rid of his Jewish ideas and prejudices.” Miserable gospel-tinkers!
4. The true gospel-teacher calls to repentance and faith, and offers pardon to the worst of sinners.
5. We learn to encourage, in every legitimate way, those to whom we preach the gospel.—T. J. McCrory.
Act_3:22. A Prophet like unto Moses.
I. Moses a prophetic type of Christ.—
1. In being of the same race with those he delivered.
2. In delivering his brethren from a state of captivity.
3. In acting as mediator between his brethren and Jehovah.
4. In promulgating a system of divine laws to his brethren.
5. In leading them through the wilderness towards the borders of Canaan.
II. Christ though an antitype of, yet greater than Moses.—
1. In being one with his brethren, yet of superior nature to them.
2. In delivering His brethren from a sadder than temporal bondage, and at a greater cost to himself than Moses incurred.
3. In being the mediator of a better covenant than that formed at Sinai.
4. In revealing to men not the laws only, but the grace and truth of Jehovah.
5. In conducting all who obey Him, not to the borders merely, but to the interior also of the Promised Land.
Moses and Christ. Related to each other as—
I. Prophecy and fulfilment.
II. Law and gospel.
III. Servant and Son.—Leonhard and Spiegel.
The World’s True Prophet.—The world needs a prophet—
1. Perfect, well-instructed, filled with true Wisdom
2. Authoritative, one who speaks, not from conjecture or in virtue of superior talent or position, but from authority, “as one having authority.”
3. Divine, a teacher sent direct from God. So must be the world’s true teacher. God has given us such an one; not for Israel only, but for the world. He has sent His Son as the world’s Prophet. He is all that is described in the passage before us.
I. He is of our brethren.
II. He is raised up to God.—Not self-called, nor man-called.
III. He is like unto Moses.
1. Because God speaks with Him face to face (Num_12:8; Deu_34:10).
2. Because. He is Mediator and Intercessor.
3. He is like unto Moses, because He is Israel’s King. Moses was the only prophet who was also king,—“he was king in Jeshurun,” he was Israel’s captain.
4. He is like unto Moses because He is a worker of miracles.
5. He is like Moses because He is Israel’s great Teacher.
6. He is like Moses because of His meekness.
7. He is like Moses because rejected of men. As Moses was rejected of his brethren (Act_7:35), so was Jesus despised and rejected of men.—H. Bonar, D.D.
Act_3:24. Christ in the Prophets.
I. His incarnation (Gen_3:15; Isa_9:6).
II. His humanity (Gen_3:15; Psa_89:19; Isa_11:1; Isa_32:2).
III. His divinity (Psa_2:6; Psa_110:1).
IV. His sufferings (Gen_3:15; Psa_20:6-9; Psa_69:7-9; Psalms 20-26; Isa_1:6; Isa_52:14; Isa_53:2-10; Zec_13:7).
V. His death (Isa_53:8; Dan_9:26; Zec_13:1).
VI. His resurrection (Psa_2:7; Psa_16:9-10).
VII. His ascension (Psa_24:7; Psa_68:18).
Act_3:25. The Abrahamic Covenant.
I. The parties.—God and Abraham.
II. The promise.—“In Thee and in Thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
1. A promise of salvation.
2. To all the families of the earth.
3. Through a descendant of Abraham.
III. The performance.—Seen in Christ.
1. A descendant of Abraham.
2. The Author of Salvation.
3. To as many as obey Him.
Lessons.—
1. That salvation is all of grace.
2. That it should be offered to all.
3. That the New Testament Church is a continuation and development of the Old.
Act_3:26. The Mission of Christ.
I. By whom He was sent.—God.
1. To whom He stood in the twofold relation of son and servant; and
2. By whom He was raised up first, by His incarnation, and secondly, at His Resurrection.
II. To whom He was sent.—
1. To the Jews, who were God’s ancient people, to whom pertained the adoption and the glory, etc. (Rom_9:4-5).
2. To the Gentiles, who, no less than the Jews, were included in the Abrahamic covenant.
III. For what He was sent.—For blessing.
1. Of a spiritual sort, the turning away of sinful men from their iniquities, which meant more than the turning away from them of (the consequences of) their iniquities.
2. To every one—i.e., who was willing to be blessed—this condition, though not expressed, being manifestly and necessarily implied, since no one can be turned from his iniquities without the concurrence of his will.
Lessons.—
1. The grace of God.
2. The power of Christ.
3. The responsibility of Man.
The Names of Christ.
I. Jesus, Joshua or Saviour, the personal name of Our Lord.
II. Christ, Messiah, His prophetic designation.
III. The son of God, indicating His relation to the first person in the Godhead.
IV. The servant of Jehovah, an official title expressive of His economical subordination to the Father.
V. The Holy and Righteous One, descriptive of His character as a man, and as servant of Jehovah.
VI. The Prince of Life, depicting Him as either the possessor or giver of life or as both.
VII. A prophet like unto Moses, setting forth the character of His work as mediatorial and legislative.
Act_3:12-26. Peter’s Threefold Testimony concerning Christ. As—
I. The substance of all miracles (Act_3:12-17).
II. The Redeemer of all souls (Act_3:18-21).
III. The accomplisher of all prophecies (Act_3:22-26).—Lisco.
The Speech of Peter may be regarded in four aspects:—
I. As showing the false method of looking at human affairs.—“As though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk.”
1. The visible is not the final.
2. Second causes do not explain life. There is a false method of looking at the results
(1) of preaching;
(2) of business;
(3) of thinking. The man who does not look beyond second causes lives in distraction—in chaos!
II. As showing the true method of regarding the most extraordinary events.—“God hath glorified His Son Jesus.” “Faith in His name hath made this man strong.” That is the sublime explanation of all recovery, all progress, all abiding strength and comfort. Forget God, and society in every phase and movement becomes a riddle without an answer; its happiness is but a lucky chance, its misery an unexpected cloud. Regard human life as controlled and blessed by the mediation of Jesus Christ, then:
1. There is discipline in every event,—design, meaning, however untoward and unmanageable the event.
2. A purpose of restoration runs through all human training.
III. As showing the only method of setting man right with God.—“Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” The men who worked Christian miracles spoke plain words about men’s souls. There is no ambiguity here! Are the old rousing words “repent,” “be converted,” being allowed to slip out of Christian teaching, and are we now trifling with the character and destiny of men?
1. Every man must repent, because every man has sinned.
2. Every man must be converted, because every man is in a false moral condition.
IV. As showing the sublime object of Jesus Christ’s Incarnation.—“To bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
1. Where iniquity is, there is no blessing.
2. Physical restoration is but the type of spiritual completeness. Two practical lessons arise out of the subject.
(1) It is not enough to wonder at the mighty works of God.
(2) God’s glory is ever identified with the well-being of man. “Restitution,” “refreshing,” “blessing.” Peter’s appeal rested upon a solid biblical basis—Moses, Samuel, all the prophets. God’s message is the summing up of all the voices of holy history.—J. Parker, D.D.
Act_3:25. Prophets and Sons of the Prophets.—Therefore whatsoever the prophets did you may do. God is as near to you as He ever was to them. He may inspire you for the work of the hour—to understand its problems and to fight its battles—just as He inspired them for the problems and battles of their day. God did not speak to men for the last time nineteen hundred years ago. Poetry was not buried in Tennyson’s grave, and, given the “eye to see,” we may have Raphaels and Murillos yet, who shall find their subjects in the romance of these commonplace days. Romance! Ay, life still teems with romance. And so here. We may be sons not only of the scientists and poets, of the critics and painters: we may be “sons of the prophets”; we may receive messages as direct as any message they ever received, and do work as distinctly divine as they ever did. That, then, is my subject—the prophet, the prophet of the present hour, of to-day.
I. England as well as Judæa has had its prophets; and it is of the English prophet I want to speak. The prophet has always been the same man, whether in England or in Judæa. The form which his work has taken may be different in England from what it was in Judæa, but it has been essentially the same work. And, to start with—
1. The prophet is, first of all, the good man; the witness for truth and righteousness; the witness, not by his genius, not by the work he is able to do, but by what he is. That in the Old Testament is always the sign that a man is a genuine prophet—his soul burnt with a passion for goodness, for purity, for religion. The prophet would sometimes be a herdsman, sometimes a statesman; but he was always a noble man. You have noticed that in the Old Testament story there were “schools of the prophets,” what we to-day would call theological colleges; but it did not follow that because a man had had a theological education he was a prophet. To-day there are “schools” of art, but every one who has been trained in the school is not an artist. The first thing the artist has often to do is to emancipate his own soul, and shake off every sign of the school. If a man have the soul of music in him the school may do him good; but the school cannot make him a musician. So there were “schools of the prophets,” which turned out a prophet now and then, but turned out many who were not prophets. They had gone through all the drill, were perfect masters of the technicalities of their calling; they had a high sense, I have no doubt, of what was due to their order, of the respect that ought to be paid to them; but the fire that burns in the prophet’s soul—the passion for truth, for goodness, for purity, the courage that would fight any battle for God—that burnt but feebly in them. They were no prophets. The prophet before everything was a good man, consumed with a passion for righteousness.
2. Then, secondly, the prophet was the man moved by what he saw and felt to act; to whom to do was the first necessity. Not only a man who understood the times, but who rose up to do the things which the times demanded; who not only saw, but who dared not be silent. Elijah the Tishbite was not the only man in Israel who saw the curse that Ahab was to the land. There were “seven thousand,” so we read, “who had not bowed the knee to Baal”; but he was the only man who dared to confront the man who had really troubled Israel. Three things in this respect make the prophet, and the man is never a prophet unless the three be in him. First, he has the “eye to see.” Nothing tortures you more than a man who tries to console you, but does not understand you; who imagines he is soothing you, when every word he utters cuts your soul until it bleeds. How many good people you have known who have been a terror to you! They wanted to help, but they did not know where the problems of life hurt you—good, tenderhearted souls, brimming over with concern and sympathy; but your soul shuts itself up, and you could die rather than talk of your difficulties to them. Others read you at their first glance; their first word proves that they have plumbed your soul’s deepest depths. Like the physician who has the “eye to see,” they lay their finger upon your soul and say, “Thou ailest here, and here.” Then, secondly, the prophet feels. What he sees moves him, haunts him, draws a veil of sadness over his face. Many who imagine they are sitting at the feet of Jesus are calmly indifferent to the sorrows and woes of the world. What do hosts who “sit down to the feast” in our churches every Sunday care for the heathen London over which you fret? The prophet is the moved man, the man who has made the sorrows and problems of his generation his own; the throes of his hour beat in him. Every shock of the French Revolution broke through Carlyle’s heart. Carlyle was not a spectator, but he tasted the bliss and the horrors of it. Carlyle in this also was a prophet. Once again: The prophet descries the remedy. He is the “seer.” But even that is not all. He is not prophet merely because he is “seer.” The prophet embodies his vision—works out what he sees.
3. The prophets are of many orders. I will mention a few. The great preachers. That goes without saying. England has had a noble line of them. No truth is established until it comes into the pulpit; the man who sets the hall-mark upon it and gives it currency is always the preacher. The great poets; and England has had a grand succession of them. We are only slowly getting to understand the poet’s mission. The poet is not the mere reciter of the deeds of the past, the mere romancist or troubadour, though we do not despise him. The world will never grow weary of Homer. Shakespeare has brightened hosts in every generation for three hundred years; broken the clouds of their despair and moodiness. Spring breaks wherever he comes. The great reformers—creators of new eras. And these are always the world’s great saints. Tyranny was buried in the grave of Charles. And the men that did it—Cromwell, Milton, Pym—did they no hard things? Nay, we cannot say that; stern times demand stern deeds, stern weapons. But these men were made out of the stuff of which prophets are made. And now—
II. You are in the succession of these prophets.—“Ye are the sons of the prophets.”
1. That is your incalculable advantage. There are truths which the prophets have established that will never need to be opened up again. That is a great gain. The law of gravitation has been settled for ever. We shall not need to discuss that again. So there are social, political, and religious battles that will never have to be fought again. We shall never need another Magna Charta. So also of the great questions of theology. The hideous doctrines which tortured our fathers, once swept out of the Church, will never re-invade it. And now you stand upon the threshold of life—“sons of the prophets.” What will you make of it? Solomon, when he came to build the temple, found all but everything ready to his hand. It was for Solomon to see that the temple should be worthy of the preparation that had been made for it. So you, who are just stepping out into life. The generations that have preceded you—I will venture to say, the generation that has immediately preceded you—has been hard at work; but we sometimes feel that we have been doing nothing but preparing material, making ready for YOU. And now it is for you to build. It is for you to determine the design into which the temple is to grow. Christian enthusiasm shall express itself. Will you remember this? “Ye are the sons of the prophets.”
2. It is more than an advantage—it is an inspiration. I know a man at the present moment whom I revere—a noble specimen of an English man of business. I have often found him busy studying the story of his own family, tracing the line back through father, grandfather, great-grandfather—honourable men of business every one of them. And when I have come upon him so engaged, he has said, “I often go over the story of my forefathers’ lives; I remind myself of what they were, for I must live to be worthy of them.” Young men and women, ministers’ children many of you, listen. I remind you of the homes in which you were nurtured. I would not be a rake, or an idler, or a spendthrift; I would be a man. I would not be frivolous, or shallow-souled and empty-headed, if I were you; I would be a godly woman. “Ye are the sons” and daughters “of the prophets.”
3. Once again: That you inherit these memories is a great responsibility. Will you forget who you are? You are Englishmen. The blood of Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, is in you. You are Protestants. The hand of Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, John Rogers, is upon you. You are Puritans. Greenwood, Barrow, Penry, were your forefathers. That is the succession in which you stand. Shall your lives be small, narrow, wicked, mean? I leave you with one sentence: “Ye are the sons of the prophets.”—J. Morlais Jones.
Act_3:25-26. Israel beloved of God.—“To the Jew first”; “beginning at Jerusalem.” This was God’s order, and it is so still. The designations of honour, and the intimations of privilege as still possessed by the sons of Abraham (as given in these two verses), are worthy of notice.
I. They are the children of the prophets.
II. They are the children of the covenant.
III. They are they to whom God first sends His risen Son.—
1. God’s love to Israel. He looks down on them, yearns over them, pities them, says, “How shall I give thee up?”
2. God’s purpose concerning Israel. God’s desire that we should feel towards Israel as He does.—H. Bonar, D.D.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv12–26 12. Meanwhile, Peter responded to the people: “Israelitish men,…
12. Meanwhile, Peter responded to the people: “Israelitish men, why do ye gaze upon us as that by our power or holiness we have caused this man to run around?” Remember that the Greek word here translated “holiness” is simply the noun form of the same word applied to the Jewish delegates who came from their synagogues in all the Gentile world to represent the God of Abraham at Pentecost. It is also applied to Cornelius and to Ananias, the good old local preacher in Damascus sent to comfort the penitent Saul of Tarsus.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 26
Acts
‘THEN SHALL THE LAME MAN LEAP AS AN HART’
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‘THE PRINCE OF LIFE’
Act 3:14 - Act 3:15.
This early sermon of Peter’s, to the people, is marked by a comparative absence of the highest view of Christ’s person and work. It is open to us to take one of two explanations of that fact. We may either say that the Apostle was but learning the full significance of the marvellous events that had passed so recently, or we may say that he suited his words to his audience, and did not declare all that he knew.
At the same time, we should not overlook the significance of the Christology which it does contain. ‘His child Jesus’ is really a translation of Isaiah’s ‘Servant of the Lord.’ ‘The Holy One and the Just’ is a distinct assertion of Jesus’ perfect, sinless manhood, and ‘the Prince of Life’ plainly asserts Jesus to be the Lord and Source of it.
Notice, too, the pathetic ‘denied’: was Peter thinking of the shameful hour in his own experience? It is a glimpse into the depth of his penitence, and the tenderness with others’ sins which it had given him, that he twice uses the word here, as if he had said ‘You have done no more than I did myself. It is not for me to heap reproaches on you. We have been alike in sin-and I can preach forgiveness to you sinners, because I have received it for myself.’
Notice, too, the manifold antitheses of the words. Barabbas is set against Christ; the Holy One and the Just against a robber, the Prince of Life against a murderer. ‘You killed’-’the Prince of Life.’ ‘You killed’-’God raised.’
There are here three paradoxes, three strange and contradictory things: the paradoxes of man’s perverted and fatal choice, of man’s hate bringing death to the Lord of life, and of God’s love and power causing life to come by death.
I. The paradox of man’s fatal choice.
There occurs often in history a kind of irony in which the whole tendency of a time or of a conflict is summed up in a single act, and certainly the fact which is referred to here is one of these. Let us put it as it would have seemed to an onlooker then, leaving out for the moment any loftier meaning which may attach to it.
Peter’s words here, thus boldly addressed to the people, are a strong testimony to the impression which the character of Christ had made on His contemporaries. ‘The Holy One and the Just’ implies moral perfection. The whole narrative of the Crucifixion brings out that impression. Pilate’s wife speaks with awe of ‘that just person.’ ‘Which of you convinceth me of sin?’ ‘If I have done evil, bear witness of the evil.’ ‘I find no fault in Him.’ We may take it for granted that the impression Jesus made among His contemporaries was, at the lowest, that He was a pure and good man.
The nation had to choose one of two. Jesus was the one; who was the other? A man half brigand, half rebel, who had raised some petty revolt against Rome, more as a pretext for robbery and crime than from patriotism, and whose hands reeked with blood. And this was the nation’s hero!
The juxtaposition throws a strong light on the people’s motive for rejecting Jesus. The rulers may have condemned Him for blasphemy, but the people had a more practical reason, and in it no doubt the rulers shared. It was not because He claimed to be the Messiah that they gave Him up to Pilate, but because He would not meet their notions of what the Messiah should be and do. If He had called them to arms, not a man of them would have betrayed Him to Pilate, but all, or the more daring of them, would have rallied to His standard. Their hate was the measure of their deep disappointment with His course. If instead of showing love and meekness, He had blown up the coals of religious hatred; if instead of going about doing good, He had mustered the men of lawless Galilee for a revolt, would these fawning hypocrites have dragged him to Pilate on the charge of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and of claiming to be a King? Why, there was not one of them but would have been glad to murder every tax-gatherer in Palestine, not one of them but bore inextinguishable in his inmost heart the faith in ‘one Christ a King.’ And if that meek and silent martyr had only lifted His finger, He might have had legions of His accusers at His back, ready to sweep Pilate and his soldiers out of Jerusalem. They saw Christ’s goodness and holiness. It did not attract them. They wanted a Messiah who would bring them outward freedom by the use of outward weapons, and so they all shouted ‘Not this man but Barabbas!’ The whole history of the nation was condensed in that one cry-their untamable obstinacy, their blindness to the light of God, their fierce grasp of the promises which they did not understand, their hard worldliness, their cruel patriotism, their unquenchable hatred of their oppressors, which was only equalled by their unquenchable hatred of those who showed them the only true way for deliverance.
And this strange paradox is not confined to these Jews. It is repeated wherever Christ is presented to men. We are told that all men naturally admire goodness, and so on. Men mostly know it when they see it, but I doubt whether they all either admire or like it. People generally had rather have something more outward and tangible. It is not spiritualising this incident, but only referring it to the principle of which it is an illustration, to ask you to see in it the fatal choice of multitudes. Christ is set before us all, and His beauty is partially seen but is dimmed by externals. Men’s desires are fixed on gross sensuous delights, or on success in business, or on intellectual eminence, or on some of the thousand other visible and temporal objects that outshine, to vulgar eyes, the less dazzling lustre of the things unseen. They appreciate these, and make heroes of the men who have won them. These are their ideals, but of Jesus they have little care.
And is it not true that all such competitors of His, when they lead men to prefer them to Him, are ‘murderers,’ in a sadder sense than Barabbas was? Do they not slay the souls of their admirers? Is it not but too ghastly a reality that all who thus choose them draw down ruin on themselves and ‘love death’?
This fatal paradox is being repeated every day in the lives of thousands. The crowds who yelled, ‘Not this man but Barabbas!’ were less guilty and less mad than those who to-day cry, ‘Not Jesus but worldly wealth, or fleeting bodily delights, or gratified ambition!’
II. The paradox of Death’s seeming conquest over the Lord of Life.
The word rendered ‘Prince’ means an originator, and hence a leader and hence a lord. Whether Peter had yet reached a conception of the divinity of Jesus or not, he had clearly reached a much higher one of Him than he had attained before His death. In some sense he was beginning to recognise that His relation to ‘life’ was loftier and more mysterious than that of other men. Was it His death only that thus elevated the disciples’ thoughts of Jesus? Strange that if He died and there an end, such a result should have followed. One would have expected His death to have shattered their faith in Him, but somehow it strengthened their faith. Why did they not all continue to lament, as did the two of them on the road to Emmaus: ‘We trusted that this had been He who should have redeemed Israel’-but now we trust no more, and our dreams are buried in His grave? Why did they not go back to Galilee and their nets? What raised their spirits, their courage, and increased their understanding of Him, and their faith in Him? How came His death to be the occasion of consolidating, not of shattering, their fellowship? How came Peter to be so sure that a man who had died was the ‘Prince of Life’? The answer, the only one psychologically possible, is in what Peter here proclaims to unwilling ears, ‘Whom God raised from the dead.’
The fact of the Resurrection sets the fact of the Death in another light. Meditating on these twin facts, the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, we hear Himself speaking as He did to John in Patmos: ‘I am the Living One who became dead, and lo, I am alive for evermore!’
If we try to listen with the ears of these first hearers of Peter’s words, we shall better appreciate his daring paradox. Think of the tremendous audacity of the claim which they make, that Jesus should be the ‘Prince of Life,’ and of the strange contradiction to it which the fact that they ‘killed’ Him seems to give. How could death have power over the Prince of Life? That sounds as if, indeed, the ‘sun were turned into darkness,’ or as if fire became ice. That brief clause ‘ye killed the Prince of Life’ must have seemed sheer absurdity to the hearers whose hands were still red with the blood of Jesus.
But there is another paradox here. It was strange that death should be able to invade that Life, but it is no less strange that men should be able to inflict it. But we must not forget that Jesus died, not because men slew Him, but because He willed to die. The whole of the narratives of the Crucifixion in the Gospels avoid using the word ‘death.’ Such expressions as He ‘gave up the ghost,’ or the like, are used, implying what is elsewhere distinctly asserted, that His death was His offering of Himself, the result of His own volition, not of exhaustion or of torture. Thus, even in dying, He showed Himself the Lord of Life and the Master of Death. Men indeed fastened Jesus to the Cross, but He died, not because He was so fastened, but because He willed to ‘make His soul an offering for sin.’ Bound as it were to a rock in the midst of the ocean, He, of His own will, and at His own time, bowed His head, and let the waves of the sea of death roll over it.
III. The triumphant divine paradox of life given and death conquered through a death.
Jesus is ‘Prince’ in the sense of being source of life to mankind, just because He died. Hie death is the death of Death. His apparent defeat is His real victory.
By His death He takes away our sins.
By His death He abolishes death.
The physical fact remains, but all else which makes the ‘sting of death’ to men is gone. It is no more a solitude, for He has died, and thereby He becomes a companion in that hour to every lover of His. Its darkness changes into light to those who, by ‘following Him,’ have, even there, ‘the light of life.’ This Samson carried away the gates of the prison on His own strong shoulders when He came forth from it. It is His to say, ‘O death! I will be thy plague.’
By His death He diffuses life.
‘The Spirit was not given’ till Jesus was ‘glorified,’ which glorification is John’s profound synonym for His crucifixion. When the alabaster box of His pure body was broken, the whole house of humanity was filled with the odour of the ointment.
So the great paradox becomes a blessed truth, that man’s deepest sin works out God’s highest act of Love and Pardon.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv12–26 See notes on verse 11
See notes on verse 11
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 vv19, 20, 21, 25 "Namely, seasons in which, through the appearance of the…
refreshing
"Namely, seasons in which, through the appearance of the Messiah in His kingdom, there shall occur blessed rest and refreshment for the people of God." --Heinrich A. W. Meyer.
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sins Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
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 vv12, 16, 19, 22 The Address of Peter in the Temple.
The Address of Peter in the Temple.
An emphatic application of the Law:
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v. 12. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
v. 13. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
v. 14. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
v. 15. and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.
In this account, as well as in that of the previous Chapter, one must marvel at the boldness of Peter. He who but a few weeks before had quailed before the scorn of a maid-servant and shamefully denied his Master, here speaks in the presence of a great multitude, in the Temple-hall itself, and throws the accusation of murder into the teeth of the Jews. Peter saw with dismay that the admiration of the people was directed toward John and himself. And so he proceeds at once to correct this false idea. The men of Jerusalem should not be filled with surprise and wonder, nor should they stare at them as though in their own power or on account of their own holiness they had caused the man to walk. Peter denies that he and John possessed either such a physical power as the people imagined, or such a worthy condition and ability of the soul. The admiration of the people should be directed to the real Author of the miracle, whose unworthy agents and servants the apostles but were. And in giving the glory to the heavenly Father and the exalted Christ alone, Peter brings out the guilt of the Jews all the more strongly. The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, of whom the Jews were wont boastfully to speak as the God of their fathers, had glorified His Child, His Son, in this miracle, for it was performed in the name, in the power, of Jesus Christ. In glaring contrast to this truth stood the fact that they had delivered Jesus into the power of the Roman governor, and had heaped shame and abuse upon Him. The Jews had blasphemously denied their Lord before Pilate; the heathen judge had been ready to give Him His liberty. The Holy and Just One, the only person that truly merited these attributes in all the wide world, the Jews had denied; they had demanded, with every form of cajolery and threat, that a murderous person be granted to them as a Passover boon, that Barabbas be released to them. The Jews had killed, murdered, Jesus; and He was the Prince of Life, the Author, the Source of life. Over against the entire behavior of the Jews, therefore, stands the manner of God’s witnessing for Jesus, whom He has raised from the dead, a fact to which all the apostles could bear most emphatic witness. Thus only the miracle could be explained.
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 vv13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Peter continues his speech to the Jews that he began in Acts 3:12.
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rejected before the face of Pilate
Here the phrase "before the face of" means "in the presence of." AT: "rejected in Pilate's presence" (See: Idiom)
when he had decided to release him
"when Pilate had decided to release Jesus"
for a murderer to be released to you
This can be stated in active form. AT: "for Pilate to release a murderer" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
ancestor
glory
servant
Jesus
deliver
face
Pilate
righteous
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 vv12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25 3:12-26 The evangelistic speeches in the book of Acts…
3:12-26 The evangelistic speeches in the book of Acts focus on Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord. They call people to repentance and faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah and the divinely appointed Judge (2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 26:20). They also offer the same Good News for the people of Israel and the Gentile world—“there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all” (10:36).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.