Acts 2:36

2:22-36 From this gift of the Holy Ghost, Peter preaches unto them Jesus: and here is the history of Christ. Here is an account of his death and sufferings, which they witnessed but a few weeks before. His death is considered as God's act; and of wonderful grace and wisdom. Thus Divine justice must be satisfied, God and man brought together again, and Christ himself glorified, according to an eternal counsel, which could not be altered. And as the people's act; in them it was an act of awful sin and folly. Christ's resurrection did away the reproach of his death; Peter speaks largely upon this. Christ was God's Holy One, sanctified and set apart to his service in the work of redemption. His death and sufferings should be, not to him only, but to all his, the entrance to a blessed life for evermore. This event had taken place as foretold, and the apostles were witnesses. Nor did the resurrection rest upon this alone; Christ had poured upon his disciples the miraculous gifts and Divine influences, of which they witnessed the effects. Through the Saviour, the ways of life are made known; and we are encouraged to expect God's presence, and his favour for evermore. All this springs from assured belief that Jesus is the Lord, and the anointed Saviour.

This is the conclusion which the apostle infers from the premises, applying what he had said very close and home, or it would not in all likelihood have had so good an effect. Ye have crucified; ye are the men. Lord over all the creatures, beyond what the first Adam was; and Christ, King over all the people of God, to rule in them, and reign for them; for to this purpose he was the Christ, or the Anointed of God, declared by God to be so, and owned for such by all that believed in him.

Acts 2:36 . Ἀσφαλῶς , assuredly ) Peter proclaimed this aloud with great force. Comp. ch. Acts 4:10 , Acts 13:38 . Γνωστὸν , known .— καὶ Κύριον [19] καὶ Χριστόν , both Lord and Christ ) Peter had quoted the promise given to David concerning the Christ , and the Psalm, in which David had called Him Lord . Now therefore he infers the title, Lord , from Acts 2:34 , and from Psalms 110, and repeats the title, Christ , from Acts 2:30 , and from the promise given to David, conjoining both strong points (sinews) of his argument in this recapitulation. The particle καὶ , both , though omitted by some in the former place, makes the language very vivid.[20] Henceforward continually, in the New Testament, Jesus in His exaltation is meant by the appellation, Lord ; Acts 2:47 , etc.; except where there is reference to the Hebrew יהוה , which requires to be explained according to the sense of the passages in the Old Testament.— αὐτὸν , Him ) viz. this Jesus. It is altogether demonstrative.— ἐποίησε , hath made ) and that too in such away, as that JESUS[21] was even previously Lord and Christ: Acts 2:34 .— ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε , ye have crucified ) The sting of his speech is put at the end. [19] καὶ Κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν is pronounced the better reading by the margin of Ed. 2.—E. B. [20] And this has been in some measure expressed in the Vers. Germ . by the repetition of the words Zu einem .—E. B. [21] As the name JESUS means God-Saviour .—E. and T. ABCDE de Vulg. have καὶ before Κύριον .

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath {z} made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (z) Christ is said to be made because he was advanced to that dignity, and therefore it is not spoken with reference to his nature, but with reference to his position and high dignity.

36. Therefore—that is, to sum up all. let all the house of Israel—for in this first discourse the appeal is formally made to the whole house of Israel, as the then existing Kingdom of God. know assuredly—by indisputable facts, fulfilled predictions, and the seal of the Holy Ghost set upon all. that God hath made—for Peter's object was to show them that, instead of interfering with the arrangements of the God of Israel, these events were His own high movements. this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified—"The sting is at the close" [Bengel]. To prove to them merely that Jesus was the Messiah might have left them all unchanged in heart. But to convince them that He whom they had crucified had been by the right hand of God exalted, and constituted the "Lord" whom David in spirit adored, to whom every knee shall bow, and the Christ of God, was to bring them to "look on Him whom they had pierced and mourn for Him."

Verse 36. - Let all the house of Israel therefore for therefore let all the house of Israel , A.V. ; him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified for that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ , A.V., a change very much for the worse, inasmuch as the R.V. is not an English phrase, and adds nothing to the sense. Acts 2:36

36 . let all the house of Israel know ] Of course such an appeal can only be made to Israel, for they only had known the prophecies, and received the promises. that God hath made , &c.] The Greek has more force than the A. V. gives. Render, God hath made him both Lord and Christ, even this Jesus whom ye crucified . This is the close of the reasoning. Jesus, who had been crucified, God has raised from the grave, God has exalted to heaven and set Him on His own right hand, and thus shewn that He is the Lord and the Anointed One.

Acts 2:36 . The Christological aim of the whole discourse, which, as undoubtedly proved after what has been hitherto said ( οὖν ), is emphatically at the close set down for recognition as the summary of the faith now requisite. In this case ἀσφαλῶς ( unchangeably ) is marked with strong emphasis. πᾶς οἶκος ʼΙσρ .] without the article, because οἶκ . ʼΙσρ . has assumed the nature of a proper name. Comp. LXX. 1 Kings 12:23 ; Ezekiel 45:6 , al. Winer, p. 105 [E. T. 137]. The. whole people is regarded as the family of their ancestor Israel ( בֵּית יְשְׂרָאֵל ). καὶ κύριον αὐτὸν κ . Χριστόν ] him Lord (ruler generally, comp. Acts 10:36 ) as well as also Messiah. The former general expression, according to which He is ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων , Romans 9:5 , and κεφαλὴ ὑπὲρ πάντα , Ephesians 1:22 , the latter special, according to which He is the σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου , v. 31, John 4:42 , and κεφαλὴ τῆς ἐκκλησίας , Ephesians 1:22 , Colossians 1:18 , together characterize the Messianic possessor of the kingdom, which God has made Christ to be by His exaltation, seeing that He had in His state of humiliation emptied Himself of the power and glory, and was only reinstated into them by His exaltation.

Previously He was indeed likewise Lord and Messiah, but in the form of a servant; and it was after laying aside that form that He became such in complete reality.[135] It is not to be inferred from such passages as this and Acts 4:27 ; Acts 10:38 ; Acts 17:31 (de Wette), that the Book of Acts represents the Messianic dignity of Jesus as an acquisition in time ; against which view even παρὰ τοῦ πατρός in our passage ( Acts 2:33 ), compared with the confession in Matthew 16:16 , John 16:30 , is decisive, to say nothing of the Pauline training of Luke himself. Comp. also Acts 2:34 . αὐτόν is not superfluous, but τοῦτον τὸν ʼΙησοῦν is a weighty epexegesis, which is purposely chosen in order to annex the strongly contrasting ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε (comp. Acts 3:13 , Acts 7:52 ), and thus to impart to the whole address a deeply impressive conclusion. “Aculeus in fine,” Bengel. [135] Comp. Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 134 f.

(36) That same Jesus . . . .—Better, this Jesus. Both Lord and Christ.—Some MSS. omit “both.” The word “Lord” is used with special reference to the prophetic utterance of the Psalm thus cited. There is a rhetorical force in the very order of the words which the English can scarcely give: “that both Lord and Christ hath God made this Jesus whom ye crucified.” The pronoun of the last verb is emphatic, as pointing the contrast between the way in which the Jews of Jerusalem had dealt with Jesus and the recognition which he had received from the Father. The utterance of the word “crucified” at the close, pressing home the guilt of the people on their consciences, may be thought of as, in a special manner, working the result described in the next verse.