Acts 3:21

Of restitution (ἀποκαταστάσεως) Only here in New Testament. The kindred verb, to restore, occurs Matthew 17:11; Acts 1:6, etc. As a technical medical term, it denotes complete restoration of health; the restoring to its place of a dislocated joint, etc. Since the world began (ἀπ' αἰῶνος) The American Revisers insist on from of old.

Whom the heaven must receive; that is, contain after it hath received him, as a real place doth a true body; for such Christ’s body was, which was received into heaven: and heaven is the palace and throne of this King of kings and Lord of lords, where he shall reign until he hath put all his enemies under his feet, 1 Corinthians 15:25 . Until the times of restitution of all things; or restoration of all things, when all things shall be restored to that condition from which sin put them: for the fall hath maimed and disordered the whole universe; and probably there is not that excellency in any of the creatures which there was at first, before man (for whom they were made) by his sin brought death to himself, and as it were a dead colour over all them; this makes the whole creation groan and travail in pain until now, Romans 8:22 . But the end of the world will be a time of restitution of all things unto man especially, who shall be then restored unto God, and to a blessed immortality: for unless this be granted, all their preaching and prophesying was in vain, 1 Corinthians 15:14 .

Acts 3:21 . Ὃν δεῖ οὐρανὸν μὲν δέξασθαι , who must indeed receive heaven [but Engl. Vers. whom the heaven must receive ]) The particle μὲν , indeed , has the place of its Apodosis, which usually is expressed by δὲ , but , in this instance supplied in the ἀποστείλῃ , He may send , in Acts 3:20 . To be taken , i.e. confined, shut up , or contained within heaven , is a violent interpretation, as though the heaven were greater than Christ; and is inimical to the loftiness of Christ, who “ascended up far above all heavens,” Ephesians 4:10 . It might however be said, not without a reasonable sense, the heaven receives Christ; it admits and acknowledges Him , viz. [not as containing Him, but] as a throne does its legitimate king, although Christ previously was humbled, and was not yet recognised by the world. But much more august and consonant to the language of Scripture is this sentiment, Christ takes or receives for Himself heaven ; and so σὐρανὸν more appropriately also [than in the other interpretation] is without the article. It is the same as λαβεῖν βασιλείαν , to receive a kingdom , Luke 19:12 , and βασιλεύειν , to reign , 1 Corinthians 15:25 . Nor is the force of the verb δέχομαι opposed to this view, as if the heaven ought to be the thing containing, wherein Christ should be contained. Basilius of Seleucia, Or. 11, writes, δέχεται ἡλίας καταγώγιον ἁμαρτίας ἐλεύθερον : and not dissimilar is that in Or. 14, πῶς ὁ οὐρανὸς σαγηνεύεται . Let those instances be added, which E.

Schmidius has brought forward on this passage: οὐκ ἦλθες ἐν δέοντι , δέξασθαι δόμους , thou hast not come seasonably, to take ( occupy ) this house ; and Demosthenes, οὐδὲ διδόντων ὑμῖν τῶν καιρῶν Ἀμφίπολιν δέξασθαι δύναισθʼ ἄν , not even if the opportunity itself should give you Amphipolis, would you be able to lay hold of it . Furthermore, the verb δέξασθαι has this emphasis, that it denotes a thing offered to us. For the Father said to the Son, Take possession of heaven, Sit at My right hand, Sit on My throne which is heaven . In fine, δέξασθαι , to receive or take to Himself , has an inceptive notion, and yet it is said in the present δεῖ , it behoves , not ἔδει , it behoved ; although the Ascension had taken place not yesterday or the day before. In fact, Peter speaks concerning a fact which, as compared with His glorious advent from heaven, was still as it were present, especially in relation to His hearers, who were even now approaching to the faith.— ἄχρι χρόνων ἀποκαταστάσεως , until the times of restitution shall come ) i.e. until they (these times) shall be fulfilled. So ἄχρις ἡμερῶν πέντε , in five days (“ipsos quinque dies”), ch. Acts 20:6 : ἄχρι χαιροῦ , for a season , ch. Acts 13:11 . Similar phrases occur, Luke 21:24 ; Galatians 4:2 ; Hebrews 3:13 ; Revelation 7:3 ; Revelation 15:8 ; Revelation 17:17 ; Revelation 20:3 .

Verse 21. - Restoration for restitution , A.V.; whereof for which , A.V.; spake for hath spoken , A.V.; his for all his , A.V. and T.R. Whom the heaven must receive . This is clearly right, not as some render it, who must occupy heaven. The aorist δέξασθαι seems to point to the moment when, at the Ascension, he was carried up into heaven ( Luke 24:51 ). The restoration of all things ( ἀποκαταστάσεως πάντων ). This must be the same operation as our Lord speaks of in Matthew 17:11 : "Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things ( ἀποκαταστήσει πάντα ) ;" and from the words of Malachi ( Malachi 4:5, 6 ) it would seem to be a moral or spiritual restoration preparatory to the coming of the Lord. If so, the time of restoration is not exactly synchronous with the times of refreshing, but preparatory to them; preparatory, too, to that restoration of the kingdom to Israel of which the apostles spake to the Lord ( Acts 1:6 ). Probably, however, St. Peter includes in his view the immediately following times of" the presence of the Lord," just as in St. Mark ( Mark 1:1 ) the preparatory mission of John the Baptist is included in the phrase, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ." Whereof God spake . The antecedent to "whereof" is "the times" (ver. 24). Acts 3:21

21 . whom the heaven must receive ] and retain, as we are witnesses that He has been taken up into heaven. until the times of restitution ] Better, restoration of all things , i.e. at Christ’s second coming. But this phrase, “the restoration of all things,” is used in two senses in N. T. First it is said ( Matthew 17:11 ; Mark 9:12 ) that Elias must “first come and restore all things.” There it signifies the beginning of Christ’s Kingdom. As Christ’s death was for all men’s redemption, the restoration of all things may be said to have begun then. In the present verse the words have reference to the time when the course of that restoration shall be completed. which God hath spoken ] Better, of which [i.e. times ] God hath spoken . all his holy prophets ] All is omitted in the best MSS. since the world began ] See Acts 3:18 .

(21) Whom the heaven must receive. —The words have a pregnant force: “must receive and keep.” Until the times of restitution of all things.—The “times” seem distinguished from the “seasons” as more permanent. This is the only passage in which the word translated “restitution” is found in the New Testament; nor is it found in the LXX. version of the Old. Etymologically, it conveys the thought of restoration to an earlier and better state, rather than that of simple consummation or completion, which the immediate context seems, in some measure, to suggest. It finds an interesting parallel in the “new heavens and new earth”—involving, as they do, a restoration of all things to their true order—of 2Peter 3:13. It does not necessarily involve, as some have thought, the final salvation of all men, but it does express the idea of a state in which “righteousness,” and not “sin,” shall have dominion over a redeemed and new created world; and that idea suggests a wider hope as to the possibilities of growth in wisdom and holiness, or even of repentance and conversion, in the unseen world than that with which Christendom has too often been content. The corresponding verb is found in the words, “Elias truly shall come first, and restore all things” (see Note on Matthew 17:11); and St. Peter’s words may well be looked on as an echo of that teaching, and so as an undesigned coincidence testifying to the truth of St. Matthew’s record.

Which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets.—The relative, if we take the meaning given above, must be referred to the “times,” not to “things.” The words, compared with 2Peter 1:21, are, as it were, the utterance of a profound dogmatic truth. The prophets spake as “they were moved by the Holy Ghost”; but He who spake by them was nothing less than God. Since the world began.—Literally, from the age—i.e., from its earliest point. The words take in the promises to Adam (Genesis 3:15) and Abraham (Genesis 22:18). See Note on Luke 1:70, of which St. Peter’s words are as an echo.