Acts 3:12-26

Speech of Peter.

Acts 3:12. The Facts. The idea and arrangement of the speech closely resemble that of Acts 2:14; it exhibits the style of controversy with the Jews. The hearers are addressed as men of Israel; appeal is made to their history and beliefs as such. The apostles have not performed the cure by any power of their own nor merited it by their piety; the cure is due to the new act of God which has taken place in the old religion. God is spoken of by an elaborate title (Exodus 3:6; 1 Kings 18:36; Mark 12:26); it was through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob that He declared His mercy to the Jewish race, and it is the same merciful God who has given glory (John 17:1) to His Servant (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 52:13; Matthew 12:18; Acts 4:27) and so caused a new stream of blessings to descend on the world (Acts 2:33). The guilt of Christ's death is charged, as in Acts 2:23, against the Jews; Pilate would not of himself have sentenced Him to death (Luke 23:4; Luke 23:6 f., Luke 23:20). Holy and Righteousmurdererskilled the Prince of Lifewhom God raised from the dead is an effective series of terms; but the Resurrection is more adequately dealt with in Acts 2:24 ff. It is what the apostles stand to witness. The cure is due to faith, but in the first place the faith of the apostles, whose faith in the name of Christ is its primary condition. It is the name that has effected the cure, through the apostles-' belief in its efficiency. The faith spoken of in Acts 3:16 b may be the faith of the person cured, and be reminiscent of the phrases, Thy faith hath cured thee and Lord, I believe. Through him must mean that Christ is the inspirer of this faith as well as its rewarder. That is how the man's recovery has come about.

Acts 3:17. The Appeal. Though Christ's death is charged against the Jews the speaker is appealing to the Jews and must in some way approach them. They acted in ignorance; and God used their ignorance that the prediction made by all the prophets (on the all see Luke 24:25; Revelation 1:2, etc.; it is Pauline doctrine) of Messiah's suffering might be fulfilled. If they will recognise that their blindness has proved the instrument of a higher good, they will the more readily listen to the appeal now made, i.e. repent and turn, to the obliteration of their sins. Baptism is not mentioned, nor is the suffering of Messiah said to be the means of the obliteration of sins; but His sufferings prove Him to be the person spoken of in the prophets; and the sin of ignorance is one which may be more readily forgiven. What will happen if the Jews repent is that their sins will no longer stand against them, and the Lord (here=God) will cause times of refreshing, i.e. relief after the pangs endured, to come to them; and He will send the Christ appointed for them, i.e. Jesus, who cannot appear as Christ but must remain in heaven till the times of restoration arrive (cf. Matthew 19:28; Acts 1:6; Mark 9:12), the full restoration, the details of which are predicted by the holy prophets from ancient times (so Luke 1:70). The Scripture proof begins with Moses (Acts 3:22), most ancient of all; the quotation (Deuteronomy 18:15) appears also in the speech of Stephen (Acts 7:37) and may be alluded to in John 1:21; Leviticus 23:29 is added to reinforce the call to repentance. Samuel is the father of the prophets (Hebrews 11:32); all of them had before their eyes the days of the speaker (1 Corinthians 10:11). The audience are the children of the prophets (Acts 3:25), since the prophecies are addressed to them (cf. children of the kingdom, Matthew 8:12), and of the covenant, which directly concerns them. Genesis 22:18 is quoted also in Galatians 3:8; cf. Galatians 3:16; cf. Galatians 3:29. The promise is not to the Jews only, but it is to them first (Acts 2:39; Romans 1:16). They are the first to know the blessings God causes to descend through His Servant whom He has raised up.