Acts 3:13

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.

'THE GOD OF ABRAHAM..'-Which contradicts the modern belief that the God of the O.T. is different from the God revealed in the New Testament. This expression also infers that God is still the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-i.e. all three men still exist. Man does continue to live even after his body dies (Matthew 22:32). 'It was the very same God the Patriarchs had known and worshipped...The apostles were not introducing any new religion ("new" in the sense that it was different from what had been predicted in the Old Testament).' (Reese p. 158)

'HATH GLORIFIED'-1392. doxazo dox-ad'-zo; from 1391; to render (or esteem) glorious (in. wide application): -(make) glorify(-ious), full of (have) glory, honour, magnify.

'HIS SERVANT JESUS'-Thus identifying Jesus with the 'Servant' the prophets had spoken of (Isaiah 2:1 ff; Isaiah 2:13 ff). 'Peter is saying that God did this miracle so that Jesus might be honored (glorified).' (Reese p. 158) Peter could also be saying that this miracle stands as proof that Jesus presently occupies. glorified position. 'Note again how the apostles loved to emphasize the contrast between men's treatment of Christ and God's.' (Bruce p. 89)

'WHOM YE DELIVERED UP'-In contrast to what God had done--this is what many in the audience had done. 'Perhaps there were some in the audience who had cried out against Jesus: "Crucify, crucify him"' (Boles p. 57)

'AND DENIED BEFORE THE FACE OF PILATE, WHEN HE HAD DETERMINED TO RELEASE HIM'-

Points to Note:

That last statement only magnifies what an injustice had been committed. Even the pagan Roman Governor could see that Jesus was innocent. In this verse, Pilate looks more "righteous" than the Jewish people assembled. At least, he put forth some effort to save Jesus (Luke 23:16)

'They delivered to death One whom even the pagan Pilate would have released.' (Erdman p. 45)

This also infers that in order to put Jesus to death, the Jewish leaders and crowd had to purposely ignore the many chances they were given to avoid killing Him. So great was their anger, jealousy, envy, and selfishness, that the pagan Pilate was more honest then they were in this situation (John 19:4; John 19:12; Mark 15:10)