Acts 10:38

Acts 10:38. Bow God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power. Some see in this an allusion, wholly or in part, to the action of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation of Jesus. It seems more natural to refer the words to the baptism of Jesus, an event on which the Evangelists lay the greatest stress. Thus Jesus of Nazareth became χριστός. Mr. Humphry quotes a curious passage from Justin Martyr (Dial. p. 226, B), in which he alludes to the expectation of the Jews that the Messiah would not be manifested till He had been anointed by Elias(μικρός ἂν ἰλθὼν ήλίας χρίσῃ αυτὸν πᾶσι ποιήσῃ). Bishop Pearson (Exposition of the Creed, Art. II.), referring to the doubt as to whether St. Peter alludes here to the sanctification of our Lord at His conception, or to His unction at His baptism, says: 'We need not contend which of these two was the true time of our Saviour's unction, since neither is destructive of the other, and consequently both may well co-exist together.' It is to be observed that in using this language St. Peter gives to Jesus the title of Christ, a name which soon after, if indeed this had not already occurred, became the basis of the name Christian. See the close of the next chapter.

Who went about doing good. The charm of this description of Christ's character and work could not be surpassed; and we should particularly observe that He is presented to Cornelius and his friends as a Benefactor before He is presented to them as a Judge: and could this description come from any one with greater weight than from St. Peter? for he had been with the Lord on those journeys of mercy, and had seen Him engaged in those works of healing. To quote the language of the next verse, he had been ‘a witness of all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews an I in Jerusalem.'

All that were oppressed by the devil. We need not suppose that there is in this phrase any special reference to demoniacal possession. In his ‘former treatise' St. Luke attributes bodily suffering to the Devil. The woman ‘which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years' is said (Acts 13:11; Acts 13:16) to have been ‘bound by Satan.' The word Devil (διάβολος) occurs in the Acts of the Apostles only here and in Acts 13:10.

For God was with him. This reference to the perpetual presence of God with Jesus is in close harmony with what is said above that God anointed Him, and with what is said below that God raised Him from the dead.