God has made this Jesus, who was crucified, both Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:22-41)
By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian
Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music
Scriptures reading Acts 2:22-
41
22“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man
accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among
you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you
by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked
men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the
dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death
to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him: ‘I saw the Lord always before
me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.26Therefore my heart is glad and
my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, 27because you will not abandon me
to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. 28You have made known to me the
paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
29“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’ 36“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Verses 22-36 Peter reviewed the
life and death of Jesus of Nazareth (vv.22-24) and then recited the prophecy of
the resurrection, (vv.25-31), quoting Ps.16:8-11. Since David was speaking of
the Messiah (v.31), Peter continued, and since Jesus was raised from the dead
(v.32), Jesus must be the Messiah (v.36) .
Verse 22 the first message of
the apostles’ preaching of the gospel was focused on a man. In his Gospel, Luke
presented to his readers this man, from His conception, through His birth,
youth, life on earth, death, and resurrection, to His ascension. Here, in this
book of Acts, Luke went on to tell us that this man was preached by the
apostles as the God ordained Savior.
Verse 23 This counsel must have
bee determined in a council held by by the Divine Trinity before the foundation
of the world (1Pet.1:20;Rev.13:8), indicating that the Lord’s crucifision was
not an accident in human history but a purposeful fulfillment of the divine
counsel determined by the Triune God. Including Judas Iscariot, the chief
priests, the officers of the temple, the elders, the high priest, the Jewish
Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod, and the Roman soldiers—mainly the Jewish religionists
with their deputies and the Gentile politicians with their subordinates . This indicates
that Jesus was killed by all mankind.
Verse 24 Here and in v.32 Peter
said that God raised up Jesus. In 10:40-41 he said the same thing again but
added, “He rose from the dead.” Regarding the Lord as a man, the New Testament
tells us that God raised Him from the dead (Rom.8:11);considering Him as God,
it tells us that He Himself rose from the dead (1 Thes.4:14). This proves His
dual status –human and divine. The Lord is both God and resurrection
(John1:1;11:25), possessing the indestructible life (Heb.7:16). Since He is
such aa ever-living One, death is not able to hold Him. He delivered Himself to
death, but death had no way to detain Him, rather, death was defeated by Him,
and He rose up from it.
Verse 25This is the declaration
of Christ in His resurrection. When Chirst is held by God as in Isa.41:13;42:6), God is on His right hand; when He is exalted by God, He is sitting at the right hand of God.(v.33;Psa.110:1;Eph.1:20-21).
Verse 26 This is a quotation
from Psa.16:9 in the Septuagint. But in the original Hebrew text the word for
tongue is glory, which is a synonym of soul, according to Gen.49:6 and Psa.7:5.
Because Christ trusted in God. His heart was made glad and His soul exulted
while He was in Hades (v.27). rest or
dwell, reside, pitch its tent. After Christ died on the cross, while His
soul was in Hades exulting, His flesh (His body) was in a tomb resting in hope,
because He trusted in God.
Verse 32 which or whom. The
apostles were witnesses of the resurrected Christ, not only in word but also by
their life and action, especially bearing witness of His resurrection (4:33).
Bearning witness of Christ’s resurrection is the crucial poin, the focus, in
carrying out God’s New Testament economy.
Verse 33 Not the promise given
by the Holy Spirit but the promise given by the Father in Joel 2:28, quoted by
Peter in Luke 24:49 and in 1:4 of this book, concerning the Holy Spirit. The
exalted Christ’s receiving of the promise of the Holy Spirit was actually His
receiving of the Holy Spirit Himself. Christ was conceived of the Spirit
essentially for His existence in humanity (Luke 1:35; Matt.1:18,20) and was
anointed with the Spirit economically for His ministry among men
(Matt.3:16;Luke 4:18). After still needed to receive the Spirit economically
again that He might pour Himself out upon His Body to carry out His heavenly
ministry on earth for the accomplishing of God’s New Testament economy.
Verse 34 This proves that up to
the time of Pentecost, David still had not ascended into the heavens. Further
more, his tomb was still among the disciples on the day of Pentecost (v.29).
This fact annuls the inaccurate teaching that says, based on Eph.4:8-10, that
when Christ was resurrected, He brought Paradise, with all the Old Testament
saints, from Hades into the heavens (2:cor.12).
Verse 34 “the Lord said to my Lord,” The first Lord refers to God
and the second, to Christ, whom David called “my Lord” (Matt.22:45). The
position of glory, honor, and power (Exo.15:6; 1 Kings 2:19; Mark 14:62).
Verse 35 As God, the Lord was
the Lord all the time (Luke1:43; John 11:21;20:28). But as man, He was made the
Lord in His ascension after He brought His humanity into God in His
resurrection. And as God’s sent and anointed One, He was Christ from the the
time that He was born (Luke 2:11; Matt.1:16;John1:41;Matt.16:16) But as such a
One, He was also officially made the very Christ of God in His ascension. The
Lord was made Lord, the Lord of all, to possess all; and He was made Christ,
God’s Anointed (Heb.1:9), to carry out God’s commission.
Verse 38 The New Testament uses
three different prepositions to describe baptism’s relationship to the Lord:
(1) En.in (10:48). To be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ is to be baptized in the sphere of the name of Jesus
Christ, within which is the reality of the baptism. (2) Eis. Into (Matt.28:19;Acts8:16;19:5;Rom
6:3;Gal3:27). To be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, or into the name of the Lord Jesus, is to be baptized into a
spiritual union with the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of the
Triune God. (3) Epi, upon or on (v.38). To be baptized upon the name of
Jesus Christ is to be baptized upon the ground of what the name of Jesus Christ
stands for. It stands for all that he person of Jesus Christ is and all that He
has accomplished, both of which constitute the belief (the faith) of God’s New
Testament economy. It is on this ground that the believers in Christ are
baptized.
Verse 38 forgiveness of your sins Forgivness of sins is based on
the redemption of Christ, which was accomplished through His
death(10:43;Eph.1:7;1Cor.15:3); it is the initial and basic blessing of God’s
full salvation. Based on it the blessing of God’s full salvation goes forward
and consummate in the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit. gift of the Holy Spirit Not any gift distributed by the Spirit, such as is mentioned in
Rom.12:6, 1 Cor.12:4 and 1 Pet 4:10, but the gift that is the Holy Spirit
Himself, given by God to the believers in Christ as the unique gift that
produces all the gifts mentioned in Rom.12, 1Cor.12, and 1 Pet.4. those gifts
are the abilities and capacities for the service of God, and they come from
this unique gift, the Holy Spirit. The all-inclusive Spirit of the processed
Triune God in His New Testament economy, both essential for life and economical
for power, given to the belivers at the time of their believing in Christ
(Eph.1:13, Gal.3:2), as the all –inclusive blessing of God’s full
gospel(Gal.3:14) that they may enjoy all the riches of the Triune God
(2Cor.13:14).
The Apostles preached and ministered Christ, but when their
hearers repented and believerd in Him, they received this wonderful Spirit of
the Triun God. This implies that this Spirit is just the resurrected and
ascended Christ Himself. The receiving of the Spriit here is both essential and
economical, in a general and all-inclusive sense, differing from the receiving
of the Spirit in 8:15-17 and 19:2-6), which is particularly the receiving of
the Spirit in His falling upon the believers economically.
Verse 40 Testifying requires experiences of seeing and enjoyment
concerning the Lord or spiritual things, It is different from merely teaching.
Be is active, and saved is passive; hence, be saved is in the active –passive
voice. Salvation is to be carried out by God, but man
needs to be active to receive what God intends to do. At the time of Pentecost,
everything concerning God’s full salvation had been prepared; and the Holy
Spirit was poured out as the application and full blessing of God’s salvation,
ready for man to receive. Man, be saved!
At the conclusion of his message Peter did not say, “ Be saved
from God’s condemnation,” or “from eternal perdition,” but, “Be
save from this crooked generation.” The crooked generation refers to
the perverted Jews in that age, who rejected God’s Christ (v.36) and were
considered by God as the “present evil age” (Gal.1:4). For
the crooked Jews to be saved from their present evil age required a genuine
repentance concerning their crookedness toward God and a real trun to God. This
indicates that they needed to turn to God not only from their sins but also
from their generation, their Jewish society, including their Jewish religion.
The result of such a salvation was not their entering into heaven but their
entering into a new generation –the
church. Thus, the saved ones were separated from the Jewish society
into the church.
Being saved in this way implies being save from God’s condemnation and eternal
perdition unto God’s eternal purpose and His pleasure (Eph.3:11;1:9).
Bibliography,
Lee,
Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry,
1985.
Ryrie, Charles C. The
Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.
