Acts 3:12-26 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Peter's Second Proclamation to the People (3:12-26).

As in his first message Peter first refers back to the past, but this time it is to ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob', the ones who had received from God the promise of blessing (compare Acts 3:25). He wants the people to know that they bring no new god. Jesus' God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One Who delivered His people from Egypt (Exodus 3:6). Then he goes on to describe Jesus as the Servant of God referred to by Isaiah, Who had come and had been rejected by them (Isaiah 50:4-9) and had been slain (Isaiah 53:1-12), and refers to the Scriptures that have therefore now been fulfilled, declaring Him to be the Messiah, and calls on them to repent so that God may then give them the everlasting Kingly Rule of God through His Messiah Jesus. He finishes by confirming that Jesus is God's great expected Prophet whom they must listen to, and His Servant Who can deliver them from sin. He wants it known that all that he is saying is in line with the teaching of the prophets.

But having stressed the central agreement of the content of the two speeches we must also recognise their essential differences. For the two messages take two different lines of argument and refer back to different Scriptures in order to prove different points. Unlike in Acts 2 there is here no attempt to prove the resurrection from Scripture. Rather the stress is on the fact of prophecies concerning Jesus' suffering and those which promise the blessing of Abraham. Here His Messiahship is related to the Servant of God in Isaiah rather than to David who is unmentioned except by implication. However, the overall message is unquestionably the same, as we would expect if both were by Peter.

The change is apposite. In the first speech, in the light of the experience of Pentecost, the regal aspect came through. The King was on His throne. He was Lord and Messiah. But here in the light of man's weakness and need, it is the Servant aspect that shines through, the idea of the One Who had come among men to serve. Each speech admirably fits its occasion.

Related Commentaries of Acts 3:12

Acts 3:12-26

12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

15 And killed the Princea of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.

18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.