Daily Bible Study 2 December 2007
THE MESSAGE OF ACTS.
A Commentary by John Stott.
Acts 2:22-32. Peter’s quotation of Joel.
c. Peter’s testimony to Jesus (2:22-41).
The best way to understand Pentecost, however, is not through the Old Testament prediction, but through the New Testament fulfilment, not through Joel but through Jesus. As Peter summons the *men of Israel* to listen to him, his first words are *Jesus of Nazareth*, and he goes on to tell the story of Jesus in six stages:
(i) His life and ministry (2:22)
He was truly *a man*, yet he was *accredited by God* to them through supernatural works, which are given three names - *miracles* or literally ‘powers’ (*dynameis*, their nature being a demonstration of the power of God), *wonders* (*terata*, their effect being to arouse astonishment) *and signs* (semeia*, their purpose being to embody or signify spiritual truth). God *did* these *through him*, and publicly (*among you), as you yourselves know*.
(ii) His death (2:23).
Peter describes *this man* as having been killed, partly because he had been *handed over* to them not by Judas (though the same verb is used of his betrayal) but *by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge*, and partly because they *with the help of wicked men* (presumably the Romans) had then *put him to death by nailing him to the cross*. Thus the same event, the death of Jesus, is attributed simultaneously both to the purpose of God and to the wickedness of men. No developed doctrine of the Atonement is yet expressed, but there is already an understanding that through Jesus’ death God’s saving purpose was being worked out.
(iii) His resurrection (2:24-32)
*It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him* (24; Peter sees the moral impossibility without explaining it). So although men had killed him, God *raised him from the dead*, and thereby freed him *from the agony of death*. ‘Agony’ means literally ‘birth pains’, so that his resurrection is pictured as a regeneration, a new birth out of death into life.
Peter next confirms the truth of Jesus’ resurrection by appealing to Psalm 16:8-11 in which, he claims, it was foretold. David cannot have been referring to himself, when he wrote that God would not abandon him to the grave or let his Holy One see decay (27), because David had *died and was buried*, and his tomb was still in Jerusalem (29). Instead, being a prophet and remembering God’s promise to place a distinguished descendant on his throne (cf. 2 Sam 7:16; Ps. 89:3ff; 132:11-12), *he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ (30-31). Peter’s use of Scripture probably sounds strange to us, but we need to bear three points in mind. First, all Scripture bears witness to Christ, especially to his death, resurrection and world-wide mission. That is its character and purpose. Jesus himself said so both before and after his resurrection (eg. Lk.4:21; Jn. 5:39-40; Lk. 24:27,44ff). In consequence, secondly, not least because of Jesus’ post-resurrection teaching, his disciples came naturally to see Old Testament references to God’s anointed or King, to David and his royal seed, as finding their fulfilment in Jesus (eg. Ps. 2:8; 16:10; 110:1). This is what Dom Jacques Dupont has called ‘the radically christological character of early Christian exegesis’. And, thirdly, once this foundation is granted, a Christian use of the Old Testament like Peter’s of Psalm 16 is ‘scrupulously logical and internally coherent’.
Having quoted three verses of Psalm 16 and applied them to the resurrection of Jesus, Peter adds: *God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact* (32). Thus the spoken testimony of the apostles and the written prediction of the prophets converged. Or, as we would say, the Old and New Testament Scriptures coincided in their witness to the resurrection of Christ.
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Tomorrow: Acts 2:33-36. b). Peter’s quotation of Joel; (iv) His exaltation.
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