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Acts 3:13

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Acts 3:13

Verse 13 of 26

Scripture focus

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.

Acts 3:13 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 3:13

Theological / Devotional

The God of Abraham. Here is an echo of our Lord’s own teaching and phraseology (see Matt. 22:32), though the phrase is from the OT (Ex. 3:6, 15). By asserting that Jesus was the Son of the God of Abraham, Peter reassured his Jewish hearers that he was not preaching a new God but that he was connecting Jesus with the God of their fathers.

Son. Gr. pais, a word that may mean either “child” or “servant.” In the latter sense it is used in the LXX in the later chapters of Isaiah for “the servant of Jehovah.” In fact, the present passage is strongly reminiscent of Isa. 52:13. In the NT pais is applied to Christ in Matt. 12:18; Acts 3:26; 4:27, 30. These passages suggest that Matthew and Luke understood the suffering Servant of Isaiah to be a figure applicable to Christ. See on Isa. 41:8.

Ye delivered up. Or, “handed over.” Peter is frank and bold in placing the blame for Jesus’ death on the Jews, as the apostles always did from this time on.

Denied him. See John 19:15.

Determined. Or, “decided.” Pilate had rightly decided to release Jesus as innocent (John 19:4), but the Jews, to their greater shame and blame, persuaded him to condemn Christ to death.

By SdaBc