Notes on Acts 3 - Bruce & Stott

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man (lame from birth, see 3:1-10) strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
Acts 3:13-16

All that they (those who killed Jesus) had to do to avail themselves of this salvation was to change their former attitude to Jesus and bring it into line with God’s attitude. God had clearly shown His verdict by raising Him from the dead. Let them therefore repent, let them repudiate (refuse to have anything to do with) with abhorrence (strong opposition) their acquiescence (acceptance) in the murder of the true Messiah, let them turn back in heart to God, and the salvation and blessing procured by their Messiah’s death would be theirs. Their sins would be wiped out, even that sin of sins which they had unwittingly committed in clamouring for the death of the Author of life.

And not only would their sins be blotted out; those times of refreshment (respite from judgment) and blessing which the prophets had described as features of the new age would be sent to them by God. Jesus, their Messiah, invested with this holy office by God Himself, had been received up into the divine presence, and would remain there until the consummation of all that the prophets, from earliest days, had foretold. The gospel blessings that were to flow from His death and resurrection must spread abroad throughout the world, and then He would return from the right hand of power.

Bruce, F. F. The Book of Acts. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. (1970) Eerdmans. Pages 90-91.


Looking back over Peter’s Colonnade sermon, it is striking that he presents Christ to the crowd ‘according to the Scriptures’ as successively the suffering servant (13, 18), the Moses-like prophet (22-23), the Davidic king (24) and the seed of Abraham (25-26). And if we add his Pentecost sermon, and glance on to his speech before the Sanhedrin (4:8ff.), it is possible to weave a biblical tapestry which forms a thorough portrait of Christ (my emphasis). Arranged chronologically according to the events of his saving career, the Old Testament texts declare that he was descended from David (Ps. 132:11 = Acts 2:30); that he suffered and died for us as God’s servant (Is. 53 = Acts 2:23; 3:18); that the stone the builders rejected has nevertheless become the capstone (Ps. 118:22 = Acts 4:11), for God raised him up from the dead (Is. 52:13 = Acts 2:25ff.), since death could not hold him and God would not abandon him to decay (Ps. 16:8ff. = Acts 2:24, 27, 31); that God then exalted him to his right hand, to wait for his final triumph (Ps. 110:1 = Acts 2:34-35); that meanwhile through him the Spirit has been poured out (Joel 2:28ff. = Acts 2:16ff., 33); that now the gospel is to be preached world-wide, even to those afar off (Is. 57:19 = Acts 2:39), although opposition to him has been foretold (Ps. 2:1ff. = Acts 4:25-26); that people must listen to him or pay the penalty of their disobedience (Dt. 18:18-19 = Acts 3:22-23); and that those who do listen and respond will inherit the blessing promised to Abraham (Gn. 12:3; 22:18 = Acts 3:25-26).

This comprehensive testimony to Jesus as rejected by men but vindicated by God, as the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy, as demanding repentance and promising blessing, and as the author and giver of life, physically to the healed cripple and spiritually to those who believe, aroused the indignation and antagonism of the authorities. The devil cannot endure the exaltation of Jesus Christ. So he stirred up the Sanhedrin to persecute the apostles.

Stott, John. The Message of Acts. The Bible Speaks Today. (1990)
IVP Press. Pages 94-95.