“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:”
This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross — Peter boldly charges the Jerusalem audience with complicity in Jesus' death while maintaining God's sovereignty (horismenos boulē kai prognōsis theou, determined counsel and foreknowledge of God). The paradox is stark: human guilt and divine purpose coexist; God's plan includes human responsibility. The nailing (prospēgnymi) to the cross emphasizes the scandal and horror of crucifixion.
Church Fathers on Acts 2:23
[He men of Israel]: it is not for flattery that he uses this term; but, as he has borne hard upon them, he relaxes a little, and puts them in mind of their great ancestor [Israel]. Here again he begins with an introduction, that they may not become excited, now that he is going to make express mention to them of Jesus: for in what preceded, there was no reason why they should be excited, while the Prophet was the subject of discourse: but the name of Jesus would have given…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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