“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?”
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. — Peter grounds his appeal in covenant tradition (God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), establishing continuity between the OT God and the present God acting through Jesus. Jesus is identified as God's servant (pais theou, servant/child, an OT title connoting obedience and suffering, cf. Isaiah 52-53). The charge of handing Jesus over to death and disowning him before Pilate is bold; the audience's corporate guilt is stated directly but opens the possibility of repentance.
Church Fathers on Acts 3:12
There is greater freedom of speech in this harangue, than in the former. Not that he was afraid on the former occasion, but the persons whom he addressed there, being jesters and scoffers, would not have borne it. Hence in the beginning of that address he also bespeaks their attention by his preamble; Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. Acts 2:14 But here there is no need of this management. (κατασκευἥς.) For his hearers were not in a state of indifference. The…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!