“And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.”
But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. — the suffering of the Messiah (pathē, sufferings, plural) is rooted in OT prophecy (Isaiah 53 et al.), showing that the cross is not defeat but the fulfillment of God's plan. The 'foretold through all the prophets' (prokatangellō, announced beforehand) emphasizes the unified OT witness to messianic suffering. The paradox: what seemed like failure (crucifixion) was actually God's predetermined plan.
Church Fathers on Acts 3:17
And now, brethren, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers. Acts 3:17 This is one ground of excuse. The second is of a different kind. As Joseph speaks to his brethren, God did send me before you Genesis 45:5; what in the former speech he had briefly said, in the words, Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken,— this he here enlarges upon:
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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