Acts 3:12-26
12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. 17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
You will notice a significant parallel between Acts 2 and Acts 3. In both chapters there is a miraculous display of God’s power, the attraction of a large crowd as a result of that display, then an apostolic sermon from the foundation of the miracle. In both chapters, that is, miracles opened the door for proclamation. This is significant, for, as William J. Larkin, Jr. has written, miracles, in and of themselves, rarely lead to faith and conversion.
Only two times do Luke’s summary statements imply that witnessing a miracle leads directly to faith (Acts 9:35,42). Witnessing miracles may contribute to a person’s embrace of faith, but it cannot produce faith (see Lk. 16:31).
That is why God’s Word must now be preached. It will interpret the extraordinary and call for a decision. By the Spirit’s power this proclamation will work repentance and saving faith in its hearers.[1]
Thus, Peter stands to proclaim the truth, as he had done earlier.
Faith in Christ is saving faith.
Peter is becoming a bold and brilliant preacher before our very eyes! Listen to his words.
12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.
In any good sermon, context is key. Peter, a Jew, stands here in the shadow of the temple, with a healed Jewish man clinging to him, and preaches to a Jewish audience. For this reason, he highlights the fact that Jesus both stands in line with the great patriarchs of Israel as well as surpasses the great patriarchs of Israel. It is a provocative move, and one that undoubtedly raised the eyebrows of his listeners: Abraham – Isaac – Jacob – Jesus. This sequence would have been lost on the fascinated crowd! The Jesus in whose name Peter healed the lame man is the very hope of Israel!
This is what makes the crime of the Jews in killing Jesus that more unbelievable. To this Peter now turns.
14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
What a stinging, biting denunciation this is! Here at the ninth hour, as the Jews have entered the temple for prayer and sacrifice, Jesus tells them that they, who think they are so very close to God, are in fact so very far from God that they killed the Holy and Righteous one sent from God! And to make matters worse, they asked for a murderer to be set free instead of the innocent One who had come to save them.
Perhaps at this point we should consider the frequent accusations that are made against the alleged anti-Semitic nature of the New Testament. It is true that Peter indicts his Jewish audience with the death of Christ. But let me offer a few observations on this fact:
- This is a historically accurate indictment. Jesus was handed over to the Romans by the Jewish mob to be executed.
- While it is true that there have been Christians over the last two thousand years who have committed atrocities against the Jews on the basis of some Jews having turned Jesus over to be killed in the first century, nowhere in the New Testament is there a call for any violence to be committed against anyone on that account.
- Peter never follows his indictment with a call for violence.
- Peter, a Jew, never uses the facts of the events surrounding the crucifixion to label the Jews as inherently inferior as a race or a people.
- The fact that some people do horrible deeds as a result of naked historical facts does not mean that the recitation of those facts is causally related to these horrible deeds. People have committed acts of violence against Jews because people do wicked things, but the facts of history, even if appealed to by people doing wicked things, should not be conflated with the wickedness of these people.
- Taken as a whole, the New Testament holds all of us culpable for the death of Christ, noting that all of our sins contributed to His death on the cross.
No, Peter’s intent is not to call for violence against the Jews. Rather, Peter’s intent is to lead them to see their great guiltiness before God, a guilt the Bible places on us all, so that they will repent.
Will Willimon was right to say of Peter’s sermons in the beginning of Acts that “there is little theology of the cross…of the kind we find in the writings of Paul” here and that in these sermons the cross “is a scandalous sign of the rejection of God’s anointed one by those he came to save, a tragic human ‘no’ that God has overcome in the powerful ‘yes’ of the resurrection.”[2] Indeed. This is Peter’s great emphasis: you are guilty before a holy God of killing His Son. But this is not all Peter says.
16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
Ah! Here is a crucial link between conviction of sin and the coming call for repentance: faith! Willimon is correct that Peter is not fully fleshing out Pauline theology, but that does not mean Peter is speaking words that conflict with Paul’s theology. In fact, here in Peter’s sermon we find the key elements: guilt before God, the need for faith in the resurrected Christ, and the call to repent.
In truth, there is nothing in Peter’s sermon that in any way conflicts with Paul’s beautiful statement about faith in Ephesians 2.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
It is not of our own doing! Of our own doing we have rebelled against God and killed His Son. But, amazingly, the name that announces our guilt is also the name that announces our salvation: Jesus!
Repentance is the pathway to blessings and joy.
Once again, just as he did in Acts 2, Peter speaks boldly of repentance.
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
This is fascinating for two reasons. First, we see Peter saying that the Jews “acted in ignorance.” What he appears to mean is that they did not fully understand exactly who this was that they were delivering over to be crucified. Even so, he will call upon them to repent, showing that sins in ignorance are still violations of a holy God’s holy law.
Furthermore, we once again see the fascinating and mysterious dynamic between the actions of man and the sovereignty of God. Evil men worked evil deeds but a holy God “fulfilled” all that He said would happen. This dynamic, which many refer to as antinomy, is indeed a profound and perplexing mystery, but our ability to dissect this mystery is not nearly as important as the truth of what is being said here: these men had acted but God was also at work to fulfill His plan of redemption.
19a Repent therefore, and turn back
Scripture is its own best commentary. We should always allow scripture to define scripture. Here is a prime example: “Repent therefore, and turn back.” This is what repentance means: turning back. Turn from what you are doing because it is leading you to destruction. Turn back to the Lord God.
The results of genuine repentance are profound.
19b that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Here is a beautiful picture indeed!
- That your sins may be blotted out
- That times of refreshing may come
- That God may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus
Truly a repentant heart becomes a doorway in and through which God pours forth copious blessings! Forgiveness, peace, and the very presence of Christ: all of these are received through faith that leads to repentance.
I ask you: are your sins as sweet as this? Are your idols as sweet as this? Of course not! They cannot be! They cannot bring the joy that Christ brings. They cannot give peace as Christ gives peace. They cannot assuage your grieved, suffering heart as Christ can.
Only Christ can grant such a peace. Only Christ can grant such healing. Peter concludes by telling the gathered Jews that this Christ is the fulfillment of all that was spoken of by the prophets in times past.
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Faith.
Faith in Christ.
Faith in the Christ who was foretold by the prophets, promised to the patriarchs, and born in their very midst of the Virgin Mary. He calls upon them to believe!
And this Christ was sent “to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Repentance.
Repentance in the name of Christ.
The name of Christ that lifts a lame man to his formerly broken feet is the same name that lifts rebellious men to heights of peace and hope and joy!
Faith and repentance.
Believe and turn!
Come to Christ now.