'Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever
among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27.
For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew
Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every
Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. 28. And though
they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that he
should be slain. 29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written
of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre.
30. But God raised Him from the dead: 31. And He was seen many days of
them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His
witnesses unto the people. 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings,
how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, 33. God hath
fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up
Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm. Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten Thee. 34. And as concerning that He
raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He
said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35.
Wherefore He saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption. 36. For David, after he had served his own
generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his
fathers, and saw corruption: 37. But He, whom God raised again, saw no
corruption. 38. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that
through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39. And
by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses.'--ACTS xiii. 26-39.
The extended report of Paul's sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of
Pisidia marks it, in accordance with Luke's method, as the first of a
series. It was so because, though the composition of the audience was
identical with that of those in the synagogues of Cyprus, this was the
beginning of the special work of the tour, the preaching in the cities
of Asia Minor. The part of the address contained in the passage falls
into three sections,--the condensed narrative of the Gospel facts (vs.
26-31), the proof that the resurrection was prophesied (vs. 32-37), and
the pungent personal application (v. 38 to end).
I. The substance of the narrative coincides, as it could not but do,
with Peter's sermons, but yet with differences, partly due to the
different audience, partly to Paul's idiosyncrasy. After the preceding
historical _resume_, he girds himself to his proper work of proclaiming
the Gospel, and he marks the transition in verse 26 by reiterating his
introductory words.
His audience comprised the two familiar classes of Jews and Gentile
proselytes, and he seeks to win the ears of both. His heart goes out in
his address to them all as 'brethren,' and in his classing himself and
Barnabas among them as receivers of the message which he has to
proclaim. What skill, if it were not something much more sacred, even
humility and warm love, lies in that 'to _us_ is the word of this
salvation sent'! He will not stand above them as if he had any other
possession of his message than they might have. He, too, has received
it, and what he is about to say is not his word, but God's message to
them and him. That is the way to preach.
Notice, too, how skilfully he introduces the narrative of the rejection
of Jesus as the reason why the message has now come to them his hearers
away in Antioch. It is 'sent forth' 'to us,' Asiatic Jews, _for_ the
people in the sacred city would not have it. Paul does not prick his
hearers' consciences, as Peter did, by charging home the guilt of the
rejection of Jesus on them. They had no share in that initial crime.
There is a faint purpose of dissociating himself and his hearers from
the people of Jerusalem, to whom the Dispersion were accustomed to look
up, in the designation, 'they that dwell in Jerusalem, and _their_
rulers.' Thus far the Antioch Jews had had hands clean from that crime;
they had now to choose whether they would mix themselves up with it.
We may further note that Paul says nothing about Christ's life of
gentle goodness, His miracles or teaching, but concentrates attention
on His death and resurrection. From the beginning of his ministry these
were the main elements of his 'Gospel' (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4). The full
significance of that death is not declared here. Probably it was
reserved for subsequent instruction. But it and the Resurrection, which
interpreted it, are set in the forefront, as they should always be. The
main point insisted on is that the men of Jerusalem were fulfilling
prophecy in slaying Jesus. With tragic deafness, they knew not the
voices of the prophets, clear and unanimous as they were, though they
heard them every Sabbath of their lives, and yet they fulfilled them. A
prophet's words had just been read in the synagogue; Paul's words might
set some hearer asking whether a veil had been over his heart while his
ears had heard the sound of the word.
The Resurrection is established by the only evidence for a historical
fact, the testimony of competent eyewitnesses. Their competence is
established by their familiar companionship with Jesus during His whole
career; their opportunities for testing the reality of the fact, by the
'many days' of His appearances.
Paul does not put forward his own testimony to the Resurrection, though
we know, from 1 Corinthians xv. 8, that he regarded Christ's appearance
to him as being equally valid evidence with that afforded by the other
appearances; but he distinguishes between the work of the Apostles, as
'witnesses unto the people'--that is, the Jews of Palestine--and that
of Barnabas and himself. They had to bear the message to the regions
beyond. The Apostles and he had the same work, but different spheres.
II. The second part turns with more personal address to his hearers.
Its purport is not so much to preach the Resurrection, which could only
be proved by testimony, as to establish the fact that it was the
fulfilment of the promises to the fathers. Note how the idea of
fulfilled prophecy runs in Paul's head. The Jews had _fulfilled_ it by
their crime; God _fulfilled_ it by the Resurrection. This reiteration
of a key-word is a mark of Paul's style in his Epistles, and its
appearance here attests the accuracy of the report of his speech.
The second Psalm, from which Paul's first quotation is made, is
prophetic of Christ, inasmuch as it represents in vivid lyrical
language the vain rebellion of earthly rulers against Messiah, and
Jehovah's establishing Him and His kingdom by a steadfast decree. Peter
quoted its picture of the rebels, as fulfilled in the coalition of
Herod, Pilate, and the Jewish rulers against Christ. The Messianic
reference of the Psalm, then, was already seen; and we may not be going
too far if we assume that Jesus Himself had included it among things
written in the Psalms 'concerning Himself,' which He had explained to
the disciples after the Resurrection. It depicts Jehovah speaking to
Messiah, _after_ the futile attempts of the rebels: 'This day have I
begotten Thee.' That day is a definite point in time. The Resurrection
was a birth from the dead; so Paul, in Colossians i. 18, calls Jesus
'the first begotten from the dead.' Romans i. 4,'declared to be the Son
of God ... by the resurrection from the dead,' is the best commentary
on Paul's words here.
The second and third quotations must apparently be combined, for the
second does not specifically refer to resurrection, but it promises to
'you,' that is to those who obey the call to partake in the Messianic
blessings, a share in the 'sure' and enduring 'mercies of David'; and
the third quotation shows that not 'to see corruption' was one of these
'mercies.' That implies that the speaker in the Psalm was, in Paul's
view, David, and that his words were his believing answer to a divine
promise. But David was dead. Had the 'sure mercy' proved, then, a
broken reed? Not so: for Jesus, who is Messiah, and is God's 'Holy One'
in a deeper sense than David was, has not seen corruption. The
Psalmist's hopes are fulfilled in Him, and through Him, in all who will
'eat' that their 'souls may live,'
III. But Paul's yearning for his brethren's salvation is not content
with proclaiming the fact of Christ's resurrection, nor with pointing
to it as fulfilling prophecy; he gathers all up into a loving, urgent
offer of salvation for every believing soul, and solemn warning to
despisers. Here the whole man flames out. Here the characteristic
evangelical teaching, which is sometimes ticketed as 'Pauline' by way
of stigma, is heard. Already had he grasped the great antithesis
between Law and Gospel. Already his great word 'justified' has taken
its place in his terminology. The essence of the Epistles to Romans and
Galatians is here. Justification is the being pronounced and treated as
not guilty. Law cannot justify. 'In Him' we are justified. Observe that
this is an advance on the previous statement that 'through Him' we
receive remission of sins.
'In Him' points, thought but incidentally and slightly, to the great
truth of incorporation with Jesus, of which Paul had afterwards so much
to write. The justifying in Christ is complete and absolute. And the
sole sufficient condition of receiving it is faith. But the greater the
glory of the light the darker the shadow which it casts. The broad
offer of complete salvation has ever to be accompanied with the plain
warning of the dread issue of rejecting it. Just because it is so free
and full, and to be had on such terms, the warning has to be rung into
deaf ears, 'Beware _therefore_!' Hope and fear are legitimately
appealed to by the Christian evangelist. They are like the two wings
which may lift the soul to soar to its safe shelter in the Rock of Ages.