Bible Study Series: Acts 3:22-26. Peter is preaching, based on the Old Testament. The OT is essential for the church today.
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I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
At the link to the original post, next, I write more commentary and dig a little deeper into the Greek. I also offer a section titled Observations for Discipleship at the end. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided in the commentary section for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Acts 3:22-26
22 “Moses said: ‘the Lord God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You shall listen to everything that he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every person who does not listen to that Prophet shall be cut off from the people.’ [Deut. 18:15, 18, 19] 24 And all the prophets from Samuel to one after the other who spoke of him announced these days. 25 You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God established with your ancestors, when he said to Abraham: ‘Even all the families of the earth shall be blessed by your offspring.’ [Gen. 22:18; 26:4] 26 And for you first of all God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each one away from your wickedness.” (Acts 3:22-26)
Comments:
22-24:
Peter continues his discourse, from the previous section.
He was a “Word guy” or a “Bible guy.” Who knew a humble fisherman from Galilee would have so much Scripture in him? He got a basic education as a child. He may have attended a synagogue where a leader discussed Messianic prophecies. He may have spent time in the local synagogue reading (expensive) manuscripts, in his spare time. And the fireside chats and domestic and public storytelling or preaching surely included passages from Messianic Scriptures. Around 3000 were saved at Pentecost, and no doubt at least a few of them were connecting the Hebrew Bible with the recent events and bringing out Messianic prophecies.
Further, Jesus spent a fair amount of time explaining to two men on the road to Emmaus village how he fulfilled biblical prophecy (Luke 24:25-27). It is a sure thing he did the same with other disciples for the forty days from Passover to before Pentecost.
Jesus is the Prophet promised by Moses, and these Messianic Jews could not fail to bring up that section of Scripture in Deuteronomy. And in the Messiah all the families of the earth will be blessed (cf. Gal. 3:7-8), which brings the Jewish audience back to the first covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12 and 17). The Messiah was the highest and fullest clearest channel of blessing the world (Gal. 3).
Once again Peter told his fellow Jews who did not yet believe in the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) to repent, because Yeshua lived such a blessed life that he helped people turn away from their wickedness. Turning is a blessing!
Here is a table of Messianic prophecies:
At that link, there is a table of quoted verses in the OT and NT. But Jesus fulfills the types and patterns and concepts of the OT, like the sacrificial system itself. His church fulfills and replaces the temple.
“all the prophets”: see 3:18 for more comments. Keener says that Peter is using hyperbole in the word “all” and then cites a later rabbi who claimed that all the prophets prophesied only about the Messianic era (p. 188, citing B. Ser. 34b; Sanh. 99a; Sabb. 63a).
25-26:
Peter is hinting that Jesus is the ultimate blessing, since he is the offspring of Abraham. “Offspring” is the collective singular. The chronology: Jews first, and then the Gentiles. Right now, Peter is offering the gospel to his co-Jews. The offer of salvation is offered to the Jews first, which indicates or hints that the offer of the gospel will soon go out to the Gentiles, a lesson Peter is about to learn in Acts 10.
All of this is proto-Paul’s theology, as seen in these verses.
First, like Peter, Paul says the gospel went to the Jew first:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Rom. 1:16, NIV)
Now the gospel goes to the Gentiles.
Second, Paul writes that Jesus is the seed or offspring that blesses the nation:
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. (Gal. 3:16, NIV)
Paul, like Peter, is claiming that the singular “seed” refers to Christ (in Greek “seed” is singular), but it is a collective singular. Everyone in Christ spreads the blessing around through preaching the gospel of Christ. Yet, make no mistake: Jesus himself, the singular seed or offspring, is the fullest blessing to the nation of Israel because the gospel is about him and people get saved through him.
Recall that Luke and Paul were traveling companions, so did Luke insert into Peter’s speech Paul’s theology of the collective singular “seed” (or offspring) and the gospel outreach to the Jews first? Or did Peter influence Paul when they met and discussed outreach to the Jews and Gentiles (Gal. 2:7-10)? Why not give Peter credit? How can we be sure that when Jesus gave the apostles a long Bible lesson after his resurrection (Luke 24:44-45; see v. 27), he did not teach that the “seed” (Christ) is the blessing of Abraham? We’ll never know for sure because the texts are silent, but it may be that Jesus did, and this early discourse by Peter reflects it, and then it influenced Paul.
Longenecker sees that this sermon expresses a remnant theology. For him, it is the descendants of Abraham and David who believe in the Messiah who are the blessing (2 Sam. 7:12; Gen. 22:18 and 26:4) (if I understand Longenecker clearly). True. Only Christ is the seed or the descendant or the offspring that is the blessing to humanity. Only people—whether Jew or Gentile—who are in him and live out and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom are the blessing for humanity. Their capacity to bless humanity comes only from being in Christ, who empowers his followers to do this.
GrowApp for Acts 3:22-26
1. Christ is the blessing for humanity, and being in Christ means you receive his blessing of salvation and repentance. Now you can bless others with this wonderful truth.
2. Do you have a story about someone in your circle of friends and family who has repented and received the blessing of salvation in Christ?
RELATED
The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts
Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?
SOURCES
For the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 