Bible Study series: Acts 13:38-41. It’s time to receive the truth of the gospel.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn. Let’s learn together and apply these truths to our lives.
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 13:38-41
38 Men and women and brothers and sisters! Let it therefore be known to you that through this one the forgiveness of sins is announced to you. 39 By this one everyone who believes is justified from all the things you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses.
40 Watch therefore that what was spoken by the prophets does not come upon you:
41 ‘Look, scoffers! Marvel and vanish!
Because I work a work in your days,
A work which you shall not believe even if someone were to explain it to you!’” [Hab. 1:5] (Acts 13:38-41)
Comments:
38:
“Men and brothers!”: This should be translated inclusively, because the terms can include womankind (compare our word mankind, which includes women).
“this one”: it is Jesus. Modern translations go all in and translate the pronoun with the proper noun—Jesus. I remained literal here. No doubt Paul gestured to indicate that he was referring to Jesus.
“forgiveness”: it comes from the Greek noun aphesis (pronounced ah-feh-seess), which means “release” or “cancellation” or “pardon” or “forgiveness.” Let’s look at a more formal definition of its verb, which is aphiēmi (pronounced ah-fee-ay-mee), and BDAG defines it with the basic meaning of letting go: (1) “dismiss or release someone or something from a place or one’s presence, let go, send away”; (2) “to release from legal or moral obligations or consequence, cancel, remit, pardon”; (3) “to move away with implication of causing a separation, leave, depart”; (4) “to leave something continue or remain in its place … let someone have something” (Matt. 4:20; 5:24; 22:22; Mark 1:18; Luke 10:30; John 14:18); (5) “leave it to someone to do something, let, let go, allow, tolerate.” The Shorter Lexicon adds “forgive.” In sum, God lets go, dismisses, releases, sends away, cancels, pardons, and forgives our sins. His work is full and final. Don’t go backwards or dwell on it.
Please read these verses for how forgiving God is:
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Ps. 103:10-12, ESV)
And these great verses are from Micah:
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea. (Mic. 7:18-19, ESV)
Please see my post about forgiveness:
“sins”: it comes from the Greek word hamartia. A deep study reveals that it means a “departure from either human or divine standards of uprightness” (BDAG, p. 50). It can also mean a “destructive evil power” (ibid., p. 51). In other words, sin has a life of its own. Be careful! In older Greek of the classical world long before the NT was written, it originally meant to “miss the mark” or target. Sin destroys, and that’s why God hates it, and so should we. The good news: God promises us forgiveness when we repent.
Bible Basics about Sin: Word Studies
Human Sin: Original and Our Committed Sin
“Forgiveness of sins” are the exact words that Peter and the other eleven apostles preached before the Sanhedrin back in Jerusalem (Acts 5:31). No doubt Saul was right there. His rabbinic mentor Gamaliel was; therefore Saul was too (probably).
39:
This verse is one of the most important themes in Paul’s epistles (apart from Jesus himself). It appears here in his first recorded sermon or teaching, so already it was developed—or developed enough. No doubt he got this revelation when he was fasting and praying before the scales fell from his eyes, waiting for someone to help him, who turned out to be Ananias (Acts 9:3-19). But I am not clear when Paul got his special revelations from heaven. Surely he got many of them, which he did not record.
A more literal translation of vv. 38-39:
38 Let it be known that through this one [Jesus] forgiveness of sins is announced to you, and from everything of which you have not been able by the law of Moses to be justified, 39 by this one [Jesus] everyone who believes is justified.
Or let’s drop v. 38 and just translate v. 39 literally:
And from everything of which you were unable by the law of Moses to be justified, by this one [Jesus] everyone who believes is justified.
Normally, Paul did not use the preposition apo– (from) with the verb justify, but Luke knew his Greek, and apparently this made sense to his original listeners and readers. I don’t think we should make a big deal of it, but the NAS is misguided to translate “justify” as “freed.”
Bruce: “Grammatically, the word could indeed be taken to mean that Christ provides for everyone who believes justification from all those things from which Moses’ law provides no justification—namely, most deliberate sins. But quite certainly they mean that believers in Christ are completely justified (“justified from all things”)—something which Moses’ law could never achieve for anyone. In other words, Moses’ law does not justify; faith in Christ does” (comment on vv. 38-39). I like the idea that God can declare a repentant sinner who puts his faith in Christ righteous, even though the sinner committed a deliberate sin. He is righteous because on his repentance he is now in Christ. It is not a legal fiction.
Let’s look more deeply at Paul’s “speaking theology” in this one verse, which he expands on, everywhere in his epistles to the Romans and Galatians.
The law of Moses is inadequate for justification or righteousness that is 100% satisfactory to the thrice-holy God (Is. 6) because it flowed from human efforts and legalistic obedience. The law was a temporary stop-gap measure. In contrast, faith in Jesus is sufficient and acceptable before God.
“believes”: see v. 12 for more comments.
So what do “justify” or “justification” mean? They come from the Greek verb to right and noun righteousness. Unfortunately, we don’t have in English the verbs “righteousify” or “rightify,” so we have to translate them as “justify.”
Again, what do they mean?
They cannot mean something like doing the works that were commanded by the law of Moses. That’s the whole point of v. 39, which is a contrast of the two ways. So Paul says it has to come by faith in a person—“this one” or Jesus—not works. Justification or righteousness comes instantly the moment faith arises in the person’s heart. At that very moment God imputes or reckons or calculates the believer to be righteous. God “righteousifies” or justifies him. But the believer does not do that by himself and his own efforts. Paul is speaking to a Jewish and God-fearing audience, so they understood the law of Moses. Now Paul offers them a new and contrastive way of salvation, but not so new that it is unprecedented. The law and prophets in the OT prepared the way for it. Now it is fulfilled right before their (and our) eyes in Yeshua ha–Meshiach or Jesus the Messiah.
Justification: What It Is and What It Is Not
Justification: How It Was Done, How We Get It, and Its Results
Being Justified in Paul’s Epistles
After a believer receives the gift of righteousness apart from works of the law before a thrice holy God, God’s Spirit lives in the believer and fills him with power so he can obey the law of Christ (love) and certain elements of the moral law that the NT is full of. This is called sanctification or literally “the process (ion) of making (fic) holy sancti)—or the process of becoming like Christ. Salvation and justification by grace through faith takes a moment; sanctification, living out the gift of righteousness, and becoming like Christ takes a lifetime. Salvation and sanctification are linked, but distinct. See v. 26 for a closer look.
See my posts:
Do I Really Know God? He Is Righteous and Just
I really like how Bruce coordinates Paul’s theology in this sermon-speech and in his epistles:
If the agreement of this interpretation with the doctrine of justification in the Pauline [adjective for “Paul”] letters is dismissed as irrelevant to the exegesis of the words in their present context, let it be said that the context itself, with the natural emphasis of the argument, requires this interpretation. Paul in this peroration [rhetorical speech] is not making partial but total claims for the efficacy of the gospel over the law. It is true that, in expounding justification by faith, Paul in his letters does not speak of it as being justified from anything. But that does not make the general sense of the present words un-Pauline. It is relevant to recall, too, that in the only other place in the Lukan writings where justification is spoken of an act of God, the tax collector who confessed himself to be a sinner and cast himself on divine mercy went home justified, rather than the man who carefully regulated his life by the demands of Moses’ law (Luke 18:14). (comment on vv. 38-39)
40-41:
Have you ever heard the expression, if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true! In this case, the promise of a new path to salvation that kneels before Jesus is God-ordained, so he makes it true. From a human level, it is too good to be true. But by God’s grace, it is true.
“believe”: see v. 12 for more comments.
Polhill describes these Jews accurately and Paul and Barnabas’s next step: the Gentiles:
If they continued in their rejection, they would be rejected. It is remarkable how quickly Paul’s warning came to bear. In the ensuing narrative, Habakkuk’s prophecy was once again fulfilled—among the Jews of Pisidian Antioch, as they rejected the words of salvation. God did something they would never have dreamed of—he turned to the Gentiles. (comments on vv. 40-41)
I like how Peterson wraps up vv. 23-41, speaking about the ever-widening circle of the gospel going to Jews and Gentiles. In Paul’s sermon, the gospel, first, is no novelty. It has roots in the OT and is part of God’s long-range plan. Second, God fulfilled his plan through Jesus the Messiah. God vindicated him by resurrecting him from the dead. The Jerusalem establishment should have known Scriptures better than they did. Their ignorance led them to crucify the Messiah, but God still worked through their ignorance and followed his plan. Third, Forgiveness and new liberty are made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus. But only those who believe and trust him can receive this forgiveness. God warns those who scoff and reject his saving plan (comments on p. 401).
Schnabel boils down the content of missionary preaching from Paul’s inaugural sermon: Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises; God raised Jesus from the dead; Jesus is Israel’s Messiah, so he fulfills all the promises in the Story of God; through him (and no one else) there is forgiveness of sins and the declaration of righteousness on the sinner (pp. 594-95).
GrowApp for Acts 13:38-41
1. The forgiveness of sins in Jesus is announced to them back then, and now it is announced to you today. What did God’s loving forgiveness do for you? What does it feel like to have your sins forgiven?
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 