Acts 3:17

And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. AND NOW, BRETHREN, I WOT (OR 'KNOW') THAT THROUGH IGNORANCE YE DID IT, AS DID ALSO YOUR RULERS. (See ; ; ; ; )....

17.Because it was to be doubted, lest, being cast down with despair, they should refuse his doctrine, he doth a little lift them up. We must so temper our sermons that they may profit the hearers, for unless there be some hope of pardon left, the terror and fear of punishment doth harden men’s hearts with stubbornness; for that of David is true, That we fear the Lord when we perceive that he is unto us favorable, and easy to be pacified, (Psalms 130:4.) Thus doth Peter lessen the sin of his nation, because of their ignorance; for it had been impossible for them to have suffered and endured this conscience, if they had denied the Son of God, and delivered him to be slain, wittingly and willingly; and yet will he not flatter them, when as he saith that they did it through ignorance; but he doth only somewhat mitigate his speech, lest they should be overwhelmed and swallowed up of despair....

12-18 Observe the difference in the manner of working the miracles. Our Lord always spoke as having Almighty power, never hesitated to receive the greatest honour that was given to him on account of his Divine miracles. But the apostles referred all to their Lord, and refused to receive any honour, except as his undeserving instruments. This shows that Jesus was one with the Father, and co-equal with Him; while the apostles knew that they were weak, sinful men, and dependent for every thing on Jesus, whose power effected the cure. Useful men must be very humble. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name, give glory. Every crown must be cast at the feet of Christ. The apostle showed the Jews the greatness of their crime, but would not anger or drive them to despair. Assuredly, those who reject, refuse, or deny Christ, do it through ignorance; but this can in no case be an excuse....

Verse Acts 3:17. _I WOT_] οιδα, _I know_. _Wot_ is from the Anglo-Saxon, [A.S.] _to know_; and hence _wit_, science or understanding. _THROUGH IGNORANCE YE DID IT_] This is a very tender excuse for them; and one which seems to be necessary, in order to show them that their state was not utterly _desperate_; for if all that they did to Christ had been through _absolute malice_, (they well knowing who he was,) if any sin could be supposed to be _unpardonable_, it must have been theirs. Peter, foreseeing that they might be tempted thus to think, and consequently to despair of salvation, tells them that their offence was extenuated by their ignorance of the person they had tormented and crucified. And one must suppose that, had they been fully convinced that this Jesus was the only Messiah, they never would have crucified him; but th

AND NOW, BRETHREN - Though they had been guilty of a crime so enormous, yet Peter shows the tenderness of his heart in addressing them still as his brethren. He regarded them as of the same nation with himself; as having the same hopes, and as being entitled to the same privileges. The expression also shows that he was not disposed to exalt himself as being by nature more holy than they. This verse is a remarkable instance of tenderness in appealing to sinners. It would have been easy to have reproached them for their enormous crimes; but that was not the way to reach the heart. He had indeed stated and proved their wickedness. The object now was to bring them to repentance for it; and this was to be done by tenderness, kindness, and love. People are melted to contrition, not by reproaches, but by love. I WOT - I know; am well apprised of it. I know you will affirm it, and I admit that i...

EXPOSITION ACTS 3:1 _Were going up _for _went up together, _A.V. and T.R. PETER AND JOHN. The close friendship of these two apostles is remarkable. The origin of it appears to have been their partnership in the fishing-boats in which they pursued their trade as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. For St. Luke tells us that the sons of Zebedee were "partners with Simon," and helped him to take the miraculous draught of fishes (Luke 5:10). We find the two sons of Zebedee associated with Peter in the inner circle of the Lord's apostles, at the Transfiguration, at the raising of Jairus's daughter, and at the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. But the yet closer friendship of Peter and John first appears in their going together to the palace of Caiaphas on the ni

AND NOW, BRETHREN,.... He calls them brethren, because they were so according to the flesh; and to testify his cordial love and affection for them. I WOT, or "I know", THAT THROUGH IGNORANCE YE DID IT; delivered up Jesus into the hands of Pilate; denied him to be the Messiah before him; preferred a murderer to him, and put him to death. AS DID ALSO YOUR RULERS; the members of the sanhedrim, some of them; see 1 Corinthians 2:8 for others of them knew him to be the Messiah, to be sent of God, by the miracles he did, and yet blasphemously ascribed them to Satan; and so sinning against light and knowledge, in such a malicious manner, sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost, to which ignorance is here opposed; and which did not excuse from sin: nor was it itself without sin; nor is it opposed to any sin, but to this now mentioned.

Acts 3:1. _Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour._ Peter and John seem to have been linked in closest friendship. Peter had been brought back by John when he was almost despairing after having denied his Master. John lovingly found him out, and made him his associate; and now they «went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer.» Observe, here, how very sweetly the Old Testament dispensation melts into the new. The Temple was no longer what it had been before; the type was of no further use now that the great Antitype of the Temple had come; yet these apostles still went up to it at the hour of prayer. There are some men who are great at destroying. It will be time to destroy the old when the new is quite ready; and even then, it may be very possible to let the darkness gradually melt away into a twilight, and so the day...

ACTS 3:17 The Western text (D E ith, p copG67) introduces several changes: it (_a_) expands avdelfoi, into the more usual expression a;ndrej avdelfoi,, (_b_) accommodates the verb to the plural (evpista,meqa for oi=da) in harmony with the preceding h`mei/j (ver. Acts 3:15), and (_c_) adds ponhro,n after evpra,xate in order to express the idea that, though the Jews’ part in bringing about Jesus’ death was done in ignorance, it was nevertheless a crime. By inserting me,n in ver....

CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The Healing of the lame Man (Acts 3:1)._ 2. Peter's address and appeal (Acts 3:12). The lame man, forty years old, at the gate called Beautiful is the type of the moral condition of the nation, like the impotent man whom the Lord healed (John 5:1). Israel with all its beautiful religious ceremonies was helpless, laying outside with no strength to enter in. Peter commands the lame man in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to rise up and to walk. He is instantly healed. He then walked and leaped and entered through the gate as a worshipper into the temple, praising God. This great miracle was wrought as another evidence to the unbelieving nation that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had rejected and crucifi