Acts 3:17

“And now, brethren, I know that in ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers.”

Peter then makes them a concession. He acknowledges that what they had done they had done in ignorance. When they had done it they had not realised what they were doing. And this was true both of them and their rulers (compare Luke 23:34). So they were now being given another chance. Now in the light of what had happened they could have their eyes opened, recover their position and see the truth.

This attitude brings out how early on in the ministry this speech was, before attitudes had hardened. Here Peter believed that there was hope that not only the people, but also their rulers, would repent.

But ignorance was no excuse now that the light had shone. It was in ignorance that the Jews perpetrated the terrible act of crucifying their Messiah, but the thought is that now in he light of His resurrection and ensuing wonders that ignorance is no longer possible, and, therefore, there can be no excuse for their further rejection of Jesus Christ. For Christ has risen, and He has revealed Himself openly in what has happened to this lame man. This note of the terrifying responsibility that knowledge brings appears all through the New Testament. "If you were blind you would have no guilt, but now that you say `We see,' your guilt remains" (John 9:41). "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin" (John 15:22). "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin" (James 4:17). To have seen the full light of the revelation of God is the greatest of privileges, but it is also the most terrible of responsibilities, and it had happened in the coming of Christ.