Acts 2:22

Ἰσραηλῖται : the tone of St. Peter throughout is that of a man who would win and not repulse his hearers, cf. Acts 5:29, and so he commences the second part of his speech, in proof that Jesus was both Lord and Christ, with a title full of honour, reminding his hearers of their covenant relation with God, and preparing them for the declaration that the covenant was not broken but confirmed in the person of Jesus. Ἰ. τὸν Ναζ., “the Nazarene,” the same word (not Ναζαρηνός) formed part of the inscription on the Cross, and it is difficult to believe with Wendt that there is no reference to this in St. Peter's words (cf. προσπήξαντες, Acts 2:23; Acts 2:36), although no doubt the title was often used as a description of Jesus in popular speech, Acts 4:10; Acts 26:9. No contrast could be greater than between Ἰησοῦς the despised Nazarene (ὁ Ν. οὗτος, Acts 6:14) dying a felon's death, and Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Acts 5:38, ὑψωθείς, Acts 5:33, no longer upon the Cross, but at a seat on the right hand of the Father (cf. John 12:12); again the marvellous change which had passed over St. Peter is apparent: “If Christ had not risen,” argues St. Chrysostom, “how account for the fact that those who fled whilst He was alive, now dared a thousand perils for Him when dead? St. Peter, who is struck with fear by a servant-maid, comes boldly forward” (so too Theophylact). ἄνδρα ἀποδεδειγ. ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς ὑμᾶς, “a man approved of God unto you,” R.V. The word, only used by St. Luke and St. Paul in the N.T. (cf. Acts 25:7, 1 Corinthians 4:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:4) = demonstrated, and “approved” in its old meaning would be a good equivalent; so in classical Greek, in Plato and Aristotle, shown by argument, proved, cf. Acts 25:7. The sense of the word is given by the gloss in δεδοκιμασμένον. It occurs in Esther 2:9, AB, and Acts 3:13 (LXX), and several times in the Books of the Maccabees (see Hatch and Redpath, sub v.). ἄνδρα : Erasmus commends the wisdom of Peter, “qui apud rudem multitudinem Christum magnifice laudat, sed virum tantum nominat, ut ex factis paullatim agnoscant Divinitatem”. ἀπό : probably here not simply for ὑπό (as Blass, and Felten, and others). The phrase means “a man demonstrated to have come unto you from God by mighty works,” etc. If the words may not be pressed to mean our Lord's divine origin, they at least declare His divine mission (John 3:2), divinitus (Wendt in loco). δυνάμεσι καὶ τέρασι καὶ σημείοις : cf. 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4, and 2 Thessalonians 2:9; cf. Romans 15:19. σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα : no less than eight times in Acts. δυνάμεις is often rendered in a way which rather obscures its true form and meaning. Lit [126] = “powers,” and so here in R.V. margin, where in the text we have “mighty works,” so in Hebrews 2:4. St. Luke is fond of using δύναμις of the power inherent in Christ, and so the plural might well be used of the outward manifestations of this power in Christ, or through Him in His disciples. The word therefore seems in itself to point to the new forces at work in the world (Trench, N. T. Synonyms, ii., p. 177 ff.). τέρατα : the word is never used in the N. T. alone as applied to our Lord's works or those of His disciples, and this observation made by Origen is very importaut, since the one word which might seem to suggest the prodigies and portents of the heathen world is never used unless in combination with some other word, which at once raises the N.T. miracles to a higher level. And so whilst the ethical purpose of these miracles is least apparent in the word τέρατα, it is brought distinctly into view by the word with which τέρατα is so often joined σημεῖα, a term which points in its very meaning to something beyond itself. Blass therefore is not justified in speaking of σημεῖα and τέρατα as synonymous terms. The true distinction between them lies in remembering that in the N.T. all three words mentioned in this passage have the same denotation but a different connotation they are all used for miracles, but miracles regarded from different points of view (see Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 406). οἷς ἐποίησεν … ὁ Θεὸς. The words, as Alford points out against De Wette, do not express a low view of our Lord's miracles. The favourite word used by St. John for the miracles of Christ, ἔργα, exactly corresponds to the phrase of St. Peter, since these ἔργα were the works of the Father Whom the Son revealed in them (cf. St. John 5:19; John 14:10). καθὼς καὶ αὐτοὶ οἴδατε : Weiss rightly draws attention to the emphatic pronoun. The fact of the miracles was not denied, although their source was so terribly misrepresented; cf. “Jesus Christ in the Talmud,” Laible, E.T. (Streane), pp. 45 50 (1893).

[126] literal, literally.