Acts 2:36

ἀσφαλῶς : used here emphatically; the Apostle would emphasise the conclusion which he is about to draw from his three texts; cf. Acts 21:34; Acts 22:30, and Wis 18:6 (so in classical Greek). πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσρ., without the article, for οἶκος Ἰ. is regarded as a proper name, cf. LXX, 1 Samuel 7:2; 1 Kings 12:23; Nehemiah 4:16; Ezekiel 45:6, or it may be reckoned as Hebraistic, Blass, Grammatik des N. G., pp. 147, 158. καὶ Κύριον καὶ Χριστόν : the Κύριος plainly refers to the prophetic utterance just cited. Although in the first verse of Psalms 110 the words τῷ Κυρίῳ μου are not to be taken as a name of God, for the expression is Adoni not Adonai (“the LORD saith unto my Lord,” R.V.), and is simply a title of honour and respect, which was used of earthly superiors, e.g., of Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Sisera, Naaman, yet St. Peter had called David a Prophet, and only in the Person of the Risen and Ascended Christ Who had sat down with His Father on His Throne could the Apostle see an adequate fulfilment of David's prophecy, or an adequate realisation of the anticipations of the Christ. So in the early Church, Justin Martyr, Apol., i., 60, appeals to the words of “the prophet David” in this same Psalm as foretelling the Ascension of Christ and His reign over His spiritual enemies. On the remarkable expression Χριστὸς Κύριος in connection with Psalms 110:1, see Ryle and James, Psalms of Solomon, pp. 141 143, cf. with the passage here Acts 10:36; Acts 10:42. In 1 Peter 3:15 we have the phrase Κύριον δὲ Χριστὸν ἁγιάσατε κ. τ. λ. (R.V. and W.H [128]), “sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord” (R.V.), where St. Peter does not hesitate to command that Christ be sanctified in our hearts as Lord, in words which are used in the O.T. of the LORD of hosts, Isaiah 8:13, and His sanctification by Israel. If it is said that it has been already shown that in Psalms 110:1 Christ is referred to not as the Lord but as “my lord,” it must not be forgotten that an exact parallel to 1 Peter 3:15 and its high Christology may be found in this first sermon of St. Peter, cf. note on Acts 2:18-21; Acts 2:33. τοῦτον τὸν Ι. ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε, “hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified,” R.V., so Vulgate. The A.V., following Tyndale and Cranmer, inverts the clauses, but fails to mark what Bengel so well calls aculeus in fine, the stinging effect with which St. Peter's words would fall on the ears of his audience, many of whom may have joined in the cry, Crucify Him! (Chrysostom). Holtzmann describes this last clause of the speech as “ein schwerer Schlusstein zur Krönung des Gebäudes”.

[128] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.