Acts 2:39

ὑμῖν γὰρ : the promise was made to the very men who had invoked upon themselves and upon their children, St. Matthew 27:25, the blood of the Crucified. See Psalms of Solomon, Acts 8:39 (Ryle and James' edition, p. 88). πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς μακράν : no occasion with Wendt and others to limit the words to the Jews of the Diaspora. It must not be forgotten that the Apostles were not surprised that the Gentiles should be admitted to the Christian Church, but only that they should be admitted without conforming to the rite of circumcision. If we compare Acts 3:26, and Ephesians 2:13; Acts 2:17 (cf. Romans 10:13), it would seem that no restriction of race was placed upon the declaration of the Gospel message, provided that it was made to the Jew first (as was always Paul's custom). Hilgenfeld interprets the words as referring beyond all doubt to the Gentiles, since ὑμῖν … ὑμῶν had already expressed the Diaspora Jews. But he contends that as Acts 2:26 plainly intimates that the address was delivered only to Israelites, the words in question are added by “the author to Theophilus”. He therefore places them in brackets. Jüngst in the same way thinks it well to refer them to the Redactor, and Feine refers them to Luke himself as Reviser. Weiss sees in the words an allusion to an O.T. passage which could only have been applied at first to the calling of the Gentiles, but which (in the connection in which it is here placed by the narrator) must be referred to the Jews of the Diaspora. It may well have been that (as in Holtzmann's view) St. Peter's audience only thought of the Jews of the Diaspora, but we can see in his words a wider and a deeper meaning, cf. Isaiah 5:26, and cf. also Isaiah 2:2; Zechariah 6:15. Among the older commentators Oecumenius and Theophylact referred the words to the Gentiles. ὅσους ἂν προσκαλέσηται Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν. Wendt presses the to favour his view that St. Peter thinks only of the Jews and not of the Gentiles, since he speaks of “our God,” but Blass catches the meaning much better in his comment: “ ἡμῶν Israelitarum, qui idem gentes ad se vocat”. This gives the true force of προσκαλ., “shall call unto him” (so R.V.). Oecumenius also comments on the words as revealing the true penitence and charity of Peter, ψυχὴ γὰρ ὅταν ἑαυτὴν καταδικάσῃ, οὐκ ἔτι φθονεῖν δύναται.