Acts 3:14

τὸν ἅγιον καὶ δίκαιον : both epithets are used of John the Baptist, Mark 6:20, ἄνδρα δίκαιον καὶ ἅγιον, but Jesus is emphatically “the Holy and Righteous One” R.V. Not only is the sinlessness of His human character emphasised, but also associated with the language of prophecy. St. Peter had already spoken of Jesus as God's Holy One, Acts 2:27, and if the word used here means rather one consecrated to God's service, it is the thought involved in the παῖς Θεοῦ (ἅγιος, e.g., ἔκλεκτος θεοῦ, see Grimm, sub v., and cf Isaiah 42:1 LXX). The word was used by the demoniacs as they felt the power of the unique holiness of Christ, Mark 1:34; Luke 4:34, and in St. John's Gospel, John 6:69, it is the title given to Jesus by St. Peter in his great confession. τὸν δικ.: the reference to the language of prophecy is unmistakable. The suffering Servant of Jehovah was also the righteous Servant, Isaiah 53:11 (cf. Acts 11:5, and Jeremiah 23:5), see Acts 7:52; Acts 22:14. Later, in the Book of Enoch, the title is applied to the Messiah as the Righteous One, xxxviii. 2, liii. 6, xlvi. 3 (Charles' edition, pp. 48, 112, 144). In Acts 7:52; Acts 7:56, the title is found on the lips of St. Stephen, and in Acts 22:14, Ananias, a Jewish Christian, announces to Paul that God had chosen him to see the Righteous One. When we remember too that this title is used again in the writings of each of the Apostles, who now appealed to it, 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:1, cf. Acts 3:20 (Revelation 3:7), it would seem that it was not only a favourite one amongst these early believers, but that it affords in itself a marvellous proof of the impression made by the human life of Jesus upon those who knew Him best, or who at all events, like St. Stephen, had ample opportunities of learning the details of that life of holiness and righteousness, cf. also Matthew 27:19; Matthew 27:24; Luke 19:47. ἄνδρα φονέα : nearly all commentators dwell upon the marked contrast between this description of Barabbas and that just given of Jesus. Both St. Mark, Mark 15:7, and St. Luke, Luke 23:19, notice that Barabbas was not only a robber but a murderer. The addition, ἄνδρα, common in Luke, makes the expression stronger than the simple φονέα; cf. Soph., O. C., 948, ἄνδρα πατροκτόνον, O. R., 842, ἄνδρας λῃστάς. No crime was more abhorrent to the Christian life, as St. Peter himself indicates, 1 Peter 4:15. χαρισθῆναι : to be granted to you as a χάρις or favour, as if St. Peter would recall the fact that Pilate had given them a gratification! The verb is used several times in Luke, three times in his Gospel, Acts 7:21; Acts 7:42-43, and four times in Acts, cf. Acts 25:11; Acts 25:16; Acts 27:24, elsewhere only in St. Paul's Epistles, where it is found fifteen times. In the LXX, cf. Esther 8:7, Sir 12:3, and several times in the Books of the Maccabees, cf. 2Ma 3:31; 2Ma 3:33, and other instances in Hatch and Redpath, sub v. St. Chrys. writes: “Peter shows the great aggravation of the act. As he has them under his hand, he strikes hard; while they were hardened he refrained from such language, but when their minds are most moved then he strikes home, now that they are in a condition to feel it” (Hom., ix.).