Acts 2:37

Effect of the First Discourse of St. Peter, 37-41.

‘St. Luke here relates what was the fruit of the sermons, that we may know that the Holy Spirit was displayed not merely in the variety of tongues, but in the hearts too of those who heard' (Calvin).

Acts 2:37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. ‘They' does not of necessity mean all who heard; but the sequel, which speaks of three thousand baptized, implies that a vast number of the hearers were affected. For the first time since the crucifixion, when they shouted applause or stood passively by, the people repented them of their cruel deed. Then after all they had crucified the Messiah: would He from His throne in heaven take vengeance on His murderers?

And said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? In the bitter sorrow and deep regret of these men for what they had done or allowed to be done, the words of Zechariah 12:10 seem to have received a partial fulfilment: ‘And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.'

Men and brethren. This friendly, courteous address showed how already the people's hearts were moved. It was not so they had addressed them before St. Peter's sermon, when they contemptuously mocked them, and said, ‘These men are full of new wine' (Acts 2:13).