Acts 3:13

Acts 3:13. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers. No words could have riveted the attention of the people like these. ‘ We have not done this great thing which so astonishes you, but the Eternal of hosts, the Glory and Hope of Israel, the covenant God, in whose royal house we all are standing He has done it.'

Hath glorified his Son Jesus, and by doing it hath glorified that Jesus whom ye all know. ‘His Son' (τὸν παΐδα αύτον). So the Vulgate and ancient interpreters generally (as though the Greek word was υἱόν). All scholars now are agreed that the passage should be rendered ‘hath glorified His servant Jesus.' Messiah is constantly designated by this title, ‘Servant of the Lord' (עֶבר יְה וֹ ָה), in the second part of Isaiah (chaps. 40-66), as the One who carries out the deliberate plan of God the Minister of the Eternal in the redemption of the world. The title is directly applied to Christ (Matthew 12:18) in a quotation from the famous Isaiah prophecies: ‘Behold my Servant (παῑς), whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.' The appellation referring to Christ occurs in the Acts four times with the same signification (comp. Acts 3:26 or this chapter in Acts 4:27; Acts 4:30). None of the apostles is ever called παῑς Θεοῡ, but only δοῡλος Θεοῡ.

Whom ye delivered up, and denied him. The picture St. Peter paints to the Jews of their guilt is exceedingly vivid. He piles up the terrible contrasts. This Jesus God hath glorified; but ye, denying that He was Messiah, have delivered Him up to shame and death. Pilate, the mocking careless Roman, could not find in his heart to condemn Him; but you urged him on, clamouring for His blood. You were offered (Acts 3:14) the choice between a murderer and the Holy and Righteous One, and you chose the murderer. The Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, you in your shortsightedness deprived of life.