Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 13:32

"And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers," — Acts 13:32 (ASV)

To support this four-point confession and to demonstrate the fulfillment of what God has promised, Paul cites three OT passages fraught with messianic meaning for Christians and also for some Jews. The first is Ps 2:7, which Paul uses to bind together Judaism’s confession and Christianity’s confession by juxtaposing it with 2 Samuel 7:6–16 (the text underlying vv.17–22). Both 2 Samuel 7:14 and Ps 2:7 portray God as speaking of his “son.” Linking passages on the basis of their verbal analogies was common in Judaism . In doing this Paul does two things: (1) he brings these two “son” passages together as the substructure of his argument in this synagogue, and (2) he joins OT redemptive history and the history of Jesus, understanding both as having messianic significance.

Paul then quotes Isa 55:3 and Ps 16:10, joining his OT passages again on the interpretative principle of verbal similarities between “the holy blessings” and “the Holy One.” The messianic treatment of Ps 16:10 stems from the earliest Christian preaching at Pentecost (cf. 2:27).