Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 2:36

"Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified." — Acts 2:36 (ASV)

With the proclamation of Jesus as Lord and Messiah, Peter reaches the climax and conclusion of his sermon. The initial “therefore” shows that God’s resurrection and exaltation of Jesus accredit him as humankind’s Lord and Israel’s Messiah.

And Peter calls upon “all Israel” to know with certainty that “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Jesus was acknowledged and proclaimed Lord and Christ both after his resurrection and because of his resurrection. In Jewish thought, no one had a right to the title Messiah till he had accomplished the work of the Messiah. During his earthly ministry, as that ministry is portrayed in all the Gospels, Jesus was distinctly reluctant to accept the acclaim of Lord and Messiah, probably because his understanding of messiahship had to do with suffering and because his concept of lordship had to do with vindication and exaltation by God. But now that Jesus has accomplished his messianic mission in life and death and has been raised by God and exalted “at his right hand,” the titles Lord and Christ are legitimately his. This theme of function and accomplishment as the basis for titular acclaim is a recurring note in the christological statements elsewhere in the NT (cf. Romans 1:4; Hebrews 2:14). The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is God’s open avowal that the messianic work has been accomplished and that Jesus now has the full right to assume the messianic title. In the twelve instances in Acts where the word “Christ” (GK 5986; see comment on Mk 8:29–30) appears singly (2:31, 36; 3:18; 4:26; 8:5; 9:22; 17:3a, 26:23) and where “Christ” is in apposition to “Jesus” but still “used” singly (3:20; 5:42; 18:5, 28), it is used as a title, “Messiah.” And in all these instances, it is addressed to a Jewish audience (only 8:5 and 26:23 are possible exceptions, though both the Samaritans and Agrippa II possessed something of a Jewish background and understanding).

Apparently, therefore, the messiahship of Jesus was the distinctive feature of the church’s witness within Jewish circles, signifying, as it does, his fulfillment of Israel’s hopes and his culmination of God’s redemptive purposes. The title “Lord” (GK 3261) was also proclaimed christologically in Jewish circles, with evident intent to apply to Jesus all that was said of God in the OT (cf. the Christological use of Isa 45:23 in Php 2:10). But “Lord” came to have particular relevance to the church’s witness to Gentiles just as “Messiah” was more relevant to the Jewish world. So in Acts Luke reports the proclamation of Jesus as “the Christ” before Jewish audiences both in Palestine and among the Diaspora, whereas Paul in his letters to Gentile churches generally uses Christ as a proper name and proclaims Christ Jesus as “the Lord.”