Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 3:18

"But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled." — Acts 3:18 (ASV)

What strikes the reader immediately in the call-to-repentance section of Peter’s sermon is its attitude toward Israel, which in its hopeful outlook is unmatched in the rest of the NT (except for certain features in Paul’s discussion of Ro 9–11). In v.12 Peter addressed his audience as “Men of Israel” and in v.13 spoke of God as “the God of our fathers.” And though he had emphasized Israel’s part in crucifying Jesus (vv.13–15), he now magnanimously says that they had acted “in ignorance” and, somewhat surprisingly, includes their leaders in this. Then he mitigates their guilt still further by saying that God himself had willed it in order to fulfill the words of the prophets.