Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 3:26

"Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities." — Acts 3:26 (ASV)

No group within Israel that considered itself to be God’s righteous remnant in the inauguration of the final eschatological days could expect to win a hearing among Jews without attempting to define its position vis-à-vis Israel’s great leaders of the past—particularly Abraham, Moses, and David. And that is precisely what Luke shows Peter doing as he concludes his call for repentance. Peter first refers to Moses, quoting his words in Dt 18:15, 18–19. This was a widely accepted messianic proof text of the time, one that emphasized the command to “listen to him” by the addition of the phrase “in everything he tells you.” Peter’s argument here, though not stated, is implicitly twofold: (1) true belief in Moses will lead to a belief in Jesus, and (2) belief in Jesus places one in true continuity with Moses.

In v.24 Peter defines Jesus’ position with respect to David by alluding to Samuel and all the prophets who followed him and by insisting that they too “foretold these days.” Now it is certainly difficult to find any prophecy of Samuel that could be applied to Jesus as explicitly as the words of Moses just quoted. But Samuel was the prophet who anointed David to be king and spoke of the establishment of his kingdom (cf. 1 Samuel 16:13; 15:28; 28:17). Furthermore, Nathan’s prophecy regarding the establishment of David’s “offspring” as recorded in 2 Samuel 7:12–16 was accepted in certain quarters within Judaism as having messianic relevance and was taken by Christians as having been most completely fulfilled in Jesus (cf. 13:22–23, 34; Hebrews 1:5).

Finally, in v.25 Peter goes on to identify commitment to Jesus as Messiah with the promise God made to Abraham in Ge 22:18 and 26:4: “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” What exegetically ties this portion together with what has preceded it is the word “offspring,” which appears in 2 Samuel 7:12 in reference to David’s descendants and in Ge 22:18 and 26:4 in reference to the descendants of Abraham (see comments on 2:25–35 for this principle of Jewish interpretation of the OT). In this way, Peter proclaims that the promise to Abraham also has its ultimate fulfillment in Christ.

Peter’s call to repentance in this sermon is an expression of the remnant theology of the earliest Christian believers at Jerusalem. He addresses his hearers as “heirs of the prophets and of the covenant.” And he concludes with an offer of blessing that is extended first to individuals of the nation Israel (v.26; cf. Romans 1:16; 2:9–10). Luke wants his readers to appreciate something of how the earliest Christian preaching began within a Jewish milieu. From this he will go on to tell how this preaching developed through the various representative sermons that he later includes.