John Calvin Commentary Acts 2:22

"Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know;" — Acts 2:22 (ASV)

Jesus of Nazareth. Now Peter applies the prophecy of Joel to his purpose; namely, that the Jews might thereby know that the time of restoration was present, and that Christ was given to them for this purpose. For this promise was to be fulfilled in no other way, except by the coming of the Mediator.

And this is the right use of all those gifts which we have by Christ, while they bring us to Christ, as to a fountain. But he comes here by little and little. For he does not immediately in the beginning affirm that Jesus was Christ; but he says only that he was a man sent from God, and that he proves by his miracles.

Afterward he adds, that he rose from death when he was slain. By which it appears more certainly and more fully that he was not one of the prophets, but the very Son of God, who was promised to be the repairer of all things. Let this, therefore, be the first part: that Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved by God by manifest testimonies, so that he could not be despised as some lowly and obscure person.

The old interpreter did not translate ὑποδεδειγμένον approved badly. And Erasmus is mistaken, who thinks that he read it otherwise; and he himself did not express Luke’s mind when he translated it as “given.”

For, since that word signifies among the Greeks to show, for which reason mathematicians also call those arguments by which they set a thing, as it were, before a person’s eyes, ἀποδείξεις, or demonstrations, Luke meant to say that Jesus did not come unknown, and without any testimony or approval. Instead, those miracles which God showed by him served this end: that he might be famous and excellent.

Therefore he says that he was shown to the Jews, because God wanted his Son to be considered excellent and great among them. This is as if he were saying that miracles were not appointed for other nations, but for the Jews, so that they might know that Jesus was sent to them from God.

By great works. He calls miracles by these three names. And because God shows forth his power in them in a new and unaccustomed manner, or, at least, procures greater admiration, they are, for good reasons, called great works. For we are commonly more moved when any extraordinary thing happens.

In this respect they are also called wonders, because they make us astonished. And for this reason they are called signs, because the Lord does not want people’s minds to stay there, but to be lifted up higher, as they are referred to another end. He put in three words so that he might more fully extol Christ’s miracles and compel the people, by his accumulation of words, to consider them.

Furthermore, he does not make Christ the chief author, but only the minister, because, as we have already said, he determined to proceed by degrees. Nevertheless, a question may be asked here: whether miracles suffice to be a sufficient and just approval [proof] or not? Because by this means enchanters might cause their trickery to be believed.

I answer that the deceptive tricks of Satan differ greatly from the power of God. Christ says elsewhere that the kingdom of Antichrist shall be in wonders, but he adds immediately, in lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

If anyone objects that we cannot easily discern this difference, because Christ says that these deceptions shall have such a strong appearance that they would deceive (if it were possible) the very elect, I answer again that this error proceeds only from our own lack of understanding, because we are so dull. For God shows His power clearly enough.

Therefore, there is sufficient approval of the doctrine and of the ministry in the miracles which God performs, provided we are not blind.

And while this approval is not of sufficient force among the wicked, because they may now and then be deceived by the false miracles of Satan, this must be attributed to their own blindness. But whoever has a pure heart also knows God with the pure eyes of his mind, as often as God shows Himself. Nor can Satan delude us in any other way, except when, through the wickedness of our heart, our judgment is corrupt and our eyes are blinded, or at least blurred by our own laziness.