And *we* declare unto you the glad tidings of the promise made to the fathers,
Paul is preaching in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, where he has traced Israel's history down to Jesus. Now he announces the news itself: God has kept to their children the promise He made to the fathers.
Up to this point Paul has been laying out facts. Here he begins to press their meaning on the people in front of him.
From verse 32 comes the application of the facts about the Messiah, already given in verses 23-31. Chief among them are His death at man's hands, His resurrection by God, and the full witness of His appearing afterwards among those who knew Him best.
The good news is not a new offer added to the old promise. It is the old promise arriving in a Person, and the following verse anchors that in Psalm 2:7.
Christ's coming fulfilled the promise made to the fathers. Their children now had the good news of it in His Person here below. The raising up of Jesus in verse 33 therefore goes no further than the Child born, the Son given. Psalm 2:7 agrees. It refers not to His resurrection from the dead, as many have supposed, but to His birth, just as the words say... He, the Messiah, born of woman, born under law, was the object, accomplisher, and heir of the promises.
Commentators differ over this phrase. Many read it as the resurrection. Others point out that the next verse adds "from the dead" as a separate, further step.
God raised up the Messiah according to promise and the prophecy of the second psalm. To that, verse 34 adds another and still more important truth: God raised Him up "from the dead"... Acts 3:22, 26 and Acts 7:37 are clear cases of this use of "raised up" in the same book.
Others look at how the New Testament uses the word "begotten" of the Son:
The New Testament speaks of the Son as begotten in several places: Acts 13:32, Hebrews 1:5 and Hebrews 5:5. Not one of them refers to the Son being born. Each points instead to His being begotten to an office — in resurrection, in being supreme in the inhabited world, and in priesthood.
The people Paul addresses had rejected the very One in whom the promise came. That is where the resurrection enters his argument.
He begins with a short history of the people of Israel. It leads straight to the point: God fulfilled His promise to His people Israel by giving them Christ in incarnation (vv. 32-33). But Israel rejected and killed their Messiah. Humanly speaking, at this point all was lost. But what did God do? He "raised Him from among the dead, no more to return to corruption"... God had promised that David would have a descendant to sit on his throne (2 Sam. 7:16). This promise is absolutely certain, sure and unalterable. To fulfil it, God raised up Christ from among the dead.
Because the promise is now secured in a risen Messiah, it cannot stay within the boundaries of one nation.
Only the death and resurrection of the Messiah could make the covenant everlasting. Only that way could the promised holy or merciful blessings of David become unbreakable... Only that way could the soul even of the Jew live, or the door of grace open wide enough to take in a Gentile.
Paul does not end with history. He ends by putting something into his hearers' hands that same day.
"Forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you" — not promised for the future, but proclaimed now, announced as a present reality. "And by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses."
- Promise. Paul announces no fresh offer. He announces the promise God made to the fathers, now kept for their children.
- Person. The promise arrives in a Person. Christ, born of woman and born under law, is the object, accomplisher, and heir of the promises.
- Debate. Commentators differ on "raised up." Some read it as Christ's coming into the world, with resurrection added only in the next verse. Others read "begotten" as marking an office God gave Him.
- Resurrection. Israel rejected and killed their Messiah. God raised Him from the dead, and that made the promised mercies of David unbreakable.
- Reach. A risen Messiah cannot stay inside one nation. So the same sermon ends by announcing forgiveness and freedom now, to everyone who believes.
that God has fulfilled this to us their children, having raised up Jesus; as it is also written in the second psalm, *Thou* art my Son this day have *I* begotten thee.
Paul is preaching in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, and he tells his listeners that God has kept His promise to their ancestors. He proves it from the second Psalm, which raises two questions: what does "raising Jesus" mean, and how can an eternal Son be begotten on one particular day?
God's promise to Israel was not left hanging. He kept it by giving a Person.
The coming of Christ fulfilled the promise made to the fathers. Their children now had the good news of it in His person here below. The raising up of Jesus in verse 33 does not therefore go beyond the Child thus born, the Son thus given. This agrees with Psalm 2:7, which refers not to His resurrection from the dead, as many have supposed, but to His birth, as the words simply say. He, the Messiah, born of a woman, born under law, was the object, accomplisher, and heir of the promises.
The ESV reads "by raising Jesus." Older versions have "raised up again," which points the reader to the resurrection. But the same verb appears elsewhere in Acts for God bringing a man onto the stage of history.
The word "raised up" here has a wider meaning than where it is repeated just after. It means that God ordained Christ and, as it were, brought Him into the light by His own hand, so that He might fulfil the office of Messiah. Scripture also shows us kings and prophets raised up by the Lord. Acts 3:22, 26 and Acts 7:37 are clear cases of this use of "raised up" in the same book... "Raised up" is correct. "Raised again" would fit only if the text certainly pointed to the resurrection, and it does not at all. But "raised up again" is unjustifiable.
So the next verse goes further. There God raises Him from the dead.
The word "begotten" is where readers stumble. It sounds like the Son had a starting date.
The eternal Son was never begotten. Even if He is called the only-begotten Son, the sense is not any begetting. It means "unique and the only one of its kind." But here we have the begetting: the creation of a being who has not been there before in this way — a man in this world... This wonder, "today I have begotten you," comes true; this miracle of the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. And the angel answered her [Mary], "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." That is "today I have begotten you" in Psalm 2:7. And therefore the holy thing, this little child, this unique child, which shall be born, shall be called Son of God.
The rest of Psalm 2 settles the question. Its own words belong to earth.
This passage is quoted in Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5 and Hebrews 5:5. This however presents no difficulty. It refers plainly to Christ as a man, Jehovah's Anointed and Jehovah's King, in connection with this world. The expressions used — "the hill of Zion," "the uttermost parts of the earth," and "this day" — clearly belong to the earth and to time. This confirms the view.
Commentators differ here. Some tie the words to the incarnation alone, others also to the resurrection — while holding that neither one makes Him Son.
This psalm shows the royal glory and world-wide rule of Christ, the One whom Israel and the nations reject... The title here refers to His incarnation, and secondarily to His resurrection from the dead (Acts 13:33-34). So this statement is not about the fact of His eternal Sonship. It speaks of Him as Son of God in time. The eternal Son of God became incarnate, but this did not lower His eternal Sonship... "But for the truth, and for His own personal dignity, it is of the highest importance to remember this: His Sonship when incarnate, and in resurrection too, rests on His eternal relationship as Son. Without that, the other could not be."
Paul does not stop at who this Man is. He turns the argument into an offer his hearers can take home that day.
"Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this Man" (Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and glorified) "forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you" — not promised for the future, but proclaimed now, announced as a present reality — "and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses."
- Promise — God kept His word to the ancestors, and He kept it by giving a Person: the Child born, the Son given.
- Raised up — God brought Jesus forward as Messiah, as He once raised up kings and prophets. Resurrection comes next, in verse 34.
- Begotten — not the start of an eternal relationship, but the miracle of incarnation: the holy child born of Mary is called Son of God.
- Today — Zion, the ends of the earth, "this day": the psalm's own words tie the verse to earth and time. Commentators differ over whether resurrection is also in view.
- Therefore — the identity of this Son is the ground of the offer: forgiveness preached now, and freedom the law of Moses could never give.