網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

but the translators were not prepared to follow Peter in calling Christ a man, and therefore have adopted a phrase which may imply that Christ was something more than human.

15.

And killed the prince of life," the leader of life," whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.

When Christ is called the leader of life, there is an allusion to the situation of an officer of an army, who goes before, or leads his men. In like manner, Jesus is the leader of Christians to eternal life, being the first of the human race who rose from the dead to that condition. It was to remove the imputation cast upon the character of Jesus by the Jews, who preferred a robber, and crucified the Messiah, that God conferred upon him the honour of bestowing miraculous powers upon his disciples, and particularly, that of enabling one of them to produce the present cure. And this is what Peter refers to, when he says, (verse thirteenth,) that the God of their fathers had glorified his servant Jesus. It was to Christ, principally, and not to the two apostles, that God meant to do honour by this event. He next explains how so great a favour came to be conferred upon the man who was cured of his lameness: he derived this benefit from his faith in Christ.

16. And by faith in his name hath he given strength to this man, whom ye see and know that name, I say, and that faith therein hath given him this perfect soundness in the sight of you all.

In this manner may this verse be translated, by only a small alteration in the punctuation, which renders its meaning clear and obvious; whereas it is very perplexed and confused, according to the common method of reading. The apostle asserts, that the name of Christ, or rather, faith in Christ, which the mention of his name excited, produced this extraordinary cure. This declaration corresponds very well with the language of Christ upon similar occasions, who often said to those whom he cured, Thy faith hath made thee whole. It was only upon such as had some degree of faith in the divine power, that God thought fit to confer these favours.

17. And now, brethren, I wot, "I know," that through ignorance ye did it, without any intention of fulfilling the divine purpose, as did also your

rulers.

18. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

The apostle is not here offering an apology for the Jewish people and rulers, in their preceding conduct in rejecting and crucifying the Messiah, by saying, that it was the effect of ignorance,

and therefore, in some degree excusable. But he asserts that in ignorance, or contrary to their intentions, they had fulfilled the purpose of Divine Providence, which had been foretold by all the prophets which spake of Christ, that he should suffer death. In that event, therefore, there was nothing which ought to give them offence.

REFLECTIONS.

1. THE wretched condition of this cripple, who could neither walk nor move, should teach us to be thankful to God for the use of our limbs. In his case we see and acknowledge the propriety of his praising God for restoring the use of them, and should have charged him with the grossest insensibility and ingratitude, if he had neglected to testify a sense of his obligations in this manner. Yet to a like charge we are ourselves liable, if, after having enjoyed, for thirty or forty years, the favour now first conferred upon him, we have not perceived its value, and acknowledged it in grateful praise. Whatever our past conduct has been, let us be careful that we do not incur the same reproach in future. Let us admire the skill which framed the curious limb, which endued it with its various movements, and which preserves it in a sound state and fit for use, notwithstanding the many accidents to which it is liable, and the constant exercise in which it is employed. To awaken our gratitude, we need only consider how unhappy our condition must be, if, instead of conveying ourselves from place to place, we must be conveyed by others; if we could not walk when we pleased, to execute the business of life, to visit our friends, or to attend the house of God: we need only look at those unfortunate men among our brethren who have lost a limb, or cannot use it without pain.

2. This story furnishes us with a striking example of the unassuming, disinterested conduct of the apostles. The first converts had already divided their substance, and all things were common; and the apostles of Christ, no doubt, by their superior authority, might have secured a large portion of it to themselves. But we have no reason to suspect them of any selfish, interested views: we still find them poor fishermen, without silver or gold to give away. When a miracle is performed, and the astonished multitude are disposed to regard them with extraordinary veneration, as the authors, they ascribe all the honour to their Master, and assume nothing to themselves. Thus we discover, that their attachment to the gospel, and their zeal for propagating it in the world, was a pure, disinterested regard; for they sought not to enrich or to aggrandize themselves; and, therefore, in the highest degree honourable to them, and to the cause which they espoused.

3. Let Peter's resolution respecting this man, be ours, respecting all those who may be in like circumstances: such as I have, give I unto thee. Ability to confer alms is confined to a few, and may not be within our reach. But there is a variety of other ways

in which we may do good to the distressed. If we cannot relieve them by charitable donations, we may afford them assistance or comfort by personal services, by our advice, or by our company. If we cannot give assistance ourselves, we may recommend them to others, who are better able to afford it.

In whichever of these ways we can give pleasure, or remove 'pain, that let us adopt; remembering, that offerings of this nature will be well received; since every man is accepted according to what he hath, and not according to what he hath not.

THE apostle Peter, having explained to the multitude the design of the miracle performed upon the lame man, namely, that it was intended to confirm the divine mission of Jesus, exhorts the Jews to submit to his authority, and to repent of their guilt in rejecting him.

19. Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times, "that the times," of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord:

20. And that he may send Jesus Christ appointed for you;

21. Whom the heaven must receive, until the times of the completion of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets [from the beginning*.]

The repentance, to which Peter here exhorts the Jews, did not relate to their ill conduct in general, but only in one particular instance, the rejection of the Messiah. In respect to this subject, he exhorts them to change their mind, in consequence of what he had said of the miracle just performed, and to embrace the Christian faith. As an encouragement to do so, he assures them, that their sins would be blotted out; that is, that they would be taken from that unholy and dangerous state in which they lay,as unbelievers, into one that was safe and holy. The consequence would likewise be, that the times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord. These times of refreshing are supposed to refer to the ease and prosperity which the Jewish converts to Christianity would enjoy, when the persecution of their countrymen ceased, upon the destruction of the Jewish state and government. Another advantage to be derived from their conversion was, that Christ, who was fore-ordained for this purpose, would be sent. The coming of Christ is frequently used in the New Testament, to express, not a personal appearance, but any remarkable display of divine power in his favour, by the accomplishment

* The words an' alavos are marked by Griesbach as probably spurious.

[blocks in formation]

of his predictions, or the success of his gospel. Thus the destruction of Jerusalem is called the coming of the Son of man and in the same, or a like sense, the apostle might intend to speak, when he says, that he would be sent. He says, further, that the heaven must receive him; by which we are to understand not any local situation, in which he is to continue, the sky, or the presence of God, but a state of dignity and power, which, in metaphorical language, is being in heaven. In this state he will continue until the times of the restitution, or rather to the times of the completion, of all things which have been predicted concerning him by any of the prophets; or until he has subdued all the enemies of his gospel. This corresponds with the language of Paul, who, speaking of Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 25, says, that he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet. See also Heb. x. 12, 13.*

66

22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise unto you of your brethren, like unto me, as he raised me;" him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

23. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

Peter having in the preceding verses mentioned the testimony borne to the character of Jesus, as a divine teacher, by the miracle just performed, and called upon them to receive him as the Messiah, reminds his countrymen of the prophecy delivered of old by Moses, in which he foretold a succession of prophets, which God would raise up among the children of Israel, and at the same time, of the severe punishment threatened to those who should disregard their messages, which he applies to the present occasion. The words of Moses may seem to refer to one prophet in particular; and it may be thought, from what follows here, that they were so understood by Peter, and applied by him solely to the Messiah; but the connexion in which they first occur in the book of Deuteronomy, plainly shows that a succession of prophets was intended, and that a prophet is spoken of as a representative of a series of prophets. The apostle's argument, however, is by no means injured by this supposition; for the regard due to all the prophets is equally requisite to every individual. When Peter says that those who refused to listen to the prophet which God should raise up, should be cut off from among the people, he delivers the sense, rather than the words of the prophecy; for his language does not correspond with either the Hebrew or Greek copies of the Old Testament.

24. Yea, and all the prophets, from Samuel, and

* Le Clerc, and Ernesti's Dissert. quoted by Rosenmüller.

as many as follow after as have spoken, have foretold of these days.

Samuel is the only prophet after Moses, of whom any writings, bearing his name, are come down to us, and in them there is a prophecy of the Messiah, 2 Sam. vii. 12, &c. This was delivered by Nathan to David; yet being in the books which bear the name of Samuel, it is attributed to him. When it is said that all succeeding prophets foretel the days of Christ, we are not to expect to find it true of every individual of them; it is enough to justify Peter's expression if the majority of them did so.

25. Ye are the children of the prophets, or, as some conjecture, by a slight alteration," of these prophecies."* and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

He calls them the children of these prophecies, if we take this reading, and of this covenant, because they are the descendants of those to whom they were delivered, and therefore, entitled to the privileges which they granted, which he now calls upon them to accept.

The meaning of the promise made to Abraham, In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed, is, that all men would pray for a blessing for those to whom they wished well, by saying, May God make thee as numerous, prosperous, and distinguished by divine favours, as the seed of Abraham; and the language is well illustrated by what Jacob says to the two sons of Joseph, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. The principal of these favours to the seed of Abraham was, causing the Messiah to be born from among them, and sending him to instruct them, in preference to other nations, as is explained in the words that follow.t

26. Unto you first, God, having raised up his servant, Jesus, raised him up as a prophet, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

This was the benevolent design of the Divine Being in the mission of Jesus; but the folly and perverseness of the Jews defeated, in a great measure, his purpose.

* Wakefield, Bowyer.

+ Le Clerc, and Theological Repository, Vol. IV. p. 361.

Peter uses the word wλyevla in the sense of communicating benefits, and not praying for them.

« 上一頁繼續 »