What is the meaning of Acts 2:23? He was delivered up - Jesus was not a helpless victim; He willingly surrendered Himself. “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord” (John 10:18). - The Father was also active: “The LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). - Paul echoes the same truth: “He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). by God’s set plan - Every detail of Calvary followed a blueprint drawn before time. “They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen” (Acts 4:27-28). - “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world… according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). - The cross was no afterthought; even Revelation calls Jesus “the Lamb who was slain” from earth’s foundation (Revelation 13:8). and foreknowledge - God’s plan included perfect foresight: “I declare the end from the beginning… My purpose will stand” (Isaiah 46:10). - Peter later writes of Christ, “He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the last times for your sake” (1 Peter 1:20). - Divine foreknowledge assures us that nothing—betrayal, trial, or crucifixion—caught God off guard. and you - Peter looks the crowd in the eye. National heritage or religious standing offered no exemption: “You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate… You killed the Author of life” (Acts 3:13-15). - Personal accountability stands alongside divine sovereignty; the audience must own its part in the story. by the hands of the lawless - “Lawless” points to the Gentile authorities. Herod, Pilate, Roman soldiers—all outsiders to God’s law—became instruments of judgment (Acts 4:27). - Pilate’s courtroom scene illustrates it: he washed his hands, yet still “handed Him over to be crucified” (Matthew 27:24-26). - Luke notes, “When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there” (Luke 23:33). put Him to death - The outcome was literal, physical death. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). - Isaiah foretold, “He was pierced for our transgressions… by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). - Hebrews adds purpose: He tasted “death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). by nailing Him to the cross - Peter specifies the method—a shameful Roman execution. “There they crucified Him” (John 19:18). - Yet that very act cancels our guilt: He “canceled the debt… nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). - In doing so He fulfilled, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Galatians 3:13), breaking the curse for us. summary Acts 2:23 weaves together two unbreakable strands. First, God’s sovereign plan and foreknowledge guided every moment; nothing was accidental. Second, human beings—Jews and Gentiles alike—freely chose to reject and crucify Jesus, making them responsible. The cross stands as history’s central event: divinely ordained, willingly embraced by the Son, wickedly carried out by sinners, and powerfully used by God to secure our salvation. |
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