Acts 2:28Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"The ways of life," that is, those ways which the souls of the righteous traversed together with the Redeemer as they came out from the places below. In the words, "You will fill me with joy with Your countenance," the countenance should be understood as the manifestation of the Lord in divine form and His gracious regard for us, by which He looked upon us more closely.

Then the twelve Apostles come forward to the people, and Peter speaks to them. He is no longer the former Peter, timid and fearful, but courageous and fearless. He says that the extraordinary event now taking place among them is the action of the Holy Spirit, whom God once promised to send upon His servants. He says that Jesus Himself sent down this Spirit upon them, the disciples of Jesus. This was the same Jesus whom the Jews had recently crucified here, whom God raised from the dead, glorified, and seated at His right hand. Therefore Jesus is the Christ. The recent teachings of the Risen One Himself had shown that Christ had to suffer and enter into His glory only by this path.

Verses 25-28. Yet an explanation of the mystery of the death of Jesus Christ, according to the union in Him of the divine and human natures, was not yet suited to the hearers and was not timely. Therefore, in explaining the Resurrection of Jesus, the Apostle again turns his hearers' attention to the words of Holy Scripture, which they could not but believe. He speaks further as if saying: "Do not think that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we proclaim, is something new and an unexpected accident. Do not reason from that side, as though asking whether it is possible. Turn to the psalms known to all of you, so often repeated and read every Sabbath in your synagogues. In them David long ago foretold that such a resurrection had once to occur.

The same thought is expressed in the following saying: "You have made known to Me the ways of life." From this comes the joy and gladness of this righteous One before the face of God. Applied to the Messiah, this means joy in the closest communion and union with God, when after the Resurrection and Ascension He received also according to His humanity the glory He had with the Father before the world existed (Jn 17:5). "He did not use these words without reason, 'You will fill Me with joy before Your face,' after mentioning the Resurrection. By this He teaches that instead of sorrow He will be in everlasting gladness, having become impassible, unchangeable, and immortal also according to His human nature. For as God He always was such.

Compare Ps 15:8-11. This chief prophetic passage contains hope for such swift deliverance from death that the body will not have time to undergo corruption. According to the teaching of the Old Testament, all the souls of the dead passed into a dark and empty place called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek. To be freed from this place means to rise. See Gen 42:38 and Is 14:9. Incorruption is the same as resurrection, but indicated for a more definite, that is, nearer time. See Jn 11:24. Thus, by both expressions, as synonyms, one and the same thought is expressed from different sides, the general spiritual side and the outward bodily side.