This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses.
τουτον τον ιησουν ανεστησεν ο θεος ου παντες ημεις εσμεν μαρτυρες
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Next he shows that the prophet was under necessity to speak in this way, because it was a prophecy about Christ. Why then did he not say, "concerning His Kingdom," but, "raised up"? That would have been too lofty for them. "This Jesus God raised up." See how he always names Him in no other way.
Again he points to the Father, although the earlier indication would have been sufficient. But he knew how useful this was for the hearers, so that they might receive what was especially necessary.
"Of which we all are witnesses." And for us the witness is the mighty sound, the fragrance, and the strange tongues in which we speak.
Then the twelve Apostles come forward to the people. Peter, no longer the former Peter, timid and fearful, but courageous and undaunted, speaks to them.
He says that the extraordinary manifestation now accomplished upon them is the work of the Holy Spirit, whom God once promised to send upon His servants.
He says that Jesus Himself sent this Spirit down upon them, His disciples. This is the same Jesus whom the Jews had recently crucified here, and whom God raised from the dead, glorified, and seated at His right hand.
Therefore Jesus is the Christ. The recent instructions of the Risen One Himself had taught that Christ had to suffer, and only by this path enter into His glory.
The present illumination of the Spirit of God opened for Peter's speech a new source of power and proof in the prophecies.
Until then, these prophecies had been obscure and could not exercise such power over the minds of the Jews. Now they were intelligible to everyone who wished to know the truth.
The sign from heaven, which the Jews had so often and so vainly asked of Jesus, now appeared of itself from Him who had ascended into heaven. It testified where the Crucified One, whom they considered powerless, now dwelt.
The ability to speak in new and unknown tongues was an extraordinary gift among the miracles known from ancient and more recent times.
“This Jesus God raised up, of which we all are witnesses.” “And in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true,” Peter seemed now to say by his very appearance with his fellow Apostles.
“Behold, twelve witnesses stand before you. This is a sacred number, laid in the very foundations of our national being, chosen by Jesus Christ as representative of the whole people of Israel and of all the tribes of the earth.”
The apostolic word about the resurrection of Jesus belongs to the explanation of that part of the prophecy where it speaks of the coming of the special, great, and glorious day of the Lord.
The Apostle therefore shows that this day of the Lord, the day of Jehovah, the Hebrew name of the true God, is the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Such a day did indeed follow immediately after the days of signs that had occurred in heaven and on earth.
It is known that the Lord’s day, the day of Jehovah, was anciently the Sabbath, the seventh day, sanctified by the Lord’s rest after the creation of the world.
Especially great was the day of that Sabbath before which Jesus was crucified. This was because, according to the Law, both the Sabbath and the Jewish Passover were then being celebrated.
The Passover was the remembrance of the people’s passage from Egypt into the promised land. But according to the grace and truth that appeared to the world for the salvation of the whole world, that Sabbath day was still greater.
It was for the leading of all from death to eternal life. By surpassing excellence it was great and glorious.
The Church explains this in one of her dogmatika, the dogmatikon of Great Saturday at Vespers before Pascha.
“Today the great Moses mystically prefigured this day when he said,” the Church sings, “‘And God blessed the seventh day.’ For this is the blessed Sabbath. This is the day of rest, on which the Only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works.
“Through the divine economy of death He kept Sabbath in the flesh. Then, returning again through the resurrection to what He was, He granted us eternal life.”
Yet the Old Testament Sabbath does not constitute, in relation to Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord according to the preacher of God. For the Lord’s struggle on the Sabbath day itself was still continuing.
The pains of death still held Him according to the flesh in the tomb. Rather, the following day is meant.
This day, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, is the day of the true Pascha, or the bringing of the human race from death to life. It became the Lord’s day, hemera kyriake.
This is what the first day of the week is called at the very beginning of the apostolic Church, as we see in Revelation.
Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, explained in full detail that the concept of the day of the Lord, according to David’s prophecy, must be transferred from the Sabbath properly so called to the day of new rest in Jesus Christ.
Indeed, these two days, the Sabbath day and the first day, then merged, so to speak, into one. The Lord’s resurrection took place on the very boundary between them.
This is clear from the Gospel history, where it is mentioned partly as having occurred at the beginning of the following day.
On the Sabbath itself, when the Lord’s body rested in the tomb, the Lord, as God, descended in soul into Hades. There He manifested His glory to the Old Testament believers.
In the same way, when the Sabbath had passed, He arose also in the body, to establish His gracious kingdom upon the earth.
On such a day, the day of resurrection or the first day of the week, there also appeared that about which the Apostle was now properly speaking: the outpouring of the Spirit of God.
It was a great and glorious, or bright and illumined, day. On this day, according to the prophet’s word, the gifts of divine knowledge had to be poured out upon all flesh.
Thus prophecies, visions, and revelations had to become the possession of all believers, without distinction of nations, sex, or age.
Indeed, in another of his sermons Saint Peter mentions all those days instead of one day. “All the prophets,” he says, “foretold these days.”
Therefore, under the name of the day of the Lord foretold by the prophet Joel, one may understand, according to the apostolic word, also the whole time that has come in Christ Jesus from His resurrection.
Yet the day of the resurrection is like the morning of the full, great day of grace, “the beginning of another, eternal life,” as we sing of Christ’s day.
In general, every day of our feasts, the feasts of the Lord, may rightly be called one of the Lord’s days. For all feasts in the Old Testament Church were also called Sabbaths of the Lord.
The prophets foretold the days of our salvation, one concerning one day and another concerning another. One, for example, spoke of the Ascension, another of the Nativity, and another especially of Christ’s Baptism.
Yet among them the day of Christ’s resurrection is “the one king and lord of Sabbaths,” according to the Church’s expression.
There is no doubt that the day of light and revelation must be the Lord’s great and illumined day. But had it truly arrived according to the prophecy? This especially had now to be explained to the Apostles’ hearers in Jerusalem.
That Jesus Christ had been crucified was known. But that He had also risen, which the Jews did not believe, was now the chief point needing explanation concerning the day of the Lord.
And now this too has been proved, not only by witnesses, but even by prophecies. Where then is the risen Jesus? This question presented itself to the Jews of its own accord. Therefore the Apostle continued:
Concerning the Resurrection of Christ, the Apostle says that God raised Him in the same sense as above; verse 24, cf. the note.
The emphatic expression, "this Jesus," this one and no other, aims to show that the Messiah foretold by David is precisely this Jesus of Nazareth, and no one else.
"Of which we all are witnesses." Peter refers not only to the other Apostles, but also to other believers. He calls them witnesses of Christ's Resurrection because they saw Him risen, conversed with Him, ate with Him, and touched Him.
Through all this they were assured that He had truly risen from the dead.
Again the Apostle says that God raised Christ, so that the essential subject of his speech might be more readily accepted, namely that Jesus Christ did not see corruption.
The Apostles were true witnesses of this. Although they did not see the moment of Christ's Resurrection, they saw the body of the Risen One and could touch it.
With particular force the Apostle indicates that this very Jesus, whom David foretold as the One who would rise, was raised by God.
He also says that the same One was exalted by the right hand of God to the throne of glory at God's right hand.
The same One, in fulfillment of the promise earlier given to the Apostles by the will of the heavenly Father, poured out those wondrous gifts. They were so evident and audible to all, and brought everyone into perplexity.
Thus here is the answer to all these troubled perplexities. The very Jesus whom you crucified has risen, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit from the Father, pouring Him out in great abundance.
This outpouring partly recalls what was done in the Old Testament through the pouring of oil; see Ps 132:2. Such an outpouring consecrated someone to one or another sacred ministry.
From this the hearers could understand that the Apostles were now no longer simple witnesses of what they had heard and seen. They were grace-filled organs of the Holy Spirit, and therefore their words were worthy of acceptance.
"See," says Blessed Theophylact, "at the beginning of the speech, when he brought the prophet Joel as witness, he did not say that Christ sent the Holy Spirit. He said that the Father sent Him.
But when he had recalled Christ's signs, and what had been done against Christ, and had boldly proclaimed the truth of His Resurrection, then at last he says that He, Christ, poured out the Holy Spirit.
Therefore the prophet was speaking of Him: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days'; Acts 2:17."
The Apostles call themselves "witnesses of the Resurrection" of Christ; Acts 2:32. Yet their office was to bear witness not only to the Resurrection, but also to all His teaching.
So important did they consider the truth of the Resurrection. Indeed, once this truth is established, the truth of everything our Lord did and taught is thereby established.
As the truth of Christ's Resurrection is important for faith, so the truth of our resurrection is important for life. Once this truth is established, all the rules of a holy and God-pleasing life are thereby established immovably.
On Acts 2:22-36. Reason can prove the truth of the Resurrection by its own considerations, on the basis of Scripture. An unbeliever cannot fail to acknowledge the force of its arguments, if the sense of truth has not yet been stifled in him.
Believers do not require proofs, because the Church of God is filled with the light of the Resurrection. Both these indicators of truth are reliable and persuasive.
Yet counterarguments can arise and be raised against the considerations of reason. Faith can be disputed and shaken by perplexities and doubts that come from without and arise within.
Is there no unassailable defense for the truth of the Resurrection? There is. It appears when the power of the Resurrection, received already in baptism, begins to manifest itself actively.
It destroys the corruption of soul and body and establishes in them the principles of new life. Such a person will walk in the light of the Resurrection.
To him, anyone who speaks against the truth of the Resurrection will seem mad, just as one who walks by day would seem mad if he said it is now night.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 11 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS