Acts 3:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Thus the meaning of this text is that much of what was foretold by the prophets has not yet been fulfilled.

It is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled until the end of the world. For Christ, who ascended into the heavens, will remain there until the end of the world.

He will come with power when everything foretold by the prophets is finally fulfilled. That is, when the end comes and everything sensible ceases, then Christ will be above the heavens.

Yet He still remained on earth for forty days. This is a sign that His most pure humanity, made heavenly by the Cross, was already striving upward immediately after the resurrection from the dead.

It was striving toward the world above the heavens, to the Father. If He still remained on earth, it was out of special love for the disciples.

It was also because of the need to continue speaking with them about the things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).

When this need was satisfied, and when these holy bonds ceased to have force, the Savior's humanity, glorified for the exploit of the Cross, rushed of itself from Olivet to the eternal Sun, like fragrant incense.

It went there, where everything corresponds to His purity and glory. There He must remain until, by His action and power, all things below are also purified and enlightened.

Then the earth itself, having put off coarseness and curse, will become capable of being the place of God's visible and perpetual dwelling with men (Rev 21:3).

The new and great predestination of the Son of Man after His resurrection required this same thing. In the state of humiliation He had to be the sacrifice for all.

In the state of glorification He had to become the disposer and head of all things. But where is the place of the head ordinarily?

Is it not above the whole body? According to this same law, if law is needed even for the Lawgiver, this has now been done.

As Head and Ruler of the whole world, the God-man has been seated at the right hand of God the Father in the heavens.

He is far above all principality and authority and power and dominion (Eph 1:20-21), so that, in Saint Paul's expression, He might gather up in Himself all things, those in heaven and those on earth (Eph 1:10).

By rejecting their Messiah, the Jews broke their covenant with God. Yet according to the prophetic vision of the Apostle Paul, a time will someday come.

The Jewish people, in its mass as a nation, will turn to faith in the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and God will have mercy on His people.

God foretold this conversion of Israel through His prophets, as the Apostle Paul indicates in the mentioned passage, citing the most important of such prophecies.

This time and this event are what the Apostle Peter calls here the restoration of all things, which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from the age.

The apostle contemplates this time as a time before the end of the world. After this, God will send the Messiah appointed for them.

That is, the second coming of the Lord Jesus will follow. The apostle says that God speaks of this by the mouth of all His prophets from the age.

He speaks in the same sense as above, in verse 18, where he said that all the prophets foretold the sufferings of Christ.

Thus the verses under consideration characterize the whole time of Christ's kingdom on earth until His very second coming.

It is a time of spiritual refreshing for believing Jews, as also for Gentiles. Toward the end it is a time of restoring true relations between God and the chosen people.

Then the second glorious coming of the Lord Jesus to earth will follow, for the final judgment of the whole world.

To understand the force of this apostolic exhortation to repentance and conversion of the Jews, the apostle's hearers, to Christ, one must remember something.

The apostles, while urging believers toward a virtuous life, often impressed upon them the need to keep Christ's second coming near in thought.

The day of this coming is unknown, rests in the will of God, and will come like a thief in the night (1 Thess 4:15 and following; 1 Thess 5:1 and following; 1 Cor 7:29 and following, and parallels).

The general "meaning of this text is that much of what was foretold by the prophets has not yet been fulfilled."

"It is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled until the end of the world. For Christ, who ascended into the heavens, will remain there until the end of the world."

"He will come with power when, at last, everything foretold by the prophets is fulfilled" (Theophylact).

"He will come with power when, at last, everything foretold by the prophets is fulfilled."

"Here one must remember," says Bishop Michael, "that the apostles, urging believers toward a virtuous life, often impressed upon them the need to keep Christ's second coming near in thought."

"For the day of this coming is unknown, rests in the will of God, and will come like a thief in the night" (cf. 1 Thess 4:15; 1 Thess 5:1; 1 Cor 7:29).

"The most pure humanity of Jesus Christ, made heavenly by the Cross, was already striving upward immediately after the resurrection from the dead, toward the world above the heavens, to the Father."

"If He still remained on earth, it was out of special love for the disciples, and because of the need to continue speaking with them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3)."

"When this need was satisfied, the Savior's humanity, glorified for the exploit of the Cross, rushed of itself from Olivet to the eternal Sun, like fragrant incense."

"It went there, where everything corresponds to His purity and glory, and where He must remain until, by His action and power, all things below are purified and enlightened."

"Then the earth itself, having put off coarseness and curse, will become capable of being the place of God's perpetual and visible dwelling with men" (cf. Rev 21:3).