Acts 2:22-24 22Men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you with miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst just as you yourselves know, 23this man, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by the hands of lawless men, by nailing to a cross, 24whom God raised up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
After the quote from Joel, Peter gets right to the point of how he interprets the fulfillment of the prophecy. Luke recounts this part of the speech in one long, complex sentence in the Greek. The focus of Peter’s message is Jesus of Nazareth. He calls the crowd to focus and listen. Here is the meaning of what Joel meant. Joel was speaking to his day, but also spoke of something far in the future. Peter will draw upon other Scripture texts in his sermon. He and other early Christians saw Jesus as the fulfillment of many Old Testament passages. His message is a good example of what early Christian preaching was about and a good reminder of what preaching today should be about: Jesus, his ministry, death, and resurrection, and how he brings salvation to all who believe in him.
Each of Peter’s statements give the bare minimal summary of significant events. The assumption is that the people of Jerusalem has witnessed many of these events. He begins with a short statement about Jesus’ ministry. Peter connects the second part of Joel’s prophecy about wonders and signs with Jesus’ miraculous that he did right before the people. The perfect passive participle attested (apodedeigmenon) can mean to show, demonstrate, or point out in a public way. The tense indicates God’s ongoing testimony of Jesus’ identity, namely through his followers and what the crowd was witnessing. Jesus’ miraculous power continues through the church. Peter reminds the people that Jesus was no ordinary man, charlatan, or possessed by Beelzubul (Matthew 12:24), like the religious leaders claimed. No one could do the miracles he did if not through God’s power. The men of Jerusalem (an inclusive term, though Peter was likely speaking to a mostly male crowd) had seen for themselves all that he said and heard his teaching. If they were honest and open to God’s leading, they would agree with Peter’s first statement. Strategically, Peter has connected with the crowd by identifying something they knew and had experienced.
His second point in verse 23 is about Jesus’ arrest and trial. The religious leaders may have thought that they were in control, but this was all according to God’s plan, spoken in prophecies such as Isaiah 53, which Peter later alludes to in his first letter (1 Peter 2:21-25). Third, he points fingers at the Jews of Jerusalem for crucifying Jesus. Likely, some of the Jewish leaders were in the crowd, but Peter is speaking more corporately to Jews as a whole. Jesus was rejected by the people he came to save, especially those in Jerusalem. But once again, this was all part of God’s plan and prophesied long ago. The Sanhedrin acted according to their freewill, yet God was also in control because this was part of his plan even before the creation of the world. The lawless could be a reference to the Romans, who were outside of God’s law. The leaders used the Romans to do their dirty work of killing Jesus.
Verse 24 completes the quick overview of the key identity of Jesus. Although the Jews killed Jesus, God raised him up. Jesus’ resurrection confirmed the significance and divine purpose for all the other aspects of his life. Because God did the raising, once again, as Peter points out, this was clearly God’s plan. God was greater than any human efforts to get rid of Jesus. The point about resurrection may have been the more difficult thing for the crowd to accept, but this is where faith steps in. The proof of Jesus’ resurrection was in the miracle of languages right before the people. Peter used prophecy, physical evidence, emotion, and logic in his appeal to the crowd, all within a few verses. Death could not hold Jesus because of who he is as the divine Son of God.
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