“When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by our own power or piety? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate after he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you. You killed the Originator of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man – whom you see and know – strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all. And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as your rulers did too. But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets – that his Christ would suffer – he has fulfilled in this way. Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you – that is, Jesus. This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you. Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’ And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’ God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.””
— Acts 3:12-26
There’s a lot packed into Peter’s sermon. We could dive into his audience, primarily Jews, and whether their relationship to salvation/“sin” is the same as the wider world. Is Peter’s accusation for the need of their “turning” identical to the broader call for repentance?
What exactly did the prophets foretell? Clearly the people weren’t ready for it. The groundwork may have been laid, but no one was expecting what actually happened, especially a beaten and crucified Messiah, and no one had resurrection on the radar (at least a single person rising before general resurrection). General resurrection wasn’t even developed until late in OT era.
So there’s heavy debate how much is in the OT and how much the NT authors read back into the OT. I definitely think the OT prophets knew of a coming Messiah. They knew of the age of peace. They saw a kingdom. We could look at all sorts of passages of blessings and promises. Looking back, it becomes much more clear what the plan was…which gives us pause when trying to predict our own future based on certain promises.
“Times of refreshing” are the Messianic age, when He reigns. Restoration of all things. Probably part of the already/not yet. We see some of this, but not the full expression. This has begun certainly bc of death/resurrection.
Whoever doesn’t receive Jesus is destroyed/cut off. This is where it’s weird to see if this is Jewish context or not. Cut off is exile language. Destroyed may force us to jump to “hell” language, but Peter may have other options in mind—not so much theologically or terminologically, but as a referent.
NET focuses on plural “iniquities” twice in passage. Luke has emphasis in Luke-Acts on repentance. Not just the since of rejecting Jesus or crucifying Jesus, but all sins. His suffering conquered powers of death and all evil.
Still working through own theology of atonement, which Peter touches on here, and crux of Christian hope, which is bodily resurrection. Occurs when Jesus appears. Peter mentions He it is necessary for Him to be in heaven (wherever that is, for now). But He will appear when all things must be restored. That is our hope. All things, including our bodies, restored, and Jesus’ reign finally experienced in full as king.
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