The Scriptures and God’s Promise

Introduction:

Paul and Barnabas sit in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch.

They have been asked to offer words of encouragement to the people, if they have them.

Paul has taken the lead and has explained God’s trustworthiness.

It took the form of a recitation of events about Jesus from a decade and a half earlier.

Those who dwelled in Jerusalem and those who ruled over them fulfilled the scriptures in their misunderstanding or outright ignorance of what the scriptures teach.

Paul and Barnabas are communicators that God has fulfilled and sent forth to be published the word of salvation. (Acts 13:26).

This salvation is not a powerful, ruling Messiah. At least it is not yet so.

It is the crucified and resurrected Messiah.

The key issue seems to be: God promised deliverance to the Fathers through the incarnated Jehovah who would die, be buried, and be raised from the dead.

Their generation lived in the days when God fulfilled that promise.

Paul begins the biblical explanation of this promise from Ps. 2.

Is. 55:3

Ps. 16:10

Psalm 2:7: Prophecy of Resurrection

We have already seen that the church at Jerusalem understood Psalm 2 to prophesy of what happened to Messiah.

Acts 4:25–28 “ὁ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου στόματος Δαυὶδ παιδός σου εἰπών· ἱνατί ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν κενά; παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ. συνήχθησαν γὰρ ἐπʼ ἀληθείας ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ ἐπὶ τὸν ἅγιον παῖδά σου Ἰησοῦν ὃν ἔχρισας, Ἡρῴδης τε καὶ Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος σὺν ἔθνεσιν καὶ λαοῖς Ἰσραήλ, ποιῆσαι ὅσα ἡ χείρ σου καὶ ἡ βουλή [σου] προώρισεν γενέσθαι.”

Ps. 2 gives us three NT teachings about Jesus:

He would be opposed.

He would be raised confirming his deity and legitimizing his high priestly role.

He would rule with a rod of iron (Revelation).

Notice that the Psalmist, according to Ps. 2:7, communicates Jehovah’s decree.

He said “to me”:

You yourself are my Son: a statement of affirmation not conferral.

“Today, I have begotten you.”

We can understand this as a statement of enthronement, but that only appears to be the possible understanding from Heb. 5:5.

Paul uses it to as a prophecy of resurrection that confirms Jesus’ divine status.

The writer of Hebrews also shares this usage (see Heb. 1:5).

Introduction Part 2: What Holds this Together?

We see the message of the apostles, even beyond Palestine, rooted in the scriptures.

They claim promises and prophecies have been fulfilled.

God made a promise of forgiveness of sins to the Fathers.

God explained through the prophets how he would fulfill that promise.

Now, God has fulfilled the promise in the manner He claimed he would.

They aren’t revivalists or street preachers.

Might this be a significant model?

Is. 55:3: Addresses What Kind of Resurrection?

This one is the more difficult to understand, but it appears Paul understands this text as a companion to Ps. 16:10.

This scripture, then, prophesies of a specific kind of resurrection.

Paul definitely cites this scripture because it permits a play on the phrase “holy” things of David.

It coincides with Ps. 16:10, therefore.

David’s “holy things” turn out to be promised individual.

Could he also expect his audience to know the remainder of Is. 55:5?

Here the pronouns switch to the singular.

They could develop what God promised David.

Glorification for David, and through him for Israel, will be found in the person of God who is the Holy One of Israel.

It is through the Lord God, then, that David himself or his offspring will be glorified.

Psalm 16:10: A Specific Kind of Resurrection Confirmed.

The NT provides a clear, consistent message about what we mean by resurrection.

Jesus was confirmed as God’s Holy One through the resurrection.

He was not given life again, merely.

His body did not decay.

He would never return to death again.

Paul’s Initial Conclusion

As Paul concludes this point, he points his audience toward a specific meaning of salvation.

Habakkuk’s Warning

Paul warns the audience from Habakkuk 1:5.

The prophet has cried to God for justice in the land.

The law has been perverted.

He wants God to act.

The Lord responds to the prophet and indeed to the people.

He calls upon them to look at what is occurring among the nations.

He gives four imperatives:

Look

See

Marvel

Marvel

The LXX handles the text in a slightly different manner.

“Among the nations” is taken as a pejorative reference to those who “despise” or “scoff.”

The sense, however, is the same. The statement serves as a warning against the rejection of the message and points Israel to evidence beyond just explanation.

It may also warn that Israel’s rebellion means that judgment comes from the Gentiles.

Perhaps given what will happen in the form of turning to the Gentiles. (If this is the case, then, we have an example of something Paul later explained in Romans 11).

The People’s Response

When the synagogue dismissed for the day, they were encouraging that these things (utterances) be spoken to them on the next Sabbath.

The people show genuine interest in hearing this information again.

After the synagogue dismissed, many Jews and non-Jewish converts followed Paul and Barnabas.

The two men encouraged them to anticipate the grace of God.

The phrase could also encourage them to remain in God’s grace. (See a similar phrase used with Barnabas in Acts 11:23.