Acts 3:20

And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) And he shall send Jesus Christ.—Better, as before, and that He may send.

Which before was preached unto you.—The better MSS. have, which was fore-appointed, or fore-ordained, for you.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:19-21 The absolute necessity of repentance is to be solemnly charged upon the consciences of all who desire that their sins may be blotted out, and that they may share in the refreshment which nothing but a sense of Christ's pardoning love can afford. Blessed are those who have felt this. It was not needful for the Holy Spirit to make known the times and seasons of these dispensations. These subjects are still left obscure. But when sinners are convinced of their sins, they will cry to the Lord for pardon; and to the penitent, converted, and believing, times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. In a state of trial and probation, the glorified Redeemer will be out of sight, because we must live by faith in him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he shall send ... - Acts 1:1 l. Under this economy of things, he shall send Jesus Christ, that is, the Messiah, to teach people; to redeem them; to save them; to judge the world; to gather his people to himself; and to condemn the wicked. Under this economy they were then. This, therefore, was an argument why they should repent and turn to God, that they might escape in the day of judgment.

Which before was preached ... - Who has been proclaimed as the Messiah. The name "Jesus Christ" is equivalent here to "the Messiah." The Messiah had been proclaimed to the Jews as about to come. In his time was to be the period of refreshing. He had come; and they were under the economy in which the blessings of the Messiah were to be enjoyed. This does not refer to his personal ministry, or to the preaching of the apostles, but to the fact that the Messiah had been a long time announced to them by the prophets as about to come. All the prophets had preached him as the hope of the nation. It may be remarked, however, that there is here a difference in the manuscripts. A large majority of them read προκεχειρισμενον prokecheirismenon, who was designated or appointed, instead of who was preached. This reading is approved by Griesbach, Knapp, Bengel, etc. It was followed in the ancient Syriac, the Arabic, etc., and is undoubtedly the true reading.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20. he shall send Jesus Christ—The true reading is, "He shall send your predestinated (or foreordained) Messiah, Jesus."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To remove all evils and miseries from his people; when that Sun shines all clouds and mists are scattered. This refers especially to Christ’s second coming, which is here promised, to encourage us to do good, and to deter us from doing evil; as also to move us to repentance, and to comfort us when penitent.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall send Jesus Christ,.... Or "that he may send Jesus Christ", as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it: not in person, for this regards neither his first, nor his second coming, both which might be terrible to the awakened Jews; the former, because he had been sent, and was come, and was gone again; and therefore might fear there was no hope for them, who had denied him, and crucified him; the latter, because they might conclude he would be sent, and come to take vengeance on them, when they should look upon him whom they had pierced with horror and trembling; but here it regards his being sent, and his coming in the ministration of the word, and by his Spirit, to the comfort of their souls:

which before was preached unto you; in the writings of the Old Testament, in the books of Moses, and of the Prophets, Acts 3:22 or, as it is read in the Alexandrian copy, and in other copies, and in the Complutensian edition, and in the Syriac and Arabic versions, who was "predetermined" or "prepared for you"; that is, in the purposes, council, and covenant of God. The Ethiopic version reads, "whom he before anointed"; to be prophet, priest, and King; and from each of these considerations much comfort might be drawn by sensible sinners.

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 3:20. The final aim of the preceding exhortation. In order that times of refreshiny may come. Peter conceives that the καιροὶ ἀναψύξεως and the Parousia (καὶ ἀποστείλῃ κ.τ.λ.) will set in, as soon as the Jewish nation is converted to the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah. It required a further revelation to teach him that the Gentiles also were to be converted—and that directly, and not by the way of proselytism—to Christ (chap.10).

ὅπως ἄν, with the subjunctive (Acts 15:17; Luke 2:35; Romans 3:4; Matthew 6:5), denotes the purpose that is to be attained in dependence on a supposition (here: in this event; if ye comply with the summons). See Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 289; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 685 f. This ἄν, consequently, is not equivalent to ἐάν (Vulg.: ut cum venerint), in which case an apodosis which would be wanting is arbitrarily supplied in thought (see Erasmus and, recently, Beelen). Others (Beza, Castalio, Erasmus Schmid, Eckermann, et al.) consider ὅπως as a particle of time = ὅτε: quandocunque venerint. Against this it may be decisively urged, in point of linguistic usage, that in Greek writers (in Herod, and the poets) the temporal ὅπως is joined with the indicative or optative, but does not occur at all in the N. T.; and, in point of fact, the remission of sins takes place not for the first time at the Parousia, but at once on the acceptance of the gospel.

καιροὶ ἀναψύξ.] seasons of refreshing: namely, the Messianic, as is self-evident and is clear from what follows. It is substantially the same as is meant in Luke 2:25 by παράκλησις τοῦ Ἰσραήλ,—namely, seasons in which, through the appearance of the Messiah in His kingdom, there shall occur blessed rest and refreshment for the people of God, after the expiration of the troublous seasons of the αἰὼν οὗτος (2 Timothy 3:1; Galatians 1:4; Acts 14:22).[145] The αἰῶνες οἱ ἐπερχόμενοι in chap. Acts 2:7 are not different from these future καιροί. This explanation is shown to be clearly right by the fact that Peter himself immediately adds, as explanatory of καιροὶ ἀναψύξ.: καὶ ἀποστείλῃ τὸν προκεχειρ. ὑμῖν Ἰησ. Χ., which points to the Parousia. Others rationalizing have, at variance with the text, explained the καιροὶ ἀναψ. either of the time of rest after death (Schulz in the Bibl. Hag. 5. p. 119 ff.), or of deliverance from the yoke of the ceremonial law (Kraft, Obss. sacr. Fasc. IX. p. 271 ff.), or of the putting off of penal judgment on the Jews (Barkey), or of the sparing of the Christians amidst the destruction of the Jews (Grotius, Hammond, Lightfoot), or of the glorious condition of the Christian church before the end of the world (Vitringa). On ἀνάψυξις, comp. LXX. Exodus 8:15; Aq. Isaiah 28:12; Strabo, x. p. 459.

ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου] The times, which are to appear, are rhetorically represented as something real, which is to be found with God in heaven, and comes thence, from the face of God, to earth. Thus God is designated as αἴτιος of the times of refreshing (Chrysostom).

τὸν προκεχ. ὑμῖν Ἰ. Χ.] Jesus the Messiah destined for you (for your nation). On προχειρίζομαι (Acts 22:14, Acts 26:16), properly, I take in hand; then, I undertake, I determine, and with the accusative of the person: I, appoint one. Comp. 2Ma 3:7; 2Ma 8:9; Polyb. vi. 58. 3; Plut. Galb. 8; Diod. Sic. xii. 22; Wetstein and Kypke in loc.; Schleusn. Thes. iv. p. 513. Analogous is ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκλεκτός, Luke 23:35.

[145] Analogous is the conception of χατάπαυσις and σαββατισμός in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Comp. ἄνεσις 2 Thessalonians 1:7, and the description given in Revelation 21:4 f.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 3:20. καὶ ἀποστείλῃ, i.e., at His Parousia. The construction is still ὅπως ἄν with the verb. ἀποστ. is here used as in Luke 4:18; Luke 4:43, expressing that the person sent is the envoy or representative of the sender (πέμπω is also used of the mission of our Lord).—τὸν προκεκηρυγμένον, T.R., see on Acts 3:18; but W.H[146], Blass, Weiss, τὸν προκεχειρισμένον ὑμῖν Χριστόν, Ἰησοῦν: “the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus”. So R.V. This verb is found with accusative of the person in the sense of choosing, appointing, in Acts 22:14; Acts 26:16, and nowhere else in the N.T.; cf. Joshua 3:12, 2Ma 3:7; 2Ma 8:9, Exodus 6:13 (cf. its use also in Dem., Polyb., Plut., and instances in Wetstein); Latin eligere, destinare. The expression here refers not only to the fact that Jesus was the appointed Christ, inasmuch as the covenant with Abraham was fulfilled in Him, Acts 3:25, but also to the return of Jesus as the Christ, the Messianic King, at His Parousia, in accordance with the voices of the Prophets. This is more natural than to suppose that the expression means foreordained, i.e., from eternity, although St. Peter’s words elsewhere may well be considered in connection with the present passage, 1 Peter 1:20.

[146] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. and he shall send] The construction is continued from the previous verse. Read, and that he may send.

In the rest of this verse both the order of the words and the reading of the Tex. Rec. is different from that of the best MSS. The sentence should read: the Christ which was appointed for you, even Jesus. Not only is this the more authoritative reading but it agrees with the proofs which St Peter presently cites (Acts 3:25), “Ye are the children of the covenant which God made with our fathers.” The Christ, the Messiah, had been appointed and promised unto the Jewish nation, and now the promise of the covenant is fulfilled in Jesus.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 3:20. Ἀποστέιλη, that He may send) “Sent,” in Acts 3:26 : and yet the expression here, is not “send back,” or “again,” but simply “send:” comp. Acts 1:1, note.—προκεχειρισμένον) Hardly anywhere is the reading προκεκηρυγμένον to be found. Peter does not here preach beforehand Christ, but declares that He is already “prepared.” The same verb occurs, ch. Acts 22:14, Acts 26:16; Exodus 4:13; Joshua 3:12. Comp. Luke 2:31. He is prepared, that He may be received by us, (and) that He may be sent by God. Hesychius, προκεχειρισμένον, προβεβλημένον, ἡτοιμασμένον; for so we ought to read, for ἠτιμασμένον.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - And that he may send the Christ... even Jesus for and he shall send Jesus Christ, A.V.; who hath been appointed (προκεχειρισμένον, Acts 22:14; Acts 26:16) for you for (προκεκηρυγμένον) which before was preached unto you, A.V. and T.R. Who hath been appointed, etc. Jesus is already designated and appointed and made (Acts 2:36) both Lord and Christ, but his glorious presence with his Church is deferred for a time, during which he is in heaven (ver. 21). Tim R.V. is surely very infelicitous here, as if there were several Christs, one of whom was appointed for Israel. Acts 3:20

Vincent's Word Studies

Which before was preached (τὸν προκεκηρυγμένον)

But the best texts read προκεχειρισμένον, appointed. Compare Acts 22:14. Used by Luke only, Acts 22:14; Acts 26:16. The verb originally means to take in hand.