Acts 10:39-43 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:… 1. We look for boldness in St. Peter; and we find it in those words, "We are witnesses," etc. He takes upon himself and his colleagues all the responsibility; they are prepared to stand by the truth of the facts which they allege. We feel the value of this emphatic announcement; miracles, to be believed at all, must be believed on testimony which is beyond suspicion and which cannot be shaken. 2. Then, for his delicacy, we find it in the suppression of all reference to the part which Romans took in the crucifixion of our Lord; no word of Pontius Pilate, or Roman soldiers, or sentinels over the tomb. Any one who read the account for the first time would conclude that none but Jews and dwellers in Jerusalem had a hand in His death; especially as the nailing to the Cross, which was essentially a Roman punishment, is softened down to the expression, "hanged on a tree," which was as essentially a Jewish. He might well spare the feelings of such men as he saw before him; men in spirit, as well as in fact, utterly guiltless of the blood of Jesus. 3. And for the apostle's candour, we trace it in his assertion that God had shown the risen Saviour "not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us." "An announcement," as Paley remarks, "which no impostor would ever have made." (E. T. Marshall, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: |
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