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It would be difficult to find in the Word of God another paragraph which contains within itself more of the essential principles of the gospel than that to which this text belongs.

I. THE GROUND ON WHICH THE GOSPEL PROCLAMATION RESTS: "It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." There could have been no gospel if there had been no Cross; but the death, even of Jesus, would have had no efficacy for the removal of human guilt, if He had not risen from the grave. The one fact is invariably connected with the other in the Epistles. The honour of the law required a victim. Three doctrines unite to form a trinity of gospel truth:

1. The person of Christ as God incarnate.

2. The death of Christ as the sacrifice.

3. The resurrection of Christ as the witness to the other two doctrines.

II. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE HERE DESCRIBED: "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name." It is a proclamation of the remission of sins. This pardon is —

1. Full;

2. Free;

3. Immediate;

4. Irreversible.But it is not a proclamation of forgiveness alone. Two things, repentance and remission, are to go together. A man cannot have forgiveness and continue at the same time to indulge in sin. This mention of repentance is virtually the same thing as that insistence on faith so constantly found in the New Testament. Faith is the Christ. ward side of repentance. Repentance is the sinward side of faith.

III. THE ORDER IN WHICH THIS PROCLAMATION IS TO BE MADE: "To all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." The reasons of "beginning at Jerusalem" were —

1. To magnify the Divine mercy.

2. To secure a convincing illustration of the gospel's efficacy.

3. To establish a principle for the guidance of God's people in all ages.So the law is that our first efforts should begin in our own homes — "beginning at Jerusalem" — but we are not to be content with working there. We must look abroad also "to all nations."

(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

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KJV: And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

WEB: As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace be to you."