Scripture Daily

Context No. 928 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 13:34-41: in context

34“Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ 35Therefore he says also in another psalm, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’ 36For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, was laid with his fathers, and saw decay. 37But he whom God raised up saw no decay. 38Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins; 39and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets: 41‘Behold, you scoffers! Wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.’”

Paul is preaching in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, and this is the climax of his sermon. He argues from the Psalms that the Messiah would not see decay: David, he points out, served his generation, died, was buried, and his body decayed, so the promise that God's Holy One would not see corruption cannot be about David. It is about the one God raised from the dead, who saw no decay. Through this man, Paul announces, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed, and everyone who believes is justified from everything the law of Moses could never justify them from. Then a warning: do not be scoffers who perish.

The heart of the sermon is a single, freeing claim: by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Paul is speaking to law-keeping Jews and God-fearers who have spent their lives trying to be righteous by the law, and he tells them plainly the law could never finish the job. There were things it could not justify them from, a gap it could name but not close. And into that gap comes the risen Christ, offering what the law could not, full acquittal to everyone who simply believes. This is the good news underneath the resurrection argument: the empty tomb is not just a wonder but the ground of forgiveness, proof that the sacrifice was accepted and the Holy One vindicated. The warning at the end is real, though. Paul knows some will treat the news as beneath them, and he quotes the prophet, you scoffers, wonder and perish. Grace offered can be scoffed away.

Am I still trying to justify myself by my own record, when Christ offers to justify me from the very things my best efforts never could?

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