Acts 2:14, 22-33

“God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death.” (Acts 2:24)

Peter’s Pentecost speech is the first of several in Acts that follow one shape: the events are recent and public, Jesus was attested by signs, handed over and killed, and God raised him. Verse 23 holds two claims together without embarrassment, the definite plan of God and the responsibility of those who crucified him. The argument then turns on scripture, and its pivot is the psalm appointed alongside this reading, quoted at length in the verses between (2:25-28 cites Psalm 16:8-11). Peter’s exegesis is historical: David died, his tomb is a known landmark in Jerusalem, so the words about not being abandoned to corruption must belong to a descendant (vv. 29 to 31). The speech ends where Luke’s second volume begins, with exaltation to God’s right hand and the promise poured out on those who see and hear.

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