Acts 13:32

Note

In the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, after the Sabbath reading from the Law and the Prophets, Paul stands up to speak. It is the first of his sermons that Acts reports at length, and after a long walk through Israel's history it arrives, in this verse, at good news.

Paul has traced God's dealings with Israel from the choice of the fathers and the exodus to the kingdom of David, and then: "From the descendants of this man, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised" (Acts 13:23). The people of Jerusalem did not recognize Him and condemned Him, but God raised Him from the dead, and there are witnesses who saw Him (Acts 13:27–31). Then comes this verse, whose sentence runs on into the next: what God promised our fathers "He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus" (Acts 13:33).

The verb is euangelizomai (εὐαγγελίζομαι), present middle indicative, first person plural: euangelizometha, "we bring good news." Here it takes two objects, "you" (humas) and "the promise made to the fathers" (tēn epangelian). Word for word: "we gospel you the promise." What the apostles announced was not something new of their own making but an old promise kept. The Greek makes the link audible. Euangelizomai, "to announce good news," and epangelia, "promise," share the root angel-, "to announce." A promise is an announcement made in advance; the gospel is the announcement that it has come true.

The KJV says, "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers," choosing "glad tidings," the old English phrase for good news. The BSB writes "proclaim to you the good news," and opens its content with a colon. The LSV, "we proclaim good news to you—that the promise made to the fathers," follows the Greek closely. All three keep the good news in view; they differ only in how quickly they reach the promise.

Matthew Henry fastens on the resurrection as the hinge of the promise: "The resurrection of Christ was the great proof of his being the Son of God" Matthew Henry. On the blessings promised to David, quoted in verse 34, he writes, "The sure mercies of David are that everlasting life, of which the resurrection was a sure pledge" Matthew Henry. Paul shows the promise kept with the second Psalm: "You are My Son; today I have become Your Father" (Acts 13:33). He reads the resurrection as the day that word came true.

The gospel of this verse is news and an old promise at once. The Law and the Prophets read in that synagogue every Sabbath became, on Paul's lips, good news. Even for people who have read the Bible for years, it is news that the promise has been kept in the raising of Jesus.