The Jewish Annotated New Testament (236 page)

25
–28
: Ps 16.8–11.

25
: Traditional Jewish understanding regards
David
as the author of Psalms.

27
:
Hades
, Heb “Sheol,” ultimate destination after death (Isa 38.10,18; Ps 6.5; 89.48; 116.3; Job 7.9). Jewish writings in Greek adopted the Greek term (Wis 2.1; 16.13; 2 Macc 6.23;
Pss. Sol
. 16.2). Later Jewish writings come to imagine Sheol/Hades as a place of judgment and punishment (
1 En
. 63.10;
t. Yoma
4.11).

29
: The tomb of David was known (Josephus,
J.W
. 1.61;
Ant
. 7.393; 13.249). David’s death, for Peter, excludes him as the person the psalm mentions. Rather, the psalm speaks of the resurrection of the messiah (v. 31). Jesus’ resurrection, as witnessed, proves he is the messiah (v. 32).

30
:
Prophet, Ant
. 6.166; 7.334; 8.109; 11QPs
^a
27.11;
y. Sot
. 9.24b.
One of his descendants
, 2 Sam 7.12–13. Jesus is a descendant of David (Lk 3.31; 18.38–39).

32
:
Witnesses
, see 1.8n.

34
–35
: Ps 110.1; Christian tradition often understands the psalm as speaking about Jesus, not David (Mk 12.36; 1 Cor 15.25; Heb 1.13).

36
: Luke again (v. 24) distinguishes between God’s act in making Jesus Messiah and Jews who crucify him.

36
:
Made
…
Lord and Messiah
, the view that God “adopted” Jesus as messiah, as shown in the resurrection. This may be an indication of one early explanation of Jesus’ messiahship.

2.37
–41: Teaching on repentance.
Repentance often appears as a central teaching (3.19; 5.31; 8.22; 11.18; 17.30; 20.21; 26.20).

38
:
Repent
, turn from what one has been and done; the reference is general, not to a specific act.
Be baptized
, some Jews associated baptism or ritual immersion with repentance (Isa 1.16; Ps 51.7 [Heb v. 9]; Lk 3.3;
Sib. Or
. 4.162–70; 1QS 3.6–9). Baptism in Jesus’ name, however, distinguishes the new community (2.41; 10.48; 19.5).
Sins may be forgiven
, unspecified; the
sins
most likely include killing Jesus (v. 23).

40
:
Save
, a key concept in Acts, connoting rescue from sin and falsehood (as here) and entry into the reign of God (4.12; 11.14; 13.47; 15.1; 16.30–31).
Corrupt generation
, Deut 32.20; Ps 78.8.

41
: Such summaries appear regularly (4.32–35; 5.12–16; 6.11; 9.31), and emphasize the astounding success in attracting believers.
Three thousand
, many in Jerusalem become believers (2.47; 4.4; 5.14; 6.1; 21.20).

2.42
–47: Early community life.
The ideal life is one of prayer and communal fellowship.

42
:
Teaching and fellowship
, …
breaking of bread
…
prayers
, three characteristics (instruction, community, worship) followed by a fourth (care for others) in v. 44.

44
:
Had all things in common
, communal ownership (4.36–5.11; 6.1–6), existed among the Jewish community at Qumran (1QS 1.11), and was highly valued in philosophical teachings (Aristotle,
Eth. nic
. 9.8, Cicero,
Off
. 1.16.51). The actual practice may have been different; see 5.1–2.

46
:
Temple
, the apostles often congregate in the Temple for prayer and teaching (3.1–10; 5.21,42; 21.26–30; 22.17).

47
: Summary statement depicting church growth (see 4.32–35; 5.12–16; 6.7; 9.31; 16.5; 19.20).

3.1
–10: Peter heals a crippled man.
An example of
wonders and signs
(2.43).

1
:
Three o’clock
, when the evening daily offerings (Ex 29.39; Lev 6.20) were performed (
Ant
. 14.65) and when prayer took place (Jdt 9.1).

2
:
Beautiful Gate
, otherwise unattested, possibly a reference to the impressive bronze Nicanor Gate (Josephus,
J.W
. 5.201;
m. Midd
. 1.4; 2.3).

4
:
Intently
, typical practice during healing (13.9; 14.9).

6
:
Name of Jesus Christ
, the power of Jesus, not the apostles, creates the miracle (3.16; 4.10,12,17,18,30; 16.18; 19.13).

3.11
–26: Peter’s speech in Solomon’s Portico.
As with the giving of the spirit (2.15), the crowd’s misperception prompts Peter’s teaching.

11
:
Solomon’s Portico
, this was in the eastern part of the Temple Mount (
Ant
. 20.221; 15.401).

13
:
God of Abraham
…
Isaac
…
Jacob
, Ex 3.6,15,16; 4.5; first benediction in “Amidah”/Eighteen Benedictions.
Glorified his servant
, Jesus is identified as God’s servant (3.26; 4.27,30), possibly alluding to the servant figure in Isaiah who suffers but is vindicated and exalted by God (Isa 52.13; 53.1–12).
Handed over and rejected
, Jews are responsible for Jesus’ execution (see 2.23).
Pilate
, Roman prefect of Judea 26–36 CE. The desire of Jews to kill Jesus is juxtaposed to the desire of Pilate to release him (Lk 23.4,14–16,20–25; but see Acts 4.27).

14
:
Righteous One
, attribute of Isaianic servant (Isa 53.11), and possibly meant as messianic title (
1 En
. 38.2; 53.6).
Murderer
, Barabbas (Lk 23.18–19).

15
:
Author
, Gk “archēgos,” can mean “first entrant, pioneer,” as well as “founder” or “source.” Contrast between Jews who killed Jesus and God who raised him.
Witnesses
, see 1.8n.

16
:
Faith in his name
, trust in his true being (“name” as communicating the true nature of a person).

17
:
Ignorance
, although ignorance can explain why Jews killed Jesus (7.60; 13.27), it can no longer justify failure to recognize Jesus’ messianic identity (17.30).

18
:
His Messiah would suffer
, such a prophecy does not appear in the biblical prophets; Luke may have in mind an interpretation of Isa 53 or Zech 12.10; 13.7. The statement makes clear that Jesus’ death was part of a divine plan (Lk 24.25–27,46; Acts 17.2–3; 26.22–23).

19
:
Repent
, shown by accepting Jesus as Messiah.

20
:
Times of refreshing
, opportunities for renewal.

21
:
Universal restoration
, expansion of the Jewish eschatological concept of restoration/turn (Mal 4.6 [MT 3.24]) to include all persons.

22
–23
: Deut 18.15,18–19. Jesus is the anticipated prophet; he is regarded here in a way similar to Moses, who is recognized by some Jews as an eschatological figure (1QS 9.11).

23
:
Rooted out of the people
, punishment for failure to heed the prophet is infrequent in Deut (see 18.19); Luke possibly draws on Lev 23.29. Peter insists here and in 4.12 that rejecting Jesus results in exclusion from the people of God.

24
:
Samuel
, included among the prophets (as in the Jewish canon, where Sam [1 and 2] is the first book of the “former prophets”).

25
:
Descendants of the
…
covenant
, Jews are not the only partners, since the covenant includes “all the families of the earth” (Gen 12.3; 18.18; 22.18; 26.4).

26
:
First to you
, Jews will be followed by Gentiles in God’s plan for salvation.
Wicked ways
, from which Jews must repent (v. 19).

4.1
–31: Conflict with Jewish authorities.
The first of several scenes that display conflict between the apostles and Jewish authorities.

1
–3: Arrest of Peter and John. 1
:
Priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
, the
priests
appear as the leading authorities in Jerusalem and central figures opposed to the apostles (5.21; 9.1,14,21; 22.5,30; 23.2–5; 24.1; 25.2).
Captain of the temple
, a position with authority over Temple personnel and ritual (5.24,26).
The Sadducees
, often contrasted to Pharisees and said to have rejected ideas not explicitly found in the Tanakh, such as resurrection (23.6–8; Josephus,
J.W
. 2.164–166;
Ant
. 13.173; 18.16–17). Many were responsible for overseeing Temple rituals.

4
: Summary
.
Five thousand
, the rejection by the Jewish authorities is contrasted with the acceptance by thousands of Jews. Acts emphasizes rapid growth of the community; the number may be exaggerated.

5
–7: Questioning of Peter. 5
:
Rulers, elders, and scribes
, members of the council, the Sanhedrin.
Annas
…,
Caiaphas, John, and Alexander
, Annas/Ananus was high priest in 6–15 CE (Josephus,
J.W
. 18.26–35) and retained the title (Lk 3.1–2; Jn 18.12–24; Josephus,
J.W
. 2.240,256). Caiaphas was Annas’s son-in-law and high priest in 18–36/37; he served as high priest during the execution of Jesus (Mt 26.3; Jn 18.13–28). John may be Jonathan, one of Annas’s sons and Caiaphas’s successor (
Ant
. 18.95,122–24; 20.162–64). Alexander is otherwise unknown.