21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved. descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. 21. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved] By calling upon the name of the Lord is meant earnest and penitent supplication for the forgiveness of sin, a devotion of the heart to him, and an obedience to his commands in our lives. It is expressive of devout, prayerful piety. The name of the Lord is a Hebraism, signifying the same as the Lord himself. As the apostle continually uses the term Lord in speaking of our Saviour, he undoubtedly refers to him by the appellation here, and thus presents him as a proper object of worship, exercising the divine prerogative of bestowing pardon and securing salvation. Verse 36. Shall be saved] As referring to the calamities impending over the Jewish nation, this salvation should be temporal. A belief in the gospel of Christ, and an obedience to its doctrines, would be their only and their certain security against these awful judgments. The history of these events justifies the assurance of the apostle. Not a Christian lost his life at the destruction of Jerusalem. Warned by the signs Christ had foretold, they fled in a body to a small city on the other side of the Jordan, and there remained unharmed, while the millions of unhappy Jews miserably perished, consumed by famine or the sword. Referring to the second coming of our Lord to judge the world, it signifies that spiritual and eternal salvation which those who call upon the Lord, who devoutly rely upon his atoning mercy, obeying his divine commands, shall experience in that awful hour when the elements are melted with the fervent heat, and all the dead are raised to stand before their Judge. It is as true now, as when it was first uttered by Peter, that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Whosoever shall come, like the publican, humbled and broken-hearted, convicted of his sins, and feeling his indispensable need of pardon through the merits of Christ, crying out in sincerity, “God be merciful to me, a sinner," shall be, like him, justified; all his past sins forgiven, and he saved from the guilt, power, and dominion of sin; and, if faithful unto death, be everlastingly saved in heaven. How simple the terms of salvation! The youngest reader of this volume can perform them. What excuse can any one have if unforgiven when he stands before Christ in judgment? O how much wiser to cry to the Saviour of mankind now for mercy, while he can and will forgive, than to cry out in vain, in that terrible day, for the rocks and mountains to cover you from the awful presence of the offended Judge! 22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and 22. The apostle has thus opened the way to his important theme by meeting their objections, arising from the astonishing miracle performed, proving clearly that such an event was spoken of and foretold by the prophets, in connection with the coming of the Messiah; while, at the same time, these extraordinary circumstances were to be the precursors of the most fearful calamities, from which they could only be saved by calling upon the name of the Saviour, the Christ appointed of God. Ye men of Israel] A most conciliating and honorable appellation; the name having been bestowed upon their father Jacob on a peculiarly interesting occasion, (Gen. xxxii, 28,) and sig nificant of God's peculiar regard for them as a nation, for their father's sake. Jesus of Nazareth] Our Lord was best known by this appellation; at first given by way of reproach, from his residence in the small and ill-reputed town of the same name, and afterward becoming his distinguishing and most common appellative. Approved of God] Manifestly receiving the approbation of God, while professing to be the Messiah, by miraculous testimonials. Miracles, wonders, and signs] "The first of these words properly means the displays of power which Jesus made; the second, the unusual or remarkable events which attended him; the third, the signs or proofs that he was from God. Together, they denote the array, or series of remarkable works-raising the dead, healing the sick, &c., which showed that Jesus was sent from God. The proof which they furnished that he was from God was this: that God would not confer such power on an impostor, and that, therefore, he was what he pretended to be.”— BARNES. God did by him in the midst of you] Peter is now proving that Jesus of Nazareth was the anointed Messiah, sent of God; and he speaks with propriety of the works he performed in his official capacity as being wrought by God, he being commissioned and sent forth by the Father. Thus our Saviour attributes his miracles to the operation of the Father (John v, 36) and to his own power indiscriminately, (John ii, 11,) because, as he says of himself, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father: Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me!" This official relation of the Son of God to the Father, and the essential unity and equality of the Son with the Father, is beautifully set forth by the apostle in the first and second chapters of his Epistle to the Hebrews. As ye yourselves also know] Here is an incidental proof of the authenticity of the Christian history by the apostle. These mighty acts were not done in a corner; they were not covered and excluded from the public eye. The apos signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: 23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore tles appealed to their own personal acquaintance with the facts to which he alluded. He had no fear of being contradicted. As inimical as the multitude felt toward Christ and his disciples, they dared not dispute the miracles he wrought, but attempted to attribute them to the devil or to wine. 23. Him, being delivered] Delivered into your hands (God permitting it according to his divine will and purpose) by Judas, by you delivered into the hands of the Roman governor, and by him, through your malice, delivered up to die the cruel death of the cross. By the determinate counsel] By the definite, and consequently immutable, determination of the divine mind. Thus our Saviour, in speaking of his approaching death, says: "And truly the Son of man goeth as it was determined." Luke xxii, 22. The sufferings and the death of Christ were the greatest stumbling-blocks in the way of the worldly and prejudiced Jews (who were looking for a mighty and invincible temporal prince) to the reception of the humble, meek, suffering, and dying Lamb of God. They could not conceive of the Son of God being overcome by his enemies and delivered up to death; thus they cried out to him when he was crucified, "Let Christ, the king of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe;"—" He saved others, himself he cannot save." The object of the apostle is, to assure them that all this was a part of his mission; that none of these things were unexpected; that for this very purpose the Son of God came into the world-to suffer and die, the just for the unjust. "The apostle here," says Mr. Wesley, "anticipates an objection: Why did God suffer such a person to be so treated? Did he not know what wicked men intended to do; and had he not power to prevent it? Yea, he knew all that those wicked men intended to do, and he had power to blast all their designs in a moment. But he did not exert that power because he 'so loved the world;' because it was 'the determined counsel' of his love to redeem mankind from eternal death, by the death of his only-begotten Son." And foreknowledge of God] This is that faculty of the almighty mind by which he has a perfect knowledge of all coming events. God knew that such would be the sufferings of his Son; that he would be rejected by the Jews, betrayed by his apostle, delivered up by the council, and hurried to death by the multitude. There was no unforeseen occurrence, no disappointment, in reference to the reception of Christ upon the earth; it was all known in the counsels of heaven. Christ himself foresaw it when he came knowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain : to do the will of his Father. And by wicked hands have crucified and slain] Now the apostle charges the guilt of this transaction upon themselves. Having proved that the death of Christ, so far from militating against his Messiahship, was an essential and intended part of it, he now dislodges them from any hiding place beneath the divine counsel and will of God, and fastens upon them the stain of the cruel and bloody event. They, as their own consciences testified, had acted voluntarily in the whole matter. They had followed the bent of their own blinded and inflamed passions, by no means intending to accomplish the divine intention, but, if possible, to subvert it; but in thus doing they had actually, and of their own accord, accomplished the merciful purpose of God. Thus was their guilt unmitigated. There was no compelling force, but their own unsanctified wills led them to these deeds. Without any intention of accomplishing good, they had wrought a most horrible crime, and their souls were now stained with blood. Some have rendered the words translated by wicked hands, "by the hands of sinners;" that is, the Gentiles, referring to the Romans, who were the immediate executioners of Christ; but the common acceptation of the passage seems preferable. The crucifixion might have been permitted by the Roman governor, and accomplished by the Roman executioner; but it was at the unappeased importunity of the Jews. He washed his hands of the crime, while they cried "His blood be upon us and upon our children." "The purpose out, or decree of God, respecting any conduct of men, does not destroy their free agency and accountability in regard to that conduct; for it is an element in human nature that men act according to their own choice. They are at liberty, so far as the Creator's interference with their power of choice is concerned, to act or not to act; and when, in their actions, they do what God has predicted or purposed, they do it because they choose to do it. They feel that, in their daily course of conduct, they are acting or are not acting, both as to ordinary matters and as to their spiritual concerns, according to their own choice; not compelled by any external power which they cannot resist. Whether the action they perform is good or bad, it is a voluntary one. Wherever a moral quality belongs to the conduct, so that it may be denominated right or wrong, men may act or not act, or do something else if they choose." This is illustrated by the case of the king of Assyria, who, while fulfilling God's purpose, had no intention of it himself. God intended him as a scourge of his people, but he followed his own ambitious inclinations. 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 24. Whom God hath raised up] The same divine purpose that decreed his death, purposed and accomplished his resurrection. This great event must remove from their minds every possible idea of weakness and unworthiness arising from his sufferings and death. Had he been an impostor, the grave would not have given him up until the judgment day, when he should receive the deserts of his sins. His resurrection clearly proved his Messiahship. Having loosed the pains of death] Some suppose that reference is had in this expression to the penal agonies that preceded the death of our Lord, when he was "exceedingly sorrowful," and when he cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" from which the Father finally loosed him, when, at his death, he said, "It is finished." Most commentators are of the opinion, that the Greek 'word translated pains should be translated bonds; and that reference is had to the situation of the dead, and of Christ in the grave, as if bound down under the chains of death, and restrained from rising again to life. In the resurrection of Christ God loosed, dissolved these bonds, and let the captive of death go frec. Dr. Bloomfield, however, defends the common rendering, and substitutes removed for loosed-he removed the power of death over him; the term pains of death meaning simply death itself, connected as it is, in the minds of most, with ideas of terror and sorrow. Because it was not possible that he should be holden of it] "Inasmuch as (John v, 26,) and was the 'Prince of life."" possible Scott explains as "impossible consistently with the dignity of his person, the nature of his undertaking, the perfecting of his work, the purpose of God, and the predictions of Scripture." He had life in himself, 25. For David speaketh concerning him] With reference to him, that is, Christ. The prophecy of David referring to the resurrection of our Lord, that Peter now quotes, is contained in Psalm xvi, 8-11. Commentators hold different opinions concerning this Psalm, as to whether it referred wholly to our Lord, or had a primary reference to David. Inspiration, however, by the pen of St. Luke, settles its proper application upon Christ, even if it first applied to David. The former application of it, (to Christ,) says Bloomfield, "if secondary in order, is primary in importance. It should seem that David spoke |