By Rev. D. A. MACFARLANE, Dingwall.
IN verse 14 of the chapter, we find Paul and his company coming to Antioch in Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. The apostle Paul, as the chief spokesman of the company, preached to them what is left on record. The divisions of the address are easily seen. The first is from verse 16 to verse 22; the second from verse 23 to verse 25; the third from verse 26 to verse 37; and the last, which has the exhortation and the warning of doom if Christ is rejected, is from verse 38 to verse 41.
1. The First Part
In this first part or stage of his address, from verse 16 to verse 22, Paul is evidently conciliatory, so addressing them on what they, and he, and Israel, had in common that he thereby prepares the way for an acceptable hearing. One feels that he rapidly focussed their attention on what he was about to preach to them. He knew it might, and probably would, prove unpalatable to many, or all, of them. The Gospel that the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah and the alone Saviour was “the foolishness of God,” and the “weakness of God” to many Jews from the Day of Pentecost, as it still is to many Jews and Gentiles. The Lord, however, by the foolishness of preaching, was saving those who believed. Paul addressed them as “men of Israel,” and later on, in verse 26, as “children of the stock of Abraham.” By recalling the history of their forefathers from the time of their bondage and exodus from Egypt down to the days of David, he emphasized their common racial and religious history—that is, of his own company and of a large part of his hearers. Many of those present were evidently proselytes. Paul would have had in view, although not at the outset referring to them, the “rulers” of verse 27. These three parties were all “men of Israel.” They all had divine privileges, as summarised by him elsewhere in the words, “who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.” So much for this part. The audience doubtless quickly felt at home with one who was evidently so much at home in the history and ways of their forefathers.
The second point of note regarding the opening part of the address is Paul’s mental pin-pointing of the promise to raise up of the seed of David, according to the flesh, a Saviour, Jesus. It is indeed implied in his statement regarding David in verse 22, and then explicitly declared in verse 23. One might prefer to bring verse 23 under the first section, were it not that we leave the historical narrative and by verse 23 come to the historical fulfilment of the promise. The wording of the divine promise is given in Psalm cxxxii. 11: “The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn, from it; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne”; so also II. Sam. vii. 12-14, with the fulfilment of it in Heb. i. 1-5. This promise and its fulfilment is the subject of Paul’s sermon.
2. The Second Part
The next part regarding the historical realization of the Messianic promise is from verse 23 to verse 25. John the Baptist was raised up. As the forerunner of Christ, he preached that he was about to be manifested to Israel. Whether John saw the Saviour or not, in the flesh, when he uttered the words of verse 25, may not be evident. He certainly discerned His glory as the Son of God. The words of John show that he had the same spirit and insight into the glory of the Person of Christ as Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah and the other prophets and servants of the Lord had. To discern that the “shoes of His feet I am not worthy to loose” is just to say that John worshipped the Saviour, who was to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. What a rich baptism John had of the spirit of the Saviour! What love, devotion, holy adoration filled his soul! While Paul did not handle at length John’s testimony, he knew well that that testimony was sealed by all three Persons of the Godhead at the baptismal inauguration of the Saviour to His public ministry. The Father by the voice—the Holy Spirit coming in the form of a dove—the Saviour by His word to John and baptism—all set to their seal to John’s witness. The Messianic Son was come in the flesh. The promise to David was thus far fulfilled. This is the end of the second stage of the sermon.
3. The Third Division
The third division is from verse 26 to verse 37, and is the much more difficult part of the discourse, not exactly from the point of view of Paul’s argument but owing, we think, regrettably, to constructions put upon some of the terms and expressions. We saw already that the audience and Paul’s company were “men of Israel,” and that Paul had mentally before him “they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers.” Were all these parties of one mind? Or if the “rulers”—to keep them, as representatives of the people, mainly before us at present—had been with Paul and his company in the Pisidian synagogue, would they all have received “this salvation” (verse 26)? Clearly not. The rulers of the Antiochian synagogue, Paul felt, might say, or enquire, “If this promised and prophesied Saviour and salvation were in actuality revealed to Israel by, and from the time of, John the Baptist, why did not, and why do not, these rulers in Jerusalem confess Him and it and set their seal to John’s witness, as God by His voice and the Holy Spirit by his descending on Christ did? Paul’s task is to set forth the fact of this cleavage and the reason. He does so. The rulers, meaning hereby those abandoned to their own wisdom and ways to become apostates, totally and finally rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the anointed Saviour and divinely-promised King of Israel. Instead of receiving Him as Simeon, Anna, Zacharias, godly women, Peter, John the apostle, Nathanael, and multitudes did—for many of the children of Israel through the preaching of John were turned to the Lord their God—they increased in enmity and bitterness toward the Saviour, until their longed-for hour to wreak vengeance on Him at last came. They acted as freely in all their doings and dealings as if Christ were powerless to thwart them—as if there were no over-ruling hand nor decree, purpose nor counsel of heaven. Their heart was in their work. They judged indeed that they were doing God service. Did not this Jesus of Nazareth make light of the law of Moses and irritate elders of the synagogues by his Sabbath profanation? When the hour came, Jesus was condemned by these rulers—also by Pilate who was astute enough to see at a glance that this Man was innocence itself of all laid to his charge. Even Herod had no cloud of uneasiness coming over him when the Saviour was arraigned before him. But they out-maneouvred Pilate by the dread fear of Rome. This was the crowbar which levered Pilate over, against his real judgment. One may even see that there was an unearthly awe in connection with the presence and bearing of Christ which touched Pilate to the quick. And there was that dream. But the fear of Rome tipped the scales. Christ was condemned, was crucified. The reason for the rulers acting thus is given in verse 27: “because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” So the argument is: “Had they known it, the hidden wisdom, and ‘mystery’ of I. Cor. ii. 7-8, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Had they known the voices of the prophets, they would not have done it. To know the voices of the prophets involves knowing Christ—to know Christ’s voice involves having the right kind of understanding in the prophets. They fulfilled all that was written of Him. They took Him down from the tree. They laid Him in a sepulchre. Paul ascribes all this to them as in effect they did so that the bodies of those crucified might not be there after sunset, for the morrow was a high day. This is the end, one would think, of Jesus of Nazareth, and of the promise to David. But Paul then proceeds to the other and next part of his great and profound message, namely: “God raised Him from the dead.”
Christ was already raised up (verse 23) of the seed of David in virtue of His coming in the flesh. What we have now, from verse 30 to verse 37—as far as we can judge—is that despite being crucified, slain and buried—the Old Testament promise was nevertheless fulfilled as He was raised up from the grave. Paul brought before them in proof of the resurrection of Christ, first, the fact of there being many witnesses in Jerusalem and Galilee, during many days, when He went out and in among them; secondly, that hereby Old Testament prophecies and promises were fulfilled, as Psalm xvi. 10: “Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”; also, “I will give you the sure mercies of David.” We leave over consideration of the lively oracle of Psalm ii. at present. There were many witnesses that Christ was risen, and their testimony was confirmed by, and was in perfect harmony with, the Old Testament declarations concerning the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow. So the promise to David which was Paul’s text did not get entombment finally among the hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes in the new tomb in the garden. It was not suffered to see corruption. We may reverently say that the Lord said to it as to the Saviour: “I will show thee the path of life; in my presence is fulness of joy; at my right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Christ rose. During the time when they did unto Him as they listed, there was a transaction going on in the invisible world between Him and the Father. We can only and need advert to it here very briefly. He was by eternal decree the anointed King of Zion—of the kingdom of grace in this world and in glory hereafter. But to be King thus, He must be the Suffering Servant. By His humiliation, obedience unto the death of the cross, He was to bring in everlasting redemption for the heirs of salvation. “For this cause He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions which were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” Not only despite their dealings, but in the manifold wisdom of God, by means of their dealings—as part of the cup given Him to drink, He brought about the eternal fulfilling of the decree—of the promise of Psalm cxxxiii.—that He would be the anointed King of the kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost in the hearts of His people in time and in eternity. The virtue, divine and intrinsic worth and merit of His obedience unto death and penal sufferings throughout all the state of His humiliation, sorrow, anguish and death, with what His entombment implies were His—as a censer filled full with incense—on the morning of the Resurrection. His Messianic Kingship is established for ever to endure on the whose course of His humiliation from His conception to the tomb. He is the Priest. He is the divinely-worthy offering. He on the morning of the resurrection is the censer and the incense—incense which is inexhaustible in a censer which is infinite, eternal and unchangeable, because “Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” The resurrection was the fulfillment in a special way of the lively oracle of God to David. It was the evidence of Christ being eternally accepted in His sacrifice. It was the pledge of His flock being gathered in. It was and is the model of what believers are to be in their souls and bodies at His second coming. By the resurrection He passed into the state of exaltation to be Head and King of His body, the Church—to be King over all for the Church—to be Judge of quick and dead at the last day—when He will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee—gather them together as the sheep of Bozrah, for did not the Breaker come up? “And their King shall pass before them and the Lord on the head of them.”
So far, it may be noticed, no more was done regarding Psalm ii. than to refer to it, and to a point or two in the text of this section, verses 28-33. As some of you are aware for many years, the expression, “raised up” in verse 33 is held by some outstanding expositors of the text to refer to the incarnation; by others to mean the same as in verses 30 and 34 where the phrase, “from the dead,” is added. Addison Alexander and A. T. Robertson are both agreed that the “raising up” without the reference to the resurrection refers to verse 23. Many others—quite a number of them—are not satisfied that this is so. Is there any definite need for endeavouring—shall we say—to narrow the matter down to such an extent? May we not be content to agree that as Christ was raised up in His incarnation and then, as is explicitly declared in verse 30 and verse 34, that He was raised from the dead, one has the cardinal doctrines of the faith and their implications? Why belabour the matter further?
Perhaps such a view should be taken. Still, if we can carefully and accurately ascertain what view of the verb should be taken in verse 33, it may be helpful in unexpected ways. Addison Alexander has rightly such prestige in the world of evangelical exposition that it is with diffidence and profound respect for the noble servant of God anyone should feel required to differ. The question, however, arises, what view should we take on the whole, without laying down any Medo-Persian law that the other many not also be reasonably and usefully held? To offer a personal opinion in the circumstances, we are constrained at present at least to take the view that the raising-up of verse 33 does not immediately and specifically point back to verse 23—that is, to the incarnation and public manifestation to Israel in the time of John the Baptist, but that Paul repeats what he said in verse 30, without feeling it needful to add the words, “from the dead,”—which, however, he does in the next verse. When the section from verse 28 to verse 33 is held up to the gaze of the eyes, and viewed as a unit of thought, one finds the current flowing as follows: “The One raised up according to the Davidic promise, and preached by John the Baptist, was condemned by the rulers—by Pilate—was slain and entombed. Where is the promise? But (verse 30) God raised Him from the dead—He appeared to witnesses, and so we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath completely fulfilled—for eternity fulfilled—the same unto us their children (despite, and by means of, crucifixion and the burial), in that He hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm: “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” The translators of the A.V. are satisfied that the raising-up of verse 33 clearly refers to the resurrection. What appears to be the cause of difficulty to Addison Alexander and Robertson is that because the words, “from the dead,” are not always added, then it must refer only to the incarnation and manifestation to Israel. This should not necessarily be so. We would add, for those who care to pursue the matter in a way that cannot be done here much further, that the term, “fulfilled,” in verse 33, is not the ordinary one used for fulfilling. It is a strengthened intensive form, meaning: “God hath out-and-out fulfilled—come betrayal, come scourging, come cross, come grave—God hath fulfilled out-and-out, completely, and for eternity, this lively oracle to David. And this brings us to a brief consideration of the second Psalm as quoted and, under divine guidance, used by Paul. Here we use part of what Dr. Addison Alexander sets forth on verse 33. . . . “In the second Psalm, . . . God is represented as proclaiming the organic law, or constitution of Messiah’s Kingdom, and uttering as its fundamental principle the intimate relation of Messiah to Himself, not merely mutual affection, but community of nature. . . . The expression in the Psalm, ‘I have begotten thee,’ means, ‘I am He who has begotten thee, i.e., I am thy father.’”
This quotation sets forth the eternal Sonship of the Second Person of the Godhead. This very Son, the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person, God from eternity appointed to be the Messiah—King of Zion. This means that whatever befel the Saviour, He would still be the Son of God, with all that this implies (cf.: “who, being in the form of God,” Phil. ii. 6). With regard to all stages of the life-history of the Saviour, in His humiliation and exaltation, this holds true: “Thou art my Son, this day I have begotten thee.” It is appropriate regarding Him at His incarnation—entrance to His public ministry—transfiguration—ascension to glory (Heb. i. 5), and it is used regarding His priesthood in Heb. v. 5.
Now the specific reference here is that despite betrayal, despite condemnation, despite scourging, despite crucifixion, despite death, despite entombment, He is still through it all “My Son,” the same, yesterday, to-day and for ever. In virtue of this being so, it was not possible He should be holden of death. On the morning, and at the moment of, the resurrection, the Father declared in a particular manner regarding the Messiah—Son, “Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee.” This just means, “In virtue of thy being as to thy divine nature my Son, and becoming the Messiah, suffering, dying, procuring everlasting redemption for all who obey thee, I as Judge raise thee to enjoy thy reward for evermore.” We do not take the word “begotten” to have direct reference to God’s act in raising Christ from the dead, seeing that as Addison Alexander indicates, it has strict reference to the essential nature and divine Sonship of Christ. His being in Himself the only-begotten Son is a guarantee of the impossibility of His being holden by death.
Let us now read in paraphrase some of these words again: “They had fulfilled all that was written of Him, and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead, and He was seen many days . . . and we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath completely fulfilled—for eternity fulfilled—the same unto us their children (despite, and by means of, crucifixion and the burial), in that He hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “Thou art my Son.” By the resurrection, He who is the Son essentially, the only begotten Son (Jo. i. 18), becomes also the “First-begotten of the dead” (Rev. i. 5). His divine Sonship, if we may state it, encircles and informs His messianic work with divine glory, power and majesty, in both the estates of humiliation and exaltation. He is now anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Part of His joy is to share it with them. We do not pursue the matter further.
4. The Conclusion
The conclusion has two points, (1) that justification is solely by penitent faith in the Saviour; and (2) if He is rejected, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish.” May the prayer of the man of God be ours, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days . . . and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us . . . yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.”