ACTS 13:23-39

Acts 13:23-39 (KJV)

23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

24 When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25 And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.

27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, 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.

28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.

29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

30 But God raised him from the dead:

31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,

33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, 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.

34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

A few gems here to glean from.

1) God Jehovah raised up Jesus to be our Saviour. How did this take place? Verse 33 answers that "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You". What does begotten mean? Let’s look at both the greek and Hebrew:

Greek word for begotten is "gennao" which means to procreate, to regenerate, best, beget, be born, bring forth, concieved, be delivered of, spring, make.

Hebrew word for begotten is "yalad" which means to beget, to show lineage, bear, birth, born, make to, bring forth, be the son of, bring up, calve, be delivered (of a child), hatch, labour, declare pedigrees.

We can clearly see from the above definition of begotten that Jesus came forth from the Father at some point. We know from scripture that Jesus is preexistent so this point of origin must be in eternity. Notice that begotten doesn't mean created out of nothing but rather created from something likened unto a birth, as a child directly comes from and out of his mother. With Jesus being identifed as the Son of God 47 times in scripture, it is safe to say that He indeed is Jehovah's literal Son. As an earthly father naturally precedes his son in origin so does the heavenly Father. Jesus was begotten directly from the Father's bosom in eternity so He does have a point of origin. Because Jesus came forth from the Father He shares the same substance and DNA. Make no mistake though, Jesus is a separate distinct individual being from His Father Jehovah just as an earthly child who shares the same DNA as his parents is a separate distinct person from them. 

To say that Jesus is self existent and has no point of origin destroys the Father/Son relationship of Jesus and Jehovah. It also doesn't harmonize with the weight of evidence in scripture.

2) Verse 30 clearly states that it is God (Jehovah) that raised Christ from the dead. Jesus didn't raise himself up as He was dead in the grave and His Spirit was not floating around in Heaven watching over his own dead body. Jesus even told Martha after his ressurection not to touch Him as he hadn't ascended to the Father yet. God the Father raised up Jesus from the dead so that He wouldn't see corruption (bodily decay). Verse 34, 35 and 37 confirm Jehovah raising Jesus from the dead. 

3) Verse 38 and 39 says we are justified by believing in Christ and in him being able to forgive our sins. Paul says that the law of Moses is not able to justify us. Notice that it says the law of Moses which is not to be confused with the 10 Commandments. The law of Moses was 600 or so civil/ceremonial ordinances given to the nation of Israel. The 10 Commandments are directly from the fingers of Jehovah and are eternal, immutable and unchangeable. In Jesus was preached the forgiveness of sins. What is sin according to the word of God? 

1 John 3 :4

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law : for sin is the transgression of the law."

When we transgress Jehovah's law (10 Commandments) we sin, whether it is the 4th commandment to keep the Sabbath day as Holy or any other of the simple to keep 10 Commandments. The good news is, that we now have a high priest Jesus Christ that we can go to for forgiveness when we "miss the mark" which is the greek "hamartia" definition of the word "sin". In old covenant times, the jews had to offer up animal sacrifices via meat, drink and burnt offerings through the levitical preisthood in order to obtain atonement. Now we have a better covenant which is Jesus Christ as our High Priest who mediates for us to Jehovah in the Heavenly sanctuary in the most Holy place.  

What does the word believe really mean? Let’s look at the greek:

Pisteuo is the greek word for believe and it means to have faith (in, upon or with respect to, a person or thing) i.e. credit; by implication to entrust (especially one's spiritual well being to Christ): believe, commit (to trust) put in trust with.

So we see that the biblical definition of believe tends to be far different than what much of the professing church teaches about it. The biblical definition of believe basically means to be committed to Christ, not simply a verbal and/or emotional acknowledgement of Him. Being committed to Christ means obeying His and His Father's commandments. You don't believe me? Well believe scripture:

John 14:15 (NASB)

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

Believers obey the commandments not to earn salvation, but to show their love to the Father and Son (1 John 5:3).

1 John 5:3 (KJV)

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.