Acts 2:22 kjv
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Acts 2:22 nkjv
"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know?
Acts 2:22 niv
"Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
Acts 2:22 esv
"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know ?
Acts 2:22 nlt
"People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know.
Acts 2 22 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Deut 18:15 | The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you... | Prophecy of a great Prophet, fulfilled by Jesus. |
| Acts 3:22 | Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me...' | Peter applies Deut 18:15 directly to Jesus. |
| Jn 3:2 | "...for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." | Nicodemus acknowledges divine presence in Jesus' works. |
| Jn 10:25 | "The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me..." | Jesus himself states His works prove His identity. |
| Jn 14:11 | "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves." | Jesus appeals to His works as proof of His divine unity. |
| Heb 2:4 | "...while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit..." | God attested to the salvation message through signs. |
| Mt 11:4-5 | Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight..." | Jesus points to His miracles as proof of His Messiahship. |
| Lk 7:21-22 | At that very hour he healed many people... and he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen..." | Similar to Matthew, Jesus' deeds validate His claim. |
| Acts 10:38 | "...how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power... healing all..." | Peter's later sermon echoes Jesus' divine empowerment. |
| Gal 3:5 | "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law..." | Paul connects the Spirit and miracles to God's action. |
| Isa 35:5-6 | Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened... and the ears of the deaf unstopped... | Prophetic fulfillment in Jesus' miracles. |
| Acts 4:10 | "...it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth... by him this man is standing before you well." | Peter again connects healing to Jesus of Nazareth. |
| Acts 2:25 | "For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me..." | Connects Jesus to Davidic prophecy. |
| Lk 24:19 | "...concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God..." | Cleopas describes Jesus in terms reflecting divine attestation. |
| Jn 5:36 | "But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish... testify about me..." | Jesus affirms God-given works as His witness. |
| Rom 1:3-4 | ...His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power... | Jesus' identity attested by resurrection power. |
| Jn 20:30-31 | Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book... | John explains the purpose of written signs: to believe. |
| Acts 1:8 | "...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses..." | Foreshadows Peter's empowerment to bear witness about Jesus. |
| 1 Jn 5:9 | If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater... He has borne witness concerning His Son. | God's direct testimony is supreme. |
| Acts 5:30-32 | The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging him on a tree... and we are witnesses... | Peter reinforces the resurrection, God's attestation. |
| Phil 2:6-7 | Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself... | Jesus' divine nature despite His human appearance. |
| Mt 12:28 | But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. | Jesus links His works directly to God's active Spirit. |
Acts 2 verses
Acts 2 22 Meaning
Acts 2:22 encapsulates Peter's core message to the gathered crowd on the Day of Pentecost, identifying Jesus of Nazareth as the divinely appointed Messiah. It asserts that God Himself authenticated Jesus through extraordinary works, wonders, and signs performed in their very presence, testifying to His divine commission. This verse serves as a foundational premise in Peter's sermon, laying the groundwork for explaining why the same Jesus, though crucified by human hands, was truly the Messiah whom God raised from the dead.
Acts 2 22 Context
Acts chapter 2 describes the day of Pentecost, a pivotal moment when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Jesus' disciples, enabling them to speak in other tongues. This phenomenon drew a diverse crowd of devout Jews from every nation. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, rises to explain the event, seizing the opportunity to deliver the first public gospel sermon. His address in Acts 2:14-36 aims to demonstrate that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Joel 2) and, critically, is directly connected to Jesus of Nazareth, whom God had raised from the dead and exalted. Acts 2:22 initiates the theological argument, laying the foundation by presenting Jesus not as a mere man, but as one authenticated by God through miraculous works witnessed by the very audience Peter addresses, setting the stage for his subsequent assertions about Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and Lordship. Historically, the audience consisted of devout Jews familiar with prophetic expectations of a Messiah and God's active involvement in human affairs, but likely wrestling with the idea of a crucified Messiah.
Acts 2 22 Word analysis
- Men of Israel (Andres Israēlitai): Direct address to the Jewish people, establishing a common identity and historical lineage. It signifies Peter's intention to speak to God's chosen people who hold a shared heritage and covenant.
- hear these words: An imperative for focused attention. Peter demands the audience's ear for a message of profound significance, typical of prophetic declarations in the Hebrew scriptures.
- Jesus of Nazareth (Iēsoun ton Nazaraios): Identifies the specific person being discussed. "Nazareth" carried connotations of low repute ("Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Jn 1:46). Peter’s deliberate use acknowledges His human identity and earthly origin while immediately connecting it to divine attestation, potentially pre-empting bias or contempt.
- a man: andra. Emphasizes Jesus' genuine humanity, underscoring that these divine acts were performed through a human being. This refutes any Gnostic leanings that would deny His true flesh and blood existence.
- attested by God (apodedigmenon apo tou theou): Crucial phrase. Apodeiknymi means "to show, to point out, to attest, to prove, to demonstrate, to designate." Here, it signifies that God definitively approved, endorsed, and certified Jesus' identity and mission. This wasn't human opinion but divine authentication.
- to you (eis hymas): Clarifies that this attestation was not a private matter but evident to the entire Jewish community in Jerusalem.
- by mighty works, wonders, and signs (dynamesi kai terasin kai sēmeiois): A triad of terms frequently used in the NT to describe divine, supernatural acts.
- Mighty works (dynamesi): Focuses on the inherent power of the act, its miraculous strength. (e.g., healing, casting out demons).
- Wonders (terasin): Emphasizes the effect of the act, inspiring awe, astonishment, or fear in observers.
- Signs (sēmeiois): Highlights the purpose or meaning behind the act, pointing beyond itself to a divine truth, a messenger, or the coming of God's kingdom.
- which God did (ha epoiēsen ho theos): Reaffirms God's agency. It was God's power acting through Jesus, not Jesus acting independently of God. This connects Jesus directly to the divine source of power, affirming His unity of purpose with the Father.
- through him (di' autou): Jesus was the channel, the instrument through whom God worked. This confirms Jesus' role as the divinely appointed agent.
- in your midst (en mesō hymōn): Emphasizes the public nature of Jesus' ministry. These were not hidden acts but widely observed events, known by the very people Peter addressed, reinforcing their personal accountability to the truth.
- as you yourselves know: Appeals to common knowledge and shared experience. Peter calls upon the audience's undeniable firsthand understanding or widely circulated reports, making his argument more potent and irrefutable. This also counters potential claims of fabrication.
Acts 2 22 Bonus section
The rhetorical force of Acts 2:22 lies in its structure, moving from Jesus' humanity to His divine authentication, then detailing the method (miracles), identifying the ultimate agent (God), specifying the instrumentality (through Jesus), and finally appealing to the audience's own witnessed experience. This sophisticated layering provides both factual evidence and an emotional call to acknowledge what they already know. Peter's reliance on empirical evidence – miracles seen by many – sets a precedent for early Christian apologetics, emphasizing verifiable events as foundational to belief. Furthermore, by linking God's activity to Jesus, Peter implicitly reinterprets the Old Testament concept of God's direct intervention in Israel's history, asserting that in Jesus, God was intervening again in an ultimate and definitive way.
Acts 2 22 Commentary
Acts 2:22 is a foundational statement in Peter’s Pentecost sermon, strategically crafted to present Jesus as God's validated Messiah to a Jewish audience. It begins by identifying Jesus with his human origin ("Nazareth") and human form ("a man"), then immediately elevates his status by declaring that God Himself had "attested" or "designated" him. This divine attestation was not mystical or hidden but publicly evidenced through "mighty works, wonders, and signs." These categories of miracles not only showcased divine power but also served as deliberate pointers ("signs") to Jesus' identity and mission, fulfilling ancient prophecies (like those found in Isaiah about the coming Messiah).
The emphasis on God as the agent ("which God did through him") underscores Jesus' unity with the Father and validates his ministry as divinely authorized, challenging any perception of Jesus merely as a human wonder-worker. The final phrase, "in your midst, as you yourselves know," directly appeals to the audience's personal experience, leveraging widely acknowledged facts to build an unassailable case for Jesus' Messianic claims before moving on to the scandalous truth of his crucifixion and the triumphant reality of his resurrection. This verse functions as a concise summary of Jesus' public ministry and its divine significance, serving as irrefutable evidence for Peter’s subsequent proclamation.