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. (Acts 13:27-35 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Observe here, 1. The apostle declares the ignominious death, the glorious resurrection, of the Lord Jesus, whom he proves to be the true and promised Messias.
For his ignominious death, the Jews hanged him upon a tree. The Son of God was not only put to death, but to the worst of deaths, even the death of the cross, by the wicked Jews: yet the apostle acknowledges, that neither the Jewish rulers nor people did understand him to be the Messias, as they might have done, had they considered the predictions of the prophets; and therefore their ignorance would not excuse them; for the ignorance and heedlessness of men enjoying the means and opportunities of knowledge, will certainly bring destruction upon them. To sin blindly without knowledge, or to sin wilfully against knowledge, is a damnable sin: The rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, have fulfilled them in condemning him.
Observe, 2. To take away the scandal of the cross, the apostle shows, that our Saviour’s resurrection was as glorious, as his death was ignominious. God wiped away the reproach of the cross by raising up Christ from the grave; and declared him to be his Son with power, by the resurrection from the dead; and accordingly the apostle applies that prophecy to Christ, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ps 2:7 As if the Father had said, “Now thou hast again recovered thy glory, and thy resurrection-day is to thee as a new birth-day.”
Three ways is Christ said to be begotten:
1. Of the essence of the Father before all worlds.
2. When his body was formed of the substance of the Virgin’s flesh.
3.When God raised him from the dead: This day have I begotten thee; that is, declaratively, for he was the Son of God before, even from all eternity; but whilst he was in a suffering condition, his divinity was veiled: whereas after his resurrection, it was more apparent, and he was then declared to be the Son of God; not then made the Son of God, but then made manifest to be the Son of God, by the resurrection from the dead.
Learn, That the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God antecedent to his resurrection, even from all eternity; he was declared and manifested, but not made or constituted, the Son of God by the resurrection. Then it was that his divinity brake forth as the sun after it had been shut up under a dark and thick cloud. Christ was the eternal Son of God: but his resurrection was a declaration and full manifestation of it to the world. Declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead. Ro 1:4