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. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; 41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. (Acts 13:38-41 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
The apostle having proved his point, that Jesus was the true, the promised and expected Messias, by his resurrection from the dead, he now applies it to his auditory; and tells them, That by the meritorious satisfaction and prevailing intercession of this Jesus, remission of sins is to be obtained, and deliverance from the wrath of God, from which the law of Moses could not, with all its ceremonial washings and sacrifices, cleanse and free them.
Here note, The impossibility of our being justified by the law, and the certainty of our justification by faith in Christ: By him, all that believe are justified.
Where observe, The procurer of our justification, Christ; the qualification of the subjects justified by him, Them that believe; and the extent and measure of our justification, (not from some, but from all things,) By him all that believe are justified from all things. Next the apostle exhorts his hearers to take heed, lest by their obstinate rejecting and refusing this way of salvation now preached to them, they bring such a remarkable destruction upon themselves now, as God threatened to bring upon their forefathers of old. The sense is, “If ye reject this Jesus, and the way to life and salvation by him, ye shall be destroyed by the Romans, as your ancestors were by the Chaldeans.” Sin is as odious to God at one time as another, and in one people as another: particularly the sin of obstinate infidelity and unbelief, is a God-provoking and a wrath-procuring sin: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish.