Acts 13:36-39 - Did not see decay

13:36,37

Paul then points out that these verse could not have been fulfilled in David for David did indeed die and his body did see decay. Peter made a similar point in Acts 2:34. So what do we have here? The accepted religious thought/belief saw David as important (which he was) but had a wrong understanding, and one which was demonstrably wrong, and so demonstrated by the undeniable fact that David was dead. The Scriptures must have been pointing to something, someone, greater. Jesus Himself made a similar point as well (Matt 22:44). Jesus is that someone who is greater, and to whom the Scriptures are pointing. For Jesus did not see decay. He was raised never to die again. The resurrection is the proof that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. This section here is vital in interpreting parts of the New Testament letters that speak of Jesus becoming the Son of God, or being shown to be the Son of God.

13:38,39

Paul now gets them to look at what their own response should be, and we see the centrality of the forgiveness of sins. So often we put the “gospel” in terms of what God can do for us, in our own terms. But for each one of us our fundamental need is to be forgiven. We have sinned against God and we need forgiveness. That forgiveness is provided in Jesus Christ. In Christ we are justified from all our sins, we are made righteous. And the Law of Moses could not make a man righteous, could not justify a man. All the Law could do was condemn us, show us how far short we have fallen. This applies to all of us, even if we are not “under the Law”. In the West we would probably say that love is the most important thing, or perhaps even tolerance. Well suppose we accept that love is the most important thing, how then do we measure up against it? Have you loved perfectly? Are all your thoughts perfect? If we take tolerance the situation is if anything more clear. Those who speak of tolerance are so often the most intolerant people on earth. We have all sinned and we all need forgiveness.