Acts

Acts 2:22

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested(In Greek: "ἀποδεδειγμένον" or proven/shown) to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—" (Acts 2:22 NASB1995).

Some people become worried by this verse as it seems to indicate Jesus is not God as the passage says God used Jesus to perform these miracles; however, this shall be no stumbling block. Firstly, we ought to read from Paul. "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross," (Philippians 2:5-8 NASB1995). Paul begins by noting a person must have humility, one such as the great Shepherd. The man who yet was in the form of God, he was humble. So humble in fact, that he became a servant to the Father and died on the cross for all our sins(John 3:16). The Shepherd, Jesus, laid down his life for his friends(John 15:14).

The point is Jesus was humble, so he set down some of his glory to become a man. Thus, the Father had to work through him as to make their will be so.

Acts 3:22

"Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you," (Acts 3:22 KJV).

Some will use this verse to claim Moses was speaking about their specific prophets such as Muhammad or Joseph Smith. This quote specifically comes from Deuteronomy 18:15: "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken," (Deuteronomy 18:15 KJV). We get from this that a prophet will rise, one that is like among their brothers. This seems to imply that a prophet will rise of the same ethnicity.

So who is this pointing to? Well, let us read before verse 22: “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you," (Acts 3:17-22 KJV). The person mentioned in Acts 3 is Jesus. Peter is relating the prophecy in Deuteronomy to Jesus.

Acts 15:20

"but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood," (Acts 15:20 NASB1995).

The verse in question specifically comes from the context of a discussion over how Christians should act. Verse 20 specifically notes 4 practices that we should abstain from: food from idols, fornication, what is strangled, and from blood. This comes from the idea of helping those with convictions. The Jews struggled with the change of the Old to New Covenant, so these laws were placed to help them with the transformation (1 Corinthians 8; Romans 14:20). This is not to say fornication was merely up to conviction, but it was a common practice among the gentiles that needed extra attention towards. "In its literal sense. "The association of fornication with three things in themselves indifferent is to be explained from the then moral corruption of heathenism, by which fornication, regarded from of old with indulgence," (Vincent's Word Studies).

"Here it is joined with things sacrificed to idols, because it was frequently an accompaniment of the worship of idols," (Bengel's Gnomen).

"And from what is strangled", meaning: "such creatures as had not their blood let out, and therefore were not to be fed upon, by the law of God," (Poole).

"and from blood", meaning: "They were counselled to abstain from things strangled, and from eating blood; this was forbidden by the law of Moses, and also here, from reverence to the blood of the sacrifices, which being then still offered, it would needlessly grieve the Jewish converts, and further prejudice the unconverted Jews," (Henry).

These laws were provided so that the Gentiles and Jews would not have conflict (Acts 15:19). Paul explains this best: "Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble," (Romans 14:20 NIV). All food is indeed clean, but we still must be sure to be sensitive around those who may stumble because of it.

References:

Bengel, Johann Albrecht, et al. Gnomon of the New Testament. United Kingdom, T. & T. Clark, 1858.

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. United States, Thomas Nelson, 2003.

Poole, Matthew. Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible. United States, Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, 1990.

Vincent, Marvin Richardson. Word Studies in the New Testament. United States, C. Scribner's sons, 1887.