Acts 17:2-3 KJV
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them,
and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs
have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I
preach unto you, is Christ.
There is a change of person that happens in this verse. It goes from
Luke telling us what Paul did, to a statement the first person said. It is
almost universally accepted that the statement is that of Paul. One commentary
suggests that the RSV Bible renders the passage better by adding (said he) to
the text. The problem is that there is nothing to support the addition but the translators'
opinion that the passage reads more intelligently. I propose a different
interpretation;[1]
that this statement is from the penman and not from Paul.
Luke, the inspired penman of the Acts of the Apostles, has an obvious
message he desires to spread through his work in both this book and The Gospel
According to Luke; he wants his reader to know that the Jesus he presents to
the reader is Christ, the Saviour. It is not a stretch to call the entire book
of Acts a sermon. It would not be wrong to view it as Luke preaching to his
reader.
Imagine then that, in this brief verse, Luke looks to Theophilus, his
original audience, and says that in Thessalonica Paul opened and alleged that
the same Jesus Luke preached to Theophilus throughout his two books, is Christ.
- It makes the verse read logically
- It makes more sense than adding words the passage
doesn't warrant and
- It maintains the doctrine that Jesus is Christ
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