Limitless Word
explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
Acts 17:3 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
  • KJV 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.
  • BSB explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.
  • NASB explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”
  • NLT He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Paul proved from Scripture that the Messiah had to suffer and rise, declaring Jesus to be that Christ.

Overview

Here is the heart of apostolic preaching: a suffering and risen Messiah was foretold in the Old Testament, and Jesus is He. Paul connects the cross and resurrection directly to the prophetic Scriptures. This verse summarizes the gospel itself, that the long-promised Christ is Jesus, crucified and raised for sinners.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Acts 18:28for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
  • Acts 9:22But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.
  • Luke 24:32They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
  • Acts 3:18But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
  • 1 Cor 15:3–4For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
  • Luke 24:46He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
  • 1 Th 1:5–6and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake.
  • Gal 3:1Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?
  • Luke 24:44He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
  • Luke 24:26–27Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”
  • Acts 3:22–26For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.
  • Acts 2:16–36But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:
  • John 20:9For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
  • Acts 13:26–39Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.
  • Acts 1:4Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Acts videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Acts 17:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ActsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.

How Acts 17:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.