You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!
Parallel translations
- WEB and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.
- KJV And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
- BSB You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of the fact.
- ESV and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
- NKJV and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
- NASB but put to death the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
They killed the Author of life, but God raised him from the dead, and the apostles are witnesses. The resurrection overturned their verdict and grounds the apostolic testimony.
Overview
Calling Jesus the 'Prince' or Author of life is a striking paradox: they put to death the very source of life, yet death could not hold him. God's raising of Jesus is the central proof of the gospel and the foundation of Christian hope. The apostles ground their preaching in eyewitness testimony to the risen Christ, the heart of their message in Acts.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 26
- Acts 2:24whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
- Acts 2:32This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.
- Rev 21:6He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
- John 1:4In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
- Heb 2:10For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
- John 5:26For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
- Acts 13:30–32But God raised him from the dead,
- 1 Cor 15:45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
- John 11:25–26Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- John 4:14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Rev 22:17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
- John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- John 17:2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
- John 4:10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
- Heb 5:9Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,
- 1 Jn 5:20We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
- Rev 22:1He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
- 1 Jn 5:11–12The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
- Col 3:3–4For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
- John 10:28I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
- Acts 10:40–41God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed,
- Matt 28:2–5Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.
- Rom 8:1–2There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
- Acts 5:31God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
- Acts 1:22beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
- Eph 1:20which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,
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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 3:15 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
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