But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer.
Parallel translations
- WEB But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
- KJV But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
- NKJV But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
- NASB But the things which God previously announced by the mouths of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has fulfilled in this way.
- NLT But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things.
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
What happened to Jesus fulfilled what God had foretold through all the prophets, that the Christ would suffer. The cross was no accident but the outworking of God's plan.
Overview
Peter affirms that the suffering of the Messiah was prophesied throughout Scripture, however unexpected it was to many. This holds together human responsibility and divine sovereignty: the people sinned, yet God fulfilled his redemptive purpose. The suffering of Christ stands at the center of God's eternal plan, foretold and accomplished for the salvation of his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Isa 53:1–12Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
- Acts 2:23He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
- Acts 26:22–23But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen:
- Zech 12:10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
- Isa 50:6I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.
- Luke 24:26–27Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?”
- Acts 17:2–3As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
- 1 Cor 15:3–4For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- 1 Pet 1:10–11Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully,
- Luke 24:44Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
- Acts 28:23So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.
- Dan 9:26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
- Rev 19:10So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
- Zech 13:7Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.
- Ps 69:1–36For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck.
- Ps 22:1–30For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?
- Gen 3:15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
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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 3:18 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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