Acts 2:22-26
‘Jesus…you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain — Whom God has raised up, having loosened the pains of death because it was not possible that He should be held down by it! For David speaks concerning Him, “I foresaw the Lord always…. He is on my right hand…. Therefore my heart rejoiced…. Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope — because You will not…permit Your Holy One to see corruption!”‘ Acts 2:22-27.
Calvin comments: “Peter…does not begin by immediately declaring that Jesus was the Christ, but simply says…that when He had been put to death — He rose from the dead!… He mentions the death of Christ for this reason especially, so that the resurrection might more assuredly be believed….
“He says that He was killed by them…, because the whole people with one voice demanded His death…. The Just was subjected to death, for our sins…. His blood, was the price of our death…. ‘By the hands of the wicked, (you have crucified and slain Him)!’… The wicked are very far from obeying God, in whatever way they execute what God in His Own counsels has appointed…. When men commit…murder, they sin in being…murderers…. But God…uses their wickedness!…
“‘(God has raised [Him] up), having loosened the pangs of death!’… Believers ought not now to be afraid of death, for the nature of death is not as it was in Adam. Because, by the victory of Christ, the curse of God is swallowed up (First Corinthians 15:54)…. It was not possible for Christ to be mastered by death, inasmuch as He is the Author of life!…
“The resurrection of Christ…was attested by clear and reliable prophecies…. Peter proves by the testimony of David, that it was necessary that Christ should rise…. David’s corpse suffered corruption, in the grave…. David…said…he would be delivered from death by the grace of God…. God would not permit Him of whom the Psalm (16:10) speaks (Christ), to rot in the grave!…
“David promises himself exemption from the grave, on no other grounds than that he is a member of Christ…. God had provided His disciples with listeners who were godly men…. They sought the Messiah in the Old Testament. They knew that…the Messiah was figured by David. There was among them religion, and a reverence for Scripture….
“David…did not take heed to the direction of God, in vain!… ‘My heart was glad!’… That is the joy which Christ promised in full measure to His disciples…, which He testified could not be taken from them (John 16:22 & 17:13)…. ‘Because You will not leave (my soul in the grave)!'”
Calvin also said in his Institutes II:16:11: “Peter says…God raised up Christ, ‘having loosened the pains of death. Because it was not possible He should be held by it.” Calvin further says in his Psychopannychia: “Christ could not be extinguished by death, even in respect of His human nature…. The soul never lost its life…. Peter affirms…it was impossible He could be held by death…(Acts 2:27)…. His soul…did not fall into perdition, and the body was preserved in the tomb till its resurrection!” Christ was captured, crucified, undecomposed — and resurrected! And you?
