Acts 3:25
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And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Ye are the children . . . of the covenant--and so the natural heirs of its promises. in thy seed, &c.--(See on Gal 3:8, &c.).
Open source ↗In this chapter we have a miracle and a sermon: the miracle wrought to make way for the sermon, to confirm the doctrine that was to be preached, and to make way for it into the minds of the people; and then the sermon to explain the miracle, and to sow the ground which by it was broken up. I. The miracle was the healing of a man that was lame from his birth, with a word speaking (Act 3:1-8), and the impression which this made upon the people (Act 3:9-11). II. The scope of the sermon which was preached hereupon was to bring people to Christ, to repent of their sin in crucifying him (Act 3:12-19), to believe in him now that he was glorified, and to comply with the Father's design in glorifying him (Act 3:20-26). The former part of the discourse opens the wound, the latter applies the remedy.
Open source ↗3:25 all the families on earth will be blessed: God’s blessings on the covenant people were not intended to be selfishly hoarded, but were to be shared with the world.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, of the Amorites and Perizzites, of the Jebusites and Girgashites— to give it to his descendants. You have kept Your promise, because You are righteous.
I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.