Luke 24:44-47

Jesus’ Final Commission

24:44 Then ¹  he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me ²  in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms ³  must be fulfilled.” 24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, ⁴  24:46 and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ ⁵  would suffer ⁶  and would rise from the dead on the third day, 24:47 and repentance ⁷  for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed ⁸  in his name to all nations, ⁹  beginning from Jerusalem. ¹⁰ 

Acts 3:21

3:21 This one ¹¹  heaven must ¹²  receive until the time all things are restored, ¹³  which God declared ¹⁴  from times long ago ¹⁵  through his holy prophets.

[24:44]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[24:44]  ² sn Everything written about me. The divine plan, events, and scripture itself are seen here as being one.

[24:44]  ³ sn For a similar threefold division of the OT scriptures, see the prologue to Sirach, lines 8-10, and from Qumran, the epilogue to 4QMMT, line 10.

[24:45]  ⁴ sn Luke does not mention specific texts here, but it is likely that many of the scriptures he mentioned elsewhere in Luke-Acts would have been among those he had in mind.

[24:46]  ⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:46]  ⁶ tn Three Greek infinitives are the key to this summary: (1) to suffer, (2) to rise, and (3) to be preached. The Christ (Messiah) would be slain, would be raised, and a message about repentance would go out into all the world as a result. All of this was recorded in the scripture. The remark shows the continuity between Jesus’ ministry, the scripture, and what disciples would be doing as they declared the Lord risen.

[24:47]  ⁷ sn This repentance has its roots in declarations of the Old Testament. It is the Hebrew concept of a turning of direction.

[24:47]  ⁸ tn Or “preached,” “announced.”

[24:47]  ⁹ sn To all nations. The same Greek term (τὰ ἔθνη, ta eqnh) may be translated “the Gentiles” or “the nations.” The hope of God in Christ was for all the nations from the beginning.

[24:47]  ¹⁰ sn Beginning from Jerusalem. See Acts 2, which is where it all starts.

[3:21]  ¹¹ tn Grk “whom,” continuing the sentence from v. 20.

[3:21]  ¹² sn The term must used here (δεῖ, dei, “it is necessary”) is a key Lukan term to point to the plan of God and what must occur.

[3:21]  ¹³ tn Grk “until the times of the restoration of all things.” Because of the awkward English style of the extended genitive construction, and because the following relative clause has as its referent the “time of restoration” rather than “all things,” the phrase was translated “until the time all things are restored.”

[3:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “spoke.”

[3:21]  ¹⁵ tn Or “from all ages past.”