Dear friends,
Greetings in Christ!
In our last post, the Holy Spirit healed a lame man who was begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple (probably the East Gate of the temple complex). This caused quite a stir and people came running (v 11). We pick back up now with the crowd looking at Peter and John in amazement. Give us understanding, Father, as we read thy word, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Acts 3:12-26
12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Peter begins by correcting their misconception that he or John had any power of their own to heal the lame man. This is a common problem that often occurs when someone is healed miraculously by God.
13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
At the heart of the New Covenant is the resurrection of Christ. This was emphasized in Peter‘s first message (Acts 2), as it is here and Peter‘s second message (v 15). It will continue to be emphasized throughout the Book of Acts because that is the message of the gospel. (I Cor 15:1-4) Peter went on to write concerning baptism that we are saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (I Pet 3:21), as Baptism is an object lesson pointing to the resurrection. Immersion in the water is symbolic of being buried with Christ in his death. (Rom 6:4) Coming up out of the water is symbolic of being raised with Christ in newness of life. (Col 2:12) Peter wrote about how the old world died under the waters of the flood, then brought forth new life after the waters abated; this points to the resurrection along with the like figure of baptism. (I Pet 3:20f) In other words, the flood and baptism are both figurative of the resurrection.
Aaron’s authority was confirmed by the dead rod that budded with new life. (Num 17:8) Likewise, our spiritual power as Christians comes from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Phil 3:10f) Sarah and Elizabeth both gave birth in their old age, bringing new life out of dead wombs. Sarah, to continue the bloodline of Messiah through Isaac; Elizabeth, to bring forth the forerunner to prepare the way for Messiah in John the Baptist. Both these miraculous births point to the resurrection. Just as Sarah and Elizabeth were powerless to conceive, we likewise can do nothing of ourselves. (John 15:5) Our ability to carry out our commission hinges on the resurrection of Christ and the new life we receive when we are born again. (Matt 28:18ff; Acts 1:3-8; cf l Pet 2:4-9)
Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead in Luke 8. Jesus raised a widow’s son from the dead in Luke 7. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11. Jesus raised a great many more from the dead in Matthew 27. New life out of death is what the gospel is all about: And you hath he quickened [made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:1-7)
16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed [ie, Jesus; Gen 22:18 KJV (new versions omit); cf Gal 3:16] shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
Acts 3:12-26
Peter’s sermon is packed with powerful doctrine and fulfilled prophecy, but let’s drill down into the last verse of Chapter 3, verse 26. Nearly all modern versions remove ‘Jesus’, but his name used to always be there. For example, the Spanish Bible that is widely used today omits Jesus’ name here, but I checked the Reina Valera version of 1602 and sure enough, ‘Jesus’ is there. Why would they remove Jesus’ name when it was Jesus’ name and faith in Jesus’ name which healed the lame man (vv 6, 16)?
(Furthermore, why would new versions change the reference in Genesis 22:18 (v 25) from ‘seed’ to the plural word ‘descendants’ or ‘offspring’ when Galatians 3:16 makes it clear the singular word ‘seed’ is a reference to Jesus?)
Before the advent of textual criticism, Christians trusted the leading of the Holy Spirit and chose to include Jesus’ name in Acts 3:26. For example, Jesus’ name was included here in the majority of cursive manuscripts from the 9th to the 16th century.(1) At that time, and until the late 19th century, Christians rejected the minority texts of Egypt (Jer 42:18; Hos 11:1; Matt 2:15; Acts 7:39; Rev 11:8), as their odd variances revealed a Gnostic leaning. Besides rejecting the deity of Jesus, the Gnostics believed that Jesus was only a spirit and did not come in the flesh. Their altered manuscripts are out of agreement with manuscripts from virtually all other geographical locations:
I Corinthians 15:47
Majority Text
the second man is the Lord from heaven
Alexandrian Text
the second man is the spirit from heaven(2)
Ephesians 5:30
Majority Text
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones
Alexandrian Text
members of his body(3)
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
I John 4:3
So, by removing Jesus’ name from Acts 3:26, the Gnostics were altering God’s word to be more in agreement with their antichrist beliefs, namely, that Jesus is not the Son of God. (I John 2:22) Someone may protest and say, My new version has it in verse 13, so what does it matter if they took it out in verse 26? God designed his word with safeguards to keep his message intact. Chuck Missler used the analogy of how a communications officer would increase the frequency of a signal to keep his transmission from getting jammed, but God nevertheless commands us to keep every word, because every word is important. (Deut 4:2; Jer 26:2; Matt 5:18; Rev 22:19) Besides, new versions translate paída as ‘servant’ in verse 13 instead of Son, which agrees more with the Gnostic view. Even the old Catholic Douay-Rheims version translated paída as ‘Son’.
Jesus’ name is removed in scores of places in new versions (eg, around 73 times in the NASB) to water them down. Also often removed are his title, Lord, and his identity as Christ (Messiah). I was saved before I started using the KJV, so I’m not saying that new versions cannot be used by God, but they have definitely been weakened. The enemy must be pleased that Christians are walking around with armor that is weak. Here are a few more examples of how the new versions have been weakened:
Galatians 4:7
KJV an heir of God through Christ
NIV God has made you also an heir (How? By works?)
Ephesians 3:9
KJV God, who created all things by Jesus Christ
NIV God, who created all things (How? By aeons?)
Ephesians 3:14
KJV I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
NIV I kneel before the Father (Which Father? Baba Ram Dass?)
I once mentioned this to a ‘Greek scholar’ who flipped out and said the most extant manuscripts confirm the new readings, which of course is nonsense. The Majority Text is the ‘most extant’, which is why it is called the Majority Text. The so-called ‘best manuscripts’ only represent about 5% -1% of the manuscript evidence, depending on who you ask. Furthermore, not only do the minority text manuscripts not agree with the Majority Text in many places, but they do not even agree with each other in many of these same places. Taken as a whole, they agree with the Majority Text in disputed passages almost as often as they disagree.(4) Most of the older manuscripts that contained Majority Text readings were burned in the persecutions that plagued the early church, but sometimes faith is all we have. For example, if you look up I John 2:23 in the KJV, you will find half the verse is in italics. The translators included it because they thought it belonged there. Yet if you look at I John 2:23 in a NASB, it is no longer in italics because they found the manuscript evidence.
In closing, consider this: When I was a kid the KJV was still being printed with the Epistle Dedicatory included before the TOC. Why would they remove it? There is a line in that document that the new world order hates with a passion. It says that the KJV “has given such a blow to that man of sin as will not be healed.” That may not sound very significant, but if you can find an old enough Bible printed around the mid-1800s or earlier, you will find ‘Man of Sin’ was originally capitalized, because it was a proper noun, referring to the pope. I used to have an old Bible that was printed with Man of Sin capitalized. So what did they do? First they got Man of Sin switched to lowercase. Second, they had the Epistle Dedicatory removed altogether. Moreover, the Vatican has poured millions of dollars into countless new versions based on their own corrupt Vaticanus manuscript. Then, they convinced Christians that these new versions are ‘better’ than the old ones.
Finally, one of the things that makes people resist using the KJV is that they do not want to appear odd in any way to their fellow Christians. Consider that Noah may have looked like a right-wing fanatic in his day, but after the flood, he looked pretty mainstream. Likewise, using a KJV may look a little odd in these last days, but after the rapture, the KJV will look mainstream to our fellow saints in heaven, most of whom used this same text type throughout history.
1 Hodges Farstad, Majority Text Edition. Jesus’ name is also included here in P74, Psi, 049, 056, 0142, 0165. As cited in Jack Moorman, A Close Look Early Manuscripts and the Authorized Version, p 112.
2 P46, as cited in Early Manuscripts and the Authorized Version, p 6.
3 P46 et al, as cited in Early Manuscripts and the Authorized Version, p 130.
4 Early Manuscripts and the Authorized Version, pp 20, 21
