Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 2:28
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
28. thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance ] Thus the LXX. paraphrases the Hebrew, which gives “in thy presence is fulness of joy.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou hast made known … – The Hebrew is, Thou wilt make known to me, etc. In relation to the Messiah, it means, Thou wilt restore me to life.
The ways of life – This properly means the path to life; as we say, the road to preferment or honor; the path to happiness; the highway to ruin, etc. See Pro 7:26-27. It means, thou wilt make known to me life itself, that is, thou wilt restore me to life. The expressions in the Psalm are capable of this interpretation without doing any violence to the text; and if the preceding verses refer to the death and burial of the Messiah, then the natural and proper meaning of this is, that he would be restored to life again.
Thou shalt make me full of joy – This expresses the feelings of the Messiah in view of the favor that would thus be showed him; the resurrection from the dead, and the elevation to the right hand of God. It was this which is represented as sustaining him the prospect of the joy that was before him, in heaven, Heb 12:2; Eph 1:20-22.
With thy countenance – Literally, with thy face, that is, in thy presence. The words countenance and presence mean the same thing, and denote favor, or the honor and happiness provided by being admitted to the presence of God. The prospect of the honor that would be bestowed on the Messiah was what sustained him. And this proves that the person contemplated in the Psalm expected to be raised from the dead, and exalted to the presence of God. That expectation is now fulfilled, and the Messiah is now filled with joy in his exaltation to the throne of the universe. He has ascended to his Father and our Father; he is seated at the right hand of God; he has entered on that joy which was set before him; he is crowned with glory and honor; and all things are put under his feet. In view of this, we may remark:
- That the Messiah had full and confident expectation that he would rise from the dead. This the Lord Jesus always evinced, and often declared it to his disciples.
(2)If the Saviour rejoiced in view of the glories before him, we should also. We should anticipate with joy an everlasting dwelling in the presence of God, and the high honor of sitting with him on his throne, as he overcame, and is set down with the Father on his throne.
(3)The prospect of this should sustain us, as it did him, in the midst of persecution, calamity, and trials. Thy will soon be ended; and if we are his friends, we shall overcome, as he did, and be admitted to the fulness of joy above, and to the right hand of God, where are pleasures forevermore.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life] That is, the way from the region of death, or state of the dead and separate spirits; so that I shall resume the same body, and live the same kind of life, as I had before I gave up my life for the sin of the world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou hast made known to me; God is frequently said to make those mercies known to us which he bestows upon us.
The ways of life; of a true life, which is life indeed. David in these words celebrates Gods delivering of him from his grievous afflictions and exile; in which he was looked upon by others, and by himself, as a dead man, yet was brought again to see the temple, and enjoy the ordinances of God, without which his life was as no life unto him. So our Saviour, after his death and passion, arose, and ascended into heaven, and lives for ever to make intercession for us.
With thy countenance; that is, with thy presence, or manifestation of thy love and favour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. Thou hast made known to me theways of lifethat is, resurrection-life.
thou shalt make me full ofjoy with thy countenancethat is, in glory; as is plain fromthe whole connection and the actual words of the sixteenth Psalm.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life,…. That is, thou hast raised me from the dead. When God raised Christ from the dead, he showed him, or made him to know experimentally the way of life, or the way of the resurrection from death to life; and this path of life, or of the resurrection to an immortal and eternal life, was first shown to Christ, who is the first fruits of them that slept, and the first begotten from the dead.
Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance; or glorious presence, in which is fulness of joy; which Christ, as man, is in, and fully possessed of, being exalted at the right hand of God, and crowned with glory and honour, and has all the joy that was set before him in his sufferings and death.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The ways of life ( ). Though dead God will show him the ways back to life.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life
(egnorisas mou hodous zoes) “Thou didst make me the ways or paths of life,” disclosed the ways of life. The fuller “ways of life,” experienced by our Lord victoriously, involved life, death, resurrection, and ascension; It holds nothing less for His children, in full deliverance from all that death insinuates, 1Co 15:57-58; Pro 3:6. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”
2) “Thou shalt make me full of joy,” (pleroseis me euphrosunes) “Thou wilt fill me with gladness;- He who gives to man the joy of salvation longs to lead him into fullness of joy in doing the Father’s will and work, an experience to every obedient child of God, thru His church, Joh 15:11; Joh 16:24; Php_4:4.
3) “With thy countenance,” (meta tou prosopou sou) “With thy very face presence,” or personal fellowship and company, as a comforter; So the Psalm ends as it began, “in the presence of God,” Act 2:25, with joy ever more, Psa 16:11.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
28. Thou hast made known. He meaneth, that he was restored from death to life by the grace of God. For in that he was, as it were, a man raised from death to life, he acknowledgeth that it was a great good gift of God. This was in such sort fulfilled in Christ, that there wanted nothing unto perfection. As for the members they have their measure. Therefore Christ was far from corruption, that he may be the first-fruits of those which rise from death, (1Co 15:23.) We shall follow him in our order at length, but being first turned into dust, (1Co 15:42.) That which followeth, that he was filled with gladness, with the countenance of God, agreeth with that: Show us thy face, and we shall be safe. And, again, The light of thy countenance is showed upon us: thou hast put gladness in my heart. For it is only the pleasantness of God’s countenance, which doth not only make us glad, but also quickens us; again, when the same is turned away, or troubled, we must needs faint.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(28) Thou hast made known to me the ways of life.The Apostle does not interpret these words, but we can hardly err in thinking that he would have looked on them also as fulfilled in Christs humanity, To Him also the ways of life had been made known, and so even in Hades He was filled with joy (better, perhaps, gladness, as in Act. 14:17), as being in the Paradise of God (Luk. 23:43).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Ways of life In the Hebrew, the way of life; signifying, as applied to the Messiah, his path through resurrection to life.
Thy countenance After his ascension to God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Act 2:28 . Thou hast made known to me ways of life; Thou wilt fill me with joy in presence of Thy countenance , meant by the Psalmist of the divine guidance in saving his life, and of the joy which he would thereafter experience before God, refers, according to its prophetic sense, as fulfilled in Christ, to His resurrection , by which God practically made known to him ways to life, and to his state of exaltation in heaven , where he is in the fulness of blessedness with God.
] , in communion with Thy countenance (seen by me). Comp. Heb 9:24 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Ver. 28. Thou hast made known ] i.e. Thou givest me experience, or thou hast made me partaker of.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
28. ] . . .: Heb. ‘ Thou wilt make known .’
. . .: Heb. ‘ Fulness of joys (is) with thy presence .’
These two last clauses refer to the Resurrection and the Ascension respectively.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 2:28 . : St. Peter quotes from the LXX, which has the plural so in Pro 5:6 , where Hebrew has the same word as here in the singular, the LXX translates . , “with thy countenance” = “in thy presence,” margin; = Hebrew, “in thy presence”. The LXX is a literal translation of the Hebrew , face or countenance , in the O.T. The expression is a common one in the O.T., “in God’s presence”; cf. Psa 4:6 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 21:6 ; Psa 140:13 . Grimm-Thayer explains ( ) , etc., “being in thy presence” (see sub , i. 2 b ). The force of the expression is strikingly seen in its repeated use in Num 6:25 ; cf. Exo 33:14 ; Oehler, Theologie des A. T. , pp. 46, 56, 62, and Westcott, Hebrews , p. 272. And so the Psalm ends as it had begun with God; cf. Act 2:2 , and Act 2:11 . The Psalmist’s thoughts carried him beyond mere temporal deliverance, beyond the changes and chances of this mortal life, to the assurance of a union with God, which death could not dissolve; while as Christians we read with St. Peter a deeper and a fuller meaning still in the words, as we recall the Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Him, of Whom it was written: .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
hast made known = madest known. App-132.
life. App-170.
joy. Greek. euphrosune. Only here and Act 14:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
28.] …: Heb. Thou wilt make known.
…: Heb. Fulness of joys (is) with thy presence.
These two last clauses refer to the Resurrection and the Ascension respectively.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 2:28. , Thou hast made known to Me) See note, Heb 9:12. [The path of life leading to the Father, was an arduous one, even to Christ, Heb 5:7; no one had trodden it before. Therefore it is said, He entered once into the holy place, having found () eternal redemption for us: Joh 3:13.]- , the ways of life) whereby the goal is reached, and one can walk in life. The LXX. give ; as the rendering of the Hebr. in the singular.- , with Thy countenance) when I am (shall be) with Thee. Heb 9:24, Now to appear in the presence of God for us ( ).
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
made: Psa 16:11, Psa 21:4, Psa 25:4, Pro 2:19, Pro 8:20, Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26, Joh 14:6
make: Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7, Psa 17:15, Psa 21:6, Psa 42:5, Heb 12:2
Reciprocal: Num 6:26 – lift up Job 33:26 – and he shall Psa 45:7 – oil Psa 67:7 – God Psa 89:15 – in the light Pro 16:15 – the light Son 5:15 – his countenance Joh 18:4 – knowing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
Hast made known is past tense as to grammatical form, but it is a prediction that God would fully reveal to his Son the ways of life, or plan of salvation through his own blood. This assurance filled Jesus with joy because of the agreeable countenance or face of his Father.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 2:28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. The thoughts of the Redeemer on earth are still being expressed. To Him in His deep humiliation were made known by the Father those mysterious ways which lead through death to life. He knew when He had endured the pain and agony of the cross, when He had tasted the bitterness of death in all its fulness, death would be powerless to hold Him. The ways of life to Him meant the resurrection and the ascension.
Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. The heart of man cannot realise that joy in all its depth and fulness, when to the glory which the Only-begotten had with the Father before the world was, was added the glory of the worlds redemption. It was for that joy which was set before Him, that He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 25
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
2:28 Thou hast {u} made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
(u) You have opened to me the way of true life.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
David ended this psalm by rejoicing that, in spite of his adversaries, God would spare his life and enable him to enjoy God’s presence in the future. Peter interpreted these statements as referring to Jesus entering into new life following His resurrection and into God’s presence following His ascension.
"Peter quotes from Psalms 16, not to teach that Christ is on the Davidic throne, but rather to show that David predicted the resurrection and enthronement of Christ after His death. The enthronement on David’s throne is a yet-future event while the enthronement at His Father’s right hand is an accomplished fact." [Note: Pentecost, pp. 273.]