Acts 13:33 - Printer Friendly

ESV: this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

NIV: he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ''You are my son; today I have become your father.'

NASB: that God has fulfilled this promise to those of us who are the descendants by raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE FATHERED YOU.’

CSB: God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm:You are my Son;today I have become your Father.

NLT: and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. ’

KJV: God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

NKJV: God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’

Paul and Barnabas are visiting a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, slightly southwest of the center of modern-day Asia Minor. Paul is explaining how the salvation God has always given Israel is deepening. Throughout Israel's history, God has saved them from slavery, hardships, starvation, and enemies. With the death and resurrection of Jesus, God offers to save them from their sins and to a reconciled relationship with Him, as He promised the Jewish fathers. This "good news" has come to the children of the patriarchs (Acts 13:32).

In this section, Paul is showing how the resurrection of God's promised Savior (Acts 13:23–25, 27, 30) was promised in Jewish prophecy. In this quote from the Septuagint, he shows the relationship between God and that Savior—Jesus is the Son of God the Father.

There is an on-going discussion as to what "raising Jesus" means. Most commentators believe it does not refer to the resurrection (which will be addressed in Acts 13:34–35) but to God's overall act of presenting Jesus to the world and endowing Him to be the Savior of the world. The quote of Psalm 2:7 doesn't refer specifically to Jesus' baptism wherein God declared Jesus His "beloved" Son (Matthew 3:17) or to the transfiguration where, again, God called Jesus His "beloved" Son (Mark 9:7). It's the broader sense of Jesus' whole ministry and mission as described in John 3:16.

"Begotten" is from the Greek root word gennao, which literally means "to give birth to something," which could infer the work of the Holy Spirit who impregnated Mary. In Psalm 2:7 and John 3:16, it refers more generally to the act of causing something to come into being. What it doesn't mean is the false teaching that God created the Son. God arranged for the Son to have a human body, a human nature, and live a human life with a beginning and an earthly end. But the Son is co-eternal with the Father. Jesus as God was not created. What God begat or started was God the Son's role as the heir of David, the Messiah of the Jews, and the Savior of the world.

There is a sense in which God begat Jesus at the point of His resurrection. When a Jewish king was crowned, the moment was considered to be the start of a new relationship between God and the king—a relationship of sonship. With Jesus' resurrection, He took His place as eternal king in David's line. His kingship is "already but not yet," meaning He is king in a spiritual sense, but He will not be physical king over the earth until the millennial kingdom.

Pisidian Antioch was home to a big temple to Caesar Augustus, whom the people worshiped as a god. Now, Paul is saying Jesus is the Son of God. Augustus was known as the "son of the deified," the "deified" being Julius: divi filius. Augustus was also called as "savior." Paul's audience would not believe that the emperor was the son of God, but it's still interesting how Paul uses the local vernacular to make his point.

Acts 13:16–41 gives the transcript of Paul's message in Pisidian Antioch. It is the only recording of Paul's many synagogue sermons. Paul's message can be broken into five parts, each identified with a call to heed Paul's words: 1. God's saving work in Israel's history and promise of a future Savior (Acts 13:16–25); 2. The Savior's story (Acts 13:26–31); 3. The prophecies of the Savior (Acts 13:32–37); 4. The nature of ''salvation'' (Acts 13:38–39); 5. A warning to accept the Savior (Acts 13:40–41). Some Jews and many Gentiles do accept the message, but the synagogue leaders drive Paul and Barnabas out of town (Acts 13:42–51).

The first chapters of Acts, save for a quick account of Paul's conversion (Acts 9:1–31), cover the ministry of the apostles, particularly Peter. Those passages also detail the spread of the news about Jesus from His followers. That message goes to the Jews of Jerusalem (Acts 2—7) and Judea (Acts 8:26–40; 9:32–43), the Samaritans (Acts 8:4–25), and God-fearing Gentiles (Acts 10—11). Now, Paul's contribution to the ''end of the earth'' portion of Jesus' commission in Acts 1:8 begins, as he and Barnabas start their first missionary journey. Luke will record two more of Paul's journeys (Acts 15:36—18:22 and 18:23—20:38) before settling in on his return to Jerusalem, arrest, and sea voyage to Rome (Acts 21—28).