Use of the Old Testament in Acts

Use of the Old Testament in Acts

Acts passage	Speaker	OT reference
Acts 1:20a — cites the psalm calling for the betrayer’s habitation to become desolate.	Peter	Psalm 69:25
Acts 1:20b — cites the command that another person take the betrayer’s office.	Peter	Psalm 109:8
Acts 2:17–21 — quotes Joel’s prophecy concerning the outpouring of the Spirit, prophecy, visions, cosmic signs, the day of the Lord, and salvation for those who call upon the Lord.	Peter	Joel 2:28–32
Acts 2:25–28 — quotes David concerning the Lord’s presence, the security of his flesh, deliverance from Hades and corruption, and the paths of life.	Peter	Psalm 16:8–11
Acts 2:30 — recalls God’s oath to David that one of his descendants would occupy his throne.	Peter	Psalm 132:11
Acts 2:31 — repeats the promise that the Messiah would not be abandoned to Hades and would not experience corruption.	Peter	Psalm 16:10
Acts 2:34–35 — quotes David’s declaration that the Lord invited his Lord to sit at his right hand until his enemies were subdued.	Peter	Psalm 110:1
Acts 3:13 — identifies God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.	Peter	Exodus 3:6, 15
Acts 3:22–23 — Peter quotes Moses concerning the prophet whom God would raise up, the obligation to hear him, and judgment upon those who refuse.	Peter	Deut 18:15, 18–19; cf. Lev 23:29
Acts 3:25 — quotes the Abrahamic promise that all the families or nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring.	Peter	Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14
Acts 4:11 — identifies Jesus as the rejected stone that became the cornerstone.	Peter	Psalm 118:22
Acts 4:24 — addresses God as the maker of heaven, earth, sea, and everything in them.	Jerusalem church	Exod 20:11; Neh 9:6; Psalm 146:6
Acts 4:25–26 — quotes David concerning the raging nations, plotting peoples, earthly kings, and rulers gathered against the Lord and his Anointed.	Jerusalem church	Psalm 2:1–2
Acts 7:3 — quotes God’s command that Abraham leave his country and relatives and go to the land God would show him.	Stephen	Gen 12:1
Acts 7:5 — recalls God’s promise to give the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though Abraham had no child at the time.	Stephen	Gen 13:15; 17:8; 48:4
Acts 7:6 — quotes God’s prediction that Abraham’s descendants would live as foreigners, be enslaved, and be mistreated for four hundred years.	Stephen	Gen 15:13
Acts 7:7 — quotes God’s promise to judge the enslaving nation and bring Abraham’s descendants out to worship him.	Stephen	Gen 15:14; Exod 3:12
Acts 7:18 — describes the rise of another king over Egypt who did not know Joseph.	Stephen	Exod 1:8
Acts 7:27–28 — quotes the Israelite who rejected Moses as ruler and judge and accused him of intending to kill him.	Stephen	Exod 2:14
Acts 7:32 — quotes God’s self-identification as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.	Stephen	Exod 3:6
Acts 7:33 — quotes God’s command that Moses remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.	Stephen	Exod 3:5
Acts 7:34 — quotes God’s declaration that he had seen Israel’s affliction, heard its groaning, come down to deliver it, and would send Moses to Egypt.	Stephen	Exod 3:7–8, 10
Acts 7:35 — repeats Israel’s rejection of Moses as ruler and judge.	Stephen	Exod 2:14
Acts 7:37 — quotes Moses concerning the prophet whom God would raise up from among Israel’s brothers.	Stephen	Deut 18:15
Acts 7:40 — quotes Israel’s demand that Aaron make gods to lead them because they did not know what had happened to Moses.	Stephen	Exod 32:1, 23
Acts 7:42–43 — Stephen quotes Amos concerning Israel’s sacrifices in the wilderness, the tent of Moloch, the star of Rephan, idolatrous images, and exile beyond Babylon.	Stephen	Amos 5:25–27
Acts 7:44 — Stephen recalls the command that Moses make the tabernacle according to the pattern he had seen.	Stephen	Exod 25:9, 40
Acts 7:49–50 — Stephen quotes Isaiah concerning heaven as God’s throne, earth as his footstool, the impossibility of constructing an adequate dwelling for him, and his creation of all things.	Stephen	Isaiah 66:1–2
Acts 8:32–35 — explains to the Ethiopian Eunuch the meaning of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant.	Philip	Isaiah 53:7–8
Acts 13:22 — quotes God’s testimony that he had found David, a man after his heart, who would accomplish his will.	Paul	1 Sam 13:14; Psalm 89:20
Acts 13:33 — quotes the divine declaration identifying the king as God’s Son, begotten that day.	Paul	Psalm 2:7
Acts 13:34 — quotes God’s promise to give the holy and sure blessings promised to David.	Paul	Isaiah 55:3
Acts 13:35 — quotes the promise that God’s Holy One would not experience corruption.	Paul	Psalm 16:10
Acts 13:41 — quotes Habakkuk’s warning that scoffers would be astonished and perish because God was accomplishing a work they would not believe.	Paul	Hab 1:5
Acts 13:47 — quotes the servant’s commission to be a light for the Gentiles and to carry salvation to the end of the earth.	Paul and Barnabas	Isaiah 49:6; cf. 42:6
Acts 15:16–18 — quotes the promise that God would restore David’s fallen tent so that the remainder of humanity and the Gentiles bearing God’s name might seek the Lord.	James	Amos 9:11–12
Acts 23:5 — quotes the law forbidding the reviling of a ruler of the people.	Paul	Exod 22:28
Acts 28:26–27 — quotes Isaiah’s commission to a people who would hear without understanding and see without perceiving because their hearts had become dull.	Paul	Isaiah 6:9–10

Main OT Sources Cited

The Law: Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy The Psalms: Pss 2, 16, 69, 89, 110, 118, 132 The Prophets: Isaiah, Joel, Amos, Habakkuk

Global Appeals to Scripture

These are passages where “all the prophets” or “the law and the prophets” are appealed to in general without citing a specific OT passage.

Acts 3:18-24: “But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. [19] Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, [20] that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, [21] whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. [22] Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. [23] And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ [24] And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.” (ESV)

Acts 8:35: “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture [in the prophet Isaiah] he told him the good news about Jesus.” (ESV)

Acts 9:20,22: “And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ … [22] But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.” (ESV) (Implied that he “proved” this from Scripture; cp. Acts 17:2-3; 18:28; 28:23)

Acts 10:43: “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (ESV)

Acts 13:27: “For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.” (ESV)

Acts 17:1-3: “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. [2] And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, [3] explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’” (ESV)

Acts 18:24,27-28: “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures … He greatly helped those who through grace had believed, [28] for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.” (ESV)

Acts 24:14-15: “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, [15] having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.” (ESV)

Acts 26:6–7, 22-23: “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, [7] to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day … [22] To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: [23] that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” (ESV)

Acts 28:23: “When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.” (ESV)

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What follows is based on the article by Alan J. Thompson in Dictionary of the NT Use of the OT, edited by Beale et al. (Baker Academic, 2023), pp. 6-13.

I. The Distribution and Authority of Scripture in Acts

A. Explicit quotations and Global appeals

1. Most explicit Old Testament quotations occur in the first half of Acts.
2. Paul’s defense speeches in Acts 22, 24, and 26 do not contain such quotations; they are primarily autobiographical defenses.
3. Broad references to Scripture become more frequent in the second half of Acts.
   • Earlier examples: Acts 3:18-24; 10:43; 13:27-29.
   • Later examples: Acts 17:2-3, 11; 18:24, 28; 24:14; 26:6-7, 22-23; 28:23.
4. These general statements occur in both speeches and narrative.
5. They resemble Jesus’s comprehensive appeals to Scripture in Luke 24:25-27, 45-48.
6. Fewer direct quotations do not mean that Scripture becomes less important as Acts progresses.

B. How speakers identify scriptural sources

1. General attribution: “the prophets” (Acts 13:40; 15:15).
2. Named human authors:
   • David: Acts 1:16; 2:25, 34; 4:25.
   • Joel: Acts 2:16.
   • Moses: Acts 3:22; 7:37.
   • Isaiah: Acts 8:30; 28:25.
3. Locations within Scripture:
   • The book of the prophets: Acts 7:42.
   • The Book of Psalms: Acts 1:20.
   • The second Psalm: Acts 13:33.

C. Scripture as both divine and human speech

1. Some statements that God spoke introduce words directly spoken by God in the Old Testament.
2. Elsewhere, human prophetic speech is explicitly identified as God’s speech.
3. The first and last quotations in Acts join the Holy Spirit’s speech with a human author (Acts 1:16; 28:25).
4. Peter describes God as speaking through the mouths of the prophets (Acts 3:18, 21, 24).
5. The prayer in Acts 4:25 attributes Psalm 2 to the Sovereign Lord speaking by the Spirit through David.
6. Divine authority and human authorship function together.

D. Spoken and Written

1. References to what David, Moses, or a prophet “says” do not diminish the written text’s authority.
2. Acts repeatedly combines speech and writing:
   • The Spirit spoke, and the words stand written in Psalms (Acts 1:16-20).
   • A written passage conveys the prophet’s speech (Acts 8:30-35).
   • Prophetic words correspond to what was written (Acts 13:27-29).
   • What is written in a psalm is what God says (Acts 13:33-35).
   • The prophets’ words agree with events “as it is written” (Acts 15:15-18).

II. The Sources, Textual Forms, and Functions of Quotations

A. The Principal OT Sources

Source	Citation count	Qualification
Pentateuch	11	Eight occur in Stephen’s historical survey.
Psalms	8	Nine if Acts 13:22 (Ps 89:20) is included.
Isaiah	5	Isaiah also supplies many important allusions and patterns.
Minor Prophets	4	Key texts explaining Pentecost (Joel) and Gentile inclusion (Amos).

B. Textual Form

1. Quotations largely follow the Greek Septuagint (LXX).
2. Variations may reflect memory, different textual versions, or paraphrase.
3. Scholars differ over whether particular arguments depend on the Greek wording (esp. Amos 9:11-12 / Acts 15:16-18).

C. Purposes of the Scripture Citations

1. To recount Israel’s history: Acts 7; 13:22.
2. To identify Jesus as the Messiah: suffering and risen Davidic Messiah, prophet like Moses, servant, and ruling Lord (Acts 2:25-35; 4:11; 8:32-33; 13:33-35).
3. To warn against rejecting the apostolic witness: Acts 3:23; 13:40-41; 28:25-27.
4. To explain betrayal and opposition: Judas’s replacement and hostility toward Jesus’s followers (Acts 1:20; 4:25-26).
5. To interpret the events of Pentecost: Acts 2:16-21.
6. To provide divine authorization for the Gentile mission: Acts 13:47; 15:16-18.
7. Overall: To identify the present as the era of fulfillment: Together with the global scriptural appeals, these uses collectively serve to identify the present era as the fulfillment of God’s promises.

III. Acts 15:14-18: Amos, David’s Tent, and the Gentiles

A. The meaning of the restored tent of David

1. Two main options
   1. David’s restored tent = the eschatological temple to be rebuilt
   2. David’s restored tent = David’s royal dynasty fulfilled in Christ
2. Arguments for the second view:
   • The same Greek phrase occurs in Isaiah 16:5 in connection with a ruler in David’s line.
   • Luke-Acts repeatedly emphasizes promises concerning David and his kingdom.
   • Jesus’s resurrection and ascension establish his promised royal rule (Luke 1:32-33, 68-69; Acts 2:30-36; 13:22-23, 32-35).
3. The restoration serves a stated purpose: the nations seek the Lord and bear his name.

B. The Hebrew and Greek forms of Amos 9:12

1. The Hebrew describes possessing the remnant “of Edom.”
2. Acts describes the rest “of mankind” seeking the Lord.
3. Two major changes distinguish the forms:
   • “Possess” becomes “seek.”
   • Edom, the object possessed, becomes mankind, the subject seeking.

C. Both readings support inclusion

1. The people in Amos are called by God’s name.
2. That description suggests belonging and blessing rather than merely forced submission (Deut 28:9-10; Isa 43:7; Jer 14:9).
3. Amos 9:7 already places Israel within God’s dealings with other nations.
4. Edom, descended from Esau, represents the nations coming under God’s rule and blessing.
5. James describes God as choosing from the Gentiles a people for his name (Acts 15:14).
6. This applies language of Israel’s election to believing Gentiles (Deut 7:6; 14:2).
7. In conclusion, Gentiles who believe in Jesus join believing Jews as God’s people because Jesus has established the Davidic kingdom.

See the important article by O. Palmer Robertson on Amos 9:11-12 / Acts 15:15-18.

IV. Indirect Uses of Scripture in Acts

A. Variety of indirect uses

1. Allusions, biblical expressions, themes, and narrative patterns extend Scripture’s influence throughout Acts.
2. Approximately 230 allusions listed in the Nestle-Aland 28th edition.
3. Examples include:
   • Acts 1:8 and Isaiah’s promises of the Spirit, witnesses, and worldwide salvation.
   • “In the last days” in Acts 2:17 and prophetic hopes such as Isaiah 2:2.
   • Paul’s account of God and idols in Acts 17 and Isaiah 40:18-20; 45:18; 66:1-2.
4. Expressions such as “all the house of Israel” and “the hand of the Lord” also give the narrative a biblical texture (Acts 2:36; 11:21).
5. Scripture’s influence extends beyond Jewish audiences and beyond explicitly quoted books.

B. Royal themes from the Psalms

1. Peter’s Pentecost sermon and Paul’s synagogue sermon both cite Psalm 16 (Acts 2; 13).
2. Jesus and Peter both use Psalm 110 and Psalm 118 (Luke 20:17, 41-44; Acts 2:32-35; 4:11).
3. Psalms informs recurring themes of suffering, rejection, resurrection, and Davidic kingship.

C. Crucial themes from Isaiah

1. Christology
   1. Isaiah 53:7-8 explains the suffering figure proclaimed as Jesus (Acts 8:32-35).
   2. Isaiah 55:3 contributes to the resurrection argument (Acts 13:34).
   3. “Servant” and “Righteous One” language helps identify Jesus (Acts 3:13-14; 7:52; 22:14; cf. Isa 53:11).
   4. Isaiah’s picture of the Servant of the LORD is not limited to Isa 53.
2. Jewish Rejection and Gentile Inclusion
   1. Isaiah 49:6 authorizes the mission to the nations (Acts 13:47).
   2. Isaiah 6:9-10 interprets resistance to the message (Acts 28:26-27).
   3. Servant language also informs Paul’s commission (Acts 26:15-18).
   4. Isaiah illuminates Israel’s rejection, Gentile inclusion, and the work of the apostles.
3. New Exodus theme
   1. Isaiah’s promises of a new exodus, especially Isaiah 40-55.
   2. Isaiah appears at key narrative points: Luke 3:4-6; Acts 1:8; 13:46-47; 28:25-28.
   3. New Exodus motifs include:
      • Israel’s restoration.
      • The word of God bringing about deliverance.
      • The Lord’s sovereignty and the exposure of idols.
      • Gentile inclusion.

V. Acts 1:6-8: Israel’s Restoration and Worldwide Witness

A. The apostles’ question in its setting

1. Jesus has risen and taught them about the kingdom (Acts 1:3).
2. He has promised the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5).
3. Their question about restoring Israel arises naturally from these prophetic expectations.
4. Some dismiss the question as simply misguided—but that is not necessary.

B. Jesus’s answer in light of Isaiah

Language in Acts 1:8	Proposed Isaianic background	Significance
The Spirit coming upon the disciples	Isaiah 32:15; compare Luke 24:49	The promised age of restoration arrives through the Spirit.
“You will be my witnesses”	Isaiah 43:10-12; compare Isaiah 44:8	God’s people become witnesses to his salvation.
“To the end of the earth”	Isaiah 49:5-6	The servant’s work joins Israel’s restoration with salvation for the nations.

1. Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria also direct attention to Israel, including its historically divided southern and northern regions.
2. Jesus restricts knowledge of the timing but explains how the promised work will proceed.
3. Jesus’ answer affirms the fulfillment of Israel’s hope through Spirit-empowered witness extending to the nations.

C. Confirmation in Pentecost

1. Peter addresses Jews and Jerusalem residents as Israelites and as all Israel (Acts 2:14, 22, 36).
2. He announces the promised Spirit poured out by the risen and ascended Jesus.
3. The movement from Israel to the nations also appears in Acts 3:26 and 15:16-17.
4. Acts 1:8 provides a scriptural interpretation of the mission as well as a geographical outline.

VI. The Scriptures as a Comprehensive Prophetic Witness

A. “Prophetic” should be taken broadly

1. Scripture anticipates the present era as the outworking of the Father’s plan.
2. Explicit fulfillment language concerns Judas, the Messiah’s suffering, his crucifixion, and his resurrection (Acts 1:16; 3:18; 13:27, 29, 33).
3. The category extends beyond the books conventionally called the Prophets:
   • Moses anticipates a prophet like himself (Acts 3:22; 7:37).
   • David speaks prophetically of the Messiah (Acts 2:25-31).
4. Luke repeatedly emphasizes the comprehensive witness of “all” the prophets (Acts 3:18, 24; 10:43).
5. Paul and Apollos reason from Scripture as a whole (Acts 17:2-3, 11; 18:28; 24:14; 26:22-23; 28:23).

B. Jesus as the focal point

1. His suffering and resurrection fulfill Scripture and ground the proclamation of forgiveness.
2. Multiple scriptural identities converge in him:
   • David’s promised royal descendant.
   • The prophet like Moses.
   • The servant of the Lord.
   • The Holy and Righteous One.
   • The one accredited by God and anointed with the Spirit.
3. He also exceeds ordinary human representatives as the risen Lord who answers prayer, opens hearts, sends the Spirit, and saves those calling on his name.

C. Acts 3:13-26 as a concentrated example

1. Peter brings together numerous titles: servant, Holy and Righteous One, source of life, Messiah, prophet like Moses, and seed of Abraham.
2. The reference to Samuel also implies the Davidic royal trajectory.
3. Genesis, Deuteronomy, the Davidic history, Isaiah, and the prophets contribute to the presentation.
4. Repeated references to “all” show that Peter presents a unified scriptural witness.

D. Extend fulfillment to the era inaugurated by Jesus

1. The prophets anticipate “these days” (Acts 3:24), including:
   • The Spirit’s outpouring.
   • The word’s spread beyond Jerusalem.
   • Gentile blessing through Israel’s Messiah.
2. Scripture also establishes the identity of Jesus’s followers as the true heirs of its promises.
3. Their designation as “the Way” belongs within this account of continuity with God’s saving purpose (Acts 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22).

VII. The Scriptures Understood in Light of Jesus

A. Prospective (promises and patterns) and Retrospective (fuller understanding in light of fulfillment)

1. Scripture contains the promises and patterns fulfilled in Acts.
2. Jesus’s arrival makes their meaning clearer.
3. This interpretation does not treat the apostles as introducing an unrelated meaning into Scripture.
4. It recognizes that the fulfillment discloses the full reach of what Scripture anticipated.

B. The influence of Jesus across different uses of Scripture

1. Pentecost: Joel’s promise is realized because Jesus has risen and ascended (Acts 2:16-36).
2. Gentile mission: it proceeds through his kingship, command, and provision (Acts 1:8; 13:47; 15:16; 26:23).
3. Persecution: opposition to believers follows their identification with God’s anointed servant (Acts 4:25-29).
4. Stephen’s history: repeated rejection of God’s messengers culminates in rejection of Jesus (Acts 7:9, 35, 37, 51-52).
5. Paul’s history: God’s gracious gifts of rescue, land, and leadership culminate in Jesus (Acts 13:23).

C. Acts 23:5 — a debated example

1. Paul cites Exodus 22:28 after denouncing the high priest.
2. A common reading sees an acknowledgment of wrongdoing and submission to the law’s authority.
3. Thompson proposes an alternative: Paul may be using irony to expose an unworthy ruler.
4. Supporting considerations offered include:
   • Paul’s previous dealings with the high priest make his claimed failure to recognize him striking.
   • Earlier chapters contrast Israel’s rulers with Jesus and his authorized apostles.
   • The high priest’s unlawful behavior conflicts with the office he claims.
   • The “whitewashed wall” accusation resembles prophetic denunciations of hypocrisy and false security.
5. On this proposal, Paul pronounces prophetic judgment under the authority of the risen Lord.
6. This is Thompson’s suggested interpretation, not as an uncontested explanation of the verse.

D. The Apostolic Hermeneutic was given to them by Jesus

1. Jesus explains the Scriptures concerning himself on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:25-27).
2. He opens the disciples’ understanding of the Law, Prophets, and Psalms (Luke 24:44-45).
3. His forty days of instruction connect resurrection, kingdom, Spirit, Israel, and nations (Acts 1:3-8).
4. Peter’s reuse of Psalms 110 and 118 follows Jesus’s own use of those texts.
   1. Luke 20:17 (Psalm 118:22)
   2. Luke 20:41-44 (Psalm 110:1)
   3. 1 Peter 2:6

VIII. Davidic Patterns Fulfilled in Jesus

A. Typology

1. Events and relationships in David’s life establish patterns that reach a greater realization in Jesus.
2. Such anticipation involves more than a collection of isolated verbal predictions.
3. The historical pattern and its fulfillment remain connected through the Davidic promises.

B. Judas’s betrayal and Psalms 69 and 109

1. Both psalms concern David and hostility or betrayal.
2. Psalm 69:25 anticipates judgment removing the faithful king’s enemies.
3. Psalm 109:8 concerns removal from responsibility of one who repays friendship with hatred.
4. Acts 1:16-20 applies these patterns to the betrayal of David’s greater Son and the replacement of Judas.

C. Psalm 16 and the resurrection argument in Acts 2

1. The textual question.
   • The Hebrew term commonly rendered “pit” appears as “decay” in the Greek.
   • Some scholars argue that Peter’s bodily-resurrection interpretation depends on this Greek wording.
   • Thompson also notes arguments for conceptual continuity between the forms.
2. The psalm’s movement in Peter’s quotation (Acts 2:25-28).
   • The Lord’s enduring presence produces stability and joy.
   • The body rests in hope.
   • The faithful one will not be abandoned to death or see decay.
   • The passage concludes with life and joy in God’s presence.
3. Peter’s explanation (Acts 2:29-31).
   • David died, was buried, and had a known tomb.
   • The language therefore reaches beyond David’s own experience.
   • God swore that David’s descendant would occupy his throne (Ps 132:11; 2 Sam 7:13).
   • The promise of enduring royal rule reaches its fulfillment in the descendant whom death cannot hold.
4. The interpretive relationship.
   • David’s language and covenant point beyond himself.
   • Jesus’s bodily resurrection reveals their ultimate reference.
   • Thompson presents Davidic typology as a possible explanation of Peter’s movement from the psalm to Christ.

IX. Conclusion

1. Scripture permeates Acts: direct quotations, broad summaries, allusions, vocabulary, and narrative patterns all contribute.
2. Scripture communicates God’s purpose: human authors speak words attributed to God and the Holy Spirit.
3. Jesus unifies its witness: royal, prophetic, servant, and saving themes converge in his death, resurrection, and ascension.
4. Fulfillment includes the mission: the Spirit’s coming and the gathering of Jews and Gentiles belong to the same promised saving work.
5. Interpretation moves in both directions: Scripture anticipates Jesus, and Jesus clarifies Scripture’s promises and patterns.
6. The resulting assurance: the risen Lord advances God’s saving rule through the spread of the word and the formation of his people according to Scripture.