(5) And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. (b) Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. (7) And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. (8) And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. (9) And all the people saw him walking and praising God: (10) and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and

(6) Silver and gold have I none.-The narrative of chap. ii. 45 shows that the Apostles were treasurers and stewards of the sums committed to their charge by the generous self-denial of the community. Either, therefore, we must assume that the words meant that they had no silver or gold with them at the time, or that, as almoners, they thought themselves bound to distribute what was thus given them in trust, for the benefit of members of the society of which they were officers and for them only. They, obeying their Lord's commands (Matt. x. 9), had no money that they could call their own to give to those that asked them. But they could give more than money.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.... -The full trust with which the words were spoken was in part a simple act of faith in their Master's promise (Mark xvi. 18), in part the result of a past experience in the exercise of like powers (Mark vi. 13). And the Name in which they spoke could hardly have been a new name to the cripple. Among the beggars at the Temple-gate there had once been the blind man who received his sight at the pool of Siloam (John ix. 7, 8). The healing of the cripple at Bethesda (John v. 2, 14) could scarcely have been unknown to the sufferer from a like infirmity. What made the call to rise and walk a test of faith was that, but a few weeks before, that Name had been seen on the superscription over the cross on which He who bore it had been condemned to die as one that deceived the people (John vii. 12).

(7) His feet.-Better, his soles. The precision with which the process is described is characteristic of the medical historian. Both this term and the "ankle bones" employed are more or less technical, as is also the word rendered "received strength," literally, were consolidated, the flaccid tissues and muscles being rendered firm and vigorous.

(8) And he leaping up stood. The verb is a compound form of that in the LXX. version of Isa. xxxv. 6—“ The lame shall leap as a hart." First there was the upward leap in the new consciousness of power; then the successful effort to stand for the first time in his life; then he "began to walk," and went on step by step; then the two-fold mode of motion, what to others was the normal act of walking, alternating with the leaps of an exuberant joy. And so "he entered with them into the Temple," i.e., into the Court of Women, upon which the Beautiful Gate opened. At this hour, the hour of the evening sacrifice, it would be naturally filled with worshippers.

The People wonder greatly.

they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. (11) And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

(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? (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,

(10) They knew.-Better, they recognised him that it was he.

(11) In the porch that is called Solomon's.— The porch or better, portico or cloister-was outside the Temple, on the eastern side. It consisted, in the Herodian Temple, of a double row of Corinthian columus, about thirty-seven feet high, and received its name as having been in part constructed, when the Temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel, with the fragments of the older edifice. The people tried to persuade Herod Agrippa the First to pull it down and rebuild it, but he shrank from the risk and cost of such an undertaking (Jos. Ant. xx. 9, §7). It was, like the porticos in all Greek cities, a favourite place of resort, especially as facing the morning sun in winter. (See Note on John x. 23.) The memory of what had then been the result of their Master's teaching must have been fresh in the minds of the two disciples. Then the people had complained of being kept in suspense as to whether Jesus claimed to be the Christ, and, when He spoke of being One with the Father, had taken up stones to stone Him (John x. 31-33). Now they were to hear His name as Holy and Just, as "the Servant of Jehovah," as the very Christ (verses 13, 14, 18).

(12) Why look ye so earnestly on us ?-The verb is the same as that in verse 4. The pronoun stands emphatically at the beginning of the verse— Why is it on us that ye gaze?

holiness.

As though by our own -Better, purity, or devotion. The words refer to what may be called the popular theory of miracles, that if a man were devout, i.e., a worshipper of God," God would hear him (John ix. 31). That theory might be true in itself generally, but the Apostle disclaims it in this special instance. No piety of his own would have availed, but for the Naine, i.e., the power, of Jesus of Nazareth.

(13) The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.-Here again we have an echo of our Lord's teaching. That Name had been uttered in the precincts of the Temple, not improbably in the self-same portico, as part of our Lord's constructive proof of the resurrection of the dead (Matt. xxii. 32). Now it was heard again in connection with the witness borne by the Apostles that He Himself had risen. (See also Note on chap. vii. 32.)

Hath glorified his Son Jesus.-Better, Servant. The word is that used throughout the later chapters of Isaiah for "the servant of Jehovah" (Isa. xlii. 1;

xlviii. 20; lii. 13; liii. 11). It meets us again in verse 26; iv. 27, 30, and as applied to Christ, is peculiar to the Acts, with the exception of the citation from Isaiah in Matt. xii. 18. It is, therefore, more distinctive than "Son would have been, and implies the general Messianic interpretation of the prophetic language in which it is so prominent.

When he was determined.-Better, when he had decided; the word implying, not a purpose only, but a formal act, as in Luke xxiii. 16.

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(14) Ye denied the Holy One and the Just. The language, though startlingly new to the hearers, had been partially anticipated. It had been used of the Christ by the demoniacs (Mark i. 24). The best MSS. give St. Peter's confession in John vi. 69 in the form, Thou art the Holy One of God." Pilate's wife, and Pilate himself, had borne their witness to Jesus as emphatically "Just" (Matt. xxvii. 19, 24). It is interesting to note the recurrence of the word as applied to Christ in the writings of each of the Apostles who were now proclaiming it (1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John ii. 1), yet more so to think of this as the result of their three years' converse with their Master. To them He was emphatically, above all the sons of men that they had known, the Holy and the Righteous One.

Desired a murderer to be granted unto you. The fact that Barabbas was a murderer as well as a robber is stated by St. Mark (xv. 7) and St. Luke (xxiii. 12) only.

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(15) And killed the Prince of life.-The word translated "Prince" is applied to Christ here and in chap. v. 31. In Heb. ii. 10 we meet with it in the Captain of their salvation;" in Heb. xii. 2, in "the Author and Finisher of our faith." Its primary meaning, like that of prince (princeps), is one who takes the leadwho is the originator of that to which the title is attached. The "Prince of life," the "Captain of salvation," is accordingly He who is the source from which life and salvation flow. In the LXX. of the Old Testament it is used for the "chieftains or "princes" of Moab and the like (Num. xiii. 3; xxiv. 17).

Whereof we are witnesses.-St. Peter falls back, as in chap. ii. 32 (where see Note), on this attestation to the one central fact.

(16) His name through faith in his name.— We have, in technical language, the efficient cause distinguished from the indispensable condition of its action. The Name did not work as a formula of incantation; it required, on the part both of the worker and the receiver, faith in that which the Name represented, the manifestation of the Father through the Son. Hath made this man strong.-The verb is the same as that which had been used in verse 7 of the "feet and ankle-bones." It was Jesus who had given them that new firmness.

He preaches Repentance.

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

The faith which is by him.-The causation of the miracle is carried yet another step backward. The faith which was alike in the healer and in the man healed was itself wrought in each by the power of Christ. The man was first a willing recipient of that faith spiritually, and then was in a state that made him worthy to be a recipient also of the bodily restoration.

This perfect soundness.-Literally, this_completeness. This is the only passage in the New Testament in which the word occurs. The cognate adjective is found in the "whole" of 1 Thess. v. 23; the complete" of Jas i. 4.

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(17) I wot that through ignorance ye did it. -The Rhemish is the only version which substitutes "I know" for the now obsolete "I wot." St. Peter's treatment of the relation of "ignorance" to "guilt is in exact agreement with St. Paul's, both in his judg ment of his own past offences (1 Tim. vi. 13) and in that which he passed on the Gentile world (chap. xvii. 30). Men were ignorant where they might have known, if they had not allowed prejudice and passion to overpower the witness borne by reason and conscience. Their ignorance was not invincible, and therefore they needed to repent of what they had done in the times of that ignorance. But because it was ignorance, repentance was not impossible. Even the people and rulers of Israel, though their sin was greater, came within the range of the prayer, offered in the first instance for the Roman soldiers: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (See Note on Luke xxiii. 34.)

(18) Those things, which God before had shewed. As in chaps. i. 16, ii. 23, we have again an echo of the method of prophetic interpretation which the Apostles had learnt from their Lord.

(19) Repent ye therefore, and be converted.The latter word, though occurring both in the Gospels and Epistles, is yet pre-eminently characteristic of the Acts, in which it occurs eleven times, and, with one exception, always in its higher spiritual sense. use of the middle voice for "be converted," gives the word the same force as in the "turn yourselves" of the older prophets (Ezek. xiv. 6; xviii. 30, 32).

The

That your sins may be blotted out.-This is the only passage in which the verb is directly connected with sins. The image that underlies the words (as in Col. ii. 14) is that of an indictment which catalogues the sins of the penitent, and which the pardoning love of the Father cancels. The word and the thought are found in Ps. li. 10; Isa. xliii. 25.

The Coming of Christ

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

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. (2) 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

hear in all things whatsoever he shall

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the conversion of sinners, especially the conversion of Israel, will have a power to accelerate the fulfilment of God's purposes, and, therefore, the coming of His kingdom in its completeness. The word for "refreshing is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but the cognate verb meets us in 2 Tim. i. 16. In the Greek version of Ex. viii. 15, it stands where we have " spite." The "times of refreshing are distinguished from the "restitution of all things" of verse 21, and would seem to be, as it were, the gracious preludes of that great consummation. The souls of the weary would be quickened as by the fresh breeze of morning; the fire of persecution assuaged as by "a moist whistling wind" (Song of the Three Children, verse 24). Israel, as a nation, did not repent, and therefore hatred and strife went on to the bitter end without refreshment. For every church, or nation, or family, those "times of refreshing come as the sequel of a true conversion, and prepare the way for a more complete restoration.

(20) And he shall send Jesus Christ.-Better, as before, and that He may send.

Which before was preached unto you.-The better MSS. have, which was fore-appointed, or foreordained, for you.

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(21) Whom the heaven must receive.-The words have a pregnant force: "must receive and keep." Until the times of restitution of all things.The "times " seem distinguished from the seasons as more permanent. This is the only passage in which the word translated "restitution' is found in the New Testament; nor is it found in the LXX. version of the Old. Etymologically, it conveys the thought of restoration to an earlier and better state, rather than that of simple consummation or completion, which the immediate context seems, in some measure, to suggest. It finds an interesting parallel in the "new heavens and new earth "-involving, as they do, a restoration of all things to their true order-of 2 Pet. iii. 13. It does not necessarily involve, as some have thought, the final salvation of all men, but it does express the idea of a state in which "righteousness," and not "sin,” shall have dominion over a redeemed and new - created world; and that idea suggests a wider hope as to the possibilities of growth in wisdom and holiness, or even of repentance and conversion, in the unseen world than that with which Christendom has too often been content. The corresponding verb is found in the words, "Elias truly shall come first, and restore all things (see Note on Matt. xvii. 11); and St. Peter's words may well be looked on as an echo of that teaching, and so as an undesigned coincidence testifying to the truth of St. Matthew's record.

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Which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets. The relative, if we take the

the kindreds of the earth be blessed."

meaning given above, must be referred to the "times," not to " things." The words, compared with 2 Pet. i. 21, are, as it were, the utterance of a profound dogmatic truth. The prophets spake as "they were moved by the Holy Ghost"; but He who spake by them was nothing less than God.

Since the world began.-Literally, from the age-i.e., from its earliest point. The words take in the promises to Adam (Gen. iii. 15) and Abraham (Gen. xxii. 18). See Note on Luke i. 70, of which St. Peter's words are as an echo.

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(22) For Moses truly said unto the fathers.Better, For Moses indeed said, the word being one of the common conjunctions, and not the adverb which means truthfully.' The appeal is made to Moses in his two-fold character as lawgiver and prophet. As the words stand, taken with their context, they seem to point to the appearance of a succession of true prophets as contrasted with the diviners of Deut. xviii. 14; and, even with St. Peter's interpretation before us, we may well admit those prophets as primary and partial fulfilments of them. the words had naturally fixed the minds of men on the coming of some one great prophet who should excel all others, and we find traces of that. expectation in the question put to the Baptist, "Art thou the prophet?" (John i. 21, 25.) None that came between Moses and Jesus had been "like unto the former," as marking a new epoch, the channel of a new revelation, the giver of a new law.

But

In all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. The words are inserted by St. Peter as a parenthesis in the actual quotation, and suggest the thought of a quotation from memory.

(23) Shall be destroyed from among the people. The original has it, "I will require it of him" (Deut. xviii. 19). The words which St. Peter substitutes are as an echo of a familiar phrase which occurs in Ex. xii. 15, 19; Lev. xvii. 4, 9, et al. This, again, looks like a citation freely made.

(24) All the prophets from Samuel.-Samuel is named, both as being the founder of the school of the prophets, and so the representative of the "goodly fellowship," and as having uttered one of the earliest of what were regarded as the distinctively Messianic predictions (2 Sam. vii. 13, 14; Heb. i. 5).

(25) And of the covenant . . .—It is a significant indication of the unity of apostolic teaching, which it was St. Luke's aim to bring before his readers, that St. Peter thus refers chiefly to the covenant made with Abraham (Gen. xii. 3), with as full an emphasis as St. Paul does when he had learnt to see that it implicitly involved the calling of the Gentiles into the kingdom of Christ (Gal. iii 8.).

(26) Unto you first . . .-Here again we note, even in the very turn of the phrase as well as of the thought, an agreement with St. Paul's formula of the purpose of God being manifested "to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile" (chap. xiii. 46; Rom i. 16; ii. 9, 10). St. Peter does not as yet know the conditions under which the gospel will be preached to the heathen; but his words imply a distinct perception that there was a call to preach to them.

His Son Jesus.-Better, as before, Servant. (See Note on verse 13.)

Sent him to bless you.-The Greek structure gives the present participle where the English has the infinitive, sent Him as in the act of blessing. The verb which strictly and commonly expresses a spoken benediction is here used in a secondary sense, as conveying the reality of blessedness. And the blessing is found, not in mere exemption from punishment, not even in pardon and reconciliation, but in a change of heart, in turning each man from his wickednesses." The plural of the abstract noun implies, as in Mark vii. 22, all the many concrete forms in which man's wickedness could show itself.

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IV.

(1) The priests, and the captain of the temple. -For the first time in this book, we come across the chief agents in the condemnation passed on our Lord by the Sanhedrin. A few weeks or months had gone by, and they were congratulating themselves on having followed the advice of Caiaphas (John xi. 48). They knew that the body of Jesus had disappeared from the sepulchre, and they industriously circulated the report that the disciples had stolen it (Matt. xxviii. 13-15). They must have heard something of the Day of Pentecost-though there is no evidence of their having been present as spectators or listeners-and of the growth of the new society. Now the two chief members of the company of those disciples were teaching publicly in the very portico of the Temple. What were they to do? The "captain of the Temple (see Note on Luke xxii. 4) was the head of the band of Levite sentinels whose function it was to keep guard over the sacred precincts. He, as an inspector, made his round by night, visited all the gates, and roused the slumberers. His presence implied that the quiet order of the Temple was supposed to be endangered. In 2 Macc. iii. 4, however, we have a "captain," or governor of the Temple" of the tribe of Benjamin.

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The Sadducees. The higher members of the priesthood, Annas and Caiaphas, were themselves of this sect (chap. v. 17). They had already been foremost in urging the condemnation of Christ in the meetings of the Sanhedrin. The shame of having been put to silence by Him (Matt. xxii. 34) added vindic

The Number of Believers increased. and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. (3) And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. (4) Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

(5) And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,

tiveness to the counsels of a calculating policy. Now they found His disciples preaching the truth which they denied, and proclaiming it as attested by the resurrection of Jesus. Throughout the Acts the Sadducees are foremost as persecutors. The Pharisees temporise, like Gamaliel, or profess themselves believers. (Comp. chaps. v. 34; xv. 5; xxiii. 7.)

(2) Being grieved.-The verb is one which expresses something like an intensity of trouble and vexation. (Comp. chap. xvi. 18.)

Preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.-Literally, preached in Jesus-i.e., in this as the crucial instance in which the resurrection of the dead had been made manifest. (Comp. the close union of "Jesus and the resurrection" in chap. xvii. 18.)

(3) It was now eventide.-The narrative started, it will be remembered, from 3 P.M. (chap. iii. 1). The " eventide" began at 6 P.M.

Put them in hold.-Literally, in custody. In chap. v. 18, the word is translated "prison." The old noun survives in our modern word " strong-hold."

(4) The number of the men was about five thousand.-Better, became, or was made up to, about five thousand. It seems probable, though not certain, that St. Luke meant this as a statement of the aggregate number of disciples, not of those who were converted on that day. As in the narrative of the feeding of the five thousand (Matt. xiv. 21), women and children were not included. The number was probably ascertained, as on that occasion, by grouping those who came to baptism and to the breaking of bread by hundreds and by fifties (Mark vi. 40). The connection in which the number is given makes it probable that it represents those who, under the influence of the impression made by the healing of the cripple and by St. Peter's speech, attended the meetings of the Church that evening. The coincidence of the numbers in the two narratives could scarcely fail to lead the disciples to connect the one with the other, and to feel, as they broke the bread and blessed it, that they were also giving men the true bread from heaven.

(5) And it came to pass on the morrow.. Better, that there were gathered together the rulers, elders, and scribes in Jerusalem. The two last words are misplaced in the English version by being transferred to the end of the next verse. The later MSS. give, however, unto Jerusalem. The meeting was obviously summoned, like that of Matt. xxvi. 5, to consider what course was necessary in face of the new facts that had presented themselves, and was probably the first formal meeting of the Sanhedrin that had been held since the trial of our Lord. On its constitution, see Notes on Matt. v. 22; xxvi. 57; xxvii. 1. This meeting would, of course, include the Pharisee section of the scribes as well as the Sadducees.

(6) And Annas the high priest .-These are mentioned by themselves as representing the section that had probably convened the meeting, and came in as if to dominate its proceedings. The order of the first two names is the same as in Luke iii. 2, and as that implied in John xviii. 13, 24. Annas, or Ananus, had been made high priest by Quirinus, the Governor of Syria, filled the office A.D. 7-15, and lived to see five of his sons occupy it after him. At this time, Joseph Caiaphas was the actual high priest (see Note on John xi. 49), having been appointed in A.D. 17. He was deposed A.D. 37. He had married the daughter of Annas; and the latter seems to have exercised a dominant influence, perhaps, as the Nasi, the Prince, or President, of the Sanhedrin, during the remainder of his life. If he presided on this occasion, it may explain St. Luke's calling him the high priest."

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John. This may have been the Johanan ben Zaccai, who is reported by Jewish writers to have been at the height of his fame forty years before the destruction of the Temple, and to have been President of the Great Synagogue after its removal to Jamnia. The identification is, at the best, uncertain; but the story told of his death-bed, in itself full of pathos, becomes, on this assumption, singularly interesting. His disciples asked him why he wept: "O light of Israel, whence these tears?" And he replied: 66 If I were going to appear before a king of flesh and blood, he is one who to-day is and to-morrow is in the grave; if he were wroth with me, his wrath is not eternal; if he were to cast me into chains, those chains are not for ever; if he slay me, that death is not eternal; I might soothe him with words or appease him with a gift. But they are about to bring me before the King of kings, the Lord, the Holy and Blessed One, who liveth and abideth for ever. And if He is wroth with me, His wrath is eternal; and if He bind, His bonds are eternal; if He slay, it is eternal death; and Him I cannot soothe with words or appease with gifts. And besides all this, there are before me two paths, one to Paradise and the other to Gehenna, and I know not in which they are about to lead me. How can I do aught else but weep?" (BabBeracoth, fol. 28, in Lightfoot: Cent.-Chorogr., chap. xv.)

Alexander. This name has been identified by many scholars with Alexander, the brother of Philo, the Alabarch, or magistrate of Alexandria (Jos. Ant. xviii. 8, § 1; xix. 5, § 1). There is, however, not the shadow of any evidence for the identification.

As many as were of the kindred of the high priest. The same phrase is used by Josephus (Ant. xv. 3, § 1), and may mean either those who were personally related by ties of blood with the high priest for the time being, or the heads of the four-and-twenty courses of priests. (See Notes on Matt. ii. 4; Luke i. 5.) All these had probably taken part in our Lord's condemnation.

(7) And when they had set them in the midst.-The Sanhedrin sat in a semi-circle: the

the Rulers and Elders.

people, and elders of Israel, (9) if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole e; (10) be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here

president being in the middle of the arc, the accused standing in the centre.

They asked.-Literally, were asking. They put the question repeatedly, in many varying forms.

By what power, or by what name, have ye done this ?-Literally, By what kind of power, or what kind of name? apparently in a tone of contempt. They admit the fact that the lame man had been made to walk, as too patent to be denied. (Comp. verse 16.) The question implied a suspicion that it was the effect of magic, or, as in the case of our Lord's casting out devils, by the power of Beelzebub (Luke xi. 15; John viii. 48). There is a touch of scorn in the way in which they speak of the thing itself. They will not as yet call it a "sign," or "wonder," but "have ye done this?"

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(8) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost.The tense implies an immediate sudden inspiration, giving the wisdom and courage and words which were needed at the time. The promises of Matt. x. 19, 20, Luke xxi. 14, 15, were abundantly fulfilled. The coincidence of names in the juxtaposition of the sentatives of the new and the older Israel is striking. On each side there was a John; on each a Cephas, or Caiaphas, the two names possibly coming from the same root, or, at any rate, closely alike in sound. A few weeks back Peter had quailed before the soldiers and servants in the high priest's palace. Now he stands before the Sanhedrin and speaks, in the language of respect, it is true, but also in that of unflinching boldness. We may, perhaps, trace a greater deference in the language of the Galilean fisherman, "Ye rulers of the people," than in the Men and brethren" of St. Paul (chap. xxiii. 1, 6), who was more familiar with the members of the court, and stood in less awe of them.

(9) If we this day be examined.—The word is employed in its technical sense of a judicial interrogation, as in Luke xxiii. 14. It is used by St. Luke and St. Paul (chap. xii. 19; xxiv. 8; 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15; iv. 3, 4), and by them only, in the New Testament.

Of the good deed.-Strictly, the act of beneficence. There is a manifest emphasis on the word as contrasted with the contemptuous "this thing" of the question. It meets us again in 1 Tim. vi. 2.

By what means he is made whole.-Better, this man. The pronoun assumes the presence of the man who had been made able to walk. (Comp. John ix. 15.) The verb, as in our Lord's words, "Thy faith hath made thee whole" (Mark x. 52; Luke vii. 50), has a pregnant, underlying meaning, suggesting the thought of a spiritual as well as bodily restoration.

(10) By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified.-The boldness of the declaration was startling. He does not shrink now from confessing the Nazarene as the Messiah. He presses home the fact that, though Pilate had given the formal sentence, it was they who had crucified their King.