Acts 3:20
in Acts 3that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus:
KJV
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
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This verse in Acts 3
Commentary
15 notes on this verseA commentator
Athanasius of Alexandria296–373
Four Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse 4, Sections 31 & 33 · Written before 373.
If the blessed Peter speak of the Divine Word also, as sent to the children of Israel by Jesus Christ, it is not necessary to understand that the Word is one and Christ another, but that they were one and the same by reason of the uniting which took place in His divine and loving condescension and becoming man.
This site's exposition
Repent, then, and turn back
on Acts 3:19-21
The call to turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, answers 2:38. It adds a wider promise, times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
This site's exposition
He may send Jesus
Adam Clarke and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown accept the manuscript reading appointed, which older English copies gave as preached. John Wesley notes that the apostles generally speak of the second coming as near at hand. Matthew Henry reads the sending first as His spiritual presence.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Then to prove that Christ is the cause of the days of refreshing, he says, "And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was for you ordained." He said not, "That your sin may be blotted out," but, "your sins;" for he hints at that sin also. "He shall send." And whence? "Whom the heaven must receive." Still "receive?" And why not simply, Whom the heaven hath received? This, as if discoursing of old times: so, he says, it is divinely ordered, so it is settled: not a word yet of His eternal subsistence.
And see now how he advances. In his first sermon, he but slightly hinted at the resurrection, and Christ's sitting in heaven; but here he also speaks of His visible advent. "And He shall send Jesus the Christ ordained (for you), Whom the heaven must (i.e. must of necessity) receive, until the times of the restitution of all things." The reason why He does not now come is clear. "Which God hath spoken," he continues, "by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began."
The Medieval Church1 voice
"That He may send the Jesus Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things." Peter says this instead of saying: "It is necessary for heaven to receive Him, since He is God and must always sit …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And he may send - The apostles generally speak of our Lord's second coming, as being just at hand. Who was before appointed - Before the foundation of the world.
It is agreeable to a state of trial and probation that the glorified Redeemer should be out of sight, because we must live by that faith in him which is the evidence of things not seen; because he must be believed on in the world, he must be received up into glory.
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): " He shall send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you by his disciples, both before and since his resurrection, and is, and will be, all in all to them." First, "You shall have his spiritual presence.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And he shall send Jesus Christ,....
With reference to public worship, there must be a house of prayer and an hour of prayer: the ninth hour, that is, three o'clock in the afternoon, was one of the hours of prayer among the Jews; nine in the morning and twelve at noon were the other two.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Which before was preached unto you - Instead of προκεκηρυγμενον, before preached, ABCDE, fifty-three others, both the Syriac, all the Arabic, the Armenian, Chrysostom, and others, have προκεχειρισμενον, who was before designed, or appointed; and this is without doubt the true reading. Christ crucified was the person whom God had from the beginning appointed or designed for the Jewish people. It was not a triumphant Messiah which they were to expect; but one who was to suffer and die.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
And now, brethren--Our preacher, like his Master, "will not break the bruised reed." His heaviest charges are prompted by love, which now hastens to assuage the wounds it was necessary to inflict.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
he shall send Jesus Christ--The true reading is, "He shall send your predestinated (or foreordained) Messiah, Jesus."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And he shall send ... - Act 1:1 l. Under this economy of things, he shall send Jesus Christ, that is, the Messiah, to teach people; to redeem them; to save them; to judge the world; to gather his people to himself; and to condemn the wicked. Under this economy they were then. This, therefore, was an argument why they should repent and turn to God, that they might escape in the day of judgment. Which before was preached ... - Who has been proclaimed as the Messiah. The name “Jesus Christ” is equivalent here to “the Messiah.” The Messiah had been proclaimed to the Jews as about to come. In his time was to be the period of refreshing. He had come; and they were under the economy in which the blessings of the Messiah were to be enjoyed. This does not refer to his personal ministry, or to the preaching of the apostles, but to the fact that the Messiah had been a long time announced to them by the prophets as about to come. All the prophets had preached him as the hope of the nation. It may be remarked, however, that there is here a difference in the manuscripts. A large majority of them read προκεχειρισμενον prokecheirismenon, who was designated or appointed, instead of who was preached. This reading is approved by Griesbach, Knapp, Bengel, etc. It was followed in the ancient Syriac, the Arabic, etc., and is undoubtedly the true reading.
The words behind it
7 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | [20] and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἀποστείλῃ | aposteile | [that] He may send | G649 → | 132 times |
| τὸν | ton | the [One] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| προκεχειρισμένον | prokecheirismenon | appointed | G4400 → | 3 times |
| ὑμῖν | humin | to you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| χριστὸν | christon | Christ | G5547 → | 523 times |
| Ἰησοῦν | iesoun | Jesus | G2424 → | 908 times |
καὶ[20] and
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἀποστείλῃ[that] He may send
aposteileG649 →132 times
τὸνthe [One]
tonG3588 →19766 times
προκεχειρισμένονappointed
prokecheirismenonG4400 →3 times
ὑμῖνto you
huminG4771 →2973 times
χριστὸνChrist
christonG5547 →523 times
ἸησοῦνJesus
iesounG2424 →908 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 1:7Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.
it leads to
- Matthew 24:30
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds…
- Zechariah 12:10
Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They…
- Daniel 7:13
In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led…
- John 19:37
And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”
- Mark 14:62
“I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
- Matthew 24:30
Through
2 Thessalonians 2:2not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter seeming to be from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:1–2
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- 1 John 4:1–2
Through
2 Thessalonians 2:8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
it leads to
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3
Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
- Revelation 19:20–21
But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3
Where this verse is studied
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About Acts
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Acts of the Apostles; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse 4, Sections 31 & 33; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 9; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.