Unto you first, God having raised his Son Jesus
Which may be understood, either of the incarnation of Christ, and
his exhibition in the flesh; which is sometimes expressed by
raising him up, and is no other than the mission, or
manifestation of him in human nature, as in ( Luke 1:69 ) ( Acts 13:23 ) . Or of the
resurrection of him from the dead, and the exaltation of him at
the right hand of God:
sent him to bless you;
in person, according to the former sense; for he was indeed sent
only to the people of Israel, and to them he preached; many of
whom were blessed with converting grace under his ministry; but
according to the latter sense, and which seems most agreeable, he
was sent in the ministry of the word, and came by his Spirit,
first to the Jews, among whom the Gospel was first preached for a
while, and was blessed to the conversion of many thousands among
them, both in Judea, and in the nations of the world, where they
were dispersed:
in turning away everyone of you from his
iniquities;
in this the blessing lay, and is rightly in our version ascribed
to Christ, and to the power of his grace, in the ministration of
the Gospel and not to themselves, as in many other versions; as
the Syriac version, "if ye convert yourselves, and turn from your
evils"; making it both their own act, and the condition of their
being blessed; and the Arabic version likewise, "so that everyone
of you departs from his wickedness"; but that work is Christ's,
and this is the blessing of grace he himself bestows, and is a
fruit of redemption by his blood, ( Titus 2:14 ) .