Acts 3:21

Restoration (apokatastasew). Double compound (apo, kata, isthmi), here only in the N.T., though common in late writers. In papyri and inscriptions for repairs to temples and this phrase occurs in Jewish apocalyptic writings, something like the new heaven and the new earth of Revelation 21:1 . Paul has a mystical allusion also to the agony of nature in Romans 8:20-22 . The verb apokaqisthmi is used by Jesus of the spiritual and moral restoration wrought by the Baptist as Elijah ( Matthew 17:11 ; Mark 9:12 ) and by the disciples to Jesus in Acts 1:6 . Josephus uses the word of the return from captivity and Philo of the restitution of inheritances in the year of jubilee. As a technical medical term it means complete restoration to health. See a like idea in palingenesia (renewal, new birth) in Matthew 19:28 ; Titus 3:5 . This universalism of Peter will be clearer to him after Joppa and Caesarea.