Bible Strands
Acts 3:15
You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of this fact.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter addresses the crowd at the temple courts immediately after healing the lame man, turning their attention from the miracle to its source. He speaks as a witness, not a theologian, in a public confrontation.
The words — ἀρχηγόν (archēgon) carries the sense of "chief, originator, leader," not merely "giver"; it identifies Jesus as the source from whom life flows, not a recipient of it.
The thread — Acts 2:24 and 2:32 repeat the same claim—God raised Jesus, death could not hold Him, and the apostles are witnesses—within days of this speech. Revelation 21:6's "Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End" echoes the same origin-language applied to the risen Christ.
Why it lands — The verse puts "you" in the accusative: the listener is the one who killed, and the resurrection is stated as a fact they can verify, not a doctrine to assent to. It asks the reader to stop deflecting responsibility and confront what they have rejected.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
Cross-references
- Acts 2:24 But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep Him in its grip.
- Revelation 21:6 And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
- Acts 2:32 God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.
- John 1:4 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
- John 5:26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
- Acts 13:30 But God raised Him from the dead,
- 1 Corinthians 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
- Hebrews 2:10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
- John 4:10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- John 4:14 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”