Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
The word which God sent, etc. - Few verses in the New Testament have perplexed critics and divines more than this. The ancient copyists seem also to have been puzzled with it; as the great variety in the different MSS. sufficiently proves. A foreign critic makes a good sense by connecting this with the preceding verse, thus: In every nation he that feared him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him, according to that doctrine which God sent unto the children of Israel, by which he published peace (i.e. reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles) by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all; and, because Lord of all, both of Jews and Gentiles, therefore he must be impartial; and, because impartial, or no respecter of persons, therefore, in every nation, whether Judea, Greece, or Italy, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
I believe , the word, in this verse, should be translated, that doctrine; and probably ̔ , which we translate that word in Acts 10:37, should be omitted as it is in the Codex Bezae, and its Itala version; and if ̔ , which is in Acts 10:36, be even left out, as it is in ABC, Coptic and Vulgate, the whole may be literally read thus: As to the doctrine sent to the children of Israel, preaching the glad tidings of peace ( ) by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all, ye know what was done ( ) through all Judea, beginning after the baptism which John preached. Jesus, who was from Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost, and with mighty power ( ) went about doing good, and healing all that were tyrannically oppressed ( Ϛ ) by the devil, for God was with him. Critics have proposed a great variety of modes by which they suppose these verses may be rendered intelligible; and the learned reader may see many in Wolfius, Kypke, Rosenmuller, and others. Kypke contends that the word , Lord, is to be understood adjectively, and ought to be referred to , and the 36th verse will then stand thus: The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, that word has authority over all. This amounts nearly to the same sense with the expositions given above; and all proclaim this truth, which the apostle labored to establish, namely, that God intended the salvation of all men by Jesus Christ; and therefore proclaimed reconciliation to all, by him who is Lord, maker, preserver, redeemer, and judge of all. And of this the apostle was now more convinced by the late vision; and his mission from him who is Lord of all to Cornelius, a heathen, was a full illustration of the heavenly truth; for the very meeting of Peter, once a prejudiced Jew, and Cornelius, once an unenlightened Gentile, was a sort of first fruits of this general reconciliation, and a proof that Jesus was Lord of All.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Acts 10:36:
Acts 10:36
Acts 15:7
Romans 9:5
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