Acts 3:17

Context

Peter and John healed a man lame from birth at the Beautiful Gate of the temple (Acts 3:1-10). This verse belongs to the sermon Peter then preached in Solomon's Porch to the crowd that gathered (3:12-26). Earlier in the sermon, Peter sharply accuses his hearers of rejecting Jesus, whom Pilate had wished to release, and of killing "the Prince of life" (3:13-15). In verse 17 he changes his tone, addressing them as "brethren": "I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers," that is, the leaders of the Sanhedrin. Verse 18 explains the event as God's fulfillment of what the prophets had foretold, and verse 19 follows with the appeal, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted."

Interpretation

• A bridge to repentance: Many commentators hold that the verse does not dismiss the sin as though it had never happened. Rather, it serves as a bridge from accusation to an exhortation to repentance. On this reading, because the hearers acted in ignorance, the way to turn back remains open. This interpretation reads the verse alongside the prayer from the cross in Luke 23:34 ("for they know not what they do") and Stephen's prayer as part of the same pattern.
• In light of the Old Testament "sins of ignorance": Numbers 15:22-31 distinguishes between sins committed unwittingly and sins committed presumptuously, and it provides a means of atonement for those committed unwittingly. Some interpreters hold that Peter draws on this distinction to place his hearers in a position where they can be forgiven.
• Reformed reading: Reformed commentators read the verse together with verse 18, emphasizing that even human ignorance and wrongdoing were used within God's plan to fulfill prophecy. At the same time, as in Acts 2:23, they hold that God's plan does not remove human responsibility. They often understand the ignorance itself as spiritual blindness resulting from sin.
• Wesleyan reading: Wesleyan theology has traditionally distinguished between the willful transgression of a known law and wrongs committed in ignorance. Within this tradition the verse is sometimes read in light of that distinction.

Debates and Issues

• Does ignorance absolve responsibility? The text speaks of ignorance yet immediately calls for repentance. For this reason most interpreters hold that ignorance may lessen guilt but does not erase it. They read the reference to "the times of this ignorance" and the accompanying command to repent in Acts 17:30 as following the same pattern.
• The question of Jewish collective responsibility: In Christian history, claims that attributed the death of Jesus to the Jewish people as a whole contributed to antisemitism, and this has prompted critical reflection. As that reflection has grown since the twentieth century, this verse has been cited as evidence that Peter's words were not a curse but an exhortation to repentance addressed to his own people. The Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church, in its declaration Nostra Aetate (1965), stated that responsibility for Christ's passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today.
• Textual variants: The so-called Western text, represented by manuscripts such as Codex Bezae, is known to read "we know" and to add that they did "evil." Some scholars regard this as a scribal alteration intended to make the wickedness of the act explicit.

Related Passages

• Luke 23:34
• Acts 3:19
• Acts 13:27
• Acts 17:30
• 1 Corinthians 2:8