He [God the Father] has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.' (Acts 13:33 NRSV)
While reading the Acts of the Apostles this week, I remembered there is a debate of sorts among interpreters about the meaning of this verse; some (erroneously, IMO) believe it to be about the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The most likely reading, however, is that the Father’s “raising” of Jesus in this verse is about the Father bringing the Messiah into the world to affect the salvation of mankind. As one renowned interpreter of the Acts of the Apostles noted:
We refer ἀναστήσας Ἱησοῦν to God’s act of raising up Jesus as the Savior and not to the act of raising him up from the dead. With δέ, “moreover” (slightly adversative), Paul then adds ἀνέστησεν αὑτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν, the act of raising Jesus from the dead. This δέ prevents us from referring both the participle and the finite verb to the resurrection. If both referred to the same act, the former and not the latter ought to have the modifier “from the dead.” But the participle should not be restricted to the incarnation and the birth of Jesus: “by having made Jesus to appear (or to arise)” the entire career of Jesus from beginning to consummation is referred to, which thus includes also his resurrection. The verb “completely fulfilled” refers to the entire career; it cannot mean that by the resurrection of Jesus the final item of complete fulfillment was added. As far as that final item is concerned, that is specified in v. 34. When in v. 23 Paul says “Savior,” in v. 26, “the word of this salvation,” and in v. 32 εὑαγγελιζόμεθα, he is not speaking only of the resurrection of Jesus but of all that he was and did, including his glorious resurrection.
It is this act on the part of God, this making Jesus to appear or arise in general, of which Ps. 2:7 speaks. Peter quoted this psalm in 4:25, 26. In Heb. 1:5 our passage is quoted to show that God exalted Jesus above the angels. Peter attributes this psalm to David although it appears without a caption. The contents are plainly Davidic. The reply that in general speech “psalm” meant a song composed by David overlooks the fact that many psalms were attributed to Asaph, to Solomon, and to others. Some think that Paul cites David because in v. 22 he had brought Israel’s history up to the time of David; but he also quotes Isaiah. When some texts read “the first” Psalm, we note that the two psalms were read as one lection in the synagogue, which regarded the first Psalm as the introduction to the entire book of Psalms.
The Hebrew and the LXX agree: “My Son art thou; I myself (emphatic ἐγώ) today have begotten thee.” The reference is to 2 Sam. 7, especially to v. 13 and 16, to the Seed of David (Jesus) who should reign in the Davidic kingdom and on the Davidic throne forever. It is this everlasting King himself who quotes Jehovah as declaring to him, “My Son art thou,” etc. God made that declaration to Jesus himself when at the time of his baptism he anointed him with the Spirit: “Thou art my beloved Son.” Luke 3:22. It was then that Jesus assumed his office as Savior. That declaration was repeated at the time of the Transfiguration of Jesus, cf., Luke 9:35.
Although they are even verbally almost identical with the word occurring in the psalm, these two words of the Father to his Son Jesus are often overlooked. In the psalm David says that this declaration was made long ago. He speaks of 2 Sam. 7. Then Jehovah said, “Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion!” and that King declares that Jehovah said to him, “Thou art my Son,” etc. Regard it all prophetically with reference to what the Father did with Jesus when he brought him to Israel as the Savior (23); or regard it as prophecy, as what was done already in David’s vision as regards the everlasting King on his throne. In either case “I myself today have begotten thee” is figurative regarding Jehovah’s placing this everlasting King on his throne. The inauguration of a King who rules forever on an everlasting throne in an eternal kingdom is for Jehovah the begetting of a Son, a King who rules eternally like Jehovah himself. That prophecy was fulfilled, Paul says, when God raised up Jesus as the Savior. The statement about Jesus, like that of the psalm, is general; hence Paul follows it with a further elaboration, and we must read the whole together in order to get its force.
The passage occurring in the psalm does not speak of the generatio aeterna, not of the inner Trinitarian relation of the two Persons, not of eternity but of time. Likewise, the psalm does not speak of the Incarnation, the conception, and the birth of Jesus. Many, however, think that it speaks of the resurrection of Jesus, and that the reality back of the figure of generating is the raising from the dead. They, therefore, also let ἀναστήσας mean “having raised from the dead.” It sounds attractive to hear that Jesus was made Savior and King forever by his resurrection. But how about his suffering and his death, his whole office and his life? And look at Luke 3:22, and 9:35. No, this raising up, making to appear, the word of the psalm, refer to all that God did in setting him forth as the Savior and most certainly includes also his resurrection, but most certainly also includes all else as well and does not refer to the resurrection alone. (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles (pp. 536–538). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.)
