Acts 5:30

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree.

In this verse appears another instance of Peter's speeches, as recorded by Luke, stressing the same thought and expressing it in terminology similar (see 1 Peter 2:24) to that in Peter's epistles.

Twice in Acts (Acts 5:30; 10:39) Jesus' death is significantly called "hanging on a tree." This phrase points back to the Jewish belief that a man "hanged on a tree" was a man "accursed by God" (Deuteronomy 21:22f). Anyone who so described Christ's death had not only seen the "scandal" of the cross but had somehow divined that he bore the cross for others.[34]

DeWelt pointed out that Peter's speech here has the effect of replying to the Sadducees' protest in Acts 5:28 against bringing "this man's blood upon us," and carries the meaning of "We intended to convey the thought that the blood of Jesus is upon your heads; for you slew him and hanged him on a tree."[35]

[34] Archibald M. Hunter, Introducing New Testament Theology (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1957), p. 74.

[35] Don DeWelt, op. cit., p. 81.