Acts 13:38

Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins; and by him every one that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Through this man ... remission of sins ... The primary purpose of the coming of Christ and the Christian gospel is that men may be forgiven of their sins. How reprehensible is the conduct of the secular church in our generation which has perverted this purpose in the pursuit of what they suppose to be social and economic gains. The problem regards "remission of sins," not living conditions.

Every one that believeth ... Here again is the great synecdoche meaning simply "every one who believes, repents, confesses Christ, and is baptized for the remission of sins."

From which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses ..." MacGreggor is undoubtedly wrong in his allegation regarding this passage, saying that "The implication here is that the law can free from some things, but not from everything."[28] Of course not. The antecedent of "which" is "all things," making the meaning to be that "all things" fail of justification under the law of Moses. The efforts of some to make this passage non-Pauline are futile.

Is justified ... The Pauline doctrine of justification, as set forth fully in Romans, makes the final grounds of it to be the perfect faith and obedience of the Son of God. This justification is "in Christ," an expression (or its equivalent) which occurs no less than 169 times in Paul's writings. No man can be justified in his own name, or by his own achievement. It is not as Joe Bloke, or John Doe, that any man can be saved but "as Christ," "in Christ," and as fully identified with Christ. For full discussion of justification, see my Commentary on Romans, Romans 3:22.