Acts 3:17-18

If Peter’s charges against his hearers were harsh (Acts 3:13-15), his concession that they acted out of ignorance was tender. He meant that they did not realize the great mistake they had made. Peter undoubtedly hoped that his gentle approach would win a reversal of his hearers’ attitude.

"Israel’s situation was something like that of the ’manslayer’ who killed his neighbor without prior malicious intent, and fled to the nearest city of refuge (Numbers 35:9-34)." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:413.]

Jesus did not demonstrate His deity as convincingly as He might have during His earthly ministry. Consequently the reaction of unbelief that many rulers as well as common Israelites demonstrated was partially due to their ignorance. They were also ignorant of the fact that Jesus fulfilled many messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Peter hastened to point out that Jesus’ sufferings harmonized with those predicted of the Messiah by Israel’s prophets. It was the prophets’ revelations about the death of Messiah that the Jews in Peter’s day, including Jesus’ own disciples, had difficulty understanding.

"Doubtless many in Peter’s Jewish audience would have been agreeable to much of the preceding statement. They would not have been averse to accepting the idea of a genuine miracle, nor were they unfamiliar with Jesus’ reputation as a miracle worker. The problem they faced was identifying Jesus as their conquering Messiah in the light of the crucifixion." [Note: Kent, p. 41. Cf. Blaiklock, p. 63.]