And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
The apostle Peter — one of Jesus' closest disciples and a leader among the early followers of Jesus — is addressing a crowd in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus' resurrection and ascension. He has just healed a man who had been unable to walk since birth at the entrance to the temple, and a crowd has gathered in astonishment. "Author of life" is a striking title for Jesus, meaning the very originator or source of all life. Peter makes a stunning accusation with remarkable directness: the crowd was complicit in killing the one who is the source of all life itself. But the sentence pivots sharply: "but God raised him from the dead." Peter and the other disciples had seen Jesus alive after his death, and they were staking their entire lives on that testimony.
God, the audacity of resurrection still catches me off guard — that you could take the killing of life itself and make it the doorway to everything. Whatever feels final in my life right now, I'm asking you to do what you do. You are the author of life. Write what comes next. Amen.
There's something almost audacious about this sentence. Peter is standing in Jerusalem — the same city where Jesus was executed just weeks earlier — looking at some of the same people who had been part of the crowd shouting for his crucifixion. And he says it without softening it: you killed the author of life. No careful framing. No diplomatic opening. Just the raw, vertiginous truth laid out in the open air. But here's what stops me cold: Peter doesn't end with the accusation. He ends with the witness. "We are witnesses of this" — of God raising him. The worst thing human beings have ever done became the stage for the most stunning thing God has ever done. That's not a feel-good spin on a bad situation. That's the actual shape of the gospel. Whatever feels like the final sentence in your story right now — whatever looks like a sealed tomb, a closed door, an ending you didn't choose — Peter's testimony is that God has a habit of doing something remarkable after the worst thing. Not instead of it. After it.
Peter calls Jesus the "author of life" — what does that title tell us about who Jesus is, and why does it make the accusation of killing him so staggering?
Peter speaks this truth directly and publicly to people who were involved in Jesus' death. When, if ever, is it right to speak an uncomfortable truth plainly to others — and what does Peter's example show us about how to do it without cruelty?
"The worst thing humans ever did became the stage for the most stunning thing God ever did." Do you find that statement comforting, troubling, or both — and why does your reaction matter?
Peter says "we are witnesses" — a personal, firsthand claim. In what way does your own experience of Jesus function as a kind of testimony? What have you seen or lived through that you could honestly say you witnessed?
Is there something in your life that feels like a final, sealed ending — a relationship, a failure, a loss — that you need to hold up against Peter's testimony that God acts after the worst thing? What would it look like to surrender that to him?
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 11:25
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Acts 2:23
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Revelation 21:6
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
John 2:19
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
John 14:1
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Genesis 50:20
But you killed the Prince (Author, Originator, Source) of life, whom God raised [bodily] from the dead. To this [fact] we are witnesses [for we have seen the risen Christ].
AMP
and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
ESV
but put to death the Prince of life, [the one] whom God raised from the dead, [a fact] to which we are witnesses.
NASB
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
NIV
and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
NKJV
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!
NLT
You no sooner killed the Author of Life than God raised him from the dead—and we're the witnesses.
MSG