34”As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ 35Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.’ 36For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.”
Facts are what the gospel message is based on, and Paul is unequivocal about this. Resurrection—specifically the resurrection of Jesus Christ—is squarely in the center of the message. Paul is not teaching a new religion, like Islam or Mormonism. No, his teaching is founded on the Jewish Scriptures, and therefore it is a Jewish message, not only in line with the OT prophecies but in fact the fulfillment of them.
Paul’s purpose is not apologetic but theological. He defends the resurrection in other places, like 1 Corinthians 15, but here he states it as a truism and then shows it to be consistent with what God has already revealed. Notice the clarification: he is not speaking of an apparent resurrection, nor an illusion of a resurrection, as though it were a spiritual event that was somehow detached from the physical realities of death. Very specifically, this resurrection was a rescue from the “decay” of the physical body. There was no body left in the grave to decompose.
Paul takes us back to two Scriptures. The first is in Isaiah 55:3. This follows up from the previous verse (Acts 13:33) which refers to Psalm 2:7, the Messianic psalm of David and his central role in God’s dealing with the nations. Isaiah 55 points to God drawing His people, the chosen nation, back to Himself and to the blessings of King David. What God is giving to His people and to all people now are the “holy and sure blessings of David.”
But in order to have any value, these passages must refer to “David” as still being alive. Space does not allow full exposition of Paul’s train of thought, but he connects this to Psalm 16:10, where David writes, “You will not allow your holy one to undergo decay.” To whom does this refer? Paul answers that question. It couldn’t be David, for he died and was not raised from the dead. Therefore, it must refer to someone else who, Paul goes on to assert, was a descendant of David, and to whom these promises apply. Interestingly, Peter gave the same interpretation in Acts 2:29, 34.
So, Paul concludes, the one who has been raised, namely Jesus Christ, did not undergo decay, that is, He was raised from the dead, once and for all.
Lord, I believe that Jesus Christ rose physically from the dead and is alive now.
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