Why was Jesus not held by death in Acts 2:24?
According to Acts 2:24, God raised Jesus up and loosed the pains of death because it was not possible for death to hold Him. The context states that He could not be held because He was God. Although men killed the Messiah, God raised Him, so they did not thwart God’s purpose.
Les explains that in Acts 2:24 Peter declares God raised Jesus up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. The reason, as the context puts it, is that He couldn’t be held—He was God. Peter’s larger point is that even though they had killed their King and Messiah, they did not thwart God, because God raised Him from the dead. They knew from Psalms 110:1 that God had called Him back to heaven, ready to yet return and still able to give them the Kingdom. Les notes that Peter confirms the death, burial, and resurrection, but nowhere in this passage does Peter ascribe salvation to that death, burial, and resurrection; he merely states as fact that the Messiah they killed was raised and is alive.