Why did calling God 'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' matter to Peter's Jewish audience?
That title identified Israel’s God by their ancestral line and connected the healing to Him. It mattered because Peter’s Jewish audience was not Gentile; they were the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and this ancestry meant everything to them. Gentiles, by contrast, could have cared less about descent from Abraham.
Les explains that Peter was preaching to a massive crowd of Jews gathered after the lame man was healed, and he addresses them as “Ye men of Israel,” with no mention of Gentiles. The title “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” would have meant nothing to Gentiles; the Romans could have cared less who descended from Abraham. But to Peter’s Jewish audience it meant everything, because they were the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Peter used that title to declare that this God had glorified His Son Jesus, then reminded them that they had delivered Him up before Pilate and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead. Les points out that Peter does not associate salvation with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection here; Peter claims Jesus was the Christ, they crucified Him, but God raised Him, so He could still fulfill the Old Testament promises.
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
More Questions
Why did Peter use the phrase 'God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' when speaking to Israel?
The title 'God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' speaks uniquely to Jewish people because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the beginning of their nation and received the covenant promises repeated almost word for word.
What does 'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' tell us about the apostles in Acts 3?
In Acts 3, Peter's reference to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shows that their heritage going back to Abraham and the covenant men Isaac and Jacob was the engine of everything the apostles were doing.