Acts 2:27 - Exposition

Hades for hell, A.V. ; give thy Holy One for suffer thine Holy One, A.V. , surely not so good a rendering. Hades . The "hell" of the A.V. is the exact English representative of ᾅδης . The article in the Creed, "He descended into hell," is based upon this text especially, the other two alleged in support of it ( Ephesians 4:9 ; 1 Peter 3:18 , 1 Peter 3:19 ) being less conclusive (see Pearson on the Creed, art. 5.). It is a pity to lose the word "hell" in its true meaning. Corruption ; Greek διαφθρόραν , Hebrew תחַשַׁ . The Hebrew word always means a pit (from חַוּשׁ ); but the LXX . here render it διαφθορά , as if from תחַשָׁ (in Pihel, to destroy, waste; in Hophal and Niphal, to be corrupted, spoilt, to rot). In the A.V. it is rendered corruption, here and in Job 17:14 , where it answers to "the worms," in the parallel clause. It is very probable that the LXX . are right. Nothing is more common than for Hebrew verbs to take the meaning of verbs with similar radicals. Holy One . So the LXX . and the Keri of the Hebrew text. But the Cethib has Holy Ones in the plural. It is obvious that the singular, Holy One, agrees far better with the singulars which precede and follow it—my heart, my glory, my flesh, my soul, thou wilt show me—than the plural, which is entirely out of place. The two clauses taken together show the full liberation of Christ from the dominion of death—that of his human soul from bell, and that of his body from the grave before it saw corruption (comp. Acts 13:34-37 ).