Many noted scholars and commentaries argue that Ps 2.7 should be understood in reference to Jesus’ resurrection and not his birth!
This is due to early translations of Acts 13:33 taken as a second reference [the first being at v.30] to Jesus having been ‘raised up from the dead’.
The KJV [1611] even added the word again and some modern translators paraphrase it as “from the dead”.
The popular Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the NT (under their definition of gennao in Mat 1.20) claim that “it is used of the act of God in the birth of Christ, Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5, quoted from Psalm 2:7, none of which indicate that Christ became the Son of God at His birth.”
Yet, when giving us the definition of the Greek word translated “raise (up)” [anistemi] they note:
“[It is] said of Christ, Acts 3:26; 7:37; 13:33, RV, ‘raised up Jesus,’ not here by resurrection from the dead, as the superfluous ‘again’ of the AV [NCV; WNT] would suggest; this is confirmed by the latter part of the verse, which explains the ‘raising’ up as being by way of His incarnation, and by the contrast in ver. 34, where stress is laid upon His being ‘raised’ from the dead, the same verb being used.”
So, even though the word can be used in reference to being “raised up from the dead”, the context dictates the meaning of the expression.
Thus, in Acts 13.33, God is said to have “raised up” His Son onto the scene, just as it was said of King David in v.22.
This is in complete harmony with the writer’s use of Ps 2.7 as the begetting, procreation of the Son from the womb and not from the tomb!
This is due to early translations of Acts 13:33 taken as a second reference [the first being at v.30] to Jesus having been ‘raised up from the dead’.
The KJV [1611] even added the word again and some modern translators paraphrase it as “from the dead”.
The popular Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the NT (under their definition of gennao in Mat 1.20) claim that “it is used of the act of God in the birth of Christ, Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5, quoted from Psalm 2:7, none of which indicate that Christ became the Son of God at His birth.”
Yet, when giving us the definition of the Greek word translated “raise (up)” [anistemi] they note:
“[It is] said of Christ, Acts 3:26; 7:37; 13:33, RV, ‘raised up Jesus,’ not here by resurrection from the dead, as the superfluous ‘again’ of the AV [NCV; WNT] would suggest; this is confirmed by the latter part of the verse, which explains the ‘raising’ up as being by way of His incarnation, and by the contrast in ver. 34, where stress is laid upon His being ‘raised’ from the dead, the same verb being used.”
So, even though the word can be used in reference to being “raised up from the dead”, the context dictates the meaning of the expression.
Thus, in Acts 13.33, God is said to have “raised up” His Son onto the scene, just as it was said of King David in v.22.
This is in complete harmony with the writer’s use of Ps 2.7 as the begetting, procreation of the Son from the womb and not from the tomb!
