Paul stands and, with a wave of the hand to gain attention, addresses both Jews and Gentile God-fearers (see comment and note at 8:27). He begins with what could be called the Old Testament kerygma: a rehearsal of four key events of God's gracious promise and liberating fulfillment, together with a declaration of the messianic promise to David (Deut 26:5-10; Josh 24:2-13, 17-18; Ps 68-72; 89:3-4, 19-37).

Paul commences with the confession that God is the God of the people of Israel (literally, "this people Israel"). With Gentile God-fearers in the audience, Paul articulates the particularity of God's dealings with Israel but within an international context. Second, he announces God's choice of the patriarchs for himself. Third, he proclaims the redemption of Israel from Egypt and the leading through the wilderness. This liberation is recounted in language reminiscent of the Pentateuch (Ex 6:6; Deut 1:31; 26:5, 8). Israel knew great blessing during its sojourn in Egypt, for God literally "exalted" them by greatly increasing their numbers (Ex 1:7), yet the people sinned, and God had to "bear with" them forty years in the wilderness (Num 14:34).

Fourth, God caused them to inherit their land after he had overthrown seven nations in the land of Canaan (Deut 7:1; Josh 3:10; 24:11). God's initiatives in mighty fulfillment of his gracious promises to the fathers took about 450 years. This involved four hundred years of sojourn in Egypt (Gen 15:13), forty years of wilderness wandering (Num 14:34) and ten years to possess the land of Canaan (Josh 14:10).

God raised up David and gave him a promise. Paul sets this within the context of God's orderly superintendence of Israel's national life through judges, up to the last judge and first prophet Samuel (compare Acts 3:24; 1 Sam 3:20). Paul highlights, though subtly, the sin that both led to and terminated Saul's forty-year reign (compare Josephus Jewish Antiquities 6.378). The monarchy was instituted because the people took matters into their own hands by asking for a king (note the middle voice—literally, "they asked for themselves"; compare 1 Sam 8:4-9). Saul's reign and the continuance of his line effectively ended when after disobedience God "removed"—deposed—him (compare 3 Kingdoms 15:13). David, by contrast, was a "man after God's own heart, who will do all God's will" (1 Sam 13:14). He is the model for all those who would receive God's covenant blessings of salvation.

David received a promise (2 Sam 7:12-16; compare 22:51; Ps 89: 29, 36; 132:11, 17), which Paul declares was fulfilled when God brought to Israel the Savior Jesus. Paul both tempers and heightens the Jewish hope. He avoids the use of Messiah, with its connotations of a purely political deliverer. He indicates that the liberation is much greater, for God is its source, bringing the final salvation according to the Old Testament (Is 49:6, 8; 45:21-22; compare Ps 27:1; 89:26; Lk 1:69; 2:11; Acts 5:31; 13:26).

This focus on the spiritual or vertical dimension of salvation continues in Paul's mention of the last prophet, John the Baptist, the messenger who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah (Lk 1:76-77). John preached repentance and baptism (literally, "a baptism of repentance"), a ritual washing as a visible sign of repentance in preparation for the Messiah's coming holy kingdom. He made very clear both that he was not the Messiah and that this coming Savior was much greater than he. He said he did not even qualify to perform the most menial of tasks, untying the Messiah's sandals as he prepared for daily washing. John issued this denial repeatedly (elegen, imperfect pointing to repeated, customary action) as he was "finishing his course" (NIV work; compare Acts 20:24; 2 Tim 4:7).

Through John's steadfast denial of very natural Jewish expectations, Paul puts his audience and us on notice. We must be careful lest we misunderstand what God is doing to provide salvation.