²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus from Nazareth was a very special man. God clearly showed this to you by the miracles, wonders, and signs God did through him. You all know this, because it happened right here among you. ²³ Jesus was given to you, and you killed him. With the help of evil men you nailed him to a cross. But God knew all this would happen. This was God’s plan which he had made long ago. ²⁴ God raised Jesus from death. God set him free from the pain of death. Death could not hold him. ²⁵ For David said this about him:

²⁹ “Brothers, I can tell you truly about David, our ancestor. He died and was buried. His grave is still here with us today. ³⁰ David was a prophet and knew what God had said. God had promised David that he would make a person from David’s family a king just as he was.^{[a] 31} David knew this before it happened. That is why he said:

David was talking about the Christ rising from death. ³² So Jesus is the One who God raised from death! And we are all witnesses to this. ³³ Jesus was lifted up to heaven and is now at God’s right side. The Father has given the Holy Spirit to Jesus as he promised. So now Jesus has poured out that Spirit. This is what you see and hear. ³⁴ David was not the one who was lifted up to heaven. But he said:

³⁶ “So, all the people of Israel should know this truly: God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. He is the man you nailed to the cross!”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were sick at heart. They asked Peter and the other apostles, “What shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter said to them, “Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise is for you. It is also for your children and for all who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to himself.”

³ Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized? We shared his death in our baptism. ⁴ So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. We were buried with him so that we could live a new life, just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father.

⁵ Christ died, and we have been joined with Christ by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from death as he did. ⁶ We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross. This was so that our sinful selves would have no power over us, and we would not be slaves to sin. ⁷ Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control.

⁸ If we died with Christ, we know that we will also live with him. ⁹ Christ was raised from death. And we know that he cannot die again. Death has no power over him now. ¹⁰ Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time—enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God.