Acts 13:38 announces that forgiveness of sins is offered through Jesus, the man Paul has just been describing. The apostle Paul speaks these words in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, addressing fellow Jews and God-fearing Gentiles who had gathered to hear him on a Sabbath.
Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins…
Acts 13:38 (WEB)
What Acts 13:38 Means
The phrase “be it known to you” signals that Paul is making an important announcement, something his listeners should understand clearly. “Brothers” is his warm, familiar address to his fellow Jews, placing himself among them even as he brings them news about Christ.
The central claim is that “through this man” forgiveness is “proclaimed.” Paul is not describing a private arrangement or a ritual. He is saying that a message is being announced publicly, and its content is that sins can be pardoned because of what God has done through Jesus. The verse does not explain every detail of how the atonement works, but it establishes the source and the offer.
What the verse does not do is spell out the conditions or the process in full. That fuller picture comes in the verses that follow, where Paul sets the law of Moses against the freedom that comes through faith. Read by itself, Acts 13:38 promises that forgiveness is genuinely on offer, and that it is announced through Jesus.
The Context of Acts 13:38
The book of Acts is traditionally attributed to Luke, the companion of Paul, and it records the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem outward. In this chapter Paul is delivering one of the longest recorded sermons in the book, and his audience is a mixed group of Jewish and Gentile listeners who know the Hebrew Scriptures well.
Just before verse 38, Paul has quoted Psalm 16 and argued that David, though he died and decayed, could not be the one whose body “saw no decay,” because that promise points to someone raised from death. The surrounding verses build toward the conclusion that Jesus fulfills what David only foreshadowed. Seen in that light, the announcement of forgiveness is the payoff of an argument drawn from their own Scriptures.
Key Phrases in Acts 13:38
Romans 3:23-24
23 For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…
(WEB)
Paul explains in Romans that all people have fallen short and are declared right with God by grace, through the redemption found in Christ Jesus. It expands on the same gift of forgiveness that Acts 13:38 announces.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(WEB)
John shows how the forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel becomes a daily reality in the life of a believer, through honest confession. It helps you see that the release Paul announced is not a one-time event forgotten afterward.
A Short Prayer From Acts 13:38
Father, I come to you knowing that I cannot undo everything I have done wrong. Thank you that forgiveness of sins has been proclaimed to me through Jesus, and that I do not have to earn it or prove myself before you. Help me to receive that release honestly, to name what needs naming, and to walk in the freedom you offer. Where I have hurt others, give me the courage to make things right. Let the message of your forgiveness shape the way I treat myself and those around me today. Amen.
