Short answer: In Acts 2:22 Peter tells the crowd in Jerusalem that Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved by God through mighty works, wonders and signs, and that God did these things through him among them where they could see. The point is attestation: the miracles identified who Jesus was to a specific audience that already knew of them. Peter immediately names the crucifixion in the next verse, so the signs are never offered as power on their own but as God's testimony to the one who was rejected and killed. The sermon then rests everything on the resurrection.
Peter's sermon at pentecost: the setting of the signs
Acts 2:22 is speech inside a story. Luke reports what Peter said to a Jerusalem crowd on the day of Pentecost, when pilgrims had gathered for the feast and the Spirit had just been poured out on the disciples. The commotion drew a crowd, and Peter answered it by quoting the prophet Joel about the day of the Lord, ending with the promise that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Verse 22 then begins the answer to how God has made that call possible. The verse is proclamation, opening with a call to hear.
Peter addresses men of Israel as heirs of the prophets and the promises, so the mighty works, wonders and signs he names are not detached marvels. They are God's activity among his own covenant people, done through Jesus of Nazareth, and Peter adds that the crowd already knows it. The signs serve an argument: they accredit a man, and the argument keeps moving. Verses 23 and 24 complete the thought, that this accredited man was handed over by God's determined purpose, killed by lawless hands, and raised because death could not hold him. The signs are a doorway into the cross and the empty tomb.
Read this way, the verse describes God's attestation of Jesus to a specific audience at a specific moment. It is not a blanket promise that every sickness will be healed or that signs will accompany every believer's ministry, and pastors should not press it into that service. What stays central is the shape of Peter's proclamation: God acted in mighty works, God handed his Son over by determined purpose, and God raised him. The call to hear lands on the crowd's responsibility, and the same call reaches the reader, who is pointed past the wonders to the crucified and risen Lord.
Approved by God: what Peter says about Jesus and miracles
Peter stands among a crowd that has just heard the wind and the tongues, and he begins his answer with a call to listen. He names Jesus of Nazareth and then stacks three words together: mighty works, wonders and signs. They are not three separate categories of event so much as three angles on the same ministry. Mighty works points to deeds that carry power, wonders to the astonishment those deeds produce in the people watching, and signs to the way those deeds point past themselves to God. The vocabulary is chosen to make the crowd remember what they saw, not to teach a formula for ministry.
The phrase approved by God carries the sense of public attestation, a man shown to be genuine in the open. Notice where Peter locates that attestation: in what God did by him among you. The works were God's action, done through Jesus, performed in the middle of ordinary Galilean and Judean life where people could see them. Peter does not describe a private revelation given to insiders. He describes a public demonstration that the crowd itself had witnessed. That is why he ends the verse with even as you yourselves know. He is not telling them something new but reminding them of something they already carry in their memory.
That closing appeal shapes how the verse should be handled today. Peter uses the miracles to press a question about Jesus, not to set a pattern that every believer's ministry must match. The text describes God's attestation of his Son to a specific audience at a specific moment. It does not promise that every sickness will be healed or that signs will accompany every Christian's work. What stays central is the one the signs pointed to. The works were never the point in themselves. They were God's public answer to the question of who Jesus is, and Peter builds his whole sermon on that answer.
God's public testimony to Jesus at pentecost
The setting matters before the sentence does. It is Pentecost in Jerusalem, pilgrims have gathered, and the Spirit has just been poured out on the disciples. Peter explains the commotion by quoting the prophet Joel about the day of the Lord, ending with the promise that whoever calls on the Lord will be saved (2:21). Verse 22 then answers how God has acted to make that call possible. Peter addresses men of Israel as heirs of the covenant, so the works he names are not detached marvels but God's activity among his own people, done where they could see them.
Peter's claim is specific. Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved by God to them through mighty works, wonders and signs that God did through him among them, as they themselves know (2:22). The audience is not asked to take a report on trust; they had watched it happen. Notice also that the same sentence that names the miracles names the man. The signs were God's own testimony to this particular person, not a general display of power, and they were public, performed in the midst of the very crowd now listening.
The next two verses keep the signs from standing alone. The accredited man was delivered up by God's determined purpose, taken by lawless hands, crucified and killed, and then raised because death could not hold him (2:23–24). So the wonders are a doorway into the cross and the empty tomb, not a destination. This passage attests Jesus to a specific audience; it does not promise that every sickness will be healed or that signs will accompany every believer's ministry. The call to us is the one Joel announced: call on the name of the Lord.
What acts 2:22 does and does not settle about signs and wonders
Peter opens his sermon to a Jerusalem crowd by naming Jesus of Nazareth and calling him a man approved by God. The approval came through mighty works, wonders and signs, and Peter adds that God did them by him among you, even as you yourselves know. Two limits sit in that sentence. The works were God's action through Jesus, not Jesus performing on his own, and they happened among that particular audience, who could still recall them. The verse is a report about Jesus addressed to eyewitnesses, not a formula handed to the church. Peter is establishing who Jesus is before he says anything about what believers should expect.
Careful evangelical readers agree on that much and then part ways. Some argue that these accrediting works belonged to the founding apostolic era, and that the completed Scripture now stands as the church's sufficient confirmation of the gospel. Others argue that God still answers prayer with signs and wonders, especially in mission, and both sides appeal to the wider New Testament. The disagreement is real and worth stating honestly. What stays central across it is that Jesus is the God-approved Savior, that his death came by God's determined purpose, and that God raised him. Acts 2:22 does not promise that every believer will perform signs or that every sickness will be healed, and pastors should not press it into that service.
Notice where the sermon goes next. Peter does not linger over the wonders as though they were the point. He moves at once to the cross, saying Jesus was handed over by God's settled plan and killed by lawless men, and then to the resurrection, because death could not hold him. The signs authenticate the message; they are not the message. That ordering keeps a reader steady. If every need were met by a wonder, the cross and empty tomb would be decoration. Instead, they are the hinge. Acts 2:21 has already told the crowd where to look: whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Signs that pointed to Jesus
Peter stands up in Jerusalem at Pentecost and addresses the crowd as men of Israel. He does not begin with a general lesson about miracles. He begins with a name and a place: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God among them by mighty works and wonders and signs. The works were done by God through him, and Peter adds that the audience already knew it. These were not hidden events in a distant corner. They happened among the very people listening. The signs were God's public attestation of a particular person, and the crowd is asked to reckon with what they had seen.
The sentence does not end with the signs. Acts 2:22 is the opening move in an argument that runs straight to the cross and the empty tomb. The same Jesus attested by wonders is the one delivered up by God's determined purpose, taken by lawless hands, crucified and killed, and then raised because death could not hold him (2:23–24). The miracles are not the destination. They are testimony that presses the hearer toward the crucified and risen Lord, and the sermon reaches its point when Peter declares that God has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ.
Notice where the sermon lands. Peter had quoted the promise that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (2:21), and the rest of his message answers the question of whose name that is. The signs serve the gospel rather than replace it. This passage gives no warrant to promise that every sickness will be healed or that signs will accompany every believer's ministry. It describes God's attestation of Jesus to a specific audience. What stays central is the One attested, and the call to call on his name.
What faithful response to Jesus looks like in ordinary life
Peter tells the crowd that Jesus was a man approved by God among them through mighty works, wonders and signs, and he adds that they themselves know it. These were not rumors from a distant province. The deeds were public, done in their midst, and the sermon treats that knowledge as the ground of an appeal. So read the Gospels looking for what the signs point to, not only for the wonder of the sign. Every healing, every rescue, every authority over darkness in those pages moves toward the cross and the empty tomb, which is exactly where Peter's sermon lands.
When you face a need, ask God for help honestly. Bring the sickness, the money, the fear, the child, and say plainly what you want. Then rest your confidence in the approved and risen Christ rather than in a guaranteed outcome. This text promises no particular result to any particular request. Peter describes what God did in Jesus before a specific audience; he does not hand out a formula that every prayer produces a sign. Confidence in a person is sturdier than confidence in a predicted result, and it survives the answer you did not want.
Peter's appeal is worth taking seriously. What the crowd had heard about Jesus was public knowledge, and the right response was to call on the name of the Lord, which the sermon presents as the way of salvation. Let grace ground your obedience, since the God who acted in these works had already acted in his determined purpose to save. And when you speak of God's deeds to others, offer them as testimony that points past itself to Christ, not as proof of your own standing. The point of the sign is the Savior it announces.
Biblical fidelity check
Peter's claim rests on what his hearers had already seen. He names three overlapping words: mighty works, wonders and signs. The first points to deeds of power, the second to the astonishment they caused, the third to what they pointed toward. The phrase approved by God means publicly attested, shown genuine, and the text places that attestation in what God did through Jesus among you. The closing words, even as you yourselves know, turn the argument into a reminder rather than fresh revelation. Reading this carefully means not stretching it into a promise that every believer performs such works, since the verse describes what God did through Jesus before a particular audience.
The real disagreement is whether such signs should be expected the same way now. Some readers hold that these accrediting works belonged to the founding apostolic era, with Scripture as the church's sufficient confirmation. Others hold that God still gives signs and wonders in answer to prayer and in mission. Both appeal to the wider New Testament. What stays central is that Jesus is the God-approved Savior, that his death came by God's determined purpose, and that God raised him. The wonders never stand alone; the sermon moves straight to the cross and the empty tomb.
Related studies for Acts 2:22
Trace how Peter's sermon moves from the prophet Joel to the cross and resurrection by reading Acts 10: Peter and Cornelius: God Shows No Favoritism, then compare the crowd's response in Acts 11: Peter's Defense and Antioch Church. For the wider biblical pattern of God confirming his word, see Acts 12: Peter Freed, Herod Judged, and for the resurrection claim at the center of the sermon, see Acts 13: Paul and Barnabas Sent to the Gentiles.
Frequently asked questions
Were the miracles of Jesus proof that he was God, or did they serve another purpose?
In Acts 2:22 the miracles function as God's public approval of Jesus, a testimony given to the people who watched them happen. Peter says God did these works through him among them, and he appeals to their own knowledge of them, so the signs identified Jesus rather than standing alone as a display of power. They were evidence, and evidence points beyond itself to the person it accredits. That is why Peter moves straight from the signs to the cross and then to the empty tomb, where he locates the heart of his claim.
Does the Bible promise that believers today will perform signs and wonders?
Acts 2:22 makes no such promise, because it describes what God did through Jesus before a particular audience at a particular time. The verse is a statement about his accreditation, not a general rule that signs will accompany every believer's ministry. Other passages speak about gifts and works of power in the church, and Christians have honestly disagreed about how those continue today, but this verse is not the place to settle that question. What stays central is that the signs served to identify Jesus, and our confidence rests on his death and resurrection rather than on the presence or absence of wonders.
Why does Peter mention Jesus' miracles and his crucifixion in the same breath?
Peter joins them because the signs alone would not tell the whole story of who Jesus is. In Acts 2:23 he says Jesus was handed over by God's determined plan and killed by lawless men, so the accredited one was also the rejected one. The miracles do not cancel the scandal of the cross; they make it sharper, since the one God approved is the one the crowd handed over to die. Peter's answer to that is the resurrection in 2:24, where he says it was not possible for death to hold him.
