My brothers must here refer to more persons than just Jews since Paul includes not only fellow Israelites, but also the Gentiles to whom he is speaking. Most languages permit this type of extension of a word such as “brothers” or “relatives” in view of the distinctive usage which applies such a term of lineage to those who become spiritually related through their faith in Jesus Christ.
The phrase through Jesus may be related either to the forgiveness of sins or to the verb expression is preached to you. However, the position of this phrase in the Greek text would suggest that it is related to the preaching and may be expressed in some languages as “by what Jesus himself did” or “by what Jesus experienced.”
In verse 30 Paul mentions the fact of the resurrection, which he confirmed in verse 31 by the evidence of those who had seen the risen Lord. In verses 32-37 he appeals to the Scripture as further evidence of the resurrection of Jesus, and now he shows the significance that Jesus’ resurrection holds for the life of the believers. Paul mentions two important results of the resurrection, and the Good News Translation has restructured the Greek sentence order so as to show to the reader that these are basically parallel thoughts, forgiveness of sins and set free from … sins. For an English speaker it is more natural to say the message about forgiveness of sins is preached than it would be to repeat the literal Greek expression “the forgiveness of sins is preached.” The verb translated set free appears only in this verse in Acts; it is the term, often translated “justified,” that Paul uses so often in his letters. The Greek word itself is a term from the law courts, describing the condition of a person who has been declared innocent of the charges brought against him (see An American Translation* “is cleared of every charge”) and so it may be rendered “be set free from” (Revised Standard Version), “be acquitted of” (New American Bible; see New English Bible, Barclay), or “absolve you from” (Moffatt). In the epistles, however, the emphasis is on the believer’s new relationship with God, and hence the Good News Translation usually translates the verb as “to be put right with God.”
Everyone who believes in him is set free from all the sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free may be taken to mean one of two things: (1) the Law of Moses could set a man free from some sins though not from others, but the believer is now set free from these other sins as well; or (2) the Law of Moses cannot set a person free from any sin, but belief in Christ sets (one) free from all … sins. In light of the total New Testament message, and especially in light of what Paul says elsewhere, the second of these possibilities is much more probable.
Set free from … sins may be rendered as “caused you to be guiltless of sins,” but it is difficult to combine such an expression readily in the clause from which the Law of Moses could set you free. In some languages this last clause is combined with the previous one in the following way: “is declared innocent from all his sins, but the Law of Moses could not declare him innocent of his sins.” There is, however, an additional difficulty in shifting from the third person to the second person—everyone who believes … you. In many languages one cannot shift in this manner and therefore one must translate as “you are to know that if you believe in Jesus you are set free (or, he sets you free) from all your sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .