As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them, being upset because they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening. But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they inquired, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, may it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands here before you whole in him. He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can’t deny it. But so that this spreads no further among the people, let’s threaten them, that from now on they don’t speak to anyone in this name.” They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”
When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that which was done. For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
Being let go, they came to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23 1. And as they spoke Hereby it appeareth how…
1. And as they spoke Hereby it appeareth how watchful the wicked be, because they are always ready at an inch to stop the mouth of the servants of Christ. And, undoubt edly, they came together, as it were, to quench some great fire; which thing Luke signifieth, when as he saith that the ruler or captain of the temple came also; and he addeth, moreover, that they took it grievously that the apostles did teach. Therefore, they came not upon them by chance, but of set purpose, that, according to their authority, they might restrain the apostles, and put them to silence. And yet they have some show of law and equity; for if any man did rashly intrude himself, it was the office of the high priest to repress him; and also in like sort, to keep the people in the obedience of the law and the prophets, and to prevent all new doctrines. Therefore, when they hear unknown men, and such as had no public authority, preaching unto the people in the temple, they seem, according as their office did require, and they were commanded by God, to address themselves to remedy this. And surely, at the first blush, it seemeth that there was nothing in this action worthy of reprehension, but the end doth at length declare that their counsel was wicked, and their affection ungodly.
Again, it was a hard matter for the apostles to escape infamy and reproach, because they, being private and despised persons, did take upon them public authority; to wit, because, when things are out of order, many things must be essayed to [against] the common custom, and especially, when we are to avouch and defend religion and the worship of God, and the ringleaders themselves do stop all ways, and do abuse that office against God, which was committed unto them by God. The faithful champions of Christ must swallow up and pass through this ignominy in [under] Popery. For a thousand summers will go over their heads before any reformation or amendment will wax ripe amongst them for the better. Therefore, Luke standeth upon this point, when as he saith that they were grieved because the resurrection was preached in the name of Christ. For hereupon it followeth that they did hate the doctrine before they knew the same. He expresseth the Sadducees by name, as those which were more courageous in this cause. For they were almost [usually] a part of the priests; but because the question is about the resurrection, they set themselves against the apostles more than the rest. Furthermore, this was most monstrous confusion amongst the Jews, in that this sect, which was profane, was of such authority. For what godliness could remain, when as the immortality of the soul was counted as a fable, and that freely? But men must needs run headlong after this sort, when they have once suffered pure doctrine to fall to the ground amongst them. Wherefore, we must so much the more diligently beware of every wicked turning aside, lest such a step do follow immediately.
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Some men think that the ruler of the temple was chosen from among the priests, but I do rather think that he was some chief captain of the Roman army; for it was a place which was fortified both naturally and artificially. Again, Herod had built a tower there, which was called Antonia; so that it is to be thought that he had placed there a band of soldiers, and that the Roman captain had the government of the temple, lest it should be a place of refuge for the Jews, if they had stirred up any tumult, which we may likewise gather out of Josephus. And this agreeth very well, that the enemies of Christ did crave the help of the secular power, under color of appeasing some tumult. In the mean season, they seek favor at the hands of the Romans, as if they were careful to maintain the right of their empire.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, 23 None are commonly more diligent or bolder enemies of…
None are commonly more diligent or bolder enemies of the Church, than such as profess themselves to be head builders: but the more they rage, the more constantly the faithful servants of God do continue.
The Jews had certain garrisons for the guard and safety of the Temple and holy things, Matt. 26:65. These garrisons had a Captain, such as Eleazarus Ananias, the high Priest’s son was, in the time of the war that was in Judea, being a very impudent and proud young man, Josephus, lib. 2, of the taking of Judea.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–23 1 And as they spake unto the people, the…
1 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
Ver. 1. The captain of the temple] The Jews had a band of garrison soldiers deputed for the service and safety of the temple, Mat 27:65. These forces had many officers, Luk 22:4, and one chieftain, here called their captain, στρατηγος; as in their wars with the Romans afterwards, Eleazar the son of Ananias the high priest was in this office, a bold and proud youth, as Josephus describeth him.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–23 The captain of the temple; the commander over those…
The captain of the temple; the commander over those soldiers who were appointed to guard the temple, and provide that no disorder might happen, by reason of the multitudes that came to worship there; and most probably was a Roman, and not of the Jewish nation, much less the chief of any of the courses of the priests, to whom this term cannot agree.
The Sadducees; these were most inveterate against the gospel, whose main article is the resurrection, which they denied: and thus each man, Jews and Gentiles, agree against Christ, as was foretold, Psa 2:1,2.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 12, 13, 19, 21 Observe here, 1. How the apostles preaching to, and…
Observe here, 1. How the apostles preaching to, and instructing the people, stirs up the devil’s rage, and brings upon themselves a severe persecution: Well might Luther say, Quid est evangelium pradicare, nisi in nos furorem diaboli derivare? "At the preaching of the gospel gates of Satan’s prison fly open, and the walls of his kingdom are shaken; he finds himself in danger of losing his principality." No wonder then that he raises all the powers of hell, and stirs up all his instruments on earth to stop the mouths of the preachers of the gospel.
Observe, 2. The persons by whom, and the cause for which this persecution was now stirred up against the apostles; namely, the Jewish priests, the Gentile captain, and the sottish Sadducees: As they spake, the captain of the temple, the priest and Saducees came upon them. These were distinct persons, and they were differently distasted; the captain, who was placed with the band of soldiers near the temple to guard it, was offended for fear of a tumult from such a vast appearance of people as came to see the recovered cripple. The priests were offended, because the apostle, being private men, went about publicly to teach and instruct the people, not considering the extraordinary call which the apostles had. The Sadducees were displeased, because they preached the resurrection from the dead; that is, through the power and efficacy of Jesus: Asserting Christ to be doth the efficient and also the exemplary cause of the resurrection; and inferring from Christ’s resurrection, that all his followers should arise with him, and like unto him.
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Observe, 3. How far God suffered these persecutors and this persecution to proceed: They laid hands upon them, and put them in hold. How easily might this band of soldiers have taken away the lives, as well as imprisoned the bodies of the apostles! But God restrained them, and led on the apostles to their suffering gradually; they were yet but young pupils in Christ’s school; therefore they shall not have trials beyond their strength. God will not call his servants to a martyr’s fire, till he has first endued them with a martyr’s faith; for this reason God sufered not the storm of persecution to break forth with over much violence upon this new planted church at first.
Observe, 4. What was the event of that violence which was now offered to the apostles; God over-ruled it for his church’s advantage, and a wonderful increase, by a new addition of five thousand souls more added to it.
O wonderful draught of fish at the second casting out of the gospel net! These fishermen, Peter and John, now became, by the help of the Holy Spirit, fishers of men, according to their Master’s prediction, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Mat 4:19
Many which heard the word believed, and the number of them was about five thousand Act 4:4, This infant-church flourished the more by the frownings of men upon her. Plures efficimur, quoties metimur ab illis, Tertull. "Like a green meadow, which the oftener it is mowed, springs the faster, and becomes thicker."
s
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 15, 23 We have here the interests of the kingdom of…
We have here the interests of the kingdom of heaven successfully carried on, and the powers of darkness appearing against them to put a stop to them. let Christ's servants be ever so resolute, Satan's agents will be spiteful; and therefore, let Satan's agents be ever so spiteful, Christ's servants ought to be resolute.
I. The apostles, Peter and John, went on in their work, and did not labour in vain. The Spirit enabled the ministers to do their part, and the people theirs.
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1. The preachers faithfully deliver the doctrine of Christ: They spoke unto the people, to all that were within hearing, Act 4:1. What they said concerned them all, and they spoke it openly and publicly. They taught the people, still taught the people knowledge; taught those that as yet did not believe, for their conviction and conversion; and taught those that did believe, for their comfort and establishment. They preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, (1.) Was verified in Jesus; this they proved, that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, as the first, the chief, that should rise from the dead, Act 26:23. They preached the resurrection of Christ as their warrant for what they did. Or, (2.) It is secured by him to all believers. The resurrection of the dead includes all the happiness of the future state. This they preached through Jesus Christ, attainable through him (Phi 3:10, Phi 3:11), and through him only. They meddled not with matters of state, but kept to their business, and preached to the people heaven as their end and Christ as their way. See Act 17:18.
2. The hearers cheerfully receive it (Act 4:4): Many of those who heard the word believed; not all - perhaps not the most, yet many, to the number of about five thousand, over and above the three thousand we read of before. See how the gospel got ground, and it was the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit. Though the preachers were persecuted, the word prevailed; for sometimes the church's suffering days have been her growing days: the days of her infancy were so.
II. The chief priests and their party now made head against them, and did what they could to crush them; their hands were tied awhile, but their hearts were not in the least changed. Now here observe, 1. Who they were that appeared against the apostles. They were the priests; you may be sure, in the first place, they were always sworn enemies to Christ and his gospel; they were as jealous for their priesthood as Caesar for his monarchy, and would not bear one they thought their rival now, when he was preached as a priest, as much as when he himself preached as a prophet. With them was joined the captain of the temple, who, it is supposed, was a Roman officer, governor of the garrison placed in the tower of Antonia, for the guard of the temple: so that still here were both Jews and Gentiles confederate against Christ. The Sadducees also, who denied the being of spirits and the future state, were zealous against them. "One would wonder" (saith Mr. Baxter) "what should make such brutists as the Sadducees were to be such furious silencers and persecutors. If there is no life to come, what harm can other men's hopes of it do them? But in depraved souls all faculties are vitiated. A blind man has a malignant heart and a cruel hand, to this day." 2. How they stood affected to the apostles' preaching: They were grieved that they taught the people, Act 4:2. It grieved them, both that the gospel doctrine was preached (was so preached, so publicly, so boldly,), and that the people were so ready to hear it. They thought, when they had put Christ to such an ignominious death, his disciples would ever after be ashamed and afraid to own him, and the people would have invincible prejudices against his doctrine; and now it vexed them to see themselves disappointed, and that his gospel got ground, instead of losing it. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved, Psa 112:10. They were grieved at that which they should have rejoiced in, at that which angels rejoice in. Miserable is their case to whom the glory of Christ's kingdom is a grief; for, since the glory of that kingdom is everlasting, it follows of course that their grief will be everlasting too. It grieved them that the apostles preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The Sadducees were grieved that the resurrection from the dead was preached; for they opposed that doctrine, and could not bear to hear of a future state, to hear it so well attested. The chief priests were grieved that they preached the resurrection of the dead through Jesus, that he should have the honour of it; and, though they professed to believe the resurrection of the dead against the Sadducees, yet they would rather give up that important article than have it preached and proved to be through Jesus. 3. How far they proceeded against the apostles (Act 4:3): They laid hands on them (that is, their servants and officers did at their command), and put them in hold, committed them to the custody of the proper officer until the next day; they could not examine them now, for it was even-tide, and yet would defer it no longer than till next day. See how God trains up his servants for sufferings by degrees, and by less trials prepares them for greater; now they resist unto bonds only, but afterwards to blood.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–23 Being grieved that they taught the people,.... Any doctrine,…
Being grieved that they taught the people,.... Any doctrine, and especially that which follows, and which particularly gave uneasiness to the Sadducees, they were exceedingly distressed by it; it pained them to the very heart, and they were filled with wrath and indignation:
and preached through, or in Jesus, the resurrection of the dead; they not only preached the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead in general, but gave an instance and proof of it in the resurrection of Christ, affirming that he was risen from the dead; and they also preached up the resurrection of the dead in his name, and asserted, that he would be the author of it, and it would be erected by his power: so that their doctrine was equally disagreeable to the Pharisees and Sadducees; to the Sadducees, who denied that there was, or would be any resurrection of the dead; and to the Pharisees, who though they believed it, yet were highly offended that it should be said, that Jesus was risen from the dead; and that the general resurrection of the dead should be attributed to him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 21 And as they were speaking to the people, the…
And as they were speaking to the people, the priests - came upon them - So wisely did God order, that they should first bear a full testimony to the truth in the temple, and then in the great council; to which they could have had no access, had they not been brought before it as criminals.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 The priests And Sadducees are incensed at the apostles'
CHAPTER IV.
The priests And Sadducees are incensed at the apostles'
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teaching, and put them in prison, 1-3.
The number of those who believed, 4.
The rulers, elders, and scribes call the apostles before them,
and question them concerning their authority to teach, 5-7.
Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, answers, and proclaims Jesus,
8-12.
They are confounded at his discourse and the miracle wrought on
the lame man, yet command them not to preach in the name of
Jesus, 13-18.
Peter and John refuse to obey, 19, 20.
They are farther threatened and dismissed, 21, 22.
They return to their own company, who all join in praise and
prayer to God, 23-30.
God answers, and fills them with the Holy Spirit, 31.
The blessed state of the primitive disciples, 32-35.
The case of Joses, who sells his estate, and brought the money
to the common stock. 36. 37.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV.
Verse 1. The priests] These persons had evidenced the most implacable enmity against Christ from the beginning.
The captain of the temple] See this office particularly explained in the note, See Clarke on Lu 22:4.
The Sadducees] Whose whole system was now in danger by the preaching of the resurrection of Christ; for they believed not in the immortality of the soul, nor in any future world. These made a common cause with the priests, &c., to suppress the evidence of Christ's resurrection, and silence the apostles.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 8, 13, 15, 19, 21, 23 Act 4:1-3. And as they — Namely, Peter and…
Act 4:1-3. And as they — Namely, Peter and John; spake unto the people — The multitude, who had assembled in the temple, upon occasion of the miraculous cure of the lame man, as related in the preceding chapter; the priests, &c., came upon them — So wisely did God order, that they should first bear a full testimony to the truth in the temple, and then in the great council: to which they could have had no access, had they not been brought before it as criminals. Being grieved — That the name of Jesus was preached to the people: especially they were offended at the doctrine of his resurrection; for, as they had put him to death, his rising again proved him to be the Just One, and so brought his blood upon their heads. The priests were grieved, also, lest their office and temple services should decline, and Christianity take root through the preaching of the apostles, and their power of working miracles. The captain of the temple was concerned to prevent all sedition and disorder; and the Sadducees were displeased at the overturning of all their doctrines, particularly with regard to the resurrection of the dead, as exemplified and demonstrated in the person of Jesus; and therefore, that they might prevent their preaching any more, they laid hands on them — Under pretence that they were seditious persons, who were labouring to incense the populace against the conduct of their governors; and put them in hold — Committed them into custody, that when the sanhedrim met at the usual hour the next day, they might consult what it was proper to do with them: for it was now even-tide — And therefore not a fit season to have them examined. As Peter and John went up to the temple at three in the afternoon, the expression, it was now even-tide, makes it probable that some considerable time was spent in preaching to the people, and, consequently, that what we have in the former chapter is only an abstract, or specimen of the discourses they delivered on this occasion, which probably is generally the case as to the speeches recorded by the sacred historians, as well as others.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 The priests - It is probable that these priests…
The priests - It is probable that these priests were a part of the Sanhedrin, or Great Council of the nation. It is evident that they claimed some authority for preventing the preaching of the apostles.
The captain of the temple - See the Mat 26:47; Luk 22:4 note. This was the commander of the guard stationed chiefly in the tower Antonia, especially during the great feasts; and it was his duty to preserve order and prevent any tumult. He came at this time to prevent a tumult or suppress a riot, as it was sup posed that the teaching of the apostles and the crowd collected by the healing of the lame man would lead to a tumult.
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And the Sadducees - See the notes on Mat 3:7. One of the doctrines which the Sadducees maintained was, that there was no resurrection of the dead. Hence, they were particularly opposed to the apostles for preaching it, because they gave so clear proof that Jesus had risen, and were thus spreading the doctrine of the resurrection among the people.
Came upon them - This expression implies that they came in a sudden and violent manner. See Luk 20:1.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 23 The officer[1] (of the guard) of the temple: literally,…
The officer[1] (of the guard) of the temple: literally, the magistrate of the temple. But this magistrate, by the Greek, was an officer over soldiers; we may presume, over those who were to guard the temple. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
An officer of the guard of the temple. Magistratus templi, Greek: strategos tou ierou.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Acts Chapter 4
Acts Chapter 4
In a word, they are invited to return by repentance, and enjoy all the promises made to Israel. The Messiah Himself should return from heaven to establish their blessing. The whole nation is here addressed as natural heirs of the promises made to Abraham. But, while they were speaking, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to lay hands on them, being grieved that they preached the resurrection, which their unbelief and dogmatic system did not receive. They put them in prison, for it was evening. The hope of Israel was set aside; the grace of God had spoken in vain, great and patient as it was. Many, however, believed their word: five thousand persons already confessed the Lord Jesus.
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We have seen the address which God, in His grace, sent to Israel by the mouth of Peter. We shall now see, not only the reception (already noticed) which it met with from the rulers of the people, but the deliberate answer of their inmost heart, as we may call it. On the morrow the rulers, the elders, and the scribes assemble at Jerusalem, together with Annas and his kindred; and, setting the apostles in their midst, they demand by what power or in what name they have wrought this miracle on the impotent man. Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, declares-announcing it to all Israel, and with the utmost readiness and entire boldness-that it was by Jesus, whom they had crucified, and whom God had raised from the dead. Thus the question between God and the rulers of Israel was very formally stated, and that by the Spirit of God. Jesus was the stone rejected by them, the builders, which had become the head of the corner. Salvation could nowhere else be found. No carefulness not to offend, with regard to the adversaries and the rulers; with the people, as such, ignorant and misled, everything to win them. The council recognised them as former companions of Christ: the man who had been healed was there. What could they say or do in the face of the multitude who had witnessed the miracle? They could only exhibit a will in decided opposition to the Lord and His testimony, and yield to the public opinion, which was necessary to their own importance, by which too they were governed. With threats they commanded the apostles to teach no more in the name of Jesus. We may remark here, that Satan had Sadducean instruments arrayed against the doctrine of the resurrection, as he had Pharisees as suited instruments against a living Christ. We must expect the well-ordered opposition of Satan against the truth.
Now Peter and John allow of no ambiguity with respect to their course. God had commanded them to preach Christ: the prohibition of man had no weight with them. “We cannot,” say they, “but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” What a position for the rulers of the people! Accordingly, a testimony like this plainly demonstrates that the leaders of Israel were fallen from the place of interpreters of the will of God. The apostles do not drive them away-do not attack them: God would judge them; but they act immediately on the part of God, and disregard their authority altogether with respect to the work that God had committed to themselves. The testimony of God was with the apostles, and not with the rulers of the temple; and the presence of God was in the assembly, and not there.
Peter and John return to their own company, for a separate people who knew each other was formed; and all, moved by the Holy Ghost (for it was there that God dwelt by His Spirit, not now in the temple), lift up their voice to God, the Governor of all things, to acknowledge that this opposition of the rulers was but the accomplishment of the word and the counsels and the purposes of God. These threatenings were but the occasion of asking God to manifest His power in connection with the name of Jesus. In a word, the world (including the Jews, who formed a part of it in their opposition) had stood up against Jesus, the Servant of God, and opposed itself to the testimony rendered to Him. The Holy Ghost is the strength of this testimony, whether in the courage of those who bore witness (Act 4:8), or in His presence in the assembly (Act 4:31), or in the energy of service (Act 4:33), or in the fruits that are again produced among the saints with a power which makes it manifest that the Holy Ghost has dominion in their hearts over all the motives that influence man, making them walk by those of which He is the source. It is the energy of the Spirit in the presence of opposition, as before it was His natural fruit in those among whom He dwelt. Fresh persons sell their goods, and lay their price at the apostles’ feet; among others, a man whom the Holy Ghost takes pleasure in distinguishing-Barnabas, from the island of Cyprus.
To sum up this chapter demonstrates, on one side, the condition of the Jews, their rejection of the testimony which was addressed to them in grace; and on the other, the power of the Holy Ghost and God’s presence and guidance elsewhere, namely, in the midst of the disciples.
These three chapters (2-4) present the first forming of the assembly, and its blessed character through the Holy Spirit dwelling in it. They present to us its first beauty as formed of God, and His habitation.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 23 1And as [But whilst] they spake unto the people,…
C.—THE ARREST OF PETER AND JOHN, WHO ARE, HOWEVER, RELEASED, AFTER ENERGETICALLY VINDICATING THEMSELVES BEFORE THE GREAT COUNCIL
Act_4:1-22
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1And as [But whilst] they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain1 of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, 2Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through [in, ἐν] Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 23And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto [confined them until] the next day: for it was now [was already] eventide. 4Howbeit [But, δὲ] many of them which [who] heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. 5And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes [in Jerusalem],3 6And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander,46 and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest [were of high-priestly race], were gathered together at Jerusalem [om. at J.3]. 7And when they had set them in the midst,5 they asked, By [In] what power, or by [in] what name, have ye done this? 8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,6 9If we this day be examined of the [concerning a] good deed [benefit] done to the impotent man [a diseased] man, by what means he is made whole [is saved]; 10Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by [in] the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by [in] him doth this man stand here before you whole [in health]. 11This is the stone which was set at nought of [by] you builders,7 which is become the head of the corner [corner-stone]. 12Neither is there [And there is not] salvation in any other: for there is none8 other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant [plain] men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of [recognized] them, that they had been with Jesus. 14And beholding the man which [who] was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15But when they had commanded them to go aside [om. aside] out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16Saying, What shall we do9 to [with] these men? for that indeed [om. indeed, μὲν] a notable miracle [well-known sign] hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. 17But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly [earnestly] threaten10 them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. 18And they called them, and commanded them11not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God [before God] to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20For we cannot but [cannot forbear to] speak the things which we have seen and heard. 21So [But δὲ] when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing [not finding] how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. 22For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed [done].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_4:1-3. The priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, etc.—The measures which the hierarchy adopted in reference to the apostles, were executed by the officer (an Israelite and a priest) who commanded the Levitical guard of the temple. [This guard, consisting of Levites, is frequently mentioned by Josephus, and was probably commanded by one of the high priests; see Winer: Realw. art. Tempel, at the end, and comp. 1Ch_9:11; 2Ch_31:13.—Tr.]. Two different motives, acting in combination, influenced the priests and the Sadducees. The latter were indignant that the apostles, who bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus (Act_3:15), should thus support in general the doctrine of the resurrection, which they denied [see Mat_22:23]; this offence they regarded as intolerable. The priests, on the other hand, considered it to be a grievous offence that the apostles should attempt to teach the people, without having been officially authorized by them; the act seemed to be an invasion of the privileges belonging to the Levitical priesthood. The motive which influenced the Sadducees is very obvious, but the present proceedings are not to be exclusively ascribed to it, and no allusion is made to it during the trial before the chief Council. [“The hold,” εἰς τήρησιν, was, probably, the prison: comp. Act_5:18.—Tr.]
Act_4:4. Howbeit many of them, etc.—But while the rulers and representatives of Israel, who held the hierarchical power in their hands, manifested a spirit of opposition, and even resorted to violent measures by arresting the two apostles, the apostolical testimony had made a profound impression on a large number of unprejudiced and disinterested hearers; these were entirely convinced, were conducted to faith, and were converted. It was not the event itself that had occurred (the miracle which they had witnessed), that induced them to believe; it had created simply wonder and amazement, Act_3:10 ff.; it was, rather, the word of the apostles, their testimony concerning Christ, ὁ λόγος, which wrought faith in them. The apostolical efforts were so successful, that the multitude of the believers was perceptibly increased. The number of men who now belonged to the Church, amounted to five thousand, while the females [who were soon afterwards, Act_5:14, very numerous] were not counted with them. The addition, on the day of Pentecost, to the original members of the Church, had already amounted to three thousand souls, Act_2:41. We may easily infer that during the interval between that day and the present, which was, probably, not very brief, the Church had steadily gained in numbers [“the Lord added daily, etc.,” Act_2:47]. At all events, the occurrence here described constitutes an epoch in the early history of the primitive Church. Now, as Christ is set for the fall of some, and the rising again of others [Luk_2:34], so, too, opposite effects were produced in the present case: the whole occurrence conducted some to a positive decision, so that they became believers; the repugnance of others assumed the form of positive hostility. It was an occasion which led all to decide in their hearts either for, or against Christ.
Act_4:5-6. And it came to pass on the morrow, etc.—On the next morning, the Sanhedrin, the highest hierarchical tribunal, assembled, not having had time to hold a meeting on the previous day. It was three o’clock in the afternoon when Peter and John first saw the lame man (Act_3:1), and, doubtless, some time had passed, before Peter began to address the people (Act_3:8-11). It is possible that Luke has recorded only the substance of the address itself, which may have also occupied considerable time; it may have, accordingly, been not far from six o’clock in the evening, when the apostles were arrested. A formal and very full session of the Sanhedrin was, therefore, held the next morning. The three classes or orders of the members composing that body, are distinctly specified [the term rulers applying to the Sanhedrists generally, (de Wette)]: (1) High priests, (2) Elders of the people, and (3) Scribes. Several individuals belonging to the first order, are even mentioned by name, viz., the ex-high priest, Annas (called Ananus by Josephus), Caiaphas, the actual high priest, and son-in-law of the former, and also two other members of the family of the high priest, who are not otherwise known in history.
Act_4:7. By what power … done this?—The point to which the examination of the apostles refers, is, not the language which they had employed when they addressed the people, but the miracle which had led to the subsequent address (ἐποιήσατε τοῦτο), and it is this point to which Peter alludes in Act_4:9 ff. The answer to the twofold question was expected to state, first, the power through which [qua vi, de Wette] the apostles had performed the act of healing, and, then, the person (ὄνομα) whom they had named, and to whom they had appealed for aid and support.
Act_4:8-12, a. Then Peter, filled, etc.—The following is the substance of the testimony of Peter:—(a) That he and John had performed an act which was a benefit (εὐεργεσία), not an injury, Act_4:9; (b) That the poor and infirm man had, in truth been healed, been restored to health, and been saved (σέσωσται, ὑγιής), of which the man, who was present, was himself the living witness; (c) That the power to heal and to save in this case, dwelt in Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen One, Act_4:10; Act_4:12; yea, (d) That all salvation was given solely and exclusively in Jesus Christ, and given, too, for mankind in general, as far as the heaven above extends, Act_4:12.
b. Ye rulers, etc.—Peter expressly recognizes the judges, personally, as the legitimate and authorized heads and representatives of the people of Israel (Act_4:8), and implies that when he addresses them, he really addresses the entire nation; they are, as it were, the ear, as well as the mouth, of the people, Act_4:10. They are the builders [Psa_118:22; Mat_21:42] who are called, authorized, and obliged by the duties of their office, to build up the house of God (οἰκοδόμων, Act_4:11). But while Peter, in the most sincere and respectful manner, acknowledges the official character of the Sanhedrists, he is equally as candid and free in declaring that they had erred, seriously erred, and, indeed, grievously sinned. That stone which they had despised and rejected as worthless, had, nevertheless, been chosen as the corner-stone, and had, indeed, become [γενόμενος] the head of the corner; Act_4:11 [comp. ἀκρογωνιαῖον in 1Pe_2:6]; they had crucified Him, whom God afterward raised up, and who is given to men as the only Mediator, through whom men can be saved.
Act_4:13-14. Now when they saw … And beholding the man, etc.—The deportment and words of the apostles, combined with the fact that the miracle had been really wrought, exerted so powerful an influence, that the Sanhedrists could not remain insensible to it. The παῤῥησία [boldness of speech], the unembarrassed manner, and the perfect confidence, which characterized the defence made by the apostles when they stood forth, and, then, the unexpected circumstance that they spoke, not as the party accused, but proceeded to assume the position of a party that brought accusations and refuted errors, already created the greatest astonishment in the minds of the judges. The latter plainly saw that these two men derived no aid from the rabbinical learning acquired in the schools (ἀγράμματοι καί ἰδιωται [“uneducated men and private individuals or laymen.”—J. A. Alex.]); besides, they gradually recollected that they had, at an earlier period, seen both of the men in the company of Jesus—a circumstance that had not at first attracted their attention. Their perplexity reached its height when they saw the man who had been healed, standing at the side of the apostles (Act_4:14); he had, doubtless been summoned by the officers of the Sanhedrin, with a view to extract condemnatory evidence from him; but all their expectations were disappointed, when they saw him standing before them, not uttering a word, and yet furnishing by his very posture incontestable evidence of the truth and reality of the miracle in question.
Act_4:15-16. But when they had commanded them to go aside, etc.—When the apostles, together with the man whom they had healed, had been temporarily dismissed, and the consultation commenced, the chief difficulty which the members of the council found in arriving at a decision, lay in their own will; they would not box before the truth although it was apparent alike to the understanding and the conscience, was generally known in the city, and was too well supported to be denied even by themselves; a miracle had been wrought, but they would not believe in Jesus. They desired, on the contrary, to check the spreading of the truth concerning Christ, as well as the growth of His Church, by employing, as offensive weapons, all the powers deposited in their hands; and they desired to “hold back the truth in unrighteousness,” Rom_1:18 [καιέξω, Germ. vers. aufhalten; see Robinson’s Lex. art. κατέχω, 1. a. and b.—Tr.]. They were conscious that no divine nor human law would sanction the adoption of violent measures against the apostles; nevertheless, they were fully resolved that the matter should not spread further. At this point the highest authority of the people of Israel came to a decision, which, in view of the impulses from which it proceeded, produced the most serious results. This was the first occasion since the sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus, on which the chief magistrates of Israel were led to act officially in reference to the disciples of Jesus; but afterwards Israel continued in the path which was now chosen.
Act_4:17-18. Let us straitly threaten them.—The immediate course of action which the council resolved to pursue, was the following: Nothing that belonged to the past, should be subjected to official animadversion, Act_4:21; but, with respect to the future, a precautionary measure should be adopted. It consisted in sternly threatening them with punishment, as well as in forbidding them, in the strictest manner, to speak with a single individual on the subject of confessing Jesus (ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) Act_4:17 f.; they were forbidden to utter a sound (μὴ φθέγγε σθαι μηδὲ διδάσκειν), that is, they should not, even in any private conversation, much less before a public assembly, speak or teach aught concerning Jesus.
Act_4:19-20. But Peter, etc.—The reply of Peter and John is manly and resolute; appealing to the conscience and the judgment of the judges themselves, they ask the latter whether it would be right before God, if they, the apostles, should give heed to this human prohibition rather than to the command and will of God. Bengel says, with much truth: Non facile mundus tanta perversitate suas leges contra causam Dei tuetur, ut naturalis æquitas etiam in intellectu plane obruatur. They even declare, with the utmost candor, that they cannot refrain from telling all that they had seen and heard. They cannot do otherwise than speak and testify, for they are impelled to pursue this course, alike by the love of Christ, which fills their hearts, and by the irresistible conviction: “Such is the will of God.”
Act_4:21-22. They let them go.—To the conscientious and bold declaration of the apostles, the Sanhedrin replied by uttering additional threats of punishment, which, however, they were deterred from executing, in consequence of the deep feeling produced among the people by the miracle, Act_4:21. Still, their language intimated that severe conflicts were approaching; the actual commencement of the latter, andthe degree of bitterness with which they would be maintained by the enemies of the apostles, depended on the popular feeling. The sentiments which prevailed at this time, are accurately described in the words: Populus sanior, quam qui præsunt . (Bengel). The actual infliction of a penalty would, possibly, not have been tolerated by public sentiment; the judges could discover no way, τὸ πῶς κολάσωνται αὐτούς, how they might punish the apostles, because of the people, etc. But they resolved that if they found, on any subsequent occasion, that the people themselves betrayed animosity or even simply a want of interest, they would inflict a decisive blow.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It was not the act itself of healing the lame man, but the word, the doctrine which the act led the apostles to proclaim, especially the word concerning Jesus the Risen One, that awakened opposition, and engendered a persecuting spirit. The world is willing to endure moral lectures, and even abstract evangelical truth. But when Jesus Christ, personally, the Crucified and Risen One, is proclaimed, the opposition of the natural heart is aroused. And yet all that is precious to the believing heart, is found in Christ personally. When the apostles preached Jesus, they also preached the resurrection from the dead, Act_4:2. To preach Jesus, is to preach the righteousness and the grace of God, or, rather, to preach all wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption [1Co_1:30]. In Him and through Him, the believing heart, the reflecting mind, the awakened conscience, find all that man can need.
2. The history of the persecutions of the Church, furnishes by no means the feeblest evidence that Christ lives and reigns. The present persecution of the two apostles is an illustration, Their faith was, undoubtedly, tried, strengthened, and elevated in tone, by their arrest and the judicial proceedings which followed; but these events possess other, and still more striking features. The judicial investigation of the case furnished Peter with an opportunity for delivering, in a direct manner, his testimony concerning Jesus, as the sole Mediator of our salvation, in the presence of the highest tribunal in Israel. Such an opportunity he could not possibly have found under any other circumstances; we have here the evidence that Christ reigns, and that all the evil devices of the enemies of his kingdom are so overruled, as to work together for good, to believers and to his Church. The whole trial and its results tended to establish the truth; (see the following remarks).
3. When Peter defended himself before the great Council, the special fact that he was filled with the Holy Ghost, Act_4:9, was the fulfilment of an important promise of Jesus. On two different occasions, first, when the Twelve were sent forth, (Mat_10:19 f.; comp. Mar_13:11; Luk_12:11 f.), and, again, in the eschatological discourses (Luk_21:14 f.), Jesus had promised his disciples, that, whether they were examined by civil authorities, or in the synagogues of the Jews, the Holy Ghost would speak in them and through them; he directed them to entertain no anxiety respecting the defence which they should make on such occasions; he even assured them that their adversaries would not be able to resist or reply to their wisdom and eloquence, (Luk_21:15). The first fulfilment of these promises occurred on the present occasion. Not previously, but now, precisely at the moment when such aid was indispensable (τότε, Act_4:8), Peter was “filled with the Holy Ghost;” that is to say, the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, who had, from the day of Pentecost, dwelt in him, as in the other disciples, was now poured out, in the fulness of power, into his mind and heart. He was thus enabled to vindicate himself, and to bear witness to Jesus, not only with a fearless, bold, and joyful spirit, (παῤῥησία, Act_4:13), but also with wisdom, with propriety of language, and in the most impressive style. Both πῶς and τί ἀπολογήσησθε (Luk_12:11) were given to the apostles; the Spirit enabled them to exhibit in their whole deportment, alike the wisdom of serpents, and the harmlessness of doves. This is inspiration, demonstrated in the sentiments of the heart, in the thoughts, in the words, and exhibited, too, in a concise and appropriate style.
4. We find a special proof of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost in the circumstance, that when Peter was examined respecting a certain fact, he was enabled to state a fundamental truth like that of salvation in Jesus Christ alone, with so much clearness, openness, and fulness. Salvation (that is, deliverance, redemption and help, when the body and the soul are endangered, grace and the divine blessing in time and eternity), is in Jesus Christ, in him alone, in him for all. Such is our Christian confession of faith; it is an evangelical, fundamental truth. It is here scarcely necessary to specify all the truths which this confession includes respecting the sinfulness of man, the Person of Jesus Christ himself, and the way of salvation. But we may call attention to the efficient protection which this fundamental principle affords against unevangelical sentiments, doctrines and conduct. They mistake the truth, and deviate from the narrow way of salvation, who indeed receive Christ as a Saviour, but not as, exclusively the Saviour, the sole foundation of our salvation. On such false views Romish and other errors depend for support. He who has once stepped aside from the narrow way of the doctrine of salvation, may easily wander further and further from it.
5. That faith is not a subject depending on mathematical demonstration, or results produced by processes of the understanding, but that it is a matter belonging to the heart and the will, appears from the results of the present judicial proceedings. The man that had been healed stood forth in the presence of all as an unimpeachable witness, whose very appearance incontestably proclaimed the truth; no one attempted to deny that he had formerly been a helpless cripple, but was now restored to health and vigor; neither was any one prepared to assert that this change or restoration to health had not been effected through the apostles, in the power of the name of Jesus. The character of theevent was obvious to the understanding even of the members of the Sanhedrin. And yet they resist, and attempt to check or suppress all mention of the name of Jesus. They will not believe; the heart refuses to yield; all men have not faith [2Th_3:2].
6. As the rulers commanded the apostles to observe silence respecting Jesus, while Jesus himself had appointed the latter to be his witnesses (Act_1:8), two duties seemed to come in collision with each other. The rulers prohibit a certain course of action, and conscience [Rom_13:5] requires obedience to the rulers; on the other hand, the divine call prescribes that course of action, and conscience demands obedience to a divine call. Can the apostles adopt any method of procedure, which will not involve a violation of conscience? They do not vacillate; they make a statement in unequivocal terms, and act in accordance with it, at the same time that their conduct is irreproachable, in a moral point of view, and, indeed, exemplary. They refuse to obey the constituted authorities, whose official character they themselves respect, solely on the ground that they owe unconditional obedience to God. They are compelled by a sense of duty to state unreservedly that they cannot comply with the demand of the rulers, since it would be positively immoral, or, rather, morally impossible, to withhold their confession and testimony respecting Jesus, Act_4:20. (Comp. Rothe: Theol. Ethik, III. 357 f.: 975 ff.). But they simply decline to obey, and most carefully refrain from committing any act indicating opposition or virtual resistance; not a word, not a glance, betrays a hostile purpose. We are rather led to believe, in view of all that the apostles uttered, that they would submit, without resistance, to any punishments which the rulers might be disposed to inflict.—One point, however, remains, which demands special notice. When the apostles appeared before the Sanhedrin, they were, undoubtedly, governed by the voice of conscience, which, as they declared, would not permit them to be silent, Act_4:20. But then, they were also governed by the will of God, who had commanded them to speak, Act_4:19. They refer here to the express command of Christ, found in Act_1:8, that is to say, to a distinct and sure word of God. It indicates narrow or partial views, when language is used by writers solely in reference to the “individual’s own conscience,” and to “the independent, supporting power of the spirit within as a power that reposes on itself,” and when it is maintained that “for the objective authority, the apostles substituted the subjective authority of their own conviction, which was wrought by the Spirit.” (Baumgarten: Apostelg. I. 90 f.) The conscience may err, and the controlling spirit may be an enthusiastic, fanatical spirit; but the plain and sure word or commandment of God conducts in the right way. It was that word which the apostles obeyed.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_4:1. And as they spake unto the people.—Let us be watchful and diligent, so that when the Lord sends us trials, we may be found in the path of duty. (Starke).—The priests—and the captain—and the Sadducees.—When Christ accomplishes a good work through his apostles, Satan also soon presents himself, attended by his apostles, who belong both to the laity and the clergy.—In any attempt to inflict an injury on true Christianity, Pharisaic priests are willing to avail themselves of the aid even of Herodians or Sadducees. Mat_22:15-16. (Starke).—Although the apostles are assailed by their enemies before they can conclude their discourse, the interruption is not permitted to occur, until they are enabled to proclaim and to apply the fundamental truths of the Gospel. The Lord, in his wisdom, can so direct the steps of his faithful servants, that each one is enabled to finish his course and complete his task, before the enemies of the truth can place an obstacle in his path. (Apost. Past.).
Act_4:2. Being grieved that they taught the people.—The world cannot impede the work of God (the healing of the lame man), but combines to oppose His word.—And preached, etc.—The people of the world may be willing to receive the Gospel of Christ, if it be presented as a system of morals; but when they are invited to seek those invisible and eternal blessings, for which it teaches us to hope, they are ready to repel it with violence. (K. H. Rieger).—Pride, self-interest, and envy, teach men to hate the truth on account of its friends, and to hate its friends on account of the truth. (Starke).
Act_4:3. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold.—Such is the experience of the Gospel; it offers mercy to the world, and receives evil in return. Psa_109:5. (Starke).—This is the course adopted by the ungodly and hypocritical; they resort, not to arguments, but to violence and carnal weapons, (ib.).—When they have no arguments, they inflict blows; when they have no proofs, they produce fetters.—Temporal affliction is the lot of the preacher, but also the seal of the word. Jer_20:8. (Quesn.).—Blessed bonds! They restore many souls to liberty. Php_1:14. (ib.).—Here, in the hold, Peter found an opportunity to reflect on the words which he had once pronounced: “Lord, I am ready to go with thee—into prison.” [Luk_22:33]; the time had come, of which his Master had spoken: “Thou shalt follow me afterward.” [Joh_13:36]. (K. H. Rieger).—It was now eventide.—Thus the night afforded them time for prayer, so that they might be strengthened by the power of Christ, when they should defend themselves on the next day. (Apost. Past.).—That defence which they made, plainly shows that, through the intervening night, they had become, not weaker, but stronger in faith. (Rieger).
Act_4:4. How beit many … believed.—The truth may be oppressed, but it cannot be suppressed. Men may bind the preacher, but the word cannot be bound. [2Ti_2:9]. (Quesn.).—Shepherds and their flocks, united more closely by common blessings and trials: I. God comforts the persecuted pastor, by increasing the flock; II. He establishes the flock in the faith, by imparting strength to the pastor. (From Starke).—About five thousand.—The fruits of the second discourse of Peter were even more abundant than those of the first (Act_2:41), because the speaker’s sufferings were more abundant. (Starke).
Act_4:5-6. On the morrow … were gathered together.—The prisoner may enjoy great peace of mind, while they who are free from bonds, may be sorely distressed, in consequence of the bondage of their souls.—When an injury may be inflicted on Jesus and the Church, the ungodly are always ready to assemble; they are then willing to dispense with sleep and all other comforts: (Starke).—Rulers, elders, scribes.—The tribunal before which the apostles appeared, consisted of persons invested with power (rulers), possessing prudence and experience (elders), and acquainted, as we might reasonably expect, with sound doctrine (scribes). With what diligence the Adversary combines all possible means for injuring the kingdom of Christ! (Apost. Past.).
Act_4:7. By what power … have ye done this?—The enemies, who cannot deny the miracle itself, inquire only concerning its source. What a glorious proof of the truth and firm foundation of our Gospel! (Apost. Past.).—Those who are unwilling to obey the truth, often ask questions concerning subjects with which they are already acquainted, still hoping to find their course justified, but, at the same time, hardening their hearts more and more. Joh_9:27. (Starke.).—The world is willing to excuse the acts of the ungodly, but not those of an upright pastor and Christian. There were many sinners in Jerusalem who escaped all punishment, but the apostles are imprisoned on account of a good deed, Act_4:9. (ib.).
Act_4:8. Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost.—The predictions which the Lord addressed to his chosen witnesses (Mat_10:16 ff.), are here fulfilled: “They will deliver you up to the councils.” “It shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.” “The Spirit of your Father speaketh in you.” “Be ye,” was his charge, “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”—The Holy Ghost, bearing witness, combining the wisdom of serpents and the harmlessness of doves, the courage of the lion and the patience of the lamb—illustrated in the testimony delivered by Peter before the chief council, Act_4:8-12.
Act_4:10. Whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead.—The judgment of men (“He is guilty of death,” Mat_26:66), and the judgment of God (Jesus set forth as “the Prince of life,” Act_3:15).
Act_4:11. This is the stone.—Christ, the corner-stone; set, I. For the fall; II. for the rising again of many [Luk_2:34].—The divine Master-builder and the human builders.—The new spiritual building stands before the rulers, five thousand living stones, built upon the living cornerstone; the true builders are the holy apostles and prophets, gathering together all men as stones, in order to build this eternal temple. [Eph_2:20; 1Pe_2:5]. The apostle took a special, and, indeed, a personal, interest in the passage (Psa_118:22) to which he refers; his own name, Peter [Mat_16:18], continually reminded him of this stone. (Besser).—If, then, kings, princes, bishops, lords, holy, wise, prudent, wealthy, learned men, persecute the Gospel, should we wonder? Who else should do that work? If the Gospel must be persecuted, these are the proper agents, since they are the builders. And, indeed, they act officially; their interest requires them to adopt such precautions, in order that their own building may not be rent or undermined. (Luther).
Act_4:12. Neither is there salvation in any other.—This is one of those passages that shine like the sun, shedding light on all parts of the Bible. Our fathers, accordingly, gave it, in conjunction with several other passages, the most prominent position in the Smalcald Articles, as the foundation of the chief article of that sound doctrine from which “we cannot recede in a single point, even if heaven and earth should fall, or aught else should happen.” (Besser). [Of the Confession of Faith, known as the Smalcald Articles, written by Luther, and adopted in 1537, J. T. Müller says: “We may say that the adoption of these articles completed the Reformation, and was the definitive (absolute and final) declaration of the separation (of the signers) from Rome.” Symb. Bücher; Einleit., p. 83.—Tr.]
No salvation in any other: this truth viewed, I. As the life and heart of all apostolical preaching; II. As the experience of every soul to which divine grace has been imparted; III. As the power which enables confessors of Jesus to defy death; IV. As the foundation which supports all the missionary labors of the Church. (Leonh. and Sp.).—The unchangeable testimony: No salvation in any other: behold, I. How God chose him as the corner-stone, Act_4:11; II. How his word heals the sick, Act_4:14; III. How his servants boldly confess him, Act_4:13; IV. How even the silence of his enemies proclaims his power, Act_4:14.—None other name.—It is that name which God commands men to honor. It is conveyed by the word to all the nations of the earth. He himself is not visibly present among us, but we hear him in his word. The name and the word will come to an end in the eternal world, and we shall then see the only-begotten Son “as he is”, as it is written in 1Jn_3:2; but we can only hear him in his word, and cannot see him, in this present world. We hear him when his Gospel is preached. The name of the only-begotten Son of God is all-powerful. It should fill every unbelieving and ungodly creature with terror, and teach them that believe, to be glad and to leap for joy. (Act_10:43). St. Paul, indeed, says in Php_2:10, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” When we pronounce the name of Jesus, we overcome the world, and put Satan to flight. (Luther).—Whereby we must be saved.—This expression of the apostle is a summary of Gospel doctrine, presenting, I. The great promise: “saved”; II. The great command: “we must.” (From Stier.).
Act_4:13. The boldness of Peter and John.—Happy are those teachers, whose hearers are deeply moved not only by their words, but also by the power of God, and whose boldness of faith imparts such life and vigor to their discourses, that the influence of the latter is felt long after they themselves have ceased to speak.(Apost. Past.).—When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his face shone with the majesty of the law [Exo_34:29 f.]; the face of Peter, or of an evangelical preacher who descends from the pulpit, shines with the blessedness of the Gospel.—The true boldness of a witness of God: I. Its foundation: his own experimental knowledge of divine grace; the pure word of God which he proclaims; his exemplary walk in the ways of God; II. Its outward manifestation: in the pulpit, by joyfully opening his mouth; in the world, by fearlessly bearing witness to the truth; under the cross, by peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; III. Its effects: it puts enemies to shame; it edifies the church; it glorifies the Lord.—The means by which the witnesses of Christ silence enemies and blasphemers: I. They joyfully continue to bear witness, Act_4:13; II. They point to the fruits of their labors, Act_4:14. (From Apost. Past.).—Took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.—What an honorable badge of the true witnesses of Jesus! Our highest distinction is, not the tribute which the world may give, that we are well acquainted with the usages of society, but the spirit of Jesus, revealed in our whole deportment, and demonstrating to the world that we have been, and continue to be, with Jesus. (Apost. Past.).
Act_4:15. Commanded them to go aside out of the council.—The wisdom of God is excluded from the council-chamber, and folly presides at the board. For what results can we now look? (Gossner).
Act_4:16. What shall we do to these men?—Instead of saying to these men: Brethren, what shall we do that our souls may be saved? they say of them: How shall we stop their mouths? So great is the blindness of the ungodly. (Starke).—The longer our repentance is delayed, the more difficult the fulfilment of the duty is found to be. (Wolf).
Act_4:17. But that it spread no further among the people.—The enemies of the truth concerning Jesus Christ can neither deny nor destroy it; but they attempt at least to erect barriers and walls, by which they hope to prevent its diffusion. (Apost. Past.).
Act_4:18. Nor teach in the name of Jesus.—These enemies do not forbid the disciples to teach at all, or to perform any miracle whatever; the restriction applies only to the act of preaching the name of Jesus. The world can endure preaching and good works, but will not tolerate the name of Jesus, the preaching of the Crucified One, or the doctrine that he alone can save the soul. (Apost. Past.).
Act_4:19. Judge ye!—The appeal to reason and conscience in matters pertaining to divine truth: I. Such an appeal is justified and required by our confidence (a) in the power of the truth itself, and (b) in that perception of the truth which we may ascribe even to its enemies; II. But reason and the conscience do not constitute the highest tribunal, for (a) such authority over God’s word, was never given either to the enfeebled reason or the erring conscience of sinful man, and (b) history shows, in innumerable instances, that, in divine things, both judge blindly and unjustly, from the days of Annas and Caiaphas to our own age.—It is our duty to hearken unto God more than unto men: I. It is, consequently, the duty of men to obey a human government, as far as its official claims extend, both in doing and in suffering, inasmuch as the government bears the sword as the minister of God. “Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s” [Mat_22:21]; but, II. It is our duty to obey God more than men; that is, in the first place, even when we obey men, we obey for God’s sake, fulfilling the divine command by respecting law and order; in the second place, when the commands of men come in conflict with the divine will, as made known not only by our erring conscience, (“we cannot but speak”), but also by the unerring word of God (“the things which we have seen and heard”), we refuse to obey men, for the sake of God. But we do not conspire in secret; we act openly and honestly, and say with Peter: “We cannot but—”. We do not contend with carnal weapons, but, like the apostles, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; we do not act in an aggressive and revolutionary, but resist in a passive manner, and, with the apostles and martyrs, would much rather suffer wrong many times, than do wrong even once. Compare Luther’s words pronounced before the Diet of Worms [1521]: “Unless I am overpowered and convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures, or by other public, distinct, and obvious arguments and reasons, and unless I am thus fully satisfied respecting the passages of Scripture which I have hitherto adduced, insomuch that my conscience is taken captive by the word of God, I neither can nor will retract any thing, well knowing that it is neither safe nor advisable to do aught in opposition to the conscience. Here I stand. cannot do otherwise. God help me! Amen.”—Our duty, to obey God more that men: I. The importance and necessity of this principle, in its influence both on the founding in the Church, and on her continued existence on earth; II. Its perfect consistency with that obedience to men which is necessary and beneficial. (Schleierm.).—Peter’s saying: We must obey God more than men, a sharp sword, designed, I. Not for children as a toy, but, II. For men and heroes, to be used in the holy wars of the Lord.—Whether it be right … judge ye.—Fanatics have more than once hurled this apostolic saying like a fire-brand among men, and thus produced insurrections and confusion. But when did Peter and John, or any other disciple of the Lord, take up arms against the chief Council? It is true that they did assemble and lift up their hands, but not in opposition to the government; they lifted up their hands to the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, and prayed, Act_4:24 ff. To refuse obedience, when rulers command a wicked act—to prefer to be torn in pieces, rather than act against God’s express commandment, is a very different course from that of taking up arms, and enticing others to unite in insurrectionary movements. (Tholuck: Stund. christl. Andacht [Hours of Christian devotion]).
Act_4:20. We cannot but … —They cannot forbear, except on three conditions: That the world should not be filled with infirm persons; that Jesus Christ should not be the only Saviour of all the infirm; that they, the apostles themselves, should not have been healed by him. (Besser). —We cannot but … seen and heard.—I. We gladly speak of the eternal power of God, which wisely and wonderfully rules and directs all things; II. We still more gladly speak of his pitying love, which sent the only-begotten Son into the world; III. We most gladly proclaim our blessed experience of his grace, which fills the heart with peace and joy, Act_4:13. (Lisco).—The Risen Saviour, demonstrating his power to his faithful disciples: I. He gives them the words which they utter; II. Infuses his power into their hearts; III. Protects them in all their ways. (ib).—With the progress of Christianity, hatred increases; next, sufferings increase; then help increases; finally, power increases. (Florey).—The perseverance of the enemies, and of the friends of the Lord: I. Of his enemies: they cannot refute his word, and yet oppose it; they cannot overcome his power, and yet resist it; they cannot deny the blessings which he imparts, and yet reject him; II. Of his friends: the world questions their faith, but they are firmly established on the word of the Lord; the world rejects their faith, but they boldly confess it, obeying the Lord; the world persecutes their faith, but they patiently endure, loving the Lord. (id.).
Act_4:21-22. They let them go, etc., (with a summary of the whole.). The conflict of the Gospel with the world: I. How does it originate? II. What weapons shall the defenders of the Gospel employ? III. What is, in the counsel of God, its ultimate purpose, in reference to these defenders, and to the kingdom of Christ in general? (Rudelbach).—Peter and John, examined before the great Council: an image, I. Of the suffering; II. Of the witnessing; III. Of the triumphant Church. (From Leonh. and Sp.).—The four sources of the evidences of revealed religion: I. Miracles (the lame man); II. Prophecy, and the Scriptures (Act_4:11); III. History (Act_4:21); IV. Religious experience (Act_4:13). (Ad. Schmidt, Predigtst.).—Jesus Christ, demonstrating in his members, that he lives and is invincible: before the tribunals, I. Of the government; II. Of the wisdom of the world; III. Of history; IV. Of the conscience. (Albert Knapp).—Boldness in confessing the name of Jesus: I. Its foundation; II. Its manifestations; III. Its effects. (Langbein).—The apostles in the presence of the great Council, faithful and triumphant witnesses of the truth (Mat_10:16 ff.): I. Before the examination, Act_4:1-4; II. At the examination, Act_4:5-18; III. After the examination, Act_4:19-22.—Jesus Christ, the Exalted One, ruling in the midst of his enemies: I. They cannot suppress his word; II. They cannot deny his work; III. They cannot intimidate his servants; IV. They cannot hinder the progress of his kingdom.
Footnotes:
[1]Act_4:1.—[The margin of the Engl. B. proposes ruler (Tyndale, Geneva) in place of captain; στρατηγὸς, “general, or captain,” Alex.; “commander,” Hack.; “captain, or prefect,” Owen.—Tr.].
[2]Act_4:2.—τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν [of text. rec. with A. B. C. E. Cod. Sin.] should be unconditionally preferred to τῶν νεκρῶν; the latter reading is but feebly supported [by D.], and is an imitation of the more usual phrase [ἀνάστ. τῶν ν.].
[3]Act_4:5.—The reading ἐν ̔̔̔Ἱερουσαλήμ is fully sustained by MSS. [A. B. D. E.], and has, therefore, been preferred by Griesb., Lachm., and Tisch. to the preposition εἰς Ἱερ. [of text. rec.].—[Εἰς, which is the reading of Cod. Sin., is, according to Alf., “a correction to suit συναχθῆςαι.” The Engl. version transfers at Jerusalem to the end of Act_4:6, connecting συναχθ. with the reading εἰς.—Tr.]
[4]Act_4:4.—The nominatives Ἂννας, etc. [in A. B. D. and Cod. Sin.] assume that [instead of the inf.] συνήχθησαν, found in one ancient MS. (D), had preceded, but the accusative [found in E], is more accurate. Lach. [but neither Tisch. nor Alf.] inserts the nominatives.
[5]Act_4:7.—ἐν μέσῳ, is sufficiently sustained [D. E.] in place of ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, [of the text. rec.], which is adopted by Lach. [τῷ, which is found in A. B. Cod. Sin., is cancelled by Alf. as a later correction.—Tr.]
[6]Act_4:8.—τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ [of text. rec.] is cancelled by Lach. in accordance with two ancient minuscule mss.; [cursive mss., the oldest of which are not earlier than the year 890. Reuss: Gesch. d. h. S. N. T. 2d ed. § 375]; it is, however, supported by weighty authorities [D. E., but is wanting in A. B. Cod. Sin. Vulg.—Tr.]
[7]Act_4:11.—οἰκοδόμων is, in accordance with the best MSS. [A. B. D. Cod. Sin.] and other authorities, to be preferred to οἰκοδομούντων of the text. rec.; the latter [found in E.] is a correction to suit Psa_118:22, in the Greek translation [Sept.], as well as Mat_21:42. [So, too, Alf.]
[8]Act_4:12.—The reading οὐδὲ before γάρ is better supported than οὔτε, which Meyer [with Alf.] defends; ούδέ [as Tisch. and Winer (Gr. N. T. § 53, 3, γαρ) read] is also quite appropriate, in so far as it is an additional negative, distinct from the one which preceded. [οὐδὲ in A. B. Cod. Sin.; οὒτε, of text. rec. in E.—Tr.]
[9]Act_4:16.—πο.ήσομεν [of the text. rec.] is, with Griesb., Lach., and Tisch., to be preferred to ποιήσωμεν [adopted by Alf.]; the latter form is not as well supported as the former; the subjunctive seemed better suited to the language of a deliberative assembly. [ποιήσομεν, in B (e sil) D; ποιήσωμεν in A. E. Cod. Sin.—Tr.]
[10]Act_4:17.—ἀπειλησώμεθα in text. rec. [Lach., Tisch., Alf.]; the indic. fut.—σόμεθα, is sustained by only a few authorities [D. (corrected)], and is, without doubt, a correction to suit ποιήσομεν of Act_4:16, instead of the original subj. aor. [The text. rec. is sustained by A. B. (e sil) E. Cod Sin.].—ἀπειλῇ is wanting in some minuscules, and has, therefore, been cancelled by Lach., but may have easily been dropped [by copyists] accidentally [“or omitted as unnecessary,” says Alf., who, with Tisch., retains it. It is found in E., most minuscules, etc., but is omitted in A. B. D. and Cod. Sin.—Tr.]
[11]Act_4:18.—αὐτοῖς after παρήγγειλαν, is an addition found in but few authorities. [Inserted in the text. rec.; omitted by Lach., Tisch., and Alf.; Alf. says that it is a “common filling-up.” It is not found in A. B. D. E. Cod. Sin.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23 the number of the men--or males, exclusive of women;…
the number of the men--or males, exclusive of women; though the word sometimes includes both.
about five thousand--and this in Jerusalem, where the means of detecting the imposture or crushing the fanaticism, if such it had been, were within everyone's reach, and where there was every inducement to sift it to the bottom.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–23 3. Arraignment before the Sanhedrin, Act_4:1-22.
3. Arraignment before the Sanhedrin, Act_4:1-22.
1. Though no other speech is given than Peter’s, and that probably but in outline, the plural they implies that John also addressed the people. That a great crowd had gathered into the porch is clear from the large number of converts mentioned in Act_4:4. That the exercises were of some hours appears also from the late hour to which the judicial commitment (Act_4:3) brought them. Time enough had elapsed for the authorities, probably in Gazith, or even the Romans in Castle Antonia, to receive intelligence of the greatness of the gathering and the nature of the doctrines preached. The Jewish captain forthwith calls out the police of Levites who kept order in the temple grounds, and, led by some of the priests, with a few zealous Sadducees, came upon them so suddenly as to interrupt the two apostles as they spake. (Compare our notes on Mat_23:12; Mat_26:5; Mat_26:47; Luk_13:1.)
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Sadducees—It was by an unexpected revolution that the Sadducees became the leading assailants of Christianity. While Jesus lived his collisions were mainly with the Pharisees. His issue was mainly with the matters for which they were zealous, namely, the temple, the ritual, the rabbinical traditions. But after the death of Jesus his followers zealously attended the temple worship, while the doctrine of the resurrection became their prominent point, against which the Sadducees, holding neither angel, spirit, soul, nor resurrection, were utterly opposed. A Pharisee could say to himself: “These Nazarenes seem a very religious folk, always praying among themselves, and always attending the temple. They do, indeed, think the crucified Nazarene our prophesied Messiah, though he did not deliver our nation; but they say, what may possibly be true, that he is to come again and restore the kingdom to Israel.” So now when assailed by the Sadducean leaders the popular religious feeling sides with them, the chief Pharisee, Gamaliel, leads the way in their defence, and they actually triumph over the Sanhedrin! All goes smoothly until Stephen arises and restores the emphasis upon the doctrine that the Gentiles will be converted, and temple and ritual, and even nation, must disappear. Then all the Jewish parties unite, and the Pentecostal Church is scattered to the four winds.
See note Act_8:1.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–23 Act_4:1-12. First arrest of the Apostles. Their hearing and…
Act_4:1-12. First arrest of the Apostles. Their hearing and Defence
1. And as they spake unto the people] The movements of the Apostles had by this time become an object of concern to the authorities in Jerusalem. See their complaint (Act_5:28). There is no note of time at the beginning of chap. 3 to indicate what period had elapsed since Pentecost before the lame man was healed. But news soon spread in the city as we can learn from the events related in the previous chapter.
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the priests] Those whose duty it was at the time to take charge of the Temple services, and who probably had taken offence at the multitudes assembled in the Temple court. The division of the priests was into twenty-four courses, each of which was to serve in the Temple for a week, see 1Ch_24:1-19; 2Ch_23:8. It was during such service in the order of his course, that the promise of the birth of John the Baptist was made to Zechariah the priest (Luk_1:5-8). Some authorities read high priests.
and the captain of the temple] There is mentioned in the O. T. an officer whose title is “the ruler of the house of God” (1Ch_9:11; 2Ch_31:13; Neh_11:11). He was not a military officer, but had charge of the guard of priests and Levites who watched the Temple at night. There are two titles given to such an officer in the later writings of the Jews, (1) the Memunneh (Mishna Tamid i.), a kind of prefect of the Temple guard, and (2) a higher officer called “the captain of the mountain of the [Lord’s] house.” (Mishna Middoth ii.) Rabbenu Shimshon describes this second officer as “the Commander who was set over every watch of those that watched in the less sacred portion of the Temple.” He was apparently a civil as well as religious official, for we find (Act_5:26) that he goes with “the officers” to make the second arrest of the Apostles.
and the Sadducees] This was the name of one of the most influential sects among the Jews in our Lord’s time. Their name has been variously explained. The Jewish authorities state that the name, which they write Tsedukim, is derived from Tsadok (Zadok) the proper name, and that thus they are “the followers of Zadok.” The Zadok from whom they derive the title is said to have been a disciple of Antigonus of Socho. This Antigonus is the second in order of the Jewish Fathers whose sayings are recorded in the Pirke Aboth, and the commentators thereon mention two of his pupils, Zadok and Baithos, to the latter of whom, and to his followers, they attribute the teaching that “there was nothing for them in the world to come.” But it is perhaps more probable, from their constant connection with the priests, that the name of the Sadducees was derived from the more famous Zadok who became high priest in the reign of King Solomon (1Ki_2:35). We read of the distinction of his descendants as “the sons of Zadok” and “the priests the Levites of the seed of Zadok” even as late as the description of Ezekiel’s Temple (Eze_40:46; Eze_44:15). The probability of this priestly descent of the sect of the Sadducees is strengthened by the way in which they are mentioned Act_5:17, “Then rose up the high priest and all they that were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees).” The derivation which makes their name the plural of the Hebrew adjective Tsaddik = righteous, has not much authority to support it.
The teaching of the Sadducees is partly described Act_23:8. They “say that there is no resurrection neither angel nor spirit.” In addition to this they attached no authority to the Oral Law, while the Pharisees maintained that the greater portion thereof had been transmitted to them from Moses. The Sadducees also taught the doctrine of the freedom of the will of men. The statement that they rejected all the Old Testament Scriptures except the Pentateuch has no confirmation in Josephus and has arisen from a confusion of the Sadducees with the Samaritans. Josephus (Antiq. xviii. 1. 4) says “their doctrine is accepted only by a few, but yet by those of the greatest dignity,” a statement fully borne out by the influential position in which we find them when the history of the Acts opens. They play no very prominent part in the Gospel history, because the teaching of Christ while on earth was directed more specially against the formalism and outward show of religion that prevailed among the Pharisees. It is only when the doctrine of the resurrection begins to be preached that the hostility of the Sadducees makes itself apparent.
came upon them] to arrest them. The same word is used as of the action of the chief captain (Act_23:27), “Then came I (upon them) with an army and rescued him.” See note there.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 (1) The priests, and the captain of the temple.—For…
IV.
(1) The priests, and the captain of the temple.—For the first time in this book, we come across the chief agents in the condemnation passed on our Lord by the Sanhedrin. A few weeks or months had gone by, and they were congratulating themselves on having followed the advice of Caiaphas (Joh_11:48). They knew that the body of Jesus had disappeared from the sepulchre, and they industriously circulated the report that the disciples had stolen it (Mat_28:13-15). They must have heard something of the Day of Pentecost—though there is no evidence of their having been present as spectators or listeners—and of the growth of the new society. Now the two chief members of the company of those disciples were teaching publicly in the very portico of the Temple. What were they to do? The “captain of the Temple” (see Note on Luk_22:4) was the head of the band of Levite sentinels whose function it was to keep guard over the sacred precincts. He, as an inspector, made his round by night, visited all the gates, and roused the slumberers. His presence implied that the quiet order of the Temple was supposed to be endangered. In 2Ma_3:4, however, we have a “captain,” or “governor of the Temple” of the tribe of Benjamin.
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The Sadducees.—The higher members of the priesthood, Annas and Caiaphas, were themselves of this sect (Act_5:17). They had already been foremost in urging the condemnation of Christ in the meetings of the Sanhedrin. The shame of having been put to silence by Him (Mat_22:34) added vindictiveness to the counsels of a calculating policy. Now they found His disciples preaching the truth which they denied, and proclaiming it as attested by the resurrection of Jesus. Throughout the Acts the Sadducees are foremost as persecutors. The Pharisees temporise, like Gamaliel, or profess themselves believers. (Comp. Act_5:34; Act_15:5; Act_23:7.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 The captain of the temple. Only here and Act_5:24,…
The captain of the temple. Only here and Act_5:24, and Luk_22:4, 52 in the plural some have thought that the commander of the Roman garrison of the castle of Antonia is here meant. But as the scene is laid in the court of the temple, this is very improbable. Josephus ("Ant. Jud:," 20, 6:2) speaks of an officer apparently of the temple, who was called oJ strathgov, and was certainly a Jew by his name Ananus, and being, as Josephus relates farther, ("Bell Jud:," 2, 12:6) the son of the high priest Ananias. He also mentions the captain of the temple ("Bell. Jud:," 6, 5:3) at the time of the destruction of the temple. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the captain of the temple here spoken of was a priest who had under him the Levitical guard, and whose duty it was to keep order in the temple courts in these turbulent times, lie appears from Act_5:25; Luk_22:4, Luk_22:52, and the passages in Josephus, to have been an officer of high rank.
Vers. 1-31. The first persecution.
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On observing the phenomena attending the introduction and spread of Christianity in the world, one which arrests our attention is the persecution which at different times its disciples have met with from the world. The Lord Jesus himself, "the Author and Perfecter of our faith," was rejected of men and crucified. And when, after his glorious resurrection, the apostles preached the faith, and verified the truth of what they preached by such signal miracles as that recorded in Ac 3 Ac 4, and in consequence drew large numbers of people to the faith of Jesus Christ, we see the hand of power immediately stretched out to arrest the progress of the gospel, and to silence its preachers by threats, imprisonment, and death. What were the secret springs of this first persecution, as they are exposed to view in the narrative before us?
I THERE WAS THE GENERAL JEALOUSY ON THE PART OF HUMAN POWER OF ANY GREAT MOVEMENT NOT EMANATING FROM ITSELF. "By what power, or in what name, have ye done this?" was their angry question. "Have any of the rulers believed on him?" was the similar question of the Pharisees in our Lord"s lifetime. The same jealousy of any free movement, the results of which might be dangerous to the existing power, and which implied an independent spirit on the part of those concerned in it, is apparent also in the Roman persecutions of Christianity, and in the crucial test of loyalty required of the followers of the new doctrines, that they should sacrifice to the emperor. The persecutions of Lollards and Protestants by our own monarchs before the Reformation, and of Romanists and Puritans after the Reformation, were due in some considerable measure to the same impatience of any rival or of any non-dependent power whatever.
II THERE WAS IN THE CASE OF ANNAS AND HIS CO-RULERS A FIERCE HOSTILITY TO PETER AND JOHN AND THE REST OF THE APOSTLES, ON THE GROUND OF THE DOCTRINE PREACHED BY THEM. The doctrine of those in power was Sadduceeism. They were the secularists of that day. Their creed was this world, and nothing beyond it. No angel, no spirit, no resurrection, no life to come. And this creed they held with a fierceness not unusual with those who hold negative doctrines, and repudiate the bigotry of dogmatism. When, therefore, the apostles with marvelous boldness and confidence, and with a simplicity of purpose and force of eloquence which carried all before them, not only preached generally the doctrine of the Resurrection, but affirmed that Jesus Christ, whom Annas and Caiaphas had given up to be crucified, was actually risen from the dead, that they had seen him and conversed with him after his resurrection, and that by his power and in his Name the lame man had been healed, their indignation knew no bounds. They could not deny the miracle, they could not silence the preachers by argument. But they could cast them into prison, they could, they thought, silence them with threats; and so they did the one and attempted the other. And so it has been since. The pure and holy doctrines of the gospel of Christ have been opposite alike to the polytheism of Greece and Rome, to the polygamy of Mahomet, to the tenets of Rome. And so those in power who held these various doctrines, have in turn drawn the persecuting sword against the faithful who upheld them. It has ever been error and the sword against God"s truth.
III But we can see another reason for the violence of the rulers against the apostles of Christ. We may be sure that the crime of delivering Jesus to the Romans to be crucified had not been accomplished without many and SORE REBUKES OF CONSCIENCE. They knew of Christ"s blameless life of active goodness and beneficence; they must have heard from many lips of his healing and his kindness to the sick and poor; they bad heard his teaching themselves, or had heard of it from others, bow wise, how instructive, how Divine it was. And yet, in their envy and malice, they had given him over to death. At least they hoped that no voice could come from the grave to rebuke them, and that their Victim was silenced forever. But now they were told that he whom they had slain was alive again; that he whom they had seen hanging on the cross was at the right hand of God; that he whose head had drooped helplessly in death was in possession of all power in heaven; that he had sent his Holy Spirit with extraordinary gifts to rest upon his disciples; that he healed and made alive: that the marvelous power which they saw in the poor fishermen of Galilee was his power; and that he would come again in glory to reign as the Lord"s Christ. Can we doubt that their slumbering conscience was aroused to a very troublesome activity, that guilt awakened fear and alarm, and that most unwelcome anticipations crowded upon their minds? "Ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man"s blood upon us," was their angry expostulation and the expression of their fears. Clearly, unless these fears brought them to repentance, they would rouse them to hatred and indignation. They did the latter, and this persecution was the result. And beyond a doubt this disturbed but not converted conscience lies at the bottom of much of the world"s hatred of the truth of Christ. Men have sense enough to know that if the Word of God is true they are condemned. The doctrines of the gospel are at variance with a heart full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. The same word which shows the grace and love of God shows the foulness and hatefulness of sin. Men who have settled down into a course of sin and willful ungodliness do not wish to be disturbed. They wish to sin on in peace. They have no thoughts of renouncing all their old ways of thinking and feeling and acting. Whoever disturbs them, and breaks in upon their security, is an enemy. The disturbing doctrines are hateful, and all the more so if reason or conscience sides with them. And so anger and contempt and vengeance cry down the feeble voice of conscience and prompt the hand to violence and persecution. But
IV NOTE THE SAINTS OF GOD UNDER PERSECUTION. They flinch not, but are bold to preach the truth unto bonds and unto death. They do not avenge themselves, but commit their cause to God. They flock together not to fight, but to pray, and to exhort and comfort one another. And in the end, instead of being dismayed, they are strengthened. Their faith is increased in the furnace of affliction; the Comforter comes to them; and the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON. Vers. 1-21. Truth from the tribunal.
The principles which are illustrated or suggested here are
I THAT MEN IN THE HIGHEST RELIGIOUS POSITION MAY BE ALL WRONG IN THEIR THEOLOGY. The priests were grieved that the apostles taught the people that which we know to have been God"s own truth (ver. 2). In every age since then, the teaching of pure doctrine has been a veritable grief to those who have been regarded by many as the religious authorities of the land.
II THAT MEN IN THE HIGHEST POLITICAL POSITION MAY BE USING THEIR POWER AGAINST THE WELL-BEING OF THE STATE. The state officials "came upon" the apostles of our Lord (ver. 1), and "laid hands on them, and put them in hold" (ver. 3). How often has this scene been re-enacted since then; the men in office using their authority to restrain and silence the teachers of truth, the reformers of national life!
III THAT FAITHFUL MEN HAVE THEIR CONSOLATIONS WHEN OPPOSED AND SILENCED BY THE STRONG. That was not a very unhappy evening which Peter and John spent in the stronghold of the temple. As they walked within the narrow bounds of their captivity, they thought rejoicingly of the "five thousand men" who had heard the word they had spoken, and had believed it and been saved by it. Spiritual successes are an ample compensation for material discouragements. (Act_16:25)
IV THAT TO FAITHFUL MEN GOD GRANTS COURAGE AND CONSTANCY ACCORDING TO THEIR DAY. (Vers. 5-13.) Before the Sanhedrim Peter and John show themselves brave and fearless. There is nothing apologetic about their demeanor, nothing supplicatory about their tone. They stand erect and they "speak straight on," as men who stand before God and who speak for him. In truth, they are men in whom dwells (ver. 8); hence their noble attitude and their manly spirit. God gives them grace according to their day. So will he to us also. Let us be receptive of his truth when he speaks to us; let us be faithful at our post when we speak for him; and then, when the trial hour shall come, he will nerve us for the scenes through which we shall have to pass, and we shall be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
V THAT THERE IS ONE, AND ONLY ONE, ROAD TO HEAVEN. (Ver. 12.) Many paths lead into it; there are many ruts in the road; many very different pilgrims along it; many views as we look out on either side of it and at different stages on it. But there is only one way: this is found in him who says, "I am the Way.
VI THAT THE SPIRITUAL TRIUMPHS OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH ARE THE MOST COGENT WITNESSES ON ITS BEHALF. (Ver. 14.) In presence of reclaimed drunkenness, silenced profanity, cleansed and uplifted impurity, regenerated selfishness, humbled pride, what can infidelity or irreverence do? It is dumb; it is helpless.
VII THAT HUMAN ERROR 18 IMPOTENT IN ITS CONTEST WITH DIVINE TRUTH. (Vers. 16-21.) Authority, in the person of this Jewish Sanhedrim, is ill intentioned enough; it is willing enough to smite; it Considers patiently and earnestly how far it dares to go; it threatens, forbids, threatens still further, and then impotently and ignominiously releases. Error is often fiercely antagonistic, industriously hostile, actively opposed to the truth of God; but let us take courage in dark hours it is held under restraint; there is a point beyond which it cannot go; it will be compelled to relax its hold, and truth will come forth, before long, rejoicing in its liberty. C.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON. Vers. 1-22. Christ"s servants before the tribunal.
I THEIR APPREHENSION. Its causes.
1. The jealousy of those in ecclesiastical power. Caste, privilege, and established professions are ever jealous of popular influence. It is ill for learning and for religion when they come to be identified with the interests of a class. But neither can be shut up to the few. Light and truth are the common property of all, as there is no function higher than that of the genuine teacher of religion, so there is none which attracts more suspicion and jealousy. The essence of bigotry is exemplified by the Sadducees. Not believing in the Resurrection, they would put down any teaching of it by force. The force of persecution never comes from love of truth, but ever from some form of interest. The temper of the truth-lover is ever for free speech and free thought. He knows that the truth, being a beam of God, cannot be quenched, and is reflected with all the more glory from the mists of error. Often men mean by "the truth" their own opinions and prejudices. History shows, and passion constantly ignores, that to put down opinions is impossible. The spirit of man acquires force both in good and evil by resistance. Let what you consider false be either ignored, or, far better, honestly examined and discussed. But, in fact, no absolute falsehood can live an hour; and when desire is shown for suppression of free utterance, fear of the truth, not love of it, is betrayed.
2. Another cause was the popular acceptance of the gospel. The thousands may be despised as individuals, but their collective feeling commands respect. When the multitude wait on a preacher, and their lives are changed by his influence, we may be certain that there is a deeper agency at work than appears. The very extravagances which attend popular religious movements are in their way evidences that men are being acted upon by unwonted spiritual power.
II THEIR EXAMINATION. They stood in the presence of the Sanhedrim the great ecclesiastical court and ruling body of the nation. It is a sublime contrast between the power that is and the power that is not of the world. The parts of the prisoners and the judges are really reversed. Sincerity is ever the judge; appearances go for nothing in the spiritual sphere.
1. The question. The fact is not disputed; the question is How is it to be accounted for. What power, whose Name, had been at work here? The surging up of a new power in Church or state is a formidable thing. What is its nature? how must we deal with it? is the care of the powers that be.
2. The answer. First, a good thing has been admittedly done. Out of prostration and weakness a sufferer has been restored to health and freedom. Facts are stubborn things. Our acts speak louder than words, and tell for us or against us irresistibly. So let us live that the facts of our life may plead for us trumpet-tongued. Second, the interpretation of the fact. The name and power of Jesus are behind it. Thus does spiritual force rise up and react against those who idly fought against it. Here was the crucified One darting a ray of his glory upon suffering. The Resurrection: it was no fancy; it stood illustrated in the person of the restored man in the presence of the court. What else was or could be the meaning of the fact? No other explanation is attempted. Accusers and accused stand beneath the shadow of a power of which the one are feeble foes, the others mighty agents. Life is full of these contrasts, these coincidences of extreme opposites; power dwindling into impotence, feebleness lifted into power. The stone cast aside on the highway proves to be the comer-stone of a new building. The rejected of men, who could not save himself, becomes revealed the Elect of God, and sole Source of salvation. Contempt of goodness is avenged by the manifested contempt of God.
III THE EMOTION OF THE COURT. The judges are overcome in spite of themselves by the extraordinary contrast before them. It is rare that the learned do not feel a deep secret contempt for the ignorant and unlettered.
An overvaluation of words and logic blinds to realities. But here the calm eloquence of those simple men breaks out like the ray of a pure gem hidden in some rough matrix, and dazzles the intelligence. Memory is stimulated, and Peter and John are identified as disciples of Jesus. There was a combination of evidences which fairly reduced the judges to stupefied silence. There stood the well-known figure of the paralytic; side by side his confessed healers; the clear statement of the Divine agency in the case has been boldly and impressively given by them; finally their former connection with Jesus is recognized. The whole chain of antecedents and consequents hangs firmly together. The logical recess in fact and thought is complete Infinitely better the silence which bows before irresistible reasons than the silence which is gained by force. Here again extremes meet. Mute are the lips of the unjust, who have evoked eloquence from the innocent; the silencers have reduced themselves to dumbness. "Tis ever so. When violence seems to have made the truth to retire for a time, it has really sent it on a larger are of travel, from which it will surely return to smite the propelling lie.
IV THE CONSULTATION. Policy is consulted when conscience is absent. It is dubious, and flies to compromises. There were three courses open: to punish the apostles this, in the state of popular feeling, could not be ventured on; to approve their conduct this was conscience" dictate, but conscience was here stifled by a powerful conspiracy of interest; the miserable compromise remained to discharge the prisoners for fear of the multitude, to warn them against further teaching in fear for themselves. There is danger in all societies and committees of men for the conscience. They are more timid than in isolation, and timidity is mean and treacherous to the noblest instincts of the heart. Men will back one another up in doing things or refraining from doing things, when they would have been more true if left to themselves. "Tis a moral trial in these respects to act with others. Shelter for our cowardice, stimulus to our active passions, is found in the fellowship of close interests.
V THE PROHIBITION AND RELEASE. The apostles were no more to "speak in this Name," which had proved so mighty a spell to loose. More definitely utterance of, and teaching in, the Name are forbidden. The Name stands as usual for all that lies behind it the whole contents of Christian truth.
1. The prohibition aimed at an impossibility. The mind cannot be chained; the spontaneous movements of the spirit cannot be checked by force; the Word of God cannot be bound. Force can only act within the laws of nature; it enters not the kingdom of spirit.
2. The martyr"s alternative. Shall he obey God or man? The tyrant must tremble when he hears the question put. Physical necessity is on his side; moral necessity, revealed in the conscience, on the other. The one says to the witness You shall not; the other replies from his breastcannot but. Obedience to God gives confidence and security. The tyrant and his victim change places when it is seen that the latter has placed himself against the rock of eternal right.
3. The martyr"s decision. He will not obey man rather than God. He has one clear principle only to obey the voice in his soul. Immediate consequences form no element of calculation. They may he favorable to him, as now in the physical sense, for the many may be for the moment on his side; or they may be fatal. With eye far fixed on eternity, and ear attent upon the Divine voice, he goes forward. He trusts God and is not afraid. His being is only safe in devotion to duty. J.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD. Vers. 1-4. The first persecution.
I THE GROUND OF IT.
1. Religious intolerance "the priests.
2. Political animosity the captain of the temple." A representative of Rome, alarmed by the crowd and fearing popular tumult.
3. Rationalistic unbelief Sadducees." The troubles of the Church are thus foreshadowed, proceeding from the three different sources which will always unite against the truth. Against two facts they rose up: the people were taught; the Resurrection was the substance of the teaching. Popular religion is never liked by priests, rulers, and infidels. They are "sore troubled" when the gospel manifests its power. So it was in the Reformation. The old and corrupt Church gained over the state to its purposes. And soon there was a great rising up of the proud intellect of man against the simplicity of the message. At the bottom of this combined movement was a stricken conscience. The Resurrection condemned them all. They knew it. So still the Resurrection condemns the corruptions of the Church, the despotism of the world, and the pride of unbelief. We must never reckon on a peaceful victory. The people are not really cared for by the high ones of this world. They learn no lessons from the past. Progress must be in spite of them.
II THE MANNER OF IT.
1. Cautious. "Put them in ward unto the morrow" (Revised Version). Fear of the people; recognition of the power of the apostles; bewilderment in the sense of their own guilty part in the Crucifixion; pretended respect for the forms of justice and self-deceived conventionalism. Underneath punctiliousness there is often a great depth of pride and hollowheartedness.
2. Tentative. It was not a full burst of fury against the apostles, but an experiment to see how far they would go in their defiance of authorities. It was supposed that a night in prison would quell their courage, that an appearance before the Sanhedrim would probably break off the rising plant at the root, for it was seen that there was no great display of physical force among the sect.
3. Ignorant and perplexed in policy, for there could be no decided and deliberate movements against the new doctrine on such grounds. Nor were the elements of the conspiracy congenial. Priests would care nothing for Sadducees, and Roman rulers despised both. They could not have studied either the facts of the ease or the characters of the apostles. They made a dash upon them in the provocation of the moment, hoping to snuff out the light at once. Their ignorance of Scripture and worldliness of spirit made them capable of such folly, and the fruit of it was a very significant rebuff.
III THE EFFECT OF IT.
1. On the Church itself. (See the rest of the chapter.) Deepening the spiritual life; promoting brotherly love, prayerfulness, and sympathy; preparing for future trials; revealing the utter weakness of the opposition; fulfilling the promise of Christ as to their endowment in the presence of enemies; magnifying the gospel in their sight; helping them to feel that they must hearken unto God and not unto men; deepening their insight into Scripture and enlarging their prospect of the future triumphs of the gospel, which they thought of in the spirit of prophecy.
2. On the world. Drawing to them popular sympathy; making them the talk of Jerusalem, and so leading many to inquiry; testing the hearers whether they were prepared to encounter such dangers for Christ. The five thousand would be henceforth drawn together, and the world would see the Church more distinctly. It was well that the new doctrine should be manifestly put over against the old. Many may have been perplexed by the reverence which apostles showed for the temple and its worship. While still addressing themselves to Jews, it was now plain that to be a disciple of Christ was to break away from Judaism. The effect of the miracle would be heightened; for it would be asked, naturally, why the workers of such a cure should be so treated. It has never been a success to persecute. It shows weakness in the persecutor; it reveals power in the persecuted; it spreads abroad facts that might otherwise be ignored. This beginning of the Church"s fight with false religion and worldly pride throws great light along the ages, and teaches us many a lesson concerning Church history. R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 23 And as they spake unto the people, the priests,…
Act_4:1-22
And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them.
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The captain of the temple
was an officer of a sort which Luke mentions in the plural in his Gospel (Luk_22:4), and is several times mentioned in the Old Testament, as in Jer_20:1. This officer, with his subordinates, had charge of the Levites, especially of those who kept the night watch in the temple. A hint at the forms and ceremonies which accompanied his duties may be obtained, perhaps, from Psa_134:1-3, in which verses 1 and 2 are supposed to be the address of these strategoi, or captains or archons of the temple, and verse 3 the response of the Levite watchers. The talmudical name for this captain appears to have been the man of the mountain of the house [of the Lord], and he is frequently mentioned in ancient Jewish writings. A little quotation will show a part of his duties: The man of the mount of the house [or temple] used to make his rounds among the several watches, with burning torches before him. If he found any of the watch not standing on his feet, he said to him, Peace be to thee. But if he observed one asleep, he struck him with his staff, and then was at liberty to set on fire his garments. And when he was asked by others, What is the noise in the court? he answered, the cry of a lazy Levite, whose clothes have been burned, because he slept on guard. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said, Once they found my mothers brother asleep, and burned his garment. It is most probable that this custom is alluded to in Rev_16:15, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked etc. An official of corresponding power, but, of course, different duties, has charge of the temple enclosure in Jerusalem to-day. He is the Sheikh of the Sanctuary; and in addressing him the proper form is Ya Sheikh, or O Elder. (Prof. I. H. Hall.)
Peter and John before the council
1. The name of Jesus was the power that wrought the miracle; or to use the incomparable language of the preacher himself, by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before yon whole. By the name we are to understand all the powers and prerogatives that centre in the Person. An ambassador borrows all his authority from the name of his sovereign. Paul, in the provincial court at Philippi, saved himself by invoking the name of Caesar. The inquisitors before whom Peter stood on this occasion supposed that Jesus was dead. It was, indeed, true that bodily He had vanished from the sight of men; but He had left behind Him a name in which resided the tremendous power of His spiritual presence, which was destined thereafter to be the working force in history until the whole world should be subjugated to God. For want of ability to discern this fact, Hume and Gibbon and all other undevout historians have been at their wits end. They have marked the operations of a mysterious force, working like a magnet, and leading the nations on toward a brighter, better day; but for the most part they have frankly acknowledged their inability to locate or characterise it. The name of Jesus is this unnamed factor in universal history.
2. The name of Jesus, though despised by these inquisitors, has taken precedence of all others in heaven or on earth. Or, again to quote the preacher, This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Christ dead? Ah, no! Could these ecclesiastics have looked forward through the centuries they would have seen His name written on all scrolls of honour, His Cross glowing on innumerable spires that were to point, like index-fingers, to His throne in heaven, and His kingdom spreading like a vast tabernacle to enfold the world. In vain do kings of the earth set themselves and rulers take counsel together against this Jesus.
3. The name of Jesus alone has power to save; in Peters words, Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. Among those who listened to the apostle that day there was probably not one who did not cherish some sort of hope of salvation; but if these words were true they were all leaning on broken reeds.
(1) No doubt there were rabbis there who congratulated themselves on their acquaintance with current theology. They knew the technics of the argument between the schools of Shammai and Hillel, and were thoroughly adept in the traditions of the elders. But, without desiring to belittle the importance of dogma, it is right to say that the brain is a good way from the heart, and there is a vast difference between theology and religion. Many a man has, intellectually, a faultless creed who is nevertheless an utter stranger to vital godliness. But souls are not saved that way. A man may know all about the Nicene and the Ante-Nicene fathers, and all about creeds and symbols and theological systems, but if he has not made the acquaintance of Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, he shall not enter into life.
(2) Then, doubtless, there were others in Peters audience who hoped to be saved for their devotion to the Church. We cannot dispense with the Church; nor dare we cast reproach upon it, for it is the bride of Jesus Christ; nevertheless, to rely upon externals for salvation is to face an awful disappointment at the great day. This was the trouble with the Pharisees.
(3) No doubt there were moralists also in this company, and, if so, Peters word ruled them out of heaven. For morality, as such, however admirable, has no saving virtue in it. Emerson objects to the use of the term mere morality, but what else shall we call that sort of legalism which takes no cogni-sance of the Lawgiver? The trouble with mere morality is that it leaves uncancelled the mislived past; it has no power to atone for a single sin, while it ignores the claims of Jehovah. In saying that we say nothing against morality, for the law is good; but the atoning power must be sought for elsewhere. Peters sermon had a remarkable effect upon the minds of his distinguished hearers.
(a) They marvelled that unlearned and ignorant men should have such forensic power. Bat they knew nothing of the influence of the Holy Ghost that rested upon them.
(b) They took knowledge of these men that they had been with Jesus. The ground of that conclusion lay in the fact that they had manifestly caught His Spirit. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
Peter and John before the council
A notable miracle had been wrought at the gate of the temple, and a notable sermon had been preached to the assembled crowd, who were filled with wonder and amazement. It is the sequel of that which had been thus done and said which furnishes our present theme. We notice--
I. The offence of the apostles. It was not that they had been the means of bringing healing and health to a disabled man. Most sympathetic souls doubtless were glad. Others, probably (are there not always such?), after a little, began to question this way of coming to his health. It was not according to the regular practice. It was a reflection upon the professed practitioners of the healing art. But this was not the grievance to those with whom the two disciples of Jesus are brought into speedy conflict. These were the ruling class, the Sadducees, of whom were also the officials, both ecclesiastical and civil, who arrested Peter and John and locked them up for more deliberate examination. These were the rulers of the Church in that day; but they were by no means the religious class. The offence of the apostles was not that they had healed the lame man, or even that they had been disciples of Jesus, but that they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. It was an offence of doctrine rather than of deed which excited the opposition of these Sadducean rulers. It was the offence of supernaturalism. But there was something more than this in it. Men oppose teachings often because the teachings conflict with the lives which they prefer to live. Supernaturalism always has its foes, for it implies a present God--a God who works, who sees and will judge. Ours is a Sadducean age. Natural science has engrossed the attention of the learned class to a large degree. They will accept mind cure or hypnotism, but not the healing touch of God. They will allow the inspiration of the poet, but not of the prophet. The offence of the Cross is not the only one which stirs up hostility. The offence of supernaturalism is now equally cause of anger and derision as it was in the days of Peter and John.
II. The defence of the apostles. Thus arraigned and thus accused, the two disciples are put in ward until the morrow. This was the very time for which they bad been prepared--the very time to exercise their gift to be witnesses here in the very court of Israel. And that is what they were: not defenders of themselves, but sturdy, truthful, uncompromising witnesses to Jesus and the resurrection. So they rehearse the facts. You ask us who has done this good deed to the helpless man? Jesus has done it; Jesus the Christ, the Messiah for whom Israel has looked and longed. Nay, you know Him well, Jesus of Nazareth, the Man whom you so lately condemned to death, yes, whom ye crucified--He is the Author of this cure. For God undid your murder and raised Him from the dead. So they bore testimony to the thing which had been done. But now they testify to the greater things which He can do. He is the only One by whom we can be saved. We disciples or your priests and Sadducees can be safe and be saved alone by Him whose name and power has wrought this cure. The defence of those who believe in supernaturalism is not argument. You cannot reason about the particulars in a sphere which men refuse to recognise. What can you do? You can oppose your faith to their unbelief, your confidence to their incredulity. You can give your ringing testimony to what you know. Testimony will win the day for Christ sooner and more surely than reasoning; for it will secure a hearing for the reasons of the faith that is in the disciples. Witnesses are more important than advocates. A hundred reasons why it should be so are not half as strong as one It is so.
III. The change of the judges. After this form of a trial, the accusation and the defence, the court retires to consult. They cannot deny the facts. Facts are unfortunately stubborn things. What shall they do? Let us silence them, they say; and so they bring the two unlearned men before them, and charge them, with all the authority they have, and with what dignity they can, not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. How well they were able to enforce their command the further record tells. It is not the last time in the history of the world that men of deep convictions have been met with a similar command. Right or wrong, it is impossible to correct mens thinking, or, for very long, their speaking, by the mere command or compulsion to be silent. The very command is a confession of weakness. To ask your foe not to strike again is to acknowledge your fear of him. You cannot silence witnesses. The fire which is in mens hearts cannot be smothered by the authority of courts, civil or ecclesiastical. The truth of God will overcome all lies at last in the kingdom of the truth, h the hot fires of experience the dross will be run off and the pure silver reflect the image of its Maker. All through this passage the name of Jesus is set forth as the source of power, of salvation, and of Divine teaching. (Geo. M. Boynton.)
Bigotry
I was once driven upon an Irish jaunting-car with a little child of four years of age. It began to rain, and a hood was placed over the childs head. I heard her mutter, That is such a pretty view. I said, How can that be when your head is covered? Oh, she replied, I see my knees, my shawl, and my pretty little feet. A good illustration of people who cannot see farther than the extremity of their own beautiful selves. (J. Alexander, D. D.)
Ecclesiasticism has no exclusive rights
The Church ecclesiastical is like a vast water company chartered to supply the Church spiritual from the great river of the water of life. But how absurd it would be for a water company to claim the right to interdict rain from heaven, or to say to the inhabitants of a particular district, You shall receive no water except it pass through the hydraulic machinery which I have constructed. (General Gordon.)
The first persecution of the apostles
To the tempter God said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. But the hatred reigns in the breasts of the children of the devil, he that is born after the flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit, while those who are counted to the Saviour as a seed are told to love their enemies. The first-fruit of the enmity was the murder of Abel. The first-fruit of this enmity towards the Apostolic Church was the imprisonment of Peter and John. But it belongs to the disciples of a crucified Saviour to do good and receive evil.
I. The imprisonment of the apostles (verses 1-4). Peter had said to Christ, I will go with Thee to prison etc., and our Lord had said to the sons of Zebedee, Ye shall, indeed, drink of the cup that I drink of. And now we see--
1. The first act of violence, which was the arrest of Peter and John. While they were speaking to the people gracious words there was a rush in the assembly, and an iron hand was laid on the preachers, not by rude fellows of the baser sort, but the priests, of whom Hosea said, As troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of the priests murder in the way by consent. The Sadducees were then in possession of authority, which they employed to indulge in the enjoyment of this life, as they believed in no other, and were cruel to all who disturbed their ease. They were, therefore, vexed that the apostles preached, through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead. For if He who was known to have been put to death was alive again, He was that Man by whom came the resurrection of the dead. What was there in this to grieve any one? Is the present life so long that we should not wish for another? Or were these rulers so wicked that they suspected a future life must be to them a state of punishment? To wish to die like a dog belongs to those who wish to live like a dog. But, whatever men might think or say of the Resurrection, the question with magistrates should have been, What injury will this do to society? Will men be worse neighbours, or subjects, for believing that, after this life, they will rise, and be judged for the deeds done in the body? And yet, how many have felt the rude hand of violence for no other crime than preaching, through, Jesus the resurrection from the dead!
2. The first night which the apostles passed in prison is full of interest. See them led along to where criminals are lodged, the healed man following, not leaping for joy, but asking in sorrow, Is it a crime, then, that they have made me walk? Arrived at the gaol, the authorities demand entrance for two prisoners, who have done--what? good to body and to soul. Shall we pity them? No; save your pity for their persecutors. For, if you say, But what must it be for pious men to pass a first night in a gaol? I answer, but they are in a good cause, with a good conscience, and in good company; and with these three attendants a man may lie easy on a cold, hard, stone floor; and in a dreary dungeon pass a pleasant night. For now Peter blesses his Lord, that, instead of denying Him, he can suffer for Him; and John feels that he is indeed the disciple whom Jesus so loved, as to hand from His own lips the cup of suffering, that His beloved may drink also. Call them not prisoners; their spirits are not imprisoned, but mount together to the mercy-seat, in prayer for grace to suffer well. And they knew that the Word of God was not bound, that the Church now numbered five thousand. If the apostles were kept from sleep, it was for joy of such triumphs. But He giveth His beloved sleep, which often refuses to shed its balm on royal eyelids, while it rests sweetly on theirs who, exhausted with labours and devotions, sink down, and, like Jacob, though with a stone for a pillow, see visions of God, heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending, in attendance on the:heirs of salvation. Thus Bunyan, passing through the wilderness, lighted on a den, where he slept, and saw what myriads have gladly kept awake to read.
II. Their coming forth and trial (verses5-22).
1. The court is particularly described, as of importance to the narrative. The great men lived in the suburbs, and now called a general meeting in the city. The rulers were probably the president and vice-president of the Sanhedrim; the elders the body of the council; and the scribes, the persons who acted as counsel, and clerks of the court. Annas was the high:priest, as Caiaphas had been. Alexanders name intimates a heathenish Jew; but he was then a man of note. John is thought to have been the Ben Zacchai, celebrated in the Talmud, who, forty years before the destruction of the temple, saw the gates open spontaneously, and said, I know thine end; for Zechariah prophesied, Open thy gates, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. All the kindred of the high priest, who were a species of nobles, were now assembled, as if their dignities were at stake. Listen to the examination: By what power, or by what name, have you done this?--you? For the last word stands as if it were uttered in scorn: You, fellows, to have done this! See how God taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and turneth the counsel of the wicked headlong. For they venture not to deny the fact. The more contemptuously they treat the apostles, as unequal to such a work, the more they glorify Christ. But who ever heard of trying men for the crime of healing in a moment? Who would think of accusing a physician for curing thoroughly and speedily? They ask, what name has done it; as if alluding to the Jews notion of a magic virtue in the name of Jehovah, which modern Jews have affirmed Jesus learned, and by it wrought His miracles. Had the apostles themselves dictated the examination, they could scarcely have made it more to their mind; for it elicited--
2. The defence which they made (verses 8-12). It was done in the name of Jesus, the Messiah of Nazareth, whose name we pronounced ere we wrought the cure. You, indeed, condemned Him to die on the Cross; but God raised Him from the dead, of which the proof is before you. The rulers had asked after the wonder-working name, and they now know more than they wished; for what a stab must this have been to their pride! What a thunder-bolt to their consciences I They, aware that Jesus promised to rise again, had set a guard to prevent, and now are told that a miracle has proved it true. But see how Peter turns their attention from healing bodies to salvation for the soul. Who sees not here the fulfilment of Christs promise to His apostles, be not anxious what ye shall say, for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say?
3. The councils embarrassment arose from the sight of the apostles and of the man they had cured. Seeing the freedom of Peter and John, who spoke like men at their ease, and conceiving them illiterate and private men, the rulers could not account for their unembarrassed air. They were not among the literati, nor in any public office, but in private secular life; and they were known to have been with Jesus, who was neither in high station Himself, nor attended by those who were; for it was asked, Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on Him? But the man who was healed was another embarrassing sight, to which the council had nothing to reply. This embarrassment induced them to order all others out of the hall, ashamed to say before them, What shall we do to these men? It is, indeed, difficult to know what to do with men who are tried for their good deeds; and still more with men who can work miracles. Often have persecutors seized their victims and then knew not what to do with them. Hence, with a confounding coolness, they plot to smother a miracle, that it may not spread further, as if it were an infectious plague. Thus commenced a long course of threats and orders, not less impious than vain. This was overruled, to bring out to view the great principle of religious liberty. From this time Christ is declared to be the paramount Ruler in religion. It is impossible for us not to speak what we have seen and heard. Not to speak at all to any man in the name of Jesus! Bid us, neither breathe nor think! A religion of ceremony may be put down by brute force; but to hide the love of Jesus is as impossible as to hide the ointment of your right hand. Having, therefore, threatened again, they let the apostles go; the people made it dangerous to punish (verse 21). Thus ended the first act of persecution, and thus commenced the triumph of religious freedom.
III. The liberty of the apostles was improved in a manner worthy of the men and of their cause. Earth and heaven exhibit scenes full of instruction.
1. On earth, the two confessors, being let go, returned to their own company (verses 23-30). A night in gaol, and fierce threats, had wrought no change, except to increase their attachment to a cause that could not be gainsaid; and when restraint was taken off, as the bird whose string is cut soars away to its nest, they returned to their own company. Of the sufferings of a night in gaol, they say, they think, nothing. The threats, however, call forth a united prayer to God, expressing their submission to His Sovereign pleasure, and their confidence in Him as the Almighty Creator. They had astonished the enemy by their very courage; but they knew themselves too well to trust to this; for he that was a hero in the last battle may turn coward in the next; and therefore they ask for boldness. He giveth more grace; and they who ask it are the men who endure to the end. The apostles ask that Gods hand might still be stretched forth to heal; though one such display of power had cost them one night in gaol. Attention to an apostolic prayer becomes us. Mark its Scriptural character; a large portion is the Word of God; its high rationality; for the Psalm quoted is not misapplied; its deep humility, with its lofty bearing; its superiority to self; with its consecration to the Divine honour; and then say whether these men were either deceivers or deceived? If we pray like apostles, shall we not wisely adapt our prayers to occasions as they arise?
2. Heaven responded to earth; for, they having thus prayed, a second Pentecost followed. As in the first, a mighty sound, like a roaring wind, roused attention; so now, an earthquake, which shook the place where they were assembled, spoke the descending God. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, in new and more abundant measures. Rich recompense for bonds and imprisonments.
Conclusion:
1. Let their testimony sink into your hearts, that there is salvation in no other name, but that of Jesus the Crucified.
2. When you have believed, and found salvation in it, you will show the attraction of affinity as they did, who, being let go, returned to their own company.
3. Triumph is the testimony of Jesus against all the terrors of persecution; which is a blunt weapon, that has ever failed of its object, from the hour that these apostles were let go, to this moment. (J. Bennett.)
The first persecution of the Church
The authorities were offended because--
I. The apostles taught. This is emphatically true of the priests, who looked upon themselves as the only lawfully constituted teachers.
1. They considered that the apostles were not personally qualified (verse 13). Unlearned means they had not been trained in Rabbinical lore--they were not brought up to letters--they were agrammatoi. Men in every age lay undue stress upon Grammar. Not to have been trained in the public schools is of itself almost fatal to any man who aspires to the office of a teacher. But were not the priests right? It is necessary we should distinguish between scholarship and learning. Scholarship is proficiency in words and forms and opinions; learning is a large sympathy with life, and a deep insight into the eternal truth of things. In the priest we see scholarship; in the apostles learning; and the learning of the latter is infinitely preferable to the scholarship of the former. But the men of scholarship looked down contemptuously upon the men of learning. Does that surprise you? It has been repeated over and over again in the history of our own country. Did not the clergy sneer at the ministers of Dissent--Bunyan and his contemporaries--whom they now indeed emulate each other to honour? The best thing is to honour the living prophets, the next best thing is to respect and perpetuate the memory of the dead. One fact the history of the Church has indisputably demonstrated--that scholarship alone, however valuable it may be as an accessory, is not a sufficient qualification to teach the people. But though scholarship alone is not a sufficient qualification, yet learning is; and better still to have both scholarship and learning. The ministry of the apostles was characterised by learning, the ministry of the middle ages by scholarship; let us hope Chat the ministry of the future will be distinguished for its happy combination of the two.
2. They considered that the apostles had no official right to teach. They were idiotai--men of no profession, private individuals, in a word, laymen. And the professionals were very indignant that parties outside the sacred pale of the sacerdotal order, and not commissioned, should set themselves up as teachers. Laymen were considered very ignorant men; the idiotai suggested idiots. The priests claimed an exclusive right to teach. This, however, had not always been the case in Jewry. The ceremonies of religion had been entrusted to the priests, the teaching of the people to the prophets. But prophecy had long died out, and the priesthood had stepped into its place; and having once possessed themselves of the power they guarded it most jealously. Does this seem strange? The same thing has occurred over and over again. The now famous pedlar of Elstow was charged with insolence, irreverence, and disloyalty for daring to stand up to deliver himself of the truths burning in his soul. The police came suddenly upon him and immured him in Bedford gaol for twelve long years. Why? What evil had he done? This--that he, a layman, one of the idiotai, should venture to trespass on the prohibited preserves of the priests! This mischievous spirit is still smouldering.
II. The apostles taught the people.
1. Some felt vexed on personal considerations, for the apostles, labouring to enlighten and convert the people, were indirectly undermining the power of the priests. The heyday of priestcraft is generally the times of ignorance, and it naturally desires the prolongation of those times. Peter and John held out the lamp of knowledge, and the authorities rushed upon the lamp-bearers and endeavoured to break the lamp. With what result? With the simple result of smashing the glass and letting the flame burn more intensely than before, and kindle five thousand other lamps.
2. Others felt annoyed on ecclesiastical grounds. The priests knew, through the instinct of self-preservation, that the enlightenment of the people meant virtually their deposition. The people had to receive implicitly and unquestioningly the word of priests and rabbis as to what the will of God was; or worse still, their interpretation of it. This monopoly plunged the people into an elaborate system of lifeless traditions and burdensome superstitions. And when the apostles demanded back the key of knowledge and desired to lead the people into the hidden dwelling place of truth, with what reward did they meet? They were cast into prison. Does that surprise you? No; for this history has been enacted over again in Christendom. The key of knowledge was taken away from Europe, and the Scriptures were allowed to lie in an unknown language. Luther on the Continent and Wycliffe in England endeavoured to unlock the treasures, to translate the Scriptures into the popular language, and to scatter broadcast the knowledge of the Divine will; and they were vilified, excommunicated, and hunted about for their pains. Nevertheless the translation of the Bible caused the Papal hierarchy to topple to its ruin in Germany and England. Mark that well. Priests still forbid laymen to peruse and expound the Scriptures--they must believe on authority. The essence of Romanism is to believe on authority. The essence of Protestantism to believe on proof.
3. Others felt annoyed on civil grounds. They would say as all despots have in effect said--Knowledge is power. If you educate the people you put into their hands a weapon which they have not the wisdom to use. What if they use it for revolution? To avert the evil, we will refuse the good. That has always been the language of despotism; and forthwith it proceeds to fetter, and if need be, to kill the champions of popular education. No doubt knowledge is a tremendous power--especially religious knowledge; and often, alas! it has been converted to mean, vulgar ends. But are we to reject the use of a thing because of its abuse? Do not have fires, and you will have no conflagrations. Light, no doubt, does multiply the shadows; shall we on that account declaim against the sun?
III. They taught the people, through, Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
1. The teaching reflected deep discredit on the tribunals of the nation. The leading members of those courts had crucified Christ; but yet God had raised Him up from the dead. Now the Resurrection was a complete vindication of Christs character; but to vindicate His character was to brand the character of His judges. Therefore those judges were irritated beyond measure. In their furious madness the infant Church saw the fulfilment of the prophecy (verse 25). You have seen a spirited unmanageable horse snorting wildly and plunging desperately--his eyes flashing fire, his nostrils breathing thunders. That is the very figure used in this chapter to describe the raging of the Jewish authorities against the gospel--they were like wild beasts, filled with foolish and unreasonable fury.
2. The teaching was new. The Pharisees were very much in love with the old, and were deemed wiser than their descendants. The Pharisees were the champions of orthodoxy, and in confederacy with the other sections of the Jewish Church put the apostles on their trial for healing the lame man. The Sanhedrim assembled--the court had to decide between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The miracle they could not deny. The question was, By what power or by what name have ye done this? The whole trial turned upon that hinge. Were the apostles orthodox, yea or no? You know the conclusion they arrived at--the apostles were branded as heretics, and forbidden to heal or to preach any more in the name of Jesus. We should never forget that the apostles and the Saviour Himself, were charged with heresy and persecuted to death on account of it. This teaches us two lessons.
(1) That we should be careful not to reject any doctrine because of its novelty, nor call the advocates of new opinions by bad, unpopular names. Every truth--of science as well as theology--was considered heresy on its first promulgation. The heterodoxy of one age is the orthodoxy, of the next. Truth is first crucified, then raised from the dead, then exalted to the throne and adored.
(2) Not to refute what we deem heresy by imprisonment. Jesus Christ argued with the people of Jerusalem, and they took up stones to cast at Him. It is a very easy but a very foolish way to meet an argument with a stone. And yet it has been the universal practice till recently. The Christians hold certain views concerning life and death, and the Jews persecute them. Among Christians again, certain parties hold views different from the majority and they are burnt. Mankind are slow to learn than it is a cowardly thing to kill a man for an opinion.
3. Their teaching, moreover, flatly contradicted an influential section of the hierarchy. The Sadducees probably prided themselves on how little they believed. They would no doubt style themselves broad thinkers; but certainly they were not broad believers. Breadth of thought is in our time, too, preferred to breadth of faith. But there is something fundamentally wrong with the man whose broad thinking leads to narrow believing. Broad thinking should always lead to broad believing, and where the faith is feeble, it is to me a proof positive that the thinking is not broad, but lax. Anyhow, the Sadducees conspired to suppress the teaching of the apostles. In the Gospels the merciless hostility of the Pharisees is in the forefront; but in the Acts the fierce enmity of the Sadducees; for there the fact and the doctrine of the resurrection find a more prominent place. Scepticism knows how to imprison and behead its opponents as well as superstition. Unbelief, not faith, is the real source of persecution. Let men believe in God, and that He is stronger than the devil; in truth, and that it is more potent than error; in right, and that it will and must prove triumphant over might, and they can afford to be patient, they will see the futility of resorting to physical force. The truth of liberty is based in religion. What has unbelief done on behalf of liberty? It has written. What has Christianity done? It has bled. Infidels have pleaded for it, but Christians have died for it. Did their imprisonment check the mighty progress of the gospel? Nay, many of them that heard the Word believed. Times of persecution are generally times of much spiritual prosperity. Some of the early martyrs had for their mystic symbol a candle surrounded by a crowd of angry men puffing as hard as they could to blow it out; but the harder they puffed the more brightly burnt the candle. The English Reformers were sorely harassed, but did they abandon the cause of Protestantism? No; some of them devised an anvil for their coat of arms with the striking motto This anvil hath broken many hammers. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)
Typical religious persecution
I. The persecutors were typical--the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees. Here we have--
1. Men whose tenets were discredited--the Sadducees.
2. Men whose prerogative was invaded--the priests.
3. The subordinate, notoriously accessible to bribes--the captain of the temple, the servant of the priests and the Sadducees, who would desire what would please them. Is there not here a type of the agency employed in all religious persecutions? Outraged orthodoxy, slighted privilege, and vile sycophancy have distinguished themselves in many ways and in various combinations in the attacks made on faithful reformers and evangelists from age to age.
II. The ground was typical. The persecutors were annoyed. God was not employing them. They were unable to give any explanation. And their own cherished notions were ceasing to command the respect of the people. Has it not been ever thus, when unauthorised teachers have been more welcome and more successful than the official representatives of the Church? But the will of the Lord be done.
III. The treatment was typical. They were--
1. Stopped in their preaching. But the Word had been effectually spoken. Those who wished and had determined to hinder were restrained until Gods own time.
2. Apprehended. Their reasons were not met with counter-reasons. To deal with truth by physical force! What a confession of ignorance and weakness!
3. Imprisoned. That they could do; but they could not imprison or bind the truth, nor prevent it becoming the instrument of spiritual freedom to those who received it.
IV. The encouragements were typical. The preachers--
1. Had remained at the post of duty until forced away. They had nothing to reproach themselves with on that account.
2. Had the pleasure of knowing that the good work had progressed.
3. Had a whole night for meditation and prayer. In like manner have the Lords persecuted servants been comforted and sustained since. (W. Hudson.)
Apostolic trials
Two men disclaiming all original power excited Jewish society by the performance of a miraculous deed. The excitement became in the long run bewilderment. The Jewish leaders were completely baffled. The facts of Christianity have been awkward stumbling-blocks in the way of unbelief. Opponents can see two sides to a theory, but to a fact it is vain to oppose a suggestion of fancy or a jeer of ill will.
I. On the side of the Jewish leaders there was--
1. Illiberality. Being grieved that they taught the people. The highest pre-Christian culture! Christ alone has shown Himself the friend of universal man--slave or king. Christianity has a universal appeal. It is not a taper, it is the sun.
2. Shortsightedness. They put the apostles in prison! Fools! They could not put God in prison! Had the apostles been original workers the imprisonment might have met the case. The apostles were put into prison because they did good to the diseased and instructed the ignorant. Christianity is still the physical and moral regenerator of the world. The only charge that can be brought against it is that it continually seeks to do good.
3. Impotence. What shall we do? etc. They threatened the apostles: that is, they shook their fists at the sun in order to darken the world! They stamped on the sea shore to repel the tide! They sent a message to the wind stating that they would henceforth be independent of air! We see how small men are when they set themselves against truth.
II. On the side of the apostles there was--
1. Complete intelligence within the sphere of their ministry. Though they were unlearned and ignorant men, yet within the compass of their work they were wise and efficient. This is the secret of success. Know what you do know. Do not venture beyond the line of your vocation. Every preacher is strong when he stands on fact and experience. Christians must not accept the bait which would draw them upon unknown or forbidden ground.
2. Unconquerable courage in narrating and applying facts. Look at--
(1) The dignity of the address.
(2) The calm and emphatic assertion of the name of Christ.
(3) The direct and special impeachment of the hearers. Whom ye crucified. Set at nought of you builders.
Dignity is proper in the preachers of truth. Christ is the life of Christianity--beware of lauding the system and forgetting the Man. Accusation is the work of every Christian evangelist. Prove the worlds crime.
3. Christian magnanimity in preaching the gospel (verse 12).
(1) Man needs saving.
(2) All men, even Christs murderers, may be saved.
(3) There is but one way of saving them.
4. Incorruptible loyalty to God and His truth (verse 19). Things that we have seen and heard. What a field! Missions at home and abroad--schools, labours, sacrifices, death-beds. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Teaching and persecution
1. Not only did Peter and John cure the lame man, they proceeded to teach the people. Herein was their greatest fault. Christianity is a teaching religion. It seeks out all the people, and speaks the popular tongue. It is just here that preachers may learn their most useful lesson. Our danger is that we speak to the classes; the apostles taught the masses. We can never get back to that universal speech unless those of you who are educated and highly refined will support us. You must be content to be partially neglected in so far as intellectual luxuries are concerned, and must assist us in providing good wholesome bread for the common people. That is precisely the difference between Christianity and every other religion. Others say, Keep the people in the dark; this, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Others draw a screen, as Pythagoras lectured from behind a curtain to his disciples, and from behind they mutter their unintelligible incantations; this lifts its red banner, throws it out upon the willing wind, and on it is written, This thing was not done in a corner. Other religions are philosophies only; Christianity is a gospel as well.
2. A very marvellous thing occurs here, in a kind of parenthesis. The rulers put them in prison. Howbeit!--God has His finger in this! He comes through very narrow spaces, and seizes very transient opportunities. Howbeit--Wait there a while to get the full rush of this glorious announcement--many of them which heard the Word believed. Why should not that be the case now, so that whatever may happen to the preacher within the next hour be may know, as he goes to his account, that he has left behind him a harvest before the time?
3. The morning came, and justice must be done. This question was hurled at them, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Beware of turning your religion into a piece of metaphysical inquiry. It is at that point that Christianity is often defeated in her most beneficent purposes. The learned men wanted to analyse what we now call the modus operandi. Instead of accepting the man, the concrete, positive, indisputable fact, they wanted to lure the apostles, and those who followed them, into metaphysical quagmires and difficulties. Preachers do not answer the why and the how of merely inquisitive minds. Have the man himself with you, and let him be your argument. Christianity rests on facts, not upon opinions. If the Church of Christ has not the Man with it, any amount of mere philosophical theorising and speculation will do harm rather than good. Where is the man you have saved? Produce him. Where are the hungry you have fed, the ignorant you have instructed, the enslaved you have emancipated? Produce them. This is a fact not a quibble. By whatever means it is done the effect is certain, and the cause of such an effect must itself be good.
4. Peter and John will surely stammer before this glittering assembly I The maid that taunted the rough-spoken Galilaean was too much for Peter; when he sees Annas, etc., there will be no spirit left in him. How does the narrative road? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost. That is a thousand Peters: Peter multiplied by the very Deity. Peter?--a straw blown away by the mocking wind, by himself. But Peter filled with the Holy Ghost was a man of war clothed with heavenly panoply, eloquent with heavens thunder, gracious with heavens love. Have we received the Holy Ghost? The question is not, Are we well trained intellectually? Have we read many books? Are we able to conduct very subtle arguments? We shall know whether we have received the Spirit by the fire that is in us. We have received the first baptism, we have been christened, Christ-named, christianised in the sense of having been brought to the church, and had the initial water sprinkled upon our forehead; but have we received the Holy Ghost? There is no mistaking Him.
5. Peter having been challenged to give an account of the circumstance, made the eloquent reply which you find within verses 9 to 12 inclusive. Whenever Peter spake suddenly, on great subjects, he spake the very heart of God. How much he makes of Christ in the 10th verse! We seem hardly to have heard the whole style and title of Jesus before. We have them here. We have called the Saviour Jesus, sometimes we have called Him Jesus Christ. By some short indication of this kind we have made reference to the Redeemer. But how seldom have we given Him His full style and title!--Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him. There is no mistaking that address. What Christ do you preach? We have heard of the Christ of the painter--a figure tenderly coloured, set in wondrous lights and shades. We have stood before it, and sometimes we have thrilled in its presence, and felt the waters stealing into our eyes. But that Christ never saved the Soul, it is only a creation of art. We have heard of the Christ of the poet. Christ has been spoken of in flowing rhyme and stately blank verse; but that Christ never came from the intellect into the depths of the heart in its deadliest remorse on account of sin. We must go back to the apostolic Christ if we have to realise apostolic conceptions and to win apostolic successes in the ministry. Peter might well have ended by the statement contained in the 10th verse, but Peter often found it difficult to conclude when Christ was the theme. How can a river end except in the sea? The little pool, the purling rill, soon sinks in the sand; but the river--deep, broad, fluent--moves on through channelled rocks and shady woods, on, on to the solemn sea. Peter went onward. Said he, This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner. The place trembled under the vibration of that living voice! He might have ended there; but it was difficult, let us repeat, for Peter ever to end when Christ was the theme. So he continued, Neither is there salvation in any other, etc. The original question was not one of salvation, it was merely a question of healing a lame man. But you never find the apostles confining themselves to the mere incident. Every miracle is only a text. Let an apostle heal a mans ankle-bones, and from those ankle-bones he swings clear off to Christs world-saving Cross. If we have healed your ankle-bones, we meant it to be symbolic of the greater healing of your soul.
6. Now, it was the turn of the Sanhedrim to be shut up and put in hold unto the next day, and every day after that. When they saw the boldness of Peter and John they marvelled. Any man that can be accounted for will never influence his age. He will make a splash in the pool; but the bubbles will be seen a moment, then will sink for ever. You never can make out the secret of a Whitefield. You never can make out the secret power of any man who makes a whole world hear him. If you could account for him you would be as great as he is. What then did the wise and influential Jews do? Threaten them. You feel the difference of temperature between verses 11, 12, and verses 16-18. The apostles must not speak any morel There must be an end of this nuisance. Society is not to be disturbed by such propagandists. Peter, having heard the threatening, said unto them, Whether it be right That is the word that makes history, that thrills the ages. And the apostles having received this threatening, went to their own company, and reported, etc. What a talk they had! How they reminded one another of the occasion of the movement! And when the company had heard it all they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said,… They too became eloquent. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Pentecost after Pentecost! Poor Church! Thou hast fallen upon empty times. They are but mean challenges that are addressed to us now. If we could be once more threatened with the prison and the stake, the rod of iron and the keen double-edged weapon, some of us might be heroes. At present we may be but common clay. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Peter and John examined
I. When God is carrying on any design for the manifestation of His glory great opposition will be made to it. Satan will not remain a quiet spectator, and his servants will be stirred up to his assistance. In this combination it ought not to surprise us to find, not only persons of profane principles and wicked lives, but some who, in consequence of their apparent attachment to religion, might have been expected to range themselves on the opposite side. When God way setting His Son on His holy hill of Zion, not only did the heathen rage, who were ignorant of prophecy, and had not seen the miracles of Jesus, but the favoured people, to whom the oracles of God were committed, and among whom the Messiah had appeared, imagined a vain thing.
II. God may expose his people to much discouragement when they are walking in his own way. The apostles preached Christ by express commission from heaven, and on their success depended the conversion of the world. Yet in the outset they were opposed by the supreme authority in the nation. In the course of their ministry they were subjected to danger and suffering, and most of them lost their lives in the cause. Superficial reasoners may conclude that God is at variance with Himself, retarding the execution of His own plans, and may complain that, instead of rewarding, He punishes men for their zeal and fidelity. But the foolishness of God is wiser than men. By such dispensations He exercises the faith of His servants, and makes known His power in carrying on His designs in spite of the utmost efforts of His adversaries; while in the behaviour of His people, such examples of courage, patience, and love are exhibited, as afford no slight testimony to the truth of religion. Converts are made by the sufferings of the saints as well as by their doctrine.
III. Christ requires no service for which He does not furnish them with necessary aid. He is no hard taskmaster. As His commandments are reasonable, so His grace strengthens us to obey them. When Peter and John were called to plead His cause before the Jewish council, they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Hence did cowardly fishermen become undaunted apostles; hence have simple and uneducated men put learning to silence; hence have feeble and delicate women endured with unshaken firmness, cruel tortures, and death in its most terrible forms. As thy day, so shall thy strength be.
IV. Great is the truth, and it will prevail. It confounded and silenced the Jewish council; it made foolish the wisdom of the world, vanquishing its vain philosophy and sophistical eloquence by the plain doctrine of the Cross; it will, in like manner, triumph over infidelity, superstition, heresy, and licentiousness. From what it has already done we may calculate the effects which are yet to be expected from it (Psa_110:2-3).
V. Let us be careful to maintain a good conscience in our religious profession. This was the constant study of the apostles, and hence they considered not what was honourable in the eyes of the world, what was advantageous or safe, but solely what was right. It was God only whom they were resolved to obey, and they minded not the contrary commands and threatenings of men. You will never enjoy peace of mind, you will never act uprightly and consistently till you learn to regulate your conduct by the fixed standard of truth and rectitude, and not by the shifting opinions and fancies of men. Beware of the vain attempt to serve two masters. The result of such an attempt will be that you will serve neither of them fully, and will lose the reward promised by both. (J. Dick, A. M.)
Righteous boldness
Courage is of various sorts. Brazen courage is simply an outside affair, born of impudence. Many a timid soul will cower before it, but itself will always cower when rightly met. Physical courage is an affair of the body, born of mere brute force. There is a courage of love, conscience, conviction, action, repose. What is Christian courage? Let us to-day look back to the time when Christs disciples were first under the fire of persecution and see--
I. Its occasion. Peter and John had healed a lame man, and to the wondering crowd preached Jesus and His resurrection. Out of patience with this continued talk about Jesus--the priests, because Jesus had denounced their hypocrisy and formalism; the Sadducees, because in Jesus was set forth the resurrection, which they scouted and denied--had got the apostles arraigned before the Sanhedrim. In the presence of this august body they proved what stuff they were made of. They had no friends at this court. Wealth, learning, fashion, pride, numbers, and even piety and the national faith, and the very oracles of God, were arrayed against these poor disciples. Peter stood in view of them all, calm and confident, a splendid illustration of the truth that the righteous are bold as a lion (Pro_28:1), and made his reply.
II. Its secret. Filled with the Holy Ghost. This made the difference between Peter before the ascension and Peter after it. It was not natural courage, to the manner born. Peters impetuous ardour often got him into trouble, but his courage failed him when put to the test. He could use his sword under sudden impulse, but his temporary boldness is followed by blank cowardice. He could leap from the ship in impulsive obedience, but he scarcely touches the waters before he cries out for fear. This is Peter by nature. But after Pentecost what granite-like firmness he exhibits! what courage of conviction! what unflinching loyalty to truth! what boldness in the rebuke of wrong! This is Peter by grace. The bank of sand is transformed into a rock of firmness. Impulse has given way to principle. Fear of man is exchanged for fear of God.
III. Its characteristics.
1. Courtesy. Peter gives the men of the court their appropriate titles, recognises their office and authority, and addresses them with deference and respect. Bravery does not consist in brusqueness and bravado and bluster. To speak the truth boldly one need not be a boor or a bear. There is a so-called maintaining ones self-respect which is simply a manifesting ones impudence. But the courtesy had no weakness in it. Where grace salts courage, the courage is not noisy or dogged or defiant, but marked by a quiet courtesy in the very repose of conscious power.
2. Prudence. The deed was good, and Peter reminds them of it. It is well-doing they are to be examined about, not evil-doing. Peter first turns attention from the method to the thing. The work itself could challenge only gratitude and joy. Of itself it could provoke no opposition. One would think the healing of a lifelong cripple to be a matter about which there could be no two opinions. How can a corrupt tree bring forth such good fruit? He made the most of his circumstances. So will the highest courage always. While scorning compromise of principle, it presses into service every alleviating circumstance. It does not court a tilt or invite a conflict.
3. Frankness. The council demanded by what authority or name they had done this. They got for instant answer, By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Here Peter might have stopped. This was the truth, and nothing but the truth. But this was not the truth that put Peter in bonds. He knew he was a prisoner because of some other word that he had been bold enough to speak in the presence of the people, and in the frankness of righteous boldness that word must be spoken now in the presence of the court. Whom ye crucified, for this had stirred the priests against him; and, whom God raised from the dead; for this had stirred the Sadducees against him (verses 1, 2). This is simply another Daniel (see Dan_6:10). It was not necessary to pray with his windows open; but, having been open when he prayed in security, they must not be shut when the kings decree threatens with a den of lions any man that prays. Christian courage will wear no masks. The temptation to be compromisingly politic at the point of real danger is most plausibly insidious and subtle, and a brave spirit gets here its sorest test. The man of real Christian courage will die rather than be sheltered behind a truth withheld.
4. Fidelity. Peter had fully stated the facts. But here was a rare opportunity to bring out also the meaning of the facts. Peter might never get such a hearing again. So he makes the rejected Christ the glorious and chief corner-stone in Zion (Psa_118:22; Eph_2:20). These trusters in Abraham and good works are thus told that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved. This was the top and crown of Christian courage. It was transforming the prisoners bar into a pulpit. This is another John the Baptist ready to lose his head rather than fail to testify that his hearers are wrong. A brave soul will preach the gospel as fearlessly to the Sanhedrim as to a mass-meeting. Opportunity is obligation.
IV. Its effects. They marvelled. The first effect was profound surprise. Then they came to recognise them as men they had seen before in the company of Jesus. And beholding the cripple, a healed and living witness to the truth, they had nothing to speak against. They were silenced completely, just as Jesus had said they would be (Luk_21:15). So now--
1. Men wonder first at the boldness. They see nothing behind it, nothing to support it--no arms, government, material resource--and they are astounded. The world knows not its secret. The natural man has not entered into its hiding-place.
2. Then they have nothing to speak against. Christian courage has a wonderful way of disarming opposition. Opposition may still rage, as it did here, but it has no case, as it had not here.
Conclusion:
1. The Spirit of God can make the weakest saint bold.
2. We can afford to trust Christ.
3. Truth will sometimes smite to silence when it does not smite to heal. (Herrick Johnson, D. D.)
Christ the power of God
I. In times of trouble and persecution (verses 1-4) adding all the more to the Church.
II. In giving aid to His disciples (verses 5-8). Fulfilling the promise to Peter of courage and right words.
III. In the salvation of men (verses 9-12). The only name by which men can be saved is His.
IV. In changing character (verses 13, 14). Making His disciples like Himself. (Christian Age.)
The miracle at the Beautiful gate as an epoch
Peters discourse delivered on this text woke impulses and started efforts both amongst the adherents and opponents of the true religion that introduced a new order of things. Notice--
I. A new impulse to the worlds antagonism to Christianity. Observe--
1. The representatives of this antagonism--the world against the Church, the defenders of the false in theory and the corrupt in practice. Religion, the priests; politics, the captain of the temple; scepticism, the Sadducees conspired to crush the young Church. The hostile sections of a wicked world are ever ready to merge their differences in an attack on the Divinely pure and good. Pilate and Herod became friends on a similar occasion.
2. The reason of this antagonism. The priests were grieved because the apostles arrogated their teaching office; the captain because social tranquility was disturbed; the Sadducees because the resurrection was proclaimed. Wicked men hate truth for different reasons, and according to their passions and interests.
3. Its development. The persecutors
(1) Imprisoned the apostles.
(2) Arraigned them.
(3) Threatened them.
So the antagonism was strong in spirit, but futile in efforts. In sooth, all endeavours to crush truth are fruitless and self-confounding.
II. A new demonstration of Gods power in Christianity.
1. In multiplying its adherents (verse 4). Though the clouds gather, the sun rises. The tides flow, though the force of the mightiest tempest bears against them; and Gods truth moves on to universal empire, though earth and hell combine against it. Howbeit, aye, and not only despite it, but because of it. Persecution does two things which give an impulse to the course of the Christian martyr. It presents on the one side such a hideous manifestation of evil as produces a social recoil, and on the other such an exhibition of Christian goodness as awakens sympathy and admiration. As the aromatic plant emits its sweetest odours by pressure, so Christian character gains charm by suffering. As the stars only shine at night, so the brightest virtues can only shine in trial.
2. In strengthening its advocates. See how they heroically expound their cause.
(1) The miracle was wrought by Him whom they had crucified.
(2) He whom they had crucified had become pre-eminent in the universe. What they had rejected God had honoured. Observe--
(a) That men in their enterprises often reject the Divine.
(b) That though they reject the Divine, the Divine shall be honoured at last to their confusion.
(c) That He whom they had crucified was the only One that could save them.
3. In confounding its enemies.
(1) They were astonished, and two things would heighten the astonishment.
(a) The intellectual and social position of the men. Pedants in every age consider those illiterate who do not know exactly that branch of learning in which they pride themselves. The linguist, e.g., despises the man who does not understand languages, although he may know much better the wonders of Gods universe. So Peter and John were not up in Rabbinical lore, but were well acquainted with more important matters.
(b) Their connection with Christ, the carpenters son, and the crucified malefactor.
(2) They were silenced. Facts are stubborn things. The way to silence Christs enemies is to show them lame men walking.
3. They were perplexed. They felt that something must be done, but what they know not. Seventy of a nations magnates were confounded by two peasants. It is heavens law that the opponents of the truth shall involve themselves in inextricable bewilderment.
4. They were thwarted (verses 19, 20). Note here--
(1) That the will of God is the imperial rule of life, whether of monarch or slave.
(2) That universal conscience sanctions the supreme law. Judge ye.
(3) That gospel truth, when fully felt, is an irrepressible force. We cannot but speak. Necessity is laid upon me. Conclusion. Mark the difference in the effect of Peters discourse and that on Pentecost. None seem here to have been pricked to the heart, although the same truths were preached. Why? Doubtless because of the different character of the audiences. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The four chief props of apologetics
Proof from--
1. Miracles--the lame man.
2. Prophecy and Scripture (verse 11).
3. History (verse 21).
4. The heart and experience (verse 13). (O. Smith, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Chapter 9
Chapter 9
THE FIRST PERSECUTION.
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Act_4:1-3; Act_4:5-7
THE fourth chapter of the Acts brings the Apostles into their first contact with the Jewish state organisation. It shows us the secret springs which led to the first persecution, typical of the fiercest that ever raged against the Church, and displays the calm conviction and moral strength by which the Apostles were sustained. The historical and local circumstances narrated by St. Luke bear all the marks of truth.
I. The miracle of healing the lame man had taken place in Solomons porch or portico, which overlooked the Kedron valley, and was a usual resort as a promenade or public walk, specially in winter. Thus we read in Joh_10:22-23, that our Lord walked in Solomons porch and it was winter. Solomons porch looked towards the rising sun, and was therefore a warm and sunny spot. It was popular with the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the same reason which led the Cistercians of the Middle Ages, when building magnificent fabrics like Fountains Abbey, to place their cloister garths, where exercise was taken, on the southern side of their churches, that there they might receive and enjoy the heat and light of our winter sun.
The crowd which was collected by Peter soon attracted the attention of the Temple authorities, who had a regular police under their control. The Jews were permitted by the Romans to exercise the most unlimited freedom within the bounds of the temple to secure its sanctity. In ordinary cases the Romans reserved to themselves the power of capital punishment, but in the case of the temple and its profanation they allowed it to the Sanhedrin.
An interesting proof of this fact has come to light-of late years, attesting in a most striking manner the accuracy of the Acts of the Apostles. Josephus. in his "Antiquities," {15:11:5} when describing the Holy Place, tells us that the royal cloisters of the temple had three walks, formed by four rows of pillars, with which they were adorned. The outermost walk was open to all, but the central walk was cut off by a stone wall, on which were inscriptions forbidding foreigners-that is, Gentiles-to enter under pain of death. Now in the twenty-first chapter of the Acts we read that a supposed breach of this law was the occasion of the riot against St. Paul, wherein he narrowly escaped death.
The Jews were actually about to kill St. Paul when the soldiers came upon them. To this fact, Tertullus the orator, when speaking before the governor Felix, alludes, and that without rebuke, saying of St. Paul, "Whom we took, and would have judged according to our law." {Act_24:6} Here comes in our illustration of the Acts derived from modern archaeological research. Some few years ago there was discovered at Jerusalem, and there is now laid up in the Sultans Museum at Constantinople, a sculptured and inscribed stone, containing one of these very Greek notices upon which the Apostles must have looked, warning Gentiles not to enter within the sacred bounds, and denouncing against transgressors the penalty of death which the Jews sought to inflict upon St. Paul. Now it was just the same about the other details of the temple worship. Inside the sacred area the Jewish law was supreme, and Jewish penalties were enacted. In order, therefore, that the temple might be duly protected the priests watched in three places, and the Levites in twenty-one places, in addition to all their other duties connected with the offering of the sacrifices and the details of public worship. These guards discharged the duties of a sacred or temple police, and their captain was called the captain of the temple, or, as he is denominated in the Talmud, "The ruler of the mountain of the House."
Much confusion has, indeed, arisen concerning this official. He has been confounded, for instance, with the captain of the neighbouring fortress of Antonia. The Romans had erected a strong, square castle, with lofty walls, and towers at the four corners, just north of the temple, and connected with it by a covered way. One of these flanking towers was one hundred and five feet high, and overlooked all the temple area, so that when a riot began the soldiers could hurry to quell it. The captain of the garrison which held this tower is called, in our version, the chief captain, or, more properly, the chiliarch, or colonel of a regiment, as we should put it in modern phraseology. But this official had nothing whatever to say to questions of Jewish law or ritual. He was simply responsible for the peace of Jerusalem; he represented the governor, who lived at Caesarea, and had no concern with. the disputes which might arise amongst the Jews. But it was quite otherwise with the captain of the temple. He was a Jewish official, took cognisance of Jewish disputes, and was responsible in matters of Jewish discipline which Roman law respected and upheld, but in which it did not interfere. This purely Jewish official, a priest by profession, appointed by the Jewish authorities, and responsible to them alone, appears prominently on three distinct occasions. In the twenty-second of St. Lukes Gospel we have the account of the betrayal by the traitor Judas. When he was meditating that action he went first to the chief priests and the captains to consult with them. A Roman commander, an Italian, a Gaul, or possibly even a Briton, -as he might have been, for the Romans were accustomed to bring their Western legionaries into the East, as in turn they garrisoned Britain with the men of Syria, -would have cared very little whether a Galilean teacher was arrested or not. But it was quite natural that a Jewish and a temple official should have been interested in this question. While again on this occasion, and once more upon the arrest of the Apostles after the death of Ananias and Sapphira, the captain of the temple appears as one of the highest Jewish officials.
II. We see too the secret source whence the opposition to apostolic teaching arose. The priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them. The captain was roused into action by the Sadducees, who were mingled in the crowd, and heard the words of the Apostles proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ, "being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." It is noteworthy how perpetually the Sadducees appear as the special antagonists of Christianity during these earliest years. Our Lords denunciations of the Pharisees were so often repeated that we are apt to think of them as the leading opponents of Christianity during the apostolic age. And yet this is a mistake. There was an important difference between the Masters teaching and that of His disciples, which accounts for the changed character of the opposition. Our Lords teaching came specially into conflict with the Pharisees and their mode of thought. He denounced mere external worship, and asserted the spiritual and inner character of true religion. That was the great staple of His message. The Apostles, on the other hand, testified and enforced above everything else the risen, the glorified, and the continuous existence in the spirit world of the Man Christ Jesus. And thus they came into conflict with the central doctrine of Sadduceism which denied a future life. Hence at Jerusalem, at least, the Sadducees were ever the chief persecutors of the Apostles, while the Pharisees were favourable to Christianity, or at least neutral. At the meeting of the Sanhedrin of which we read in the fifth chapter, Gamaliel, a Pharisee, proposes the discharge of the imprisoned Apostles. In the twenty-third chapter, when St. Paul is placed before the same Sanhedrin the Pharisees take his side, while the Sadducees are his bitter opponents. We never read of a Sadducee embracing Christianity; while St. Paul, the greatest champion of the gospel, was gained from the ranks of the Pharisees. This fact sheds light on the character of the apostolic teaching. It was not any system of evanescent Christianity; it was not a system of mere ethical teaching; it was not a system where the facts of Christs life were whittled away, where, for instance, His resurrection was explained as a mere symbolical idea, typifying the resurrection of the soul from the death of sin to the life of holiness; for in that case the Sadducees would not have troubled themselves on this occasion to oppose such teaching. But apostolic Christianity was a system which based itself on a risen Saviour, and involved, as its fundamental ideas, the doctrines of a future life and of a spiritual world, and of a resurrection where body and soul would be again united.
Some strange representations have been from time to time put forward as to the nature of apostolic and specially of Pauline Christianity, but one of the strangest is what we may call the Matthew Arnold theory, which makes the apostolic teaching a poor, emasculated thing, devoid of any real foundation of historical fact. If Christianity, as proclaimed by St. Peter and St. Paul, was of this type, why, we ask, was it so bitterly opposed by the Sadducees? They at any rate understood the Apostles to teach and preach a Jesus Christ literally risen from the dead and ascended in the truth of human nature into that spiritual and unseen world whose existence they denied. For the Sadducees were materialists pure and simple. As such they prevailed among the rich. The poor, then as ever, furnished very few adherents to a creed which may satisfy persons who are enjoying the good things of this life. It has very few attractions, however, for those with whom life is dealing hardly, and to whom the world presents itself in a stern aspect alone. It is no wonder the new teaching concerning a risen Messiah should have excited the hatred of the rich Sadducees, and should have been welcomed by the poorer classes, among whom the Pharisees had their followers. The system of the Sadducees was a religion indeed. It satisfied a want, for man can never do without some kind of a religion. It recognised God and His revelation to Moses. It asserted, however, that the Mosaic revelation contained nothing concerning a future life, or the doctrine of immortality. It was a religion, therefore, without fear of a future, and which could never indeed excite any enthusiasm, but was very satisfactory and agreeable for the prosperous few as long as they were in prosperity and in health. Peter and John came preaching a very disturbing doctrine to this class of people. If Peters view of life was right, theirs was all wrong. It was no wonder that the Sadducees brought upon them the priests and the captain of the temple, and summoned the Sanhedrin to deal with them. We should have done the same had we been in their position. In every age, indeed, the bitterest persecutors of Christianity have been men like the Sadducees. It has often been said that persecution on the part of a sceptic or of an unbeliever is illogical. The Sadducees were unbelievers as regards a future life. What matter to them was it, then, if the Apostles preached a future life, and convinced the people of its truth? But logic is always pushed impetuously aside when it comes in contact with deep-rooted human feeling, and the Sadducees instinctively felt that the conflict between themselves and the Apostles was a deadly one; one or other party must perish. And so it was under the Roman empire. The ruling classes of the empire were essentially infidel, or, to use a modern term, we should rather perhaps style them agnostic. They regarded the Christian teaching as a noxious enthusiasm. They could not understand why Christians should not offer incense to the deity of the emperor, or perform any act of idolatry which was commanded by state law, and regarded their refusal as an act of treason. They had no idea of conscience, because they were essentially like the Sadducees. So was it again in the days of the first French Revolution, and so we find it still. The men who reject all spiritual existence, and hold a Sadducean creed, fear the power of Christian enthusiasm and Christian love, and had they only the power would crush it as sternly and remorselessly as the Sadducees desired to do in Apostolic times, or as the Roman emperors did from the days of Nero to those of Diocletian.
III. The Apostles were arrested in the evening and put in prison. The temple had an abundance of chambers and apartments which could be used as prisons, or, as the Sanhedrin were accustomed to sit in a basilica erected in the court outside the Beautiful Gate, and inside Solomons porch or cloister, there was probably a cell for prisoners connected with it. The next morning St. Peter and St. John were brought up before the court which met daily in this basilica, immediately after the hour of the morning sacrifices. We can realise the scene, for the persons mentioned as having taken part in the trial are historical characters. The Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle, with the president in the centre, while opposite were three benches for the scholars of the Sanhedrists, who thus practically learned law. The Sanhedrin, when complete, consisted of seventy-one members, comprising chief priests, the elders of the people, and the most renowned of the rabbis; but twenty-three formed a quorum competent to transact business. The high priest when present, as Annas and Caiaphas both were on this occasion, naturally exercised great influence, though he was not necessarily president of the council. The sacred writer has been accused, indeed, of a historical mistake, both here and in his Gospel, {Joh_3:2} in making Annas high priest when Caiaphas was actually occupying that office, Annas, his father-in-law, having been previously deposed by the Romans. St. Luke seems to me, on the other hand, thus to prove his strict accuracy. Caiaphas was of course the legal high priest so far as the Romans were concerned. They recognised him as such, and delivered to him the high priests official robes, when necessary for the fulfilment of his great office, keeping them safe at other times in the tower of Antonia. But then, as I have already said, so long as the Roman law and constitutions were observed on great state occasions, they allowed the Jews a large amount of Home Rule in the management of their domestic religious concerns, and were not keen in marking offences, if only the offences were not thrust into public notice. Annas was recognised by the Sanhedrin and by the Jews at large as the true high priest, Caiaphas as the legal or official one; and they kept themselves on the safe side, as far as the Romans were concerned, by uniting them in their official consultations in the Sanhedrin. The Sadducees, doubtless, on this occasion made every effort that their own party should attend the council meeting, feeling the importance of crushing the rising sect in the very bud. We read, therefore, that with the high priest came "John and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest." The priestly families were at this period the aristocracy of the Jews, and they all belonged to the Sadducees, in opposition to the democracy, who favoured the Pharisees. These latter, indeed, had their own representatives in the Sanhedrin, as we shall see on a later occasion, -men of light and leading, like Gamaliel; but the permanent officials of the Jewish senate were for the most part Sadducees, and we know how easily the permanent officials can pack a popular body, such as the Sanhedrin was, with their own adherents, when any special end is to be attained.
It was before such a hostile audience that the Apostles were now called to witness, and here they first proved the power of the Divine words, "When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak." {Mat_10:19} St. Peter threw himself upon God, and found that his trust was not in vain. He was at the moment of need filled with the Holy Ghost, and enabled to testify with a power which defeated his determined foes. He had a special promise from the Master, and he acted upon it. But we must observe that this promise was a special one, limited to the Apostles and to those in every age placed in similar circumstances. This promise is no general one. It was given to the Apostles to free them from care, anxiety, and forethought as to the matter and form of the addresses which they should deliver when suddenly called to speak before assemblies like the Sanhedrin. Under such circumstances they would have no time to prepare speeches suitable for ears trained in all the arts of oratory as then practised amongst the ancients, whether Jews or Gentiles. So their Master gave them an assurance of strength and skill such as none of their adversaries could equal or resist. "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." This promise has been, however, misunderstood and abused when applied to ordinary circumstances. It was good for the Apostles, and it is good for Christian men placed under similar conditions, persecuted for the sake of their testimony, and deprived of the ordinary means of preparation. But it is not a promise authorising Christian teachers, clerical or lay, to dispense with careful thought and industrious study when communicating the truths of Christianity, or applying the great principles contained in the Bible to the manifold circumstances of modern life. Christ certainly told the Apostles not to premeditate beforehand what they should say. When relying, however, upon the promises of God, we should carefully seek to ascertain how far they are limited, and how far they apply to ourselves; else we may be putting our trust in words upon which we have no right to depend. A presumptuous trust is next door to an act of rebellion, and has often led to unbelief. Our Lord said to the Apostles, "Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses," because He would provide for them; but He did not say so to us, and if we go out into life presumptuously relying upon a passage of Scripture that does not belong to us, unbelief may overtake us as a strong man armed when we find ourselves disappointed. And so, too, with this promise of supernatural guidance which the Apostles enjoyed, and which saints of every age have proved true when placed in similar circumstances; it is a special one for them, it does not apply to us. Christian teachers, whether in the pulpit, or the Sunday school, or the home circle, must still depend as completely as the Apostles did upon the Holy Ghost as the source of all successful teaching. But in the case of the Apostles the inspiration was immediate and direct. In the case of ordinary Christians like ourselves, placed amid all the helps which Gods providence gives, we must use study, thought, meditation, prayer, experience of life, as channels through which the same inspiration is conveyed to us. The Society of Friends, when George Fox established it, testified on behalf of a great truth when it aserted that the Holy Ghost dwelt still, as in apostolic times, in the whole body of the Church, and spake still through the experience of Christian people. Their testimony was a great truth and a much-needed one in the middle of the seventeenth century, when Churchmen were in danger of turning religion into a great machine of state police, such as the Greek Church became under the earlier Christian emperors, and when Puritans were inclined to smother all religious enthusiasm beneath their intense zeal for cold, rigid scholastic dogmas and confessions of faith. The early Friends came proclaiming a Divine power still present, a Church of God still energised and inspired as of old, and it was a revelation for many an earnest soul. But they made a great mistake, and pushed a great truth to a pernicious extreme, when they taught that this inspiration was inconsistent with forethought and study on the part of their teachers as to the substance and character of their public ministrations. The Society of Friends teaches that men should speak forth to their assemblies just what the Holy Ghost reveals on the spot, without any effort on their own part, such as meditation and study involve. They have acted without a promise, and they have fared accordingly. That Society has been noted for its philanthropy, for the peaceful, gentle lives of its members; but it has not been noted for expository power, and its public teachers have held but a low place among those well-instructed scribes who bring forth out of Gods treasures things new and old.
Expositors of Scripture, teachers of Divine truth, whether in the public congregation or in a Sunday-school class, must prepare themselves by thought, study, and prayer; then, having made the way of the Lord clear, and removed the hindrances which barred His path, we may humbly trust that the Holy Ghost will speak by us and through us, because we honour Him by our self-denial, and cease to offer burnt sacrifices unto the Lord of that which cost us nothing.
IV. The address of St. Peter to the Sanhedrin is marked by the same characteristics as we find in those directed to the people. It is kindly, for though the Apostles could speak sternly and severely, just as their Master did at times, yet they have left in this special direction an example to public speakers and public teachers of truth in every age. They strove first of all to put themselves in sympathy as much as possible with their audience. They did not despise the art of the rhetorician which teaches a speaker to begin by conciliating the good feelings of his audience towards himself. To the people St. Peter began, "Ye men of Israel"; he recognises their cherished privileges, as well as their sacred memories, -"Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers." To the bitterly hostile audience of the Sanhedrin, where the Sadducees largely predominated, Peters exordium is profoundly respectful and courteous, "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel." The Apostles and the earliest Evangelists did not despise human feelings or outrage human sentiment when setting out to preach Christ crucified. We have known men so wrong-headed that they were never happy unless their efforts to do good or spread their peculiar opinions eventuated in a riot. When evangelistic work or any kind of attempt to spread opinions evokes violent opposition, that very opposition often arises from the injudicious conduct of the promoters; and then when the opposition is once evoked or a riot caused, charity departs, passion and violent feelings are aroused, and all hope of good evaporates for the time. There was profound practical wisdom in that command of our Lord to His Apostles, "When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another," Even taking the matter only from the standpoint of a man anxious to spread his peculiar sentiments.
The Apostles address was kindly, but it was plain-spoken. The Sanhedrin were sitting as a board of inquisitors. They did not deny the miracle which had been wrought. We are scarcely fit judges of the attitude of mind occupied by an Eastern, specially by an Eastern Jew of those earlier ages, when confronted with a miracle. He did not deny the facts brought under his notice. He was too well acquainted with magic and the strange performances of its professors to do so. He merely inquired as to the sources of the power, whether they were Divine or diabolical. "By what power or by what name have ye done this?" was a very natural inquiry in the mouth of an ecclesiastical body such as the Sanhedrin was. It was disturbed by facts, for which no explanation such as their philosophy furnished could account. It was upset in its calculations just as, to this day, the performances of Indian jugglers or the weird wonders of hypnotism upset the calculations of the hard, narrow man who has restricted all his investigations to some one special branch of science, and has so contracted his horizon that he thinks there is nothing in heaven or in earth which his philosophy cannot explain. We should mark the expression, "By what name have ye done this?" for it gives us a glimpse into Jewish life and practice. The Jews were accustomed in their incantations to use several kinds of names; sometimes those of patriarchs, sometimes the name of Solomon, and sometimes that of the Eternal Jehovah Himself. Of late years vast quantities of Jewish and Gnostic manuscripts have come to light in Egypt and Syria containing various titles and forms used by the Jewish magicians and the earlier Christian heretics, who were largely imbued with Jewish notions. It is quite in keeping with what we know of the spirit of the age from other sources that the Sanhedrin should ask, "By what power or by what name have ye done this?" While again, when we turn to the book of the Acts of the Apostles itself we find an illustration of the councils inquiry in the celebrated case of the seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish priest at Ephesus, who strove to use for their own magical purposes the Divine name of Jesus Christ, and suffered for their temerity. St. Peters reply to the question of the court proves that the Christian Church adopted in all its Divine offices, whether in the working of miracles then or of baptism and of ordination, as still, the invocation of the Sacred Name, after the Jewish model. The Church still baptises and ordains in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Christ Himself had adopted the formula for baptism, and the Church has extended it to ordination, pleading thus before God and man alike the Divine power by which alone St. Peter healed the cripple, and the Church sends forth its ministers to carry on Christs work in the world.
St. Peters address was, as we have already said, very kindly, but very bold and plain-spoken in setting forth the power of Christs name. He had learnt by his Jewish training the tremendous importance and solemnity of names. Moses at the bush would know Gods name before he went as His messenger to the captive Israelites. On Sinai God Himself had placed reverence towards His name as one of the fundamental truths of religion. Prophet and psalmist had conspired together to teach St. Peter that holy and reverend was the name of God, and to impress upon him thus the power and meaning which lies in Christs name, and indeed in all names, though names are things we count so trifling. St. Peter dwells upon this point all through his addresses. To the people he had said, "His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong." To the rulers it was the same. It was "by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, this man doth stand here before you whole." "There is none other name under heaven whereby we must be saved." The Sanhedrin understand the importance of this point, and tell the Apostles they must not teach in this name. St. Peter pointedly refuses, and prays, when come to his own company, "that wonders may be done through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus."
St. Peter realised the sanctity and the power of Gods name, whether revealed in its ancient form of Jehovah or its New Testament form of Jesus Christ. Well would it be if the same Divine reverence found a larger place amongst ourselves. Irreverence towards the sacred name is far too prevalent; and even when men do not use Gods name in a profane Way, there is too much lightness in the manner in which even religious men permit themselves to utter that name which is the expression to man of supreme holiness, -"God bless us," "Lord help us and save." How constantly do even pious people garnish their conversations and their epistles with such phrases or with the symbols D. V, without any real feeling that they are thereby appealing to Him who was and is and is to come, the Eternal. The name of God is still holy as of old, and the name of Jesus is still powerful to calm and soothe and bless as of old, and Christian people should sanctify those great names in their conversation with the world.
St. Peter was bold because he was daily comprehending more and more of the meaning of Christs work and mission, was gaining a clearer insight into the dignity of His person and was experiencing in himself the truth of His supernatural promises. How could a man help being bold, who felt the Spirits power within, and really held with intense belief that there was salvation in none other save Christ? Personal experience of religion alone can impart strength and courage and boldness to endure, to suffer, and to testify. St. Peter was exclusive in his views. He would not have suited those easygoing souls who now think one religion just as good as another, and consequently do not regard it as of the slightest moment whether a man be a follower of Christ or of Mahomet. The earliest Christians had none of this diluted faith. They believed that as there was only one God, so there was only one Mediator between God and man, and they realised the tremendous importance of preaching this Mediator. The Apostles, however, must be cleared from a misconstruction under which they have at times suffered. St. Peter proclaims Christ to the Sanhedrin as the only means of salvation. In his address to Cornelius the centurion of Caesarea, he declares that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him. These passages and these two declarations appear inconsistent. Their inconsistency is only superficial, however, as Bishop Burnet has well explained in his exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles, a book not read very much in these times. St. Peter taught exclusive salvation through Christ. Christ is the only means, the only channel and way by which God confers salvation. Christs work is the one meritorious cause which gains spiritual blessing for man. But then, while there is salvation only in Christ, many persons may be saved by Christ who know not of Him consciously; else what shall we say or think about infants and idiots? It is only by Christ and through Christ and for His sake that any soul can be saved. He is the only door of salvation, He is the way as well as the truth and the life. But then it is not for us to pronounce how far the saving merits of Christ may be applied and His saving power extend. St. Peter knew and taught that Jesus Christ was the one Mediator, and that by His name alone salvation could be obtained. Yet he did not hesitate to declare as regards Cornelius the centurion, that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him. It ought to be sufficient for us, as it was for the Apostles, to believe that the knowledge of Christ is life eternal, while satisfied to leave all other problems in the hands of Eternal Love.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, 21, 23 1. As they spake. Peter and John were both…
1. As they spake. Peter and John were both speaking, to separate groups probably. The priests. Those of the course then on duty in the temple. See notes on Luke 1:5. The captain of the temple. The head of the temple police, who were composed of Levites, and whose duty it was to guard the sacred precincts. See Luke 22:4. And the Sadducees. See notes on Matt. 3:7 and Matt. 22:23. They were rationalists, and denied the resurrection of the dead. Annas and Caiaphas, the ex-high priest and the acting high priest, were of the sect, and hence, though the sect was not numerous, it was now very powerful.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 13, 23 Act_4:1. As they spake.—Lit., they, the apostles, either Peter…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_4:1. As they spake.—Lit., they, the apostles, either Peter for John or John with Peter speaking. The discourse was probably interrupted after the utterance of the preceding words. The priests.—I.e., those who had been at the time officiating in the temple. The captain of the temple.—The priestly commandant of the Levitical troops, whose business it was to preserve order in the sacred edifice (Luk_22:4). The Sadducees.—The rival sect to the Pharisees had taken a foremost part in persecuting Christ (Mat_16:1; Mat_22:23; Mat_22:34), and were now most probably the instigators of this movement against the apostles, as they were of a later (Act_5:17).
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Act_4:2. Through, or in, Jesus.—I.e., in the fact of His resurrection, in His personal example. The resurrection from the dead.—A tenet denied by the Sadducees (Act_23:8).
Act_4:3. It was now eventide.—When no judicial examination could take place.
Act_4:4. Men.—Most likely including (Hackett, Spence), though, according to others (Meyer, Stier, Plumptre), excluding women. About five thousand.—The number of the new converts (Stier), or better, of disciples altogether in Jerusalem (Alford, Hackett, Holtzmann, Plumptre).
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_4:1-4
The Apostles in Gad; or, the First Taste of Persecution
I. The time.—
1. While exhorting the people. At the very moment when their usefulness appeared to be at its height, when their words seemed to be effecting an entrance into the hearts of their hearers, they were apprehended. Verily, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.” One would have expected that the hand of Providence would have kept the adversaries’ movements in check, at least till Peter’s sermon was closed; but no; Peter’s enemies were allowed the freest scope to carry out their malignant designs. Divine wisdom is perfectly able to outwit the cleverest of man’s machinations, and cause man’s wrath to praise Him, and therefore never needs to be in a hurry either to hinder man’s projects or thwart his purposes.
2. At eventide. When Peter’s sermon must in any case have before long been brought to a termination, and when it was too late for him and John to be put on trial before the Sanhedrim; so that, on the one hand, Peter’s hearers had received the most of what he purposed saying, and, on the other hand, Peter himself, with John, had leisure to reflect upon the situation before being called into court to answer for their misdemeanour. There is always some mitigation, even in the worst lot.
II. The agents.—
1. The priests. Those engaged at the time in the Temple, the division into twenty-four orders originally made by David (1Ch_24:3; 2Ch_8:14) having been revived after the exile. If the Feast of Pentecost had not yet terminated, a larger number than usual of these religious officers may have been present on this occasion. A pitiful mistake it is when ministers of religion leave their proper work to become instigators of persecution. This unfortunately they have often done.
2. The captain of the Temple. Not the Roman officer who kept guard at the Tower of Antonia, near by, but the priestly commandant of the Levitical troops, whose business it was to preserve order about the sacred edifice (compare Jos., Wars, VI. Act_4:3). Though the captain little thought of it, what looked to him like disorder was in accordance with the highest order of the Temple. It is not safe to judge according to appearances.
3. The Sadducees. The rivals of the Pharisees, properly the rationalists of the day (Act_23:8). From the first bitter enemies of Jesus (Mat_16:1; Mat_16:6; Mat_16:12; Mat_22:23), these were most likely the prime movers in this hostile action against the two apostles. The men who killed Christ were not likely to be scrupulous in consigning His disciples to gaol.
III. The motives.—Twofold. Indignation at the apostles for—
1. Teaching the people. Strange that the priests should have been sore troubled at the apostles for doing what they themselves should have done—“the priests’ lips should keep knowledge” (Mal_2:7)—but possibly the consciousness of neglected duty had rendered them uneasy. That the Sadducees should have objected to the education of the vulgar crowd, whom they despised as the “scum” of the world’s population, was not surprising. The Temple commandant presumably shared the prejudices of the official class to which he belonged.
2. Promulgating the doctrine of a resurrection.—This was the head and front of the apostles’ offence in the eyes of the Sadducees. To preach that Jesus, whom they had hunted to death, was risen, and that all who believed on Him should eventually rise like Him and by virtue of His power, was to lay the axe at the root of their favourite dogma, that this life was the whole of man’s existence. Such preaching was of course an outrage upon their superior wisdom.
IV. The consequence.—
1. The apostles were imprisoned. Their liberty was for the first time abridged. No such experience had befallen them prior to the crucifixion. They had seen their Master’s forerunner (Luk_3:20) consigned to a dungeon, and Peter at least had professed his readiness to follow Christ to prison and to death (Luk_22:33). Now, for the first time, they knew what it signified to languish within prison walls. How they spent their first night in gaol is not recorded. Perhaps, like Paul and Silas, they prayed and sang hymns to God, “who giveth songs in the night” (Job_35:10), and of whom it is written, “He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary … to hear the groaning of the prisoner,” etc. (Psa_102:19-20).
2. The people believed. The most foolish thing in the world is to expect to hinder any cause, and least of all a good one, by means of persecution. So many received the word that afternoon that the number of believers (men and women) swelled to five thousand souls. The experience of Israel in Egypt was repeated in the history of the Christian Church (Exo_1:12).
Learn.—
1. That what seems a hindrance often turns out a help to the gospel. 2 That that religion condemns itself which opposes the education of the people. 3 That that religion is worthless as well as false which has nothing to say about a resurrection.
4. That rationalism never will satisfy the deepest instincts of the heart.
5. That Christ’s enemies are always clever at outwitting themselves.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_4:2. Troubles of Unbelievers.—Like the priests, the captain, and the Sadducees, many moderns are sore grieved—
I. At the exaltation of Jesus.—They would be much more comfortable were they sure that He was only a man crucified and buried.
II. At the preaching of a resurrection.—They can see well that if Christ is risen they are wrong in their opinions, and in danger of the judgment.
II. At the progress of Christianity.—Having so often and so confidently affirmed that Christianity was a decaying religion, if not already obsolete, it annoys them to see their predictions turned to foolishness.
Act_4:3. Troubles of Christ’s Servants.
I. Severe, but not more so than were those of Christ. Like the apostles, Christ was arrested; but, unlike them, who were only committed to prison and afterwards liberated, He was hurried from the garden to the hall of judgment, and thence to the place of doom.
II. Undeserved, but not more so than those of Christ. The apostles were put in prison for doing good; Christ was nailed to the cross for seeking the salvation of a lost world. The apostles suffered while innocent of any crime; Christ was numbered with transgressors, though without sin.
III. Expected, but not more so than were those of Christ. The apostles must have known that opposition and persecution would await them the moment they stepped forth to advocate the cause of their Crucified and Risen Lord (Joh_16:2); but Christ’s sufferings and death were foreseen by Him from the first (Mat_9:15; Mat_16:21).
IV. Futile, but not more so than were those of Christ. They came too late to impede the triumph of the gospel; and Christ’s sufferings were too late to hinder the successful accomplishment of His design—the salvation of the world.
The Opposition of the Jewish Leaders.—
I. Why it began when it did. Why commenced it not on the Day of Pentecost? Perhaps—
1. Because they were then too much occupied with the festivities of the time.
2. Because the popular enthusiasm aroused by the apostles was too great.
3. Because the task of apprehending one hundred and twenty people without previous preparation would have been a somewhat formidable task.
II. Why it was prompted as it was.—By the healing of the lame man, and not by the preaching at Pentecost. Probably because—
1. They realised that the miracle would be more influential among the populace than the sermon.
2. They saw that the miracle confirmed what report said had taken place at Pentecost.
3. They feared that the miracle might authenticate the story of Christ’s resurrection.
III. Why it took the form that it did.—Why, instead of offering violence to the apostles, they did not expose the deception contained in the so-called miracle, and refute the errors propounded in the teaching of the apostles? Answer—
1. Because they knew well that they could do neither the one thing nor the other.
2. Because they understood that force was more convincing than argument.
3. Because the isolation of the two apostles afforded them an excellent opportunity for using the strong hand.
Act_4:4. Hearing and Believing.
I. Hearing must precede believing, otherwise believing will be
(1) unenlightened and
(2) unavailing, if not
(3) impossible.
II. Believing ought to follow hearing, else hearing
(1) will not save, but
(2) will increase guilt, and
(3) result in hardening.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 11, 13, 15, 19, 23 1-3. Here we find Peter is interrupted in the…
APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION
1-3. Here we find Peter is interrupted in the midst of this glorious sermon by the priests and the captain of the Levitical temple guards and the Sadducees, the most wealthy and consequently influential sect of the Jewish church, though quite heterodoxical in their theology, and even rationalistic in their teaching; so here, while the multitude are spell-bound and edified by the truth, Peter preached. The anti-holiness preachers and the carnal men of wealth and influence constituting the official board can stand it no longer. Consequently, with the acquiescence of the Romans, who are willing to purchase Jewish favor with the persecution of the poor Nazarenes, they break up this precious meeting by an open assault on the preachers, laying violent hands on them and incarcerating them in prison. A world-wide controversy has rolled down the ages ever since the Constantinian apostasy, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and many others disputing over the apostolical succession, each party claiming to have it to the exclusion of all the rest. Now, behold the scene! Platoons of theologians, with plug hats, pigeon-tail coats and toothpick shoes, cigars in their mouths, rings on their fingers and golden-headed canes in their hands, all disputing with each other over the apostolical succession, each party claiming to have it and ostracizing and anathematizing all the balance. The Bible is a plain book. Why will intelligent, educated men thus stultify themselves, becoming laughing-stocks for devils? Now with an open Bible you have nothing to do but read the plain record and here see the apostolical succession. The way the apostles went is open and free for all. You have nothing to do but walk in their footprints. They first received a clear conversion, the Savior Himself assuring them that their names were written in heaven. Then after a ten days’ prayer meeting they were gloriously baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, and thus sanctified wholly; then beneath the burning sun [for there never was a Christian church built till A. D. 150] they preached all day amid roaring mobs, preachers mad because they preached holiness, stirring the rabble and interrupting them, and finally to spend the night in jail. So you see clearly the way of apostolical succession. Your experiences, your ministry and your life must be like those of the apostles; otherwise your claim to succession is farcical and false. Good Lord, help us to read our Bibles and learn some sense. Now, take all these clamorous and disputatious claimants to the apostolical succession who have racked the church with controversy the last fifteen hundred years. Do you not see the silly nonsense and the ridiculous falsity of the whole matter? The succession is free to all who will receive it. It leads through the crucible, regeneration, Pentecost of fiery baptism street-preaching all day amid rocks, mud, clubs, eggs, mad preachers and church officers, and a jail to sleep in at night. So these big preachers that have been quarreling over it these last fifteen hundred years can all have it. But there is the trouble — they don’t want it. They will not have it. Then why not quit their nonsense?
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Act 4:1-2
Act 4:1-2
In this verse we find, in simple words, the true philosophy of all persecution.
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I. The authorities were offended because the Apostles taught. (1) They considered that the Apostles were not personally qualified to discharge the important duties of public teachers. Human nature is ever the same. The priests are still grieved that men who are no scholars should undertake to decide what is truth and what is error. (2) The authorities were further of opinion that the Apostles were not only disqualified educationally, but that they had no official right to teach. The priests claimed an exclusive right to teach. This, however, had not always been the case in Jewry. The rights and ceremonies of religion only had been deposited in the safe keeping of the priests; the teaching of the people was entrusted principally to the prophets. When prophecy died out, the priests assumed the functions of the prophets, and, at length, came to look upon themselves as the only rightful teachers of the nation.
II. The authorities were offended because the Apostles taught the people. (1) Some felt grieved on personal considerations; for the Apostles, labouring to enlighten and convert the people were undermining the power of the priests. (2) Others felt annoyed on ecclesiastical grounds. (3) Others felt annoyed on civil grounds.
III. The authorities were enraged with the character of the Apostles’ teaching. (1) It reflected deep discredit on the tribunals of the nation. (2) Their teaching, moreover, was new, and the Pharisees were very much in love with the old. (3) Their teaching flatly contradicted that of an influential section of the hierarchy. The Sadducees felt aggrieved that they should preach "by the example of Jesus the resurrection from the dead." But the imprisonment of the Apostles did not check the mighty progress of the Gospel. Rather did it help it forward. Times of persecution are generally times of much spiritual prosperity.
J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Acts, p. 70.
Act 4:1-22
Look at this passage: (1) from the side of the Jewish leaders; (2) from the side of the Apostles.
I. On the side of the Jewish leaders there was (1) illiberality; (2) shortsightedness; (3) impotence.
II. On the side of the Apostles there was (1) complete intelligence within the sphere of their ministry; (2) unconquerable courage in narrating and applying facts; (3) Christian magnanimity in preaching the Gospel; (4) incorruptible loyalty to God and to His truth.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 121.
References: Act 4:1-22.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 10. Act 4:1-31.—J. Oswald Dykes, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 449.
Act 4:2
Apostolic Teaching
I. The Apostles taught. (1) Christianity is an educator of men; it teaches them to think. That is the meaning of the word "educate"—to lead out the mind, to develop its dormant faculties. And this the Gospel is eminently calculated to do. It stimulates the human mind wherever it goes. (2) Christianity teaches men to know. That is the meaning of the word "instruct"—to pile up in the mind the proper materials of knowledge. Christianity is aptly described as a revelation; that is, it brought Divine verities within the sweep of our intellectual vision, verities which before lay inaccessible to us. (3) Thinking answers not its paramount purpose, except as it leads to knowing; and Christianity, as a system of instruction, conjoins thinking and knowing, thereby fulfilling our idea of teaching.
II. They taught the people. Keen students of history, sacred and profane, are able to discern two stages in religion. (1) The first is that in which is awakened within us reverence for the High—worship of that which is above us. This was the goal of Jewish culture—profound reverence for the High. (2) Christianity teaches us to reverence not only that which is above us, but also that which is under us. The Gospel has been preached to the poor. (3) Christianity cultivates reverence for the High and reverence for the Low. "They taught the people."
III. They preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. (1) They preached the fact of the resurrection. (2) They preached the doctrine of the resurrection. (3) Thus their doctrine was much in advance of the highest Gentile and Jewish teaching. The truth, which is only sparingly revealed in the Jewish Scriptures, and feebly apprehended by half a dozen eminent saints, shines upon us from every chapter of the New Testament, and is the common property of every believer.
J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Acts, p. 90.
References: Act 4:5-7.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 155. Act 4:7-10.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 147. Act 4:7-20.—A. B. Bruce, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. ii., p. 458. Act 4:8-12.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 156.
Act 4:12
I. St. Peter here makes a positive assertion. He says that Jesus Christ—His name—that is, Himself, brings salvation. It is natural for us to ask, What kind of salvation? Salvation was already a consecrated word in the language of Israel. It meant very generally the deliverance of Israel from outward and inward enemies; it meant very frequently the deliverance of Israel as a whole; it meant especially national salvation. The political salvation implied, as in the last result it always does, a moral and spiritual salvation. The outward deliverance necessitated an inward one, and the only Saviour who could deal with the thoughts and wills of men, who could begin really from within, was He who had just now, though invisibly, healed the cripple. Israel must be saved by Him, or it would perish. And thus we are led on to perceive an unspeakably deeper sense of the Apostle’s words. Salvation really means here—it can mean no less—the saving from moral ruin and death of the separate souls of men.
II. Salvation in this sense was, it is plain, no monopoly of Israel. What in the world was Israel that it should claim the whole power of the saving name? The final, the absolute religion, could not but be—it lay in the nature of things—universal. The question of the Gentiles had not yet been raised as it was raised a few years later, but there was behind the Apostles the broad commission of Christ to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. And in this sense the word "salvation" has all the meaning for you and for me that it had for St. Peter and the first Christians.
III. But the Apostle adds, "Neither is there salvation in any other." When we affirm that Christianity alone can save, we do not deny that other agencies beside Christianity may improve mankind. But such influences are bounded by the horizon of time; they have no effects in the great hereafter. At least, they do not save us. They are not opponents of the Church of Christ; they are not even her rivals. They move in a totally different sphere of action. They only embellish our outward life; they leave our real soul, our real self, untouched. The question which will alone interest every one of us a short century hence, when other human beings have taken our places, and we have passed away, will not be whether, during this short span of life, we have been improved, but whether we have been saved. There can be no doubt that this conviction was in the first days of Christianity, and has been since, a great motive power in urging devoted men to spread the religion of their Master; a motive only second in its power to the impulsive force of the love of Christ.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 658.
There are four things in the text commanding attention
I. Salvation. To be saved from ignorance, folly, vain imaginations, an evil heart, a rebellious will, an evil conscience, a damaged character, the dominion and presence of sin, the position of the guilty, and from the punishment of evil-doers; to be sustained in this life’s sorrows, and to have them sanctified; to be able to triumph over death and the grave; to be forgiven—restored, regenerated, and sanctified; to escape perdition, and to inherit heaven—is, so far as words can reveal it, the whole of salvation. This God promised at the beginning, this God has provided, and this we offer you in the preaching of the Gospel.
II. Salvation in a Person. To be saved by a Saviour. (1) This shows our weakness, and in our weakness we see our wretchedness. The evil which afflicts us is such that we require a personal Redeemer. (2) This arrangement removes all cause of boasting from the saved. (3) This arrangement places the redeemed under special obligations. (4) It renders the actual work of Salvation a service of sympathy and love.
III. Look at Salvation in a Person made known. God has given this name of Jesus—given it in writing to be read, given it by preaching to be heard, given it Himself that it may never be forgotten and that it may be above every name, given it among men that men may read, hear it, learn and repeat it, and incorporate it with their prayers and their songs, and that it may become as familiar in their mouths as any household word.
IV. Look at the fact that the dispensation of salvation is limited to that Person. It would be interesting to inquire into the causes of other names and things being put forward. Perhaps the chief cause is pride. We shrink from the practical acknowledgment of entire and absolute dependence upon the grace of God for our redemption; we despise the simplicity of faith, or we are not prepared to follow after holiness. But, however that may be, "neither is there salvation in any other."
S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass, p. 225.
References: Act 4:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 209; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 159; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons in Marlborough College, p. 352; Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 108; S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass, p. 194; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Marlborough College, p. 352.
Act 4:13
I. We must be with Jesus, if we would bear a good testimony for Him in the presence of the world. To have heard of Him, to have read of Him, is not enough: we must be with Him; walk with Him in a consenting will, love Him as having first loved us, be joined to him in one spirit. Thus alone can consistent testimony be borne to Him by His people. They who have been with Jesus fear not the pomp, nor the scoffs, nor the threats of men.
II. But we stand not merely in the presence of foes without, we have other and more powerful foes within. Many a man could bear testimony for Christ, before a world in arms, who yet is hushed into ignominious silence in the council chamber of his own heart. Would you find a remedy for this? Would you uplift the spiritual part of a man, so that it may give bold testimony for Christ within him, assert Christian motives, press Christian rules of action, put forward Christ as His pattern? Then must that man be with Jesus; Christ must dwell in that heart by faith. Till that is so, while Christ is absent, heard of, read of, talked of, but not present, there will be no testimony at the heart’s fountain, no Christ in the thoughts, words, actions.
III. Yet again, we all have to grapple with sorrows. Ere we have gone on long in life, they stand thick around us: hopes betrayed, fears realised, joys dashed with bitterness—these are every man’s companions by the way. Would you arm the man for a successful conflict with adversity? Would you enable him to bear a consistent testimony in the presence of sorrow? Once more, he must be with Jesus. Here, above all, he requires his Saviour’s presence.
IV. There will come a day when each one will be called on to wrestle with the last foe; to bear in the presence of his past life, and in the presence of those who are to outlive him, his witness to Christ. Would we meet death fearless, and in humble assurance that we have a part in One who has robbed him of his terrors? There is but one way, and that way is to have been with Jesus during our lives here.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. ii., p. 77.
References: Act 4:13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i., No. 21; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 42; J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 280; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., pp. 81, 82; vol. iv., p. 276; vol. vii., p. 65; Homilist, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 98. Act 4:13-18.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 157. Act 4:14.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 180. Act 4:19.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 200. Act 4:19, Act 4:20.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 159; C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 149.
Act 4:20
There are two spiritual facts here presented to us: (1) that the true Christian has heard from heaven what is worth repeating, and (2) that the Spirit of Faith prompts the Christian to repeat what he has heard.
I. Notice the order in which religious belief and religious speech are here placed. We have heard; and we cannot but speak. This order has been reversed, and much mischief has been the result. Men have been trained to speak before they have believed. Faith comes by hearing—faith grows by listening—doubts are dispersed by waiting, and enquiry. False speech, hasty speech, make such Christians, if you please to call them Christians, as Ananias and Sapphira, and even Simon Magus; but quiet hearing and listening make such Christians as Peter, and John, and Paul. Let us speak that we believe; but let us first believe and then speak.
II. But while it is of the nature of faith to incline to speech, that testimony which is the object of Christian speech, exerts the same influence. For what is it that the Christian has heard. He has heard faithful sayings worthy of acceptation, words of salvation, words of life, words of God; the word of God to our fallen and perishing world. Its utility, its wonderfulness, the goodwill to man that it induces, the believer’s own conscious obligation to the Gospel, all move him to speak. If the Christian history appeared to Him a fable, seriousness might bid him hold his peace; if the Christian doctrine were doubtful, integrity will command silence, but we say that the tendency of the believer’s faith in the Gospel is to move him to speak.
III. And beside the inward impulse, there is an external demand for honest, enlightened and seasonable Christian speech. The disciple of Christ believes that which multitudes around him have not heard: and as he detects, by many symptoms, their ignorance, the spirit of faith saith, "Inform them—speak." To what shall we liken the Christian in the midst of an ignorant community? He is like a fountain in the desert, he is like a beacon on a dangerous coast; he is like his Master when surrounded by a multitude of the sick and needy in Palestine. For sin in all its forms the Christian knows a remedy and has a remedy. Then keep not silence about it; but of it intelligently, lovingly, earnestly, but seasonably, speak.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Sermons, 1st series, p. 69.
References: Act 4:21, Act 4:22.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 161. Act 4:23.—Parker, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. i., p. 303.
Act 4:23-37
I. The whole Church is interested in the proceedings of its individual members.
II. The right method of treating opposition to the Kingdom of Christ.
III. The spiritual and social results which follow the right acceptance of service and suffering.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 122.
References: Act 4:23-37.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 73. Act 4:24.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 202. Act 4:27.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 374. Act 4:28.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 201.
Act 4:30
The Child Christ
I. The day which beheld our Lord in the Temple among the doctors was no doubt the close of a wondering and inquiring time. I conceive of that moment that it gave point and purpose to a long series of internal questions and wondering visions. Here, I conceive, He was attempting to unseal the meaning of His own mission; and can we not conceive how, as the Eternal Wisdom spoke through Him, He would perplex the lawyers; and, perhaps, even compel some with wonder to exclaim—"A greater than Moses is here." One conceives the embarrassment of the learned doctors, the masters of tradition, before the Divine simplicity of the Holy Child Jesus.
II. But it was very significant that it was after this eventful period in the Temple that we read more expressly of the humiliation of the Child Christ. "He went down into Nazareth with His parents, and was subject unto them." It is easy to see that, as gradually He was putting off His childhood, He was putting off His happiness. To become conscious is to become unhappy. Christ, I conceive, bade farewell to the enjoyment of life after that visit to the Temple; henceforth He was haunted and oppressed by the work given Him to do.
III. We have no knowledge who were the companions of the Child Christ. It is not, perhaps, unreasonable to suppose that some of those who became His apostles were His fellow-villagers in those days. Certainly they were all growing into maturity—to be, to do, and to suffer with Him. He is a Child round whom, as the central figure, however humble and lowly, all the disciples, from so many quarters of the land—nay, the world, are to group; all developing for eternity, saved or lost by their acceptance or rejection of that Child.
IV. The infant nature of Christ is the power by which God has moved the world. The Holy Child Jesus. Before that birth the world had only known what evil could be enclosed in man; how vile and worthless, how low and dark. But this Child—all the same faculties, all the same powers—shows to us human nature, with God as the Divine Artificer. Christ has consecrated childhood.
E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 19.
References: Act 4:30.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 545. Act 4:31.—Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 109; C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 166. Act 4:32.—Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 36.
Acts 4:32-5:11
Ananias and Sapphira
I. We have much need to lay to heart the lessons of this incident. Christ’s Church has long since come to include so many false or unspiritual members, and to be so blent with the world, that we fail to realise its ideal sanctity as the body of Christ, animated in a peculiar manner by the Divine presence. We fail to feel that to offend against the saints is to offend Christ; that to fetch our worldly sins of conceit, ambition, envy, or covetousness, into sacred sources, is to affront God to His face; nay, more than this, we are apt to lose out of our hearts that faith in the Third Person of the adorable and undivided Trinity which realises Him as One who can be wronged, grieved, insulted, or lied to; One who, though He keeps Himself out of view, is yet sensitive to the treatment which in the persons of righteous men He daily receives from the profane. The peculiarity which makes the Church the kingdom of God, if it is the kingdom of God at all, must aggravate offences done against it; and the special presence of the Holy Ghost, if He is specially in it, must stamp all contempt or outrage with a darker dye.
II. It is to mark the sanctity of that enclosure, which is now for the first time called the Church, that this narrative of judgment is set thus in the forefront of its history. On the earliest appearance of open sin within the Church follows the earliest infliction of Church discipline. Because it is the earliest, it is taken out of the hands of servants, to be administered with appalling severity by the hand of the Master. As an instance of earthly discipline it was entirely exceptional, a warning not to be repeated. The time and fashion of all our deaths is with God. The life, which we are daily forfeiting by transgression, is daily spared through mercy. If one day His mercy turned to judgment, and He took from the earth two forfeited lives, for the warning and bettering of many, who shall say, either that the lesson was dearly bought, or that the penalty was undeserved. It is well that men should be taught once for all, by sudden death treading swiftly on the heels of detected sin, that the Gospel, which discovers God’s boundless mercy, has not wiped out the sterner attributes of the judge.
J. Oswald Dykes, From Jerusalem to Antioch, p. 165 (see also Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 513).
Act 4:33
The Resurrection of Christ Historic
The fact of the resurrection is a fact quite capable of proof. There is no difficulty in imagining it to have occurred. There are no invincible laws against it. All that can be averred is that it is not in the line of our usual experiences, but it is not a thing, in its nature, which any one would be unable to believe, if it were only substantiated by proper and sufficient evidence. The fact must be substantiated in the same way and according to the same principles of evidence which command belief in other spheres of human experience. Let us see, briefly, how the matter stands in these respects.
I. How many witnesses are there to this fact of the resurrection? One? Two? That might have been testimony much too feeble on which to hang so stupendous and unparalleled a fact. But the truth is that we have multitudinous and overwhelming testimony. We have the testimony of the four evangelists, and of James, Peter and Paul—to what? not only to what they themselves saw and heard, on which they speak distinctly, but to the fact that a great many others saw and heard with them, and there is no denial from any of these.
II. What character do the witnesses bear? Are they honest men? The answer to these questions needs to be but brief. Let any one read the Gospels and see what kind of men the writers are. True and simple and honest-hearted are they, if ever such men were in the world. Scepticism does not now fling against them the old rude charges of knavery and dishonesty.
III. Next, as to their soundness of mind. Where is there any sign of weakness or of hallucination in these Gospels, or in the Epistles, from first to last? It is impossible to conceive evidence more perfectly given.
IV. As to their opportunities for ascertaining the truth. They saw their risen Lord many times and in many places. They heard Him speak; they talked with Him; they touched Him.
V. Remember how their testimony was received, how undoubtingly it was accepted by men of their own generation. Remember the wonderful effects this belief produced; peace, and love, and joy in individual hearts, and new societies, and new nations in the world; and it has gone on, from age to age, producing the same results—think of this and of the other reasons adduced, and say if it be not legitimate to declare that the resurrection of Christ is the best authenticated fact in the history of the world.
A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 178.
Reference: Act 4:33.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 166; vol. xix., p. 126.
Act 4:36
Barnabas is described as a "good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." Goodness, the Holy Ghost, faith—these are the materials out of which sons of exhortation must be made if they would have the equivalent reading, "sons of consolation" registered against their names in the margin.
I. It is notable how Barnabas, after his great success at Antioch, goes to seek for Paul, and brings him there to join in the great harvest. No jealousy, you see, of St. Paul’s superior gift. The son of consolation seems to have been absolutely free from all kinds of jealousy and envy; indeed, those people at Lystra were somehow impressed with his dignity and with his majestic bearing, for, though they valued Paul as the chief speaker, they identified Barnabas with Jupiter himself. The simple-minded, humble, unselfish man who perceives the great qualities of other men, and desires to turn those qualities to account for the glory of God, and who has no feeling of envy or jealousy in his own heart—this is the highest type of man; at least, I know of nothing better, grander, or more Divine. There is in reality something gentle and lovable in the character of Barnabas, as it shows itself in the passage in his life, which seems open to criticism and blame. He quarrelled for a time, as we know, with St. Paul, and we may not positively say that he was right and Paul wrong; but certainly if Barnabas did err, it was because of his loving feeling towards one who was not unworthy of his love.
II. What Christian name could any one desire more distinctive, more honourable, more full of the spirit of the Gospel of Christ than "the son of consolation." Was it not as the son of consolation that the Son of God came down from heaven in the likeness of human flesh. And though to be a son of consolation is undoubtedly the supreme prerogative of the incarnate Son of God Himself, still in this as in other things, men redeemed by Christ and regenerated by the Holy Ghost, may follow at a distance and try to imitate their Lord. To preach glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, to do those things which in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus Christ declared that He had been appointed to do—who cannot follow Christ in doing acts at least something like these, and men who do these things are sons of consolation.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 369.
References: Act 4:36.—J. Baines, Sermons, p. 227. Act 4:36, Act 4:37.—F. A. Warmington, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 120; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. iii., p. 139.
Acts 4
Before the Council
From this section of Apostolic history we may draw the following practical inferences:—
I. We may learn that if we are Christ’s disciples we may expect to encounter antagonism.
II. That if we are really Christ’s disciples, there will be something about us that will remind the world of Him. The inner springs of character may be hidden, but the life will make evident of what sort they are.
III. That if we are really Christ’s disciples, the one rule of our lives will be to hearken unto God. The Christian’s conscience takes its law from God, and no matter what will come, he will act upon its dictates.
IV. That if we are really Christ’s disciples, our chosen fellowship will be with those who are already His.
V. That if we are really Christ’s, we shall betake ourselves in every time of trial to the throne of grace.
W. M. Taylor, Peter the Apostle, p. 201.
References: Act 5:1.—C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 184; Act 5:1, Act 5:2.—J. Armstrong, Parochial Sermons, p. 183; Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 397; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. vii., p. 262.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv1, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 Act 4:1 - Act 4:14.
Acts
THE FIRST BLAST OF TEMPEST
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Act 4:1 - Act 4:14.
Hitherto the Jewish authorities had let the disciples alone, either because their attention had not been drawn even by Pentecost and the consequent growth of the Church, or because they thought that to ignore the new sect was the best way to end it. But when its leaders took to vehement preaching in Solomon’s porch, and crowds eagerly listened, it was time to strike in.
Our passage describes the first collision of hostile authority with Christian faith, and shows, as in a glass, the constant result of that collision in all ages.
The motives actuating the assailants are significantly analysed, and may be distributed among the three classes enumerated. The priests and the captain of the Temple would be annoyed by the very fact that Peter and John taught the people: the former, because they were jealous of their official prerogative: the latter, because he was responsible for public order, and a riot in the Temple court would have been a scandal. The Saddueees were indignant at the substance of the teaching, which affirmed the resurrection of the dead, which they denied, and alleged it as having occurred ‘in Jesus.’
The position of Sadducees and Pharisees is inverted in Acts as compared with the Gospels. While Christ lived, the Pharisees were the soul of the opposition to Him, and His most solemn warnings fell on them; after the Resurrection, the Sadducees head the opposition, and among the Pharisees are some, like Gamaliel and afterwards Paul, who incline to the new faith. It was the Resurrection that made the difference, and the difference is an incidental testimony to the fact that Christ’s Resurrection was proclaimed from the first. To ask whether Jesus had risen, and to examine the evidence, were the last things of which the combined assailants thought. This public activity of the Apostles threatened their influence or their pet beliefs, and so, like persecutors in all ages, they shut their eyes to the important question, ‘Is this preaching true or false?’ and took the easier course of laying hands on the preachers.
So the night fell on Peter and John in prison, the first of the thousands who have suffered bonds and imprisonment for Christ, and have therein found liberty. What lofty faith, and what subordination of the fate of the messengers to the progress of the message, are expressed in that abrupt introduction, in Act 4:4, of the statistics of the increase of the Church from that day’s work! It mattered little that it ended with the two Apostles in custody, since it ended too with five thousand rejoicing in Christ.
The arrest seems to have been due to a sudden thought on the part of the priests, captain, and Sadducees, without commands from the Sanhedrin or the high priest. But when these inferior authorities had got hold of their prisoners, they probably did not quite know what to do with them, and so moved the proper persons to summon the Sanhedrin. In all haste, then, a session was called for next morning. ‘Rulers, elders, and scribes’ made up the constituent members of the court, and the same two ‘high priests’ who had tried Jesus are there, attended by a strong contingent of dependants, who could be trusted to vote as they were bidden. Annas was an emeritus high priest, whose age and relationship to Caiaphas, the actual holder of the post and Annas’s son-in-law, gave him an influential position. He retained the title, though he had ceased to hold the office, as a cleric without a charge is usually called ‘Reverend.’
It was substantially the same court which had condemned Jesus, and probably now sat in the same hall as then. So that Peter and John would remember the last time when they had together been in that room, and Who had stood in the criminal’s place where they now were set.
The court seems to have been somewhat at a loss how to proceed. The Apostles had been arrested for their words, but they are questioned about the miracle. It was no crime to teach in the Temple, but a crime might be twisted out of working a miracle in the name of any but Jehovah. To do that would come near blasphemy or worshipping strange gods. The Sanhedrin knew what the answer to their question would be, and probably they intended, as soon as the anticipated answer was given, to ‘rend their clothes,’ and say, as they had done once before, ‘What need we further witnesses? They have spoken blasphemy.’ But things did not go as was expected. The crafty question was put. It does not attempt to throw doubt on the reality of the miracle, but there is a world of arrogant contempt in it, both in speaking of the cure as ‘this,’ and in the scornful emphasis with which, in the Greek, ‘ye’ stands last in the sentence, and implies, ‘ye poor, ignorant fishermen.’
The last time that Peter had been in the judgment-hall his courage had oozed out of him at the prick of a maid-servant’s sharp tongue, but now he fronts all the ecclesiastical authorities without a tremor. Whence came the transformation of the cowardly denier into the heroic confessor, who turns the tables on his judges and accuses them? The narrative answers. He was ‘filled with the Holy Ghost.’ That abiding possession of the Spirit, begun on Pentecost, did not prevent special inspiration for special needs, and the Greek indicates that there was granted such a temporary influx in this critical hour.
One cannot but note the calmness of the Apostle, so unlike his old tumultuous self. He begins with acknowledging the lawful authority of the court, and goes on, with just a tinge of sarcasm, to put the vague ‘this’ of the question in its true light. It was ‘a good deed done to an impotent man,’ for which John and he stood there. Singular sort of crime that! Was there not a presumption that the power which had wrought so ‘good’ a deed was good? ‘Do men gather grapes of thorns?’ Many a time since then Christianity has been treated as criminal, because of its beneficence to bodies and souls.
But Peter rises to the full height of the occasion, when he answers the Sanhedrin’s question with the pealing forth of his Lord’s name. He repeats in substance his former contrast of Israel’s treatment of Jesus and God’s; but, in speaking to the rulers, his tone is more severe than it was to the people. The latter had been charged, at Pentecost and in the Temple, with crucifying Jesus; the former are here charged with crucifying the Christ. It was their business to have tested his claims, and to have welcomed the Messiah. The guilt was shared by both, but the heavier part lay on the shoulders of the Sanhedrin.
Mark, too, the bold proclamation of the Resurrection, the stone of offence to the Sadducees. How easy it would have been for them to silence the Apostle, if they could have pointed to the undisturbed and occupied grave! That would have finished the new sect at once. Is there any reason why it was not done but the one reason that it could not be done?
Thus far Peter has been answering the interrogation legally put, and has done as was anticipated. Now was the time for Annas and the rest to strike in; but they could not carry out their programme, for the fiery stream of Peter’s words does not stop when they expected, and instead of a timid answer followed by silence, they get an almost defiant proclamation of the Name, followed by a charge against them, which turns the accused into the accuser, and puts them at the bar. Peter learned to apply the passage in the Psalm {Act 4:11} to the rulers, from his Master’s use of it {Mat 21:42}; and there is no quaver in his voice nor fear in his heart when, in the face of all these learned Rabbis and high and mighty dignitaries, he brands them as foolish builders, blind to the worth of the Stone ‘chosen of God, and precious,’ and tells them that the course of divine Providence will run counter to their rejection of Jesus, and make him the very ‘Head of the corner,’-the crown, as well as the foundation, of God’s building.
But not even this bold indictment ends the stream of his speech. The proclamation of the power of the Name was fitly followed by pressing home the guilt and madness of rejecting Jesus, and that again by the glad tidings of salvation for all, even the rejecters. Is not the sequence in Peter’s defence substantially that which all Christian preaching should exhibit? First, strong, plain proclamation of the truth; then pungent pressing home of the sin of turning away from Jesus; and then earnest setting forth of the salvation in His name,- a salvation wide as the world, and deep as our misery and need, but narrow, inasmuch as it is ‘in none other.’ The Apostle will not end with charging his hearers with guilt, but with offering them salvation. He will end with lifting up ‘the Name’ high above all other, and setting it in solitary clearness before, not these rulers only, but the whole world. The salvation which it had wrought on the lame man was but a parable and picture of the salvation from all ills of body and spirit, which was stored in that Name, and in it alone.
The rulers’ contempt had been expressed by their emphatic ending of their question with that ‘ye.’ Peter expresses his brotherhood and longing for the good of his judges by ending his impassioned, or, rather, inspired address with a loving, pleading ‘we.’ He puts himself on the same level with them as needing salvation, and would fain have them on the same level with himself and John as receiving it. That is the right way to preach.
Little need be said as to the effect of this address. Whether it went any deeper in any susceptible souls or not, it upset the schemes of the leaders. Something in the manner and matter of it awed them into wonder, and paralysed them for the time. Here was the first instance of the fulfilment of that promise, which has been fulfilled again and again since, of ‘a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.’ ‘Unlearned,’ as ignorant of Rabbinical traditions, and ‘ignorant,’ or, rather, ‘private,’ as holding no official position, these two wielded a power over hearts and consciences which not even official indifference and arrogance could shake off. Thank God, that day’s experience is repeated still, and any of us may have the same Spirit to clothe us with the same armour of light!
The Sanhedrin knew well enough that the Apostles had been with Jesus, and the statement that ‘they took knowledge of them’ cannot mean that that fact dawned on the rulers for the first time. Rather it means that their wonder at the ‘boldness’ of the two drove home the fact of their association with Him to their minds. That association explained the marvel; for the Sanhedrin remembered how He had stood, meek but unawed, at the same bar. They said to themselves, ‘We know where these men get this brave freedom of speech,-from that Nazarene.’ Happy shall we be if our demeanour recalls to spectators the ways of our Lord!
How came the lame man there? He had not been arrested with the Apostles. Had he voluntarily and bravely joined them? We do not know, but evidently he was not there as accused, and probably had come as a witness of the reality of the miracle. Notice the emphatic ‘standing,’ as in Act 4:10,-a thing that he had never done all his life. No wonder that the Sanhedrin were puzzled, and settled down to the ‘lame and impotent conclusion’ which follows. So, in the first round of the world-long battle between the persecutors and the persecuted, the victory is all on the side of the latter. So it has been ever since, though often the victors have died in the conflict. ‘The Church is an anvil which has worn out many hammers,’ and the story of the first collision is, in essentials, the story of all.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Arrest of Peter and John
Arrest of Peter and John
1-22. Arrest of Peter and John. Peter's speech before the Sanhedrin. The proceedings of the Apostles displeased the authorities, (1) because they taught the people (Act_4:2) without having received the education and ordination of rabbis (cp. Act_4:13); (2) because they preached the Resurrection, a doctrine particularly distasteful to the Sadducees, the dominant party among the influential members of the priesthood; (3) because they feared that the people would become inflamed with enthusiasm, and that this would lead to collisions with the Romans. It is a mark of historic truth that the chief opposition to the Apostles is here assigned to the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection. The Pharisees, who affirmed it, were comparatively friendly (Act_5:34; Act_23:6), and not a few of them became Christians (Act_15:5).
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1. As they spake] Clearly John also addressed the people. The captain of the temple] a priest next in dignity to the high priest, having under him a body of priests and Levites, who maintained order in the Temple.
The Sadducees] Most of the chief priests belonged to this party. They denied the oral traditions of the elders, the existence of angels and spirits, predestination and fate, the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body: see Mat_3:7; Mat_16:1.; Mat_22:23; Act_5:17; Act_23:6.
5. Their rulers] A full and important meeting of the Sanhedrin was summoned. 'Rulers' = chief priest; 'scribes' = rabbis or 'lawyers,' professional teachers of the Law. Most of the scribes were Pharisees. 'Elders' = such members of the Sanhedrin as were neither chief priests nor scribes.
6. Annas the high priest] see on Joh_18:13. John] An unknown person. But D reads 'Jonathan.' This is probably correct, for Jonathan was son of Annas, and succeeded Caiaphas.
Alexander] is unknown.
8. Filled with the Holy Ghost] in fulfilment of the promise Luk_12:11.
11. This is the stone] In Psa_118:22 the stone is Israel, which the heathen builders of the world's great empires reject and despise, but which nevertheless is destined to play the chief part in the world's history. In the NT. the stone is interpreted as the Messiah, and the builders as the rulers of the Jews: see Mat_21:42 cp. also Eph_2:19-22; 1Pe_2:4-8.
12. Neither is there salvation in any other] Though salvation is offered to men through Jesus, and Jesus alone, it does not follow that those who are ignorant of His name are lost. God can save, through Christ, those who have never heard the gospel, if they respond to the degree of grace and enlightenment vouchsafed to them.
13. Unlearned and ignorant men] This rendering gives a false impression. What is meant is that the Apostles had not received the training of rabbis, and were consequently unskilled in rabbinical traditions, and had no authority to teach. 'Ignorant' should be translated 'private persons,' or, 'laymen.'
23-31. Prayer of the Apostles on their release. 24. With one accord] The prayer was probably led by St. Peter, the others repeating the words after him.
25. Who by the mouth] RV 'who by the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, didst say,' etc.
Why did the heathen rage? etc.] verbatim from Psa_2:1; (LXX). This Ps. is directly Messianic, though it may have been suggested by the historical circumstances of some actual Davidic king, e.g. Solomon. The people] RV 'the peoples,' i.e. the Jews, regarded either as consisting of twelve tribes, or as dispersed in different nations. Vain things] vain, because, though the enemies of Jesus seemed to triumph at His Crucifixion, God raised Him from the dead, and placed Him at His right hand in heaven.
27. Child] or, 'servant': see on Act_3:13. Were gathered together] add 'in this city' (RV).
28. Thy counsel] There is a theological difficulty here. God is said to have foreordained the iniquitous proceedings of the scribes and Pharisees who condemned Jesus. The explanation is that God is said to foreordain what he foresees and permits. God permitted the death of Jesus, intending by it to redeem the world, and to destroy the works of the devil: cp. Act_2:23; Act_3:18.
29. That with all boldness they may speak thy word] rather, 'that with all boldness we may speak thy word.'
30. By stretching] RV 'while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal.'
31. The place was shaken, etc.] The physical phenomena of Pentecost (see Act_2:3) were partly reproduced. They spake the word] They continued their public preaching to the people, and their private exhortations to the disciples, in spite of the opposition of the Jewish authorities.
32—C. Act_5:16. The communism of the Church of Jerusalem. Barnabas, Ananias, and Sapphire.
32. Neither said any of them] This expression shows that the Church of Jerusalem recognised the principle of private property. A disciple's property really was his own, but he did not say that it was his own; he treated it as if it were common property. The Anabaptist principle that private property is unlawful, finds no real support in the Acts. The communism was voluntary.
33. With great power] The expression suggests that the preaching was supported by miracles.
36. Joses] RV 'Joseph.' Barnabas] lit. 'the Son of Prophecy.' We learn from Act_13:1 that he was a prophet; and he probably gained his name 'Barnabas' from some specially comforting or consoling prophecy which he delivered to the Church of Jerusalem, soon after his conversion. A Levite] By the Mosaic Law Levites were forbidden to hold land in Palestine, but the regulation had been long in abeyance. Cyprus] from the time of Alexander the Great many Jews had settled in this fertile island. It is likely that Barnabas had been educated at the neighbouring university of Tarsus, and had there made the acquaintance of St. Paul: cp. Act_9:27.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv1–23 IV: 1-3. Just at this point in Peter's discourse:…
IV: 1-3. Just at this point in Peter's discourse: (1) " And while they were speaking to the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, (2) being indignant that they taught the people, and preached, through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead. (3) And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day; for it was already evening. " This sudden disturbance of the interested audience, by a body of armed men rushing through their midst and seizing Peter and John, is the beginning of a series of persecutions with which Luke is about to follow the account of the first peaceful triumphs of the apostles.
We would naturally, at first thought, expect to find the parties to this violent proceeding identical with the chief persecutors of Jesus, supposing that the same motives which had excited opposition to him would perpetuate it against his disciples. But the Pharisees were his most bitter enemies, the Sadducees being comparatively indifferent to his pretensions, while here we see the Sadducees leading the attack upon the apostles, and we will soon see the leader of the Pharisees interfering to save them from threatened death. In order to appreciate this unexpected change in the aspect of the parties, we must note a little more carefully the ground of opposition in each case.
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The supposition sometimes entertained that Jesus was hated by men simply because there is in human nature an innate aversion to truth and holiness, is not less false to the facts of history than to the nature of fallen men. It is disproved by the fact that it was not the mass of his cotemporaries who hated him, as the supposition would require, but chiefly, and almost exclusively, the Pharisees. That portion of the people who were most depraved, according to external appearances, heard him gladly, and delighted to praise him, while the Pharisees, who were most of all noted for their piety, were the men who hated him most. Neither were they actuated simply by an aversion to his holiness; for they had a more substantial, if not a better reason for hating him. If he had been content merely to go about doing good, and teaching righteousness, "letting other people alone," he might have passed his days in peace. But such was not his sense of duty. He knew that his teaching could not have proper effect unless the erroneous doctrines of the Pharisees, who were then the chief teachers of Israel, were dislodged from the public mind, and the mask of hypocrisy, which had secured them their great reputation for piety, were stripped off. He undertook, therefore, an offensive warfare upon their doctrinal tenets and their religious pretensions. The twenty-third chapter of Matthew contains an epitome of this warfare on his part, than which there is not a more withering philippic on record in all literature. Such denunciation necessarily provoked the most intense hatred on the part of such Pharisees as were too deeply imbued with the prevailing spirit of the party to be reached by the truth. By this very fact, however, they made it more evident to the people that they deserved all the denunciation which he hurled against them. On the other hand, the Sadducees were so well pleased with his successful assaults upon their hereditary and too powerful enemies, that they forgave, in some degree, his known opposition to their favorite doctrine, and felt for him some friendly sympathy.
With the apostles the relations of these parties were as naturally reversed. Instead of assaulting, in detail, the doctrinal tenets of any party, they confined their labors, at first, to testimony concerning the resurrection and glorification of Jesus. This confirmed the chief distinctive doctrine of the Pharisees, who believed in a resurrection, and it left their other tenets, for the time being, unnoticed. But the whole force of this preaching was leveled against Sadduceean infidelity in reference to the resurrection, and it therefore aroused this party to an activity never exhibited before. They rushed in and arrested Peter and John, "being indignant that they taught the people, and preached, through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead. " They were seconded in this violent movement by the priests who were at the time officiating in the temple, and who were either identified with the Sadducees, or were enraged because the apostles, in the very midst of the temple, were drawing away the people from waiting upon their services. The "captain of the temple," with his guard, was doubtless subject to the orders of the chief of the officiating priests, and executed the arrest.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 12, 16 (See Scofield "Mat 3:7").
Sadducees
(See Scofield "Mat 3:7").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. Their Arrest (Act 4:1-3).
CHAPTER 4
1. Their Arrest (Act 4:1-3).
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2. The Result of the Testimony (Act 4:4).
3. Peter and John before the Rulers and Elders (Act 4:5-7).
4. Peter’s bold witness (Act 4:8-12).
5. The astonished Sanhedrin and their Release (Act 4:13-22).
6. With their own company (Act 4:23-31).
7. The saved multitude (Act 4:32-37).
The enemy begins now his acts, and the first indication is given that the offer God’s mercy was making to the nation would not be accepted. The Holy Spirit was acting mightily through the spoken Word, but these ecclesiastical leaders were hardening their hearts against the Word and the Spirit of God. The hate against that blessed Name broke out anew under the satanic power to which they had yielded. And the Sadducees came too. Though not much had been said on the resurrection, yet these rationalists, or as we would call them today, “higher critics,” were much distressed because they preached Jesus and the resurrection. The next step is the arrest and imprisonment of the two apostles. Rough hands seize them. Of the Apostles we read nothing else. They submitted. The power of the Holy Spirit now manifested itself in a new way with them. They could suffer, and perhaps with great joy; in perfect peace they allowed themselves to be taken away.
We have here also the first fulfillment of the many predictions given by our Lord that His own were to suffer persecution (Mat 10:16-17; Mar 13:9; Joh 20:20). In Peter’S witness we see the effect of the filling with the Spirit. What holy boldness he exhibited! He quotes the same Scripture passage to the assembled Sanhedrin, which the Lord had mentioned in their presence (See Mat 22:23-41).
They knew that the Lord meant them when He quoted that verse, that they were the builders, who were to reject Him. They had done so in fulfillment of that prophecy. Peter’s words are directed straight at them, “He is the stone which has been set at naught by you, the builders.”
The rejected stone had become the corner stone. The One whom they had delivered up and cast out had been given the prominent place of the corner stone upon whom, as the foundation stone, everything rests, and who unites the building.
Peter closes with the statement that salvation is only in Him whom they had set at naught. There is no other Name given to men by which man can be saved, and that is the Name of Him who had made this lame man whole. Salvation they all needed. They, too, rulers, elders, chief priests must be saved. But only in Him God had procured salvation free and complete for all who will have it by believing on Him. This salvation was offered to these rulers, the builders who had rejected the Lord.
They were then threatened by the astonished rulers and elders and set at liberty. We find them in their own company and after praise and prayer new manifestations of the Holy Spirit follow. In the closing verses we have another glimpse of the assembly in Jerusalem.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 8, 13, 18, 23 Acts Chapter 4
Acts Chapter 4
Peter and John before the Council of the Jews.
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The arrest of the apostles:
v. 1. And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the Temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,
v. 2. being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
v. 3. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day; for it was now eventide.
v. 4. Howbeit, many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
Up to this time the Lord had permitted the growth of the Church to be undisturbed, the work of the apostles going on without interruption and the disciples having plenty of opportunity to be strengthened in the faith. But it was impossible for the old enemies of the Lord to remain idle under the circumstances. The present occasion offered them a welcome chance to interfere and to hinder the activity of the apostles. Peter had not yet finished his discourse to the people, and John also was addressing some part of the multitude, when a body of armed men came rushing across the court. There were the priests, angry, no doubt, because the people had disregarded the evening sacrifice and the hour of incense offering in their astonishment over the healing of the lame man. There was the captain of the Temple, "the man of the Temple mount," who had charge of the priests and Levites that guarded the Temple and its surroundings, acting also as police for the grounds. At night the number of guards for the twenty-one outer and three inner stations amounted to 240 Levites and 30 priests. The excuse for his officiousness probably was that the peace of the Temple was being disturbed by the concourse. And there were finally, and principally, the Sadducees, the members of the high-priestly party, who felt that their grievance was especially hard to bear. For the whole brunt of Peter’s preaching was in opposition to the Sadducees’ denial of the resurrection of the dead; all the discourses of the apostles were based upon that one fact, that Jesus was raised from the dead, and that this fact proved His Messiahship. Jesus had, on one occasion, indeed, maintained the resurrection of the dead against the error of the Sadducees, Mat 22:23-33, but they had hardened their hearts against the truth and were determined not to tolerate its teaching. The confession of the resurrection of the dead upon the basis of Christ’s resurrection is a source of mockery and enmity toward the Christians to this day. The Jewish officials knew that the success of their plan depended upon quick action. So they took time for neither expostulation nor accusation; they simply laid forcible hands upon the two apostles, arrested them, and put them into a place of custody for the night, since they intended to arraign them in the morning. In spite of this action of the rulers, however, the preaching of Peter and John was not without result. For of the people in the audience that heard the Word there were many in whose heart faith was kindled. that believed in the Lord proclaimed to them. And thus the number of believers came to be, the men only being counted, after the Oriental custom, a total of about five thousand. With the power of the Spirit in the Word influencing the hearts, the Church expanded in spite of threatening danger.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 19, 21, 23 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
The religious leaders arrest Peter and John after Peter's having healed the man who was born lame.
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came upon them
"approached them" or "came to them"
They were deeply troubled
"They were very angry." The Sadducees, in particular, would have been angry about what Peter and John were saying because they did not believe in resurrection. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead
Peter and John were saying that God would raise people from the dead in the same way as he had raised Jesus from among the dead. Translate this in a way that allows "the resurrection" to refer to both Jesus' resurrection and the general resurrection of other people.
from the dead
From among all those who have died. This expression describes all dead people together in the underworld. To come back from among them speaks of becoming alive again.
They arrested them
"The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees arrested Peter and John"
since it was now evening
It was common practice not to question people at night.
the number of the men who believed
This refers only to men and does not include how many women or children believed.
was about five thousand
"grew to about five thousand"
translationWords
Peter
John (the apostle)
priest
temple
Sadducee
teach
preach
Jesus
resurrection
die
believe
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 13, 16, 19, 23 4:1-22 Persecution was a common experience of God’s people…
4:1-22 Persecution was a common experience of God’s people throughout the Bible. God’s servants often faced hostility and opposition (Deut 30:7; 1 Kgs 18:13; Neh 4:1-3; Jer 37–38; Matt 23:34-37; Luke 11:49-51; 1 Thes 2:14-15). Jesus himself was persecuted (Luke 4:29; John 5:16), and he told his disciples to expect the same kind of treatment (Matt 10:23; 24:9; Mark 13:9; Luke 21:12; John 16:2), but he promised that the Holy Spirit would provide strength (Acts 1:8; Luke 12:11-12; 21:15). Acts records frequent times of persecution (Acts 4:3; 5:17-41; 7:54–8:3; 9:1-2; 11:19; 12:2; 13:50; 14:19; 16:19-24), but Acts also reiterates that the Holy Spirit empowers disciples to bear witness in such circumstances (2:44; 4:8-13; 6:10; 7:55). The boldness of Peter and John before the hostile high council exemplifies facing persecution with courage and power (4:20).
4:1 Sadducees: See “The Sadducees” Profile.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.