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.
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Acts 4:15-18 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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.
Parallel Translations
-
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 they commaunded them to go a syde out of the counsell and counceled amonge them selves
sayinge: what shall we do to these men? For a manifest signe is done by the and is openly knowen to all them that dwell in Ierusalem and we cannot denye it.
But that it be noysed no farther amonge the people let us threaten and charge them that they speake hence forth to no man in this name.
And they called them and commaunded them that in no wyse they shuld speake or teache in the name of Iesu.
Show all 3 translations
-
Then they commanded them to goe aside out of the Council, and conferred among themselues,
Saying, What shall we doe to these men? for surely a manifest signe is done by them, and it is openly knowen to all them that dwell in Hierusalem: and we cannot denie it.
But that it be noysed no farther among the people, let vs threaten and charge them, that they speake hencefoorth to no man in this Name.
So they called them, and commanded them, that in no wise they should speake or teach in the Name of Iesus.
Cross-references (37)
- Acts 5:28 (v17) saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this name? Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to…
- Acts 5:40 (v18) They agreed with him. Summoning the apostles, they beat them and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
- Luke 21:15 (v16) for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
- Luke 24:46-48 (v18) He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that…
- John 12:18 (v16) For this cause also the multitude went and met him, because they heard that he had done this sign.
Show all 36 cross-references
- Acts 6:10 (v16) They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
- Romans 15:18-22 (v17) For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and…
- Matthew 5:22 (v15) But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment. Whoever says to his brother,…
- Acts 5:20 (v18) “Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”
- Acts 5:24 (v17) Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these words, they were very perplexed about them and what…
- Acts 5:34-42 (v15) But one stood up in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, honored by all the people, and commanded to put the…
- Acts 26:30-32 (v15) The king rose up with the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them. When they had withdrawn, they spoke to one another, saying,…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:8 (v17) For from you the word of the Lord has been declared, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 (v17) who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us…
- John 11:47-48 (vv16–17) The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. If we leave…
- 2 Chronicles 25:15-16 (v17) Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought after the gods of the…
- Psalms 2:1-4 (v17) Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together,…
- Isaiah 30:8-11 (v17) Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. For it is a…
- Jeremiah 20:1-3 (v17) Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in Yahweh’s house, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur…
- Jeremiah 29:25-32 (v17) “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to…
- Jeremiah 38:4 (v17) Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this…
- Daniel 2:34-35 (v17) You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.…
- Daniel 8:5 (v16) As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and didn’t touch the ground. The goat had…
- Daniel 8:8 (v16) The male goat magnified himself exceedingly. When he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable…
- Amos 2:12 (v17) “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
- Amos 7:12-17 (v17) Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but don’t prophesy…
- Micah 2:6-7 (v17) “Don’t prophesy!” They prophesy. “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.” Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: “Is…
- Matthew 27:16 (v16) They had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
- Matthew 27:64 (v17) Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell…
- Luke 6:10-11 (v16) He looked around at them all, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored as sound as the other. But…
- Acts 1:8 (v18) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and…
- Acts 3:7-10 (v16) He took him by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength. Leaping up, he stood and began…
- Acts 4:21 (v17) When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God…
- Acts 4:29-30 (v17) Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal;…
- Acts 5:39-40 (v17) But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it, and you would be found even to be fighting against God!” They agreed with him.…
- Romans 10:16-18 (v17) But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes by hearing, and hearing…
36 distinct cross-references across this passage (37 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v17 17. In threatening let us threaten. Here may we…
17. In threatening let us threaten. Here may we see what a deadly evil power void of the fear of God is. For when that religion and reverence which ought doth not reign, the more holy the place is which a man doth possess, the more boldly doth he rage. For which cause we [should] always take good heed that the wicked be not preferred unto the government of the Church. And those which are called to this function must behave themselves reverently and modestly, lest they seem to be armed to do hurt. But and if it so happen they abuse their honor, the Spirit declareth there, as in a glass, what small account we ought to make of their decrees and commandments. The authority of the pastors hath certain bounds appointed which they may not pass. And if they dare be so bold, we may lawfully refuse to obey them; for if we should, it were in us great wickedness, as it followeth now.
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 vv15–16 Laid their heads together.
Laid their heads together.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–18 15 But when they had commanded them to go…
15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Ver. 15. They conferred] Sic festucam quaerentes unde oculos sibi eruant, as Bernard hath it. They sought straws to put out their own eyes also.
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 vv15–18 To go aside out of the council; the place…
To go aside out of the council; the place where the council met; for the apostles were not dismissed to go away at their liberty.
They conferred among themselves; it was their joint endeavour to stifle the gospel, and would now consult about the best expedient, but they would not let the apostles hear, lest they might discover the weakness of their proofs against them, and against the truth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v15 We have here the issue of the trial of…
We have here the issue of the trial of Peter and John before the council. They came off now with flying colours, because they must be trained up to sufferings by degrees, and by less trials be prepared for greater. They now but run with the footmen; hereafter we shall have them contending with horses, Jer 12:5.
I. Here is the consultation and resolution of the court about this matter, and their proceeding thereupon.
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1. The prisoners were ordered to withdraw (Act 4:15): They commanded them to go aside out of the council, willing enough to get clear of them (they spoke so home to their consciences), and not willing they should hear the acknowledgements that were extorted from them; but, though they might not hear from them, we have them here upon record. The designs of Christ's enemies are carried on in close cabals, and they dig deep, as if they would hide their counsels from the Lord.
2. A debate arose upon this matter: They conferred among themselves; every one is desired to speak his mind freely, and to give advice upon this important affair. Now the scripture was fulfilled that the rulers would take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, Psa 2:2. The question proposed was, What shall we do to these men? Act 4:16. If they would have yielded to the convincing commanding power of truth, it had been easy to say what they should do to these men. They should have placed them at the head of their council, and received their doctrine, and been baptized by them in the name of the Lord Jesus, and joined in fellowship with them. But, when men will not be persuaded to do what they should do, it is no marvel that they are ever and anon at a loss what to do. The truths of Christ, if men would but entertain them as they should, would give them no manner of trouble or uneasiness; but, if they hold them or imprison them in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18), they will find them a burdensome stone that they will not know what to do with, Zac 12:3.
3. They came at last to a resolution, in two things: -
(1.) That it was not safe to punish the apostles for what they had done. Very willingly would they have done it, but they had not courage to do it, because the people espoused their cause, and cried up the miracle; and they stood now in as much awe of them as they had done formerly, when they durst not lay hands of Christ for fear of the people. By this it appears that the outcry of the mob against our Saviour was a forced or managed thing, the stream soon returned to its former channel. Now they could not find how they might punish Peter and John, what colour they might have for it, because of the people. They knew it would be an unrighteous thing to punish them, and therefore should have been restrained from it by the fear of God; but they considered it only as a dangerous thing, and therefore were held in from it only by the fear of the people. For, [1.] The people were convinced of the truth of the miracle; it was a notable miracle, gnōston sēmeion - a known miracle; it was known that they did it in Christ's name, and that Christ himself had often the like before. This was a known instance of the power of Christ, and a proof of his doctrine. That it was a great miracle, and wrought for the confirmation of the doctrine they preached (for it was a sign), was manifest to all that dwelt in Jerusalem: it was an opinion universally received, and, the miracle being wrought at the gate of the temple, universal notice was taken of it; and they themselves, with all the craftiness and all the effrontery they had, could not deny it to be a true miracle; every body would have hooted at them if they had. They could easily deny it to their own consciences, but not to the world. The proofs of the gospel were undeniable. [2.] They went further, and were not only convinced of the truth of the miracle, but all men glorified God for that which was done. Even those that were not persuaded by it to believe in Christ were yet so affected with it, as a mercy to a poor man and an honour to their country, that they could not but give praise to God for it; even natural religion taught them to do this. And, if the priests had punished Peter and John for that for which all men glorified God, they would have lost all their interest in the people, and been abandoned as enemies both to God and man. Thus therefore their wrath shall be made to praise God, and the remainder thereof shall be restrained.
(2.) That it was nevertheless necessary to silence them for the future, Act 4:17, Act 4:18. They could not prove that they had said or done any thing amiss, and yet they must no more say nor do what they have done. All their care is that the doctrine of Christ spread no further among the people; as if that healing institution were a plague begun, the contagion of which must be stopped. See how the malice of hell fights against the counsels of heaven; God will have the knowledge of Christ to spread all the world over, but the chief priests would have it spread no further, which he that sits in heaven laughs at. Now, to prevent the further spreading of this doctrine, [1.] They charge the apostles never to preach it any more. Be it enacted by their authority (which they think every Israelite is bound in conscience to submit to) that no man speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus, Act 4:18. We do not find that they give them any reason why the doctrine of Christ must be suppressed; they cannot say it is false or dangerous, or of any ill tendency, and they are ashamed to own the true reason, that it testifies against their hypocrisy and wickedness, and shocks their tyranny. But, Stat pro ratione voluntas - They can assign no reason but their will. "We strictly charge and command you, not only that you do not preach this doctrine publicly, but that you speak henceforth to no man, not to any particular person privately, in this name," Act 4:17. There is not a greater service done to the devil's kingdom than the silencing of faithful ministers; and putting those under a bushel that are the lights of the world. [2.] They threaten them if they do, strictly threaten them: it is at their peril. This court will reckon itself highly affronted if they do, and they shall fall under its displeasure. Christ had not only charged them to preach the gospel to every creature, but had promised to bear them out in it, and reward them for it. Now these priests not only forbid the preaching of the gospel, but threaten to punish it as a heinous crime; but those who know how to put a just value upon the world's threatenings, though they be threatenings of slaughter that it breathes out, Act 9:1.
II. Here is the courageous resolution of the prisoners to go on in their work, notwithstanding the resolutions of this court, and their declaration of this resolution, Act 4:19, Act 4:20. Peter and John needed not confer together to know one another's minds (for they were both actuated by one and the same Spirit), but agree presently in the same sentiments, and jointly put in the answer: "Whether it be right in the sight of God, to whom both you and we are accountable, to hearken unto you more than unto God, we appeal to yourselves, judge you; for we cannot forbear speaking to every body the things which we have seen and heard, and are ourselves full of, and are charged to publish." The prudence of the serpent would have directed them to be silent, and, though they could not with a good conscience promise that they would not preach the gospel any more, yet they needed not tell the rulers that they would. But the boldness of the lion directed them thus to set both the authority and the malignity of their persecutors at defiance. They do, in effect, tell them that they are resolved to go on in preaching, and justify themselves in it with two things: - 1. The command of God: "You charge us not to preach the gospel; he has charged us to preach it, has committed it to us as a trust, requiring us upon our allegiance faithfully to dispense it; now whom must we obey, God or you?" Here they appeal to one of the communes notitiae - to a settled and acknowledged maxim in the law of nature, that if men's commands and God's interfere God's commands must take place. It is a rule in the common law of England that if any statute be made contrary to the law of God it is null and void. Nothing can be more absurd than to hearken unto weak and fallible men, that are fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects, more than unto a God that is infinitely wise and holy, our Creator and sovereign Lord, and the Judge to whom we are all accountable. The case is so plain, so uncontroverted and self-evident, that we will venture to leave it to yourselves to judge of it, though you are biassed and prejudiced. Can you think it right in the sight of God to break a divine command in obedience to a human injunction? That is right indeed which is right in the sight of God; for his judgment, we are sure, is according to truth, and therefore by that we ought to govern ourselves. 2. The convictions of their consciences. Even if they had not had such an express command from heaven to preach the doctrine of Christ, yet they could not but speak, and speak publicly, those things which they had seen and heard. Like Elihu, they were full of this matter, and the Spirit within them constrained them, they must speak, that they might be refreshed, Job 32:18, Job 32:20. (1.) They felt the influence of it upon themselves, what a blessed change it had wrought upon them, had brought them into a new world, and therefore they could not but speak of it: and those speak the doctrine of Christ best that have felt the power of it, and tasted the sweetness of it, and have themselves been deeply affected with it; it is as a fire in their bones, Jer 20:9. (2.) They knew the importance of it to others. They look with concern upon perishing souls, and know that they cannot escape eternal ruin but by Jesus Christ, and therefore will be faithful to them in giving them warning, and showing them the right way. They are things which we have seen and heard, and therefore will be faithful to them in giving them warning, and showing them the right way. They are things which we only have seen and heard, and therefore, if we do not publish them, who will? Who can? Knowing the favour, as well as the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; for the love of Christ and the love of souls constrain us, Co2 5:11, Co2 5:14.
III. Here is the discharge of the prisoners (Act 4:21): They further threatened them, and thought they frightened them, and then let them go. There were many whom they terrified into an obedience to their unrighteous decrees; they knew how to keep men in awe with their excommunication (Joh 9:22), and thought they could have the same influence upon the apostles that they had upon other men; but they were deceived, for they had been with Jesus. They threatened them, and that was all they did now: when they had done this they let them go, 1. Because they durst not contradict the people, who glorified God for that which was done, and would have been ready (at least they thought so) to pull them out of their seats, if they had punished the apostles for doing it. As rulers by the ordinance of God are made a terror and restraint to wicked people, so people are sometimes by the providence of God made a terror and restrain to wicked rulers. 2. Because they could not contradict the miracle: For (Act 4:22) the man was above forty years old on whom this miracle of healing was shown. And therefore, (1.) The miracle was so much the greater, he having been lame from his mother's womb, Act 3:2. The older he grew the more inveterate the disease was, and the more hardly cured. If those that are grown into years, and have been long accustomed to evil, are cured of their spiritual impotency to good, and thereby of their evil customs, the power of divine grace is therein so much the more magnified. (2.) The truth of it was so much the better attested; for the man being above forty years old, he was able, like the blind man whom Christ healed, when he was asked, to speak for himself, Joh 9:21.
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 vv15–18 But when they had commanded them,.... That is, when…
But when they had commanded them,.... That is, when the sanhedrim had ordered the apostles; or "commanded that both", as the Arabic version reads, both Peter and John; and, it may be, the man that was healed too:
to go aside out of the council; or place where the council, or sanhedrim sat; which, whether it was in the chamber "Gazith", in the temple where they used to sit (g), or in the shops, or in the city, whither they removed, is not certain. We are told (h), that
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"the sanhedrim removed from the chamber Gazith, to the shops, and from the shops to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to Jabneh;''
that is, after the destruction of the city. And the first remove was much about this time; for it is said (i), that
"forty years before the destruction of the temple, the sanhedrim removed, and sat in the shops.''
Not in the shops where things were sold for the use of the temple, but in a court adjoining to them, which took its name from them.
They conferred among themselves; what was proper to be done, the apostles being withdrawn.
(g) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 2. & Middot. c. 5. sect. 3. (h) T. Bab. Roshhashana, fol. 31. 1. (i) T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 8. 2.
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 vv17–18 Yet that it spread no farther - For they…
Yet that it spread no farther - For they look upon it as a mere gangrene. So do all the world upon genuine Christianity. Let us severely threaten them - Great men, ye do nothing. They have a greater than you to flee to.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16–18 Verse 16. A notable miracle hath been done] A…
Verse 16. A notable miracle hath been done] A miracle has been wrought, and this miracle is known, and acknowledged to be such; all Jerusalem knew that he was lame-lame from his birth, and that he had long begged at the Beautiful gate of the temple; and now all Jerusalem knew that he was healed; and there was no means by which such a self-evident fact could be disproved.
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 v15 Act 4:15-18. But when they had commanded them to…
Act 4:15-18. But when they had commanded them to go aside — To withdraw, not being willing they should hear the acknowledgments that were extorted from them; they conferred among themselves — Privately. Now the scripture was fulfilled which foretold that the rulers would take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, Psa 2:2; saying, What shall we do to these men? — If they would have yielded to the convincing, commanding power of truth, it would have been easy to say what they should do to them. They should have placed them at the head of their council, received their doctrine, been baptized by them, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and joined in fellowship with them. But, when men will not be persuaded to do what they ought to do, it is no marvel that they are continually at a loss what to do. The truths of Christ, if men would but entertain them as they should, would give them no manner of trouble and uneasiness; but if they hold, or imprison them in unrighteousness, (Rom 1:18,) they will find them a burdensome stone, that they will not know what to do with, Zec 12:4. For that a notable miracle, — Γνωστον, a signal and well-known miracle: it was known that they had done it in Christ’s name, and that Christ himself had often done similar miracles: this was a known instance of the power of Christ, and a proof of his doctrine. That it was a great miracle, and wrought for the confirmation of the doctrine they preached, being σημειον, a sign, was manifest to all that dwelt in Jerusalem — The miracle being wrought at the gate of the temple, universal notice was taken of it; and they themselves, with all the craft, and all the effrontery they had, could not deny it to be a true miracle. Hence they concluded that it would be neither reasonable nor safe to punish these men now. Nevertheless, on the other hand, they judged that both their credit and their interest required them to suppress the rumour of it as far as they could, and therefore, said they, that it spread no further among the people — And be a means of raising discontent, and, perhaps, of occasioning some dangerous insurrection among them; let us straitly threaten them — Απειλη απειλησωμεθα αυτοις, Let us threaten them with threatening: the expression is a Hebraism, being, it seems, St. Luke’s translation of the very words of the council into Greek; that they speak henceforth to no man — To no individual whatever; in this obnoxious name — They could not prove that they had said or done any thing amiss, any thing but what was proper, yea, necessary to be said and done; and yet they must no more say or do the like! All the care of these rulers, &c., is, that the doctrine of Christ should spread no further among the people; as if the healing and saving institutions of the gospel were a plague begun, the contagion of which must be stopped immediately. See how the malice of hell fights against the counsels of heaven! God will have the knowledge of Christ to spread all over the world; but the chief priests would have it spread no farther: at which He that sits in heaven laughs. And they called them — The whole council having agreed to this proposal, as the most proper they could now think of, they called in Peter and John, and, telling them how much they were offended at the liberty they took; commanded them — In a very strict and severe manner; not to speak at all, privately, nor teach, publicly, in the name o f Jesus — We do not find that they gave them any reason why the doctrine of Christ must be suppressed; they did not say it was either false or dangerous, or of any ill tendency; and they were ashamed to own the true reason, namely, that it testified against their hypocrisy and wickedness, and shook their tyranny.
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 v15 What shall we do to these men? - The…
What shall we do to these men? - The object which they had in view was evidently to prevent their preaching. The miracle was performed, and it was believed by the people to have been made. This they could not expect to be able successfully to deny. Their only object, therefore, was to prevent the apostles from making the use which they saw they would to convince the people that Jesus was the Messiah. The question was, in what way they should prevent this; whether by putting them to death, by imprisoning them, or by scourging them; or whether by simply exerting theft authority and forbidding them. From the former they were deterred, doubtless, by fear of the multitude; and they therefore adopted the latter, and seemed to suppose that the mere exertion of their authority would be sufficient to deter them from this in future.
The council - Greek: The “Sanhedrin.” This body was composed of 71 or 72 persons, and was entrusted with the principal affairs of the nation. It was a body of vast influence and power, and hence they supposed that their command might be sufficient to restrain ignorant Galileans from speaking. Before this same body, and probably the same men, our Saviour was arraigned, and by them condemned before he was delivered to the Roman governor, Mat 26:59, etc. And before this same body, and in the presence of the same men, Peter had just before denied his Lord, Mat 26:70, etc. The fact that the disciples had fled on a former occasion, and that Peter had denied his Saviour, may hate operated to induce them to believe that they would be terrified by their threats, and deterred from preaching publicly in the name of Jesus.
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A notable miracle - A known, undeniable miracle.
That it spread - That the knowledge of it may not spread among them any further.
Let us straitly threaten them - Greek: “Let us threaten them with a threat.” This is a “Hebraism” expressing intensity, certainty, etc. The threat was a command Act 4:18 not to teach, implying their displeasure if they did do it. This threat, however, was not effectual. On the next occasion, which occurred soon after Act 5:40, they added beating to their threats in order to deter them from preaching in the name of Jesus.
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 v16 What shall we do to these men? They were…
What shall we do to these men? They were perplexed, says St. John Chrysostom, and in greater fear than the apostles. They saw they could do nothing but threaten and charge them to speak no more of Jesus. (Witham)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16–18 a notable miracle . . . done by them…
a notable miracle . . . done by them is manifest to all . . . in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it--And why should ye wish to deny it, O ye rulers, but that ye hate the light, and will not come to the light lest your deeds should be reproved?
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 vv15–18 15. Commanded… out—The apostles were directed to withdraw while…
15. Commanded… out—The apostles were directed to withdraw while their judges should hold consultation. It is not an unimportant, though in some sense an unanswerable question, how Luke obtained his information of what was said in privy council. There were many ways in which he might have obtained it, and there was some way in which he certainly did obtain it, since he here reports its substance to us. There may have been secret believers like Nicodemus in the council. Caiaphas, as above noted, knew John personally, (Joh_18:15,) and so report may have reached John through intermediates, and the Christians thus have been informed.
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 vv15–18 15. to go aside out of the council] To…
15. to go aside out of the council] To leave the council chamber, while the members of the council discussed what should be done.
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 vv16–18 (16) What shall we do to these men?—The question…
(16) What shall we do to these men?—The question now debated was clearly one that never ought to have been even asked. They were sitting as a Court of Justice, and should have given their verdict for or against the accused according to the evidence. They abandon that office, and begin discussing what policy was most expedient. It was, we may add, characteristic of Caiaphas to do so (Joh_11:49-50).
A notable miracle.—Literally, sign.
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We cannot deny it.—The very form of the sentence betrays the will, though there is not the power.
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 vv16–18 Wrought through them for done by them, A.V.; to…
Wrought through them for done by them, A.V.; to all for to all them, A.V. Only here and at ver. 22 and in Luk_23:8 has miracle been retained in the R.V. as the rendering of shmeia: everywhere else it is sign. Wrought through them; more literally, hath come to pass through them.
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 vv16, 18 What shall we do to these men?
Act_4:16
What shall we do to these men?
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for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done … we cannot deny.
Healed men
(1) The miracle
Few things are more striking than the continuance and growth of Christianity; first, under the circumstances of difficulty and persecution; and next, under the conditions of maintenance to which it is restricted, viz., moral persuasion and impression. The Church is its own sufficient witness. It is of God, because it has so triumphed. The conditions under which its most signal triumphs have been won have been far removed from any that human sagacity could have devised. How often the things that threatened its destruction have proved the signal means of its salvation! The Jews prevail upon Pilate to crucify Jesus; that very death accomplishes His redeeming purposes. The Sanhedrin persecute the little Church, and break it up; but it simply scattered coals of living fire, which ignited everything they touched. So it has been a thousand times since. Tempests of persecuting passion have only carried in every direction the pollen of the Christian flower, which has fructified and brought forth a hundred-fold. Precisely this result was produced by this persecution: unwittingly it furnished occasion for one of the most signal triumphs of early Christianity. The whole issue turned upon the character of the alleged miracle, and upon the power whereby it was wrought. If it could be established that such a miracle had been wrought in the name and by the power of Jesus, the Christian doctrine was indubitably attested. The question therefore really was the relation of miracles to Christianity, the question that scepticism is discussing still. Only the Sanhedrin never thought of taking the ground of modern scepticism, which, not so closely confronted by contemporary fact, affirms that miracle is impossible. Their insinuation was the old Pharisaic blasphemy, He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. It is not always deficiency of evidence that causes men to reject Christianity.
I. The healing of this cripple is a striking illustration of the peculiar benevolence and grace of Christianity. Amid thousands who needed healing this beggar was the selected object. Lordly priests and wealthy nobles crowded the temple, some probably victims of painful disease, but to none of them were the apostles sent. It was surely in purposed and beautiful harmony with the character of the gospel that neither our Lord nor His apostles sought for illustrious patients. They did not, of course, exclude the rich. Our Lord gladly went to the house of Jairus, and to that of the centurion. To the poor, characteristically, the gospel was preached. They especially awakened the Masters compassion, because of their greater misery. There is a sense in which special solicitudes of the Christian worker will gather round the rich, whose peculiar spiritual peril the Master indicated when He said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven! It is not easy to make Dives conscious of his spiritual poverty. Men who receive their good things in this life are in danger of neglecting the life hereafter. But it is the distinctive grace of Christs gospel that to the very poorest its blessings may come. It saves the respectable Pharisee, but it has its greatest triumph and joy in saving the outcast publican. It comes to seek and to save the lost; to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Its characteristic agencies are reformatories and ragged schools, theatre preachings and midnight meetings, city missions and missions to the heathen. When do its workers seek the palaces of nobles, or a place among the rich? Its glory is to fill its churches with healed men.
II. The promptings of the healed mans gratitude.
1. Its piety.
(1) His first movement was into the temple. The first use of his recovered limbs was in Gods praise. The healing of his body had touched deep springs of religious feeling. Perhaps his disability had long taught him to pray. Such is often the severe yet gracious lesson of affliction. The rarer thing is that his healing prompted him to praise. Of the ten lepers cleansed, only one returned to give God thanks.
(2) All great experiences of life appeal to religious emotions: in great sorrows we are passionate in prayer, in great joys rapturous in praise; only the religious feeling excited is often as transient as it is fervent. Whether or not this was so with this recovered cripple we are not told. But his fervour, and the courage with which he took his stand by the criminated apostles, are strong presumption of a radical and permanent piety.
(3) Whatever the instrument of our blessing, it is God who makes it efficient. He therefore claims our supreme acknowledgment. If, therefore, I have received temporal healing, let me first pay to Him the vows which I made when I was in trouble. If my soul has been healed, let me enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. What emotion can be so strong, what joy so exquisite, as those of the man who for the first time after his healing enters Gods house?
2. Its human fidelity.
(1) He held Peter and John in a grateful embrace. Next to him who saves us our gratitude is due to him who leads us to the Saviour.
(2) Thankful to his benefactors, the healed man stood by them when they were apprehended by the Sanhedrin; glad to share their reproach and peril. And poor and unworthy will be our thankfulness if, when Christ is rejected or His servants are scorned, we slink away in shame or fear.
III. In this perilous crisis of the infant Church it was saved by the presence and testimony of this healed cripple. What could these few peasants and fishermen have done against the might and hostility of the Sanhedrin? If, as is sometimes affirmed, Christianity be only human, the miracle of its establishment and propagation by such apostles, and under such circumstances, is surely as great as the miracle of the Incarnation. Five thousand converts within a few days, as the result of simple religious teaching, are surely as difficult to credit as the healing of the lame man. It was not the first time that Peter had stood before Annas and Caiaphas, who would exult in having in their hands again the leaders of the sect. What could be easier than to crush this accursed thing? The difficulty lay in certain incorrigible facts. The vitality of this pestilent heresy was derived from these facts. First, there were the notorious miracles which Christ Himself had wrought, crowned by His own indubitable resurrection. And now His followers seem to be working similar marvels. A fact such as this was worth a thousand arguments. It utterly baffled the Sanhedrim It compelled them to admit the miracle, and, with it, its undeniable inferences. The healed man, not the eloquence of its apostles, saved the infant Church. Such has often been the vindication of the Church; not the learning of its doctors, or the arguments of its apologists, but the spiritual life of some humble, simple-hearted disciple, who has justified its work by himself demonstrating its healing power. (H. Allon, D. D.)
Healed men
(2) The argument
In religious systems the ultimate test of validity must ever be practical efficiency. Let us then apply this test to Christianity. Putting the argument in the broadest way, it stands thus: The fact of human sinfulness is proved from the universality of the consciousness of moral imperfection, and the assertion of the Christian Scriptures. Now philosophers, theologians, and moralists have set themselves to correct this evil, and to exert such influences as may quicken within men holy affections, and array their will resolutely and effectively on the side of purity and piety. The world has had along history. All kinds of experiments have been made in it. We know what was the faith, and what the kind of life that it produced in Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, China, and other non-Christian nations. We know how various forms of Christianity have worked in Europe. We know the effects of infidelity. And the comparative claims of these various systems are submitted to our verdict. Which of all the theologies, philosophies, or moralities propagated amongst men has been the most effective in making men good? We might rest the argument first upon a broad historical view of nations and peoples; we might compare Christian nations with idolatrous or Mohammedan nations; and point out how little non-Christian faiths have done to correct moral evil in men. We gladly admit that they have done something, and cannot question the true and noble elements of Buddhism, etc., and the very worst superstition is better than unchecked godlessness and vice. There may be religious traditions of a primitive knowledge of God which even a Bechuana has not lost. Yet who would hesitate to recognise the moral superiority of Christianity, and the greater practical power of its truths? A similar line of argument, secondly, might be maintained respecting different forms of Christianity. Just in proportion as it has been spiritual, biblical, have the nations who have received it been virtuous, noble, industrious, and powerful. The connection between Popery and the state of nations such as Spain, Austria, Italy, and Ireland, not to speak of France; and between Protestantism and the state of nations such as Germany, England, and the United States, is too obvious to need exposition. And one has only to think of the principles, religious, social, and political, of the two systems, to see that the result is inevitable. Sacerdotalism, in all its forms, is antagonistic to the noblest life of nations or men. But these lines of argument demand volumes for their adequate illustration. Let me take one or two of the fundamental elements of Christianity, and look at their adaptation to make men holy.
I. The Bible. It is our authoritative religious book, claiming to be a supernatural revelation of the thought and heart of God. Is, then, the Bible, as tested by its history and practical moral power, the efficient instrument for recovering men? On many sides its claims are disallowed. It is denied that it is inspired--only as Plato, and Bacon, and Shakespeare, and Milton are inspired. It is not, we are told, even true as a history. Its chronology, statistics, science are false, its miracles impossible violations of natural law, its prophecies but remarkable coincidences or sagacious prognostications. There is in the Book nothing that may not be accounted for on natural principles. How, then, are its Divine claims to be vindicated? Christianity has scholars abundantly competent to reply to the scholars of infidelity. Nay, the chief learning and science, criticism and philosophy of the world, are Christian. Hitherto, moreover, every assault of hostile criticism has only called forth new champions, who by fresh researches and lines of argument have shown how impregnable and manifold its defences are. But the vindication of the Bible need not be left to learned argumentation. We may appeal to the religious character and achievements of the Bible. Alone among the religious books of the world it is a book of history; and further, itself has a history. The Bible is not like the Zendavesta, a book of liturgies; nor like the Vedic Hymns, a book of impossible legends; nor like the writings of Confucius and Plato, a book of moral philosophy; nor like the Koran, a book of mere doctrine and precept. Fundamentally and characteristically it is history. What, then, is the moral character of the Bible? and what have been its moral effects? Take as a test of the Old Testament the Book of Genesis. Is it history or is it legend, from God or of men? Do we need a Niebuhr to give us a reply? Nay, verily. Make what abatement we may for historic or scientific difficulties, indisputable religious characteristics remain.
1. How are we to account for its characters, Abel, Enoch, Abraham? Hew is it that Abraham, the friend of God, is not, like Hercules, a demigod or a hero? Always in closest intimacy with Jehovah, he is yet always as human in all his thoughts and actions as the men of to-day. How is it, again, that the Jehovah whom he worships is not like Zeus, an incongruous conception of supernatural attributes, human imperfections, and even vile passions. While the worshipper has no single trait of divinity, the Jehovah whom he worships has no single trait of humanity. How is it that these conceptions of the human and Divine, and of their relations, so incomparably transcend all the mythologies of the world, that in fundamental ideas we have neither surpassed nor altered them since?
2. How is it, again, that the morality taught in the Book of Genesis so singularly transcends even that of Plato; nay, that it is so wonderfully accordant with the moral conceptions and feelings of our own day? Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, are fully delineated, and their faults exposed. Wrong is never confounded with right. How came it to pass that when the philosophy of a Plato and the morality of an Aristotle were so signally defective, this old book of three thousand years ago anticipated the fundamental theology and morality of our nineteenth Christian century? Is not the only possible answer--These were men whom God had healed, and this is Gods record concerning them? Difficulties of science or of history have no weight against these moral evidences, based as the former are upon ignorance or erroneous interpretation, which greater information might remove. But there can be no mistake about these positive features, and before the claims of the record can be rejected these must be accounted for.
II. Turning to the New Testament, still grander moral delineations are presented to us. Peerless and Divine stands the moral portraiture of Jesus Christ. Whence is it? of man or of God? Whatever we may think about Christianity, Christ Himself is the greatest moral miracle of human history. Had Jesus never lived, could His character have been imagined? Has any conception of romance approached it since? Think of--
1. His calm, majestic strength, His perfect self-possession and dignity, and yet His nature intense even to passion in its emotions. He denounces the Pharisees, but without a vestige of unholy passion; He drives out the money-changers, but without a spark of religious fanaticism.
2. The wisdom of His holiness. His is not the innocence that is ignorant of human life, it is the strength that is above it.
3. His self-consciousness and self-assertion. When He speaks concerning Himself it is to avow His human faultlessness, to assert His Divine perfection and prerogative. His character, He claims, has been subjected to unparalleled tests, and without the discovery of a single flaw.
4. The singular proportion and adjustment of His character. What a wonderful harmony of greatness and gentleness, holiness and pity, strength and sympathy; the grandeur of the loftiest manhood, the tenderness of the gentlest womanhood. We reverence as much as we love Him, we love Him as much as we worship Him.
5. His moral excellences in combination with His intellectual greatness.
6. His conception of His own kingdom. He, a peasant of the mountain village of Nazareth, conceives a kingdom of pure spiritual life, alike adapted to the ancient Asiatic and to the modern European, to the shivering Esquimaux and to the torrid Hindoo; a kingdom of universal brotherhood, in which all men are to be knit together in holiness and love. May we not, then, fairly appeal to the moral portraiture of the New Testament in proof that it is of God? Not merely to its healed men, but also to their Healer. Scepticism has had its men of genius--why has it never produced another gospel? Upon the moral integrity of its Christ Christianity is staked. He alleged that He wrought miracles. But if He never did them, the loftiest truth, the purest morality of the world is the offspring of a lie--a moral solecism so great that our entire consciousness rejects it.
III. Nor are the effects of Christs Gospel or the religious history of the Bible less conclusive. We know what Christianity did in apostolic times, when it came into contact with the unutterable depravities of Greece and Rome--what it found its converts, and what it made them. We know what it has done in every land to which it has come since; what just now Europe is in contrast with Asia, America in contrast with Africa. We know what fifty years ago the South Sea Islands were, and what--the officers of our navy and the intercourse of our merchant ships being witness--they are now. And its latest triumphs have been the most signal. A few chapters of the Bible, sometimes a single page, has sustained and propagated the Christianity of Madagascar; inspiring its converts with the virtue of saints and with the heroism of martyrs. No other book does this. Stand in a pulpit and read to men Plato or Milton or Bacon: where are their converts? whose hearts do they change? whose lives do they sanctify? Read to them the Bible, and healed men spring up everywhere, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
IV. We might take the distinctive doctrines of Christianity, and reason from them in the same way.
1. No doctrine, e.g., has been more demurred to than the doctrine of atonement. It has been represented as unrighteous and immoral. It is sufficient to reply--
(1) That this, for eighteen hundred years, has been the fundamental doctrine of Christendom. The moral conscience of Christian men, so far from stumbling at its supposed moral incongruities, has gloried in nothing so greatly.
(2) That if it be a false doctrine, men are misled the most grievously where they think themselves guided the most explicitly; and instead of being the most lucid, the New Testament is the most ambiguous of books.
(3) That in its practical influence upon mens hearts and lives, this alleged error has been more potent and fruitful than all admitted truth. Whenever this idea is lost, whatever else is retained, religious life is chilled down, and grateful love is abated. Can we then imagine that all this is a delusion? that this gratitude has been falsely generated? this holiness illegitimately wrought? It cannot be; mans error can never be more potent than Gods truth.
2. So with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It is objected to as loosening the bonds of responsibility, as encouraging a perilous laxity in morals; inasmuch as men who are taught that all their goodness is from God, and that a Divine power external to themselves must create in them a clean heart, and renew them day by day, are not likely to strive to be good. Again we appeal to the inexorable logic of fact, to healed men. Who in religious life are the most sensitive to sin, the most scrupulous in holiness, the most consecrated in service, the most beneficent in help? Beyond all dispute, they who theoretically believe, and who practically illustrate the new birth of the Spirit. In a word, we boldly submit all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity to this test of results. Conclusion: Every Christian minister, every town missionary, almost every member of a Christian Church, could adduce instances, some of them scores and hundreds, which would stand the test of any judicial investigation. No one rejects Christianity because its influences are pernicious, or Christ, because His teaching is immoral. When Christian men are charged with inconsistency, the very charge implies a standard far higher than any other in our social life. Reason with a sceptical objector, you may be ignominiously defeated. But the argument from moral result is unanswerable. The most ignorant can say, Whether this be of God or not I cannot tell; this I know, that whereas once I was blind now I see. If the objector tells you what his philosophy is, you show him what your Christianity has done. He challenges the philosophy of your creed, you challenge the moral effects of his infidelity. Where are its religious penitents, its rescued reprobates, its Magdalens and prodigals? And if he has found no such moral power to make men holy, he will, if a true man, tell you with a sorrowful heart, how reluctantly he rejects your Christianity. He who feels no such anguish, or who chuckles over any discredit of a benign and holy Christianity, is simply a fiend and not a man. In this way, then, even gainsayers may be made to confess, That a notable miracle hath been done by these Christian teachers, is manifest to all them that dwell in the land, and we cannot deny it. (H. Allon, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v15 15. When they had commanded them to go aside.…
15. When they had commanded them to go aside. They sent them from their presence in order that they might confer freely together. The substance of their deliberations is condensed and reported. The conclusion they arrived at was, not to punish them for a miracle that all the people knew had taken place, but to stop their preaching by threats.
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.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v15 15-22. Here we see the preachers in authority at…
ECCLESIASTICAL USURPATION
15-22. Here we see the preachers in authority at Jerusalem determine to crush out the holiness movement started by Jesus of Nazareth and perpetuated by His Apostles. So they issue to Peter and John a positive prohibition to preach any more, augmenting that interdiction by terrible threats in case of persistence.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv15–18 15, 16. Finally, the silence was broken by a…
15, 16. Finally, the silence was broken by a proposition that the prisoners be withdrawn. (15) " And having commanded them to go aside out of the Sanhedrim, they conferred among themselves, (16) saying, What shall we do to these men? For that, indeed, a noted miracle has been wrought by them, is manifest to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can not deny it. " This admission, in their secret deliberations, shows the utter heartlessness and hypocrisy of their proceedings, and it is astonishing that they could any longer give each other countenance in such a course.
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 v16 (Greek - σημει̑ον, sign).
miracle
(Greek - σημει̑ον, sign).
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v18 The resolution announced to Peter and John:
The resolution announced to Peter and John:
v. 18. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
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v. 19. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
v. 20. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
v. 21. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people; for all men glorified God for that which was done.
v. 22. For the man was above forty years old on whom this miracle of healing was showed.
Peter and John were now called back into the meeting of the council, and the resolution was made known to them in its strictest interpretation. They were in no way to utter a word nor to teach about the name of Jesus. They should not, even in any private conversation, much less before a public assembly, speak or teach a single thing concerning Jesus. It was a summary and comprehensive prohibition. But both Peter and John, disregarding their own safety as well as even the semblance of expediency, unhesitatingly avowed their purpose to disregard the order of the Sanhedrin. And in stating this, they modestly, but firmly, appealed to the consciences of the judges. Whether it be in accordance with right and justice before God to obey them rather than God they should judge for themselves. Acting as before God, and following the dictates of eternal truth and justice, we dare not be silent. It cannot be right to obey man contrary to the will and command of God. It is impossible for us not to speak that which we have seen and heard. All things are possible to the believers in Christ, but it is impossible for them to be silent where the Word and honor of God and their Lord Jesus Christ are concerned. For silence in that case is equivalent to denial, and denial means to fall from grace. So the defiant refusal was stated before the Sanhedrin, whose members found themselves unable to react. They were obliged to be content with another, with an additional, serious threat as to what would happen if they dared to disobey. So this was the sad climax of the Sanhedrin’s vengeful effort. They were obliged to dismiss the two apostles; there was no case, no cause why they might punish them. And their fear of the people was another factor which cautioned prudence. For all men were full of praise toward God over the miracle that had been performed, a deed all the more noteworthy since the former cripple had not only been lame from his birth, but was more than forty years old at the time he was healed. Privately and secretly, of course, the members of the council were nursing their resentment, firmly resolved to make use of the first opportunity that offered to strike a decisive blow. Note: The true Christians are filled with missionary zeal wherever they go and whatever hey undertake. And when men attempt to hinder them, when the government prohibits the preaching of the Gospel, they refuse to accede to the will of men and are obedient to God, who has commanded them to confess Christ, to preach the Gospel.
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 v15 the apostles
the apostles
This refers to Peter and John.
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What shall we do to these men?
The Jewish leaders ask this question out of frustration because they could not think of what to do with Peter and John. AT: "There is nothing that we can do with these men!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
For the fact that a remarkable miracle has been done through them is known to everyone who lives in Jerusalem
This can be stated in active form. AT: "For everyone who lives in Jerusalem knows that they have done a remarkable miracle" (See: Active or Passive)
everyone who lives in Jerusalem
This is a generalization. It may also be an exaggeration to show that the leaders think that this is a very big problem. AT: "many of the people who live in Jerusalem" or "people who live throughout Jerusalem" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
in order that it spreads no further
Here the word "it" refers to any miracles or teaching Peter and John might continue to do. AT: "in order that news of this miracle spreads no further" or "in order that no more people hear about this miracle" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
not to speak anymore to anyone in this name
Here the word "name" refers to the person of Jesus. AT: "not to speak anymore to anyone about this person, Jesus" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
command
apostle
council
miracle
Jerusalem
name
Jesus
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 v16 4:16-18 They recognized the miracle but still stubbornly tried…
4:16-18 They recognized the miracle but still stubbornly tried to prevent the message. Jesus had encountered similar resistance (Matt 19:8; Mark 10:5; see also Deut 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.