Chapter Four

The imprisonment of Peter and John and the outcome of Peter’s speech (1–4). The interrogation of the Apostles before the Sanhedrin and their response (5–12). The Sanhedrin’s perplexity and the release of the Apostles (13–22). The prayer of the Apostles and a new miraculous sign (23–31). The inner life of the early Church (32–37)

Acts 4:1. While they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came upon them, Acts 4:2. being deeply troubled because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead; Acts 4:3. and they laid their hands on them and put them in custody until the morning, for it was already evening. “While they were speaking” — consequently, the Apostles’ speech was “interrupted” by the priests. “The priests and the captain of the temple guard came,” οί ιερεῖς καί ο στρατηγός τοῦ ιεροῦ... The definite articles in the Greek original point here to specific priests who were on duty that week for service in the temple (cf. Luke 1:8). The priests intervene here out of indignation that the Apostles, without what they considered lawful authorization, were teaching the people in the temple. “The captain of the guard,” which consisted of Levites and oversaw decorum, quiet, and order in the temple, especially during worship. He was also a priest. “The Sadducees” — they participate in the arrest of the Apostles out of indignation at their teaching on the resurrection of the dead, which they, as is well known, did not accept. Although as a “first” measure against the Apostles’ disturbance of the peace in the temple it would have been quite sufficient simply to remove them or merely forbid them to speak — in practice, however, we see far more. The priests and the others who came with them “laid hands” on the Apostles and “put them in custody until morning.” This suggests that the activities and persons of the Apostles had already attracted the uneasy attention of the authorities, and this latest incident in the temple simply furnished a sufficient pretext for bringing them before the highest court. “It was already evening.” The Apostles had gone for prayer at the ninth hour (3 p.m. our time). A considerable time could have passed between the healing of the lame man and Peter’s speech to the crowd, while news of the miracle spread and the people gathered. Peter’s speech itself may have been lengthy, perhaps recorded by the author only in its essential outline. It is thus understandable that the arrest took place at a time of evening when it would have been difficult to convene the Sanhedrin, and such haste was unnecessary in any case: it was sufficient to do what was done — hold them in custody until morning.

Acts 4:4. But many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of such men was about five thousand. “About five thousand men” (ανδρῶν) — besides, it seems, women and children. The number converted this time exceeded even the first success of the day of Pentecost, evidently because, in addition to the power of the apostolic word and the greatness of the miracle, the people themselves had by now become more predisposed to faith in Christ by all the conduct of the believers, who evoked the people’s sympathy, and by the extraordinary deeds of the Apostles. Chrysostom gives an excellent explanation of the success of apostolic preaching: “about five thousand believed”... What does this mean? Did they see the Apostles in glory? Did they not, on the contrary, see them bound? How then did they believe? You see the manifest power of God! For even those who believed should have been made weaker by this, yet they were not. Peter’s speech had sown deep seeds and had touched their souls.

Acts 4:5. On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, Acts 4:6. along with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family; From the enumeration of those gathered in Jerusalem it is clear that this was a full assembly of the Sanhedrin — in the same composition as at the trial of Jesus Christ (Annas, Caiaphas). “John and Alexander and the rest” — members of the high-priestly family unknown from history, who apparently held great influence in the Sanhedrin at that time.

Acts 4:7. and having placed them in the midst they were asking: by what power or in what name did you do this? It is doubtful that the members of the Sanhedrin did not know “by what name” and “by what power” the Apostles had performed the miracle that brought them before the highest court. If nevertheless they still pose such a question, it is either in order to base an accusation of blasphemy on the Apostles’ own admission, or else — according to Chrysostom’s interpretation — “they supposed that the Apostles, fearing the multitude, would deny it, and they thought that in this way they would set everything right.”

Acts 4:8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: rulers of the people and elders of Israel! “Filled with the Holy Spirit” — in a special way, for the defense of a righteous cause, in accordance with Christ’s promise (Matt 10:19-20 and others).

Acts 4:9. If we are being called to account today for a good deed done to a crippled man, as to how he was healed, The conditional form of the Apostles’ response to the Sanhedrin’s question contains first of all a pointed and powerful indication of the injustice of putting the Apostles on trial for helping a sick man. “For this we should of course be crowned” — so the Apostles are, as it were, saying (Chrysostom) — “and proclaimed as benefactors; yet instead we are being judged for a kindness shown to a sick man, who was poor, powerless, and of low station.”

Acts 4:10. let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by him this man stands before you in good health. The Apostle points to the indisputable reality of the healing miracle and to the power by which it was performed. That power is the power and name of Jesus.

Acts 4:11. He is the stone that was rejected by you builders but has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else, Acts 4:12. for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. In explaining the significance and power of the name of Jesus, the Apostle quotes a saying from a Psalm, which the Lord himself once applied to himself before the rulers of the Jews (Ps 117:22; cf. Matt 21:42). According to the meaning of this saying, the Messiah is portrayed as the fundamental cornerstone which the builders of the edifice have rejected. The crucified Christ was precisely this Stone, which they — the builders, the leaders of the people’s religious and moral life — had rejected in the construction of the people’s theocratic life; but despite everything, this Stone, by God’s will, has nonetheless become the head and foundation of the new edifice of the Kingdom of God on earth. Boldly applying this meaning to the contemporary rulers of the people who had crucified Jesus, the Apostle closes his speech with the majestic confession of Jesus as the true Messiah, whose name — and his name alone — contains in its power the salvation of all under heaven: not only temporal (such as the healing of the sick man), but — what is still more important — eternal and universal (salvation from sins with all their consequences, including death itself).

Acts 4:13. Now seeing the boldness of Peter and John and observing that they were uneducated and common men, they were marveling; yet they recognized them as having been with Jesus; “The boldness of Peter and John,” who had moved from the position of the accused to that of well-grounded accusers of the Sanhedrin in full session, gained force from their widely-known lack of formal education and simple background, evoking understandable astonishment and confusion. “It is possible to be both learned and not simple, and to be both simple and uneducated, but here both coincided. Hence their astonishment when Peter and John spoke and gave speeches” (Theophylact).

Acts 4:14. but seeing the healed man standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition. The recognition in the Apostles of Jesus’s constant companions assured everyone that these men were indeed continuing the work of their Teacher, so hated by the entire Sanhedrin, which had only just handed the Lord over to death. This seemed, apparently, to make the condemnation of the Apostles to the same fate inevitable, through accusation of religious or political transgression. But the presence of the healed man himself on this occasion paralyzed every resolution of the Sanhedrin, which could say nothing against the true explanation of the miracle presented by the Apostles. How did the healed man come to be in the Sanhedrin? Probably at the order of the authorities themselves, who hoped to force from him a denial of the miraculous nature of the healing, as once happened at the healing of the man born blind by the Lord (John 9). But as then, so now, the Sanhedrin miscalculated and only compounded its own disgrace and injustice.

Acts 4:15. And having ordered them to go outside the Sanhedrin, they conferred with one another, Acts 4:16. saying: what shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed by them is known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it; Acts 4:17. but so that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them with threats not to speak to anyone in this name. Acts 4:18. And having called them in, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. The decision taken by the Sanhedrin in the case of the Apostles is the decision of people who have lost their composure. They themselves say that the Apostles’ notable miracle is known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and yet at the same time they issue an order that it not be spread among the people. However, the intent of the decision seems directed more at the manner of explaining the miracle than at the miracle itself as a fact — forbidding the spread of which was already too late and naïve. The Sanhedrin forbids specifically speaking about the “name” of Jesus, by whose power the Apostles explained the miracle. “What madness!” — Chrysostom exclaims on this occasion — “knowing that Christ had risen and having in this proof of his divinity, they hoped by their schemes to conceal the glory of One who had not been held by death. What can compare with this madness? And do not be surprised that they are again plotting something impossible. Such is the nature of malice: it takes no account of anything but is always in confusion”... “Not to speak at all to anyone or to teach in the name of Jesus” — neither to speak in private nor to teach in public.

Acts 4:19. But Peter and John answered them: judge for yourselves whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God. “Whether it is right... to listen to you rather than to God.” The Apostles do their work by the command of God, the evident and sufficient sign of which is the miracles. This command is all the more binding and authoritative for them because it instructs them to preach not some remote, abstract, unverified truths, but what they themselves have seen and heard. To give up the right to speak about this is “impossible,” for it would be equivalent to making a reasonable person mute. This also makes it understood that the Sanhedrin’s command itself had gone beyond the bounds of consistency with the demands of sound reason and the laws of conscience, and as such more justly deserved the fate to which it now dares to condemn the divine commands.

Acts 4:21. They threatened them further and then released them, finding no basis for punishing them, on account of the people; because everyone was glorifying God for what had happened. “Finding no way to punish them,” Greek μηδέν ευρίσκοντες τό πῶς κοκάσωνται αντούς — more precisely in the Slavonic: “finding nothing, how to punish them” — that is: finding no grounds, no basis on which to punish them. “Because of the people” (cf. Matt 21 and the like), out of fear of them, given such massive sympathy and support for the Apostles.

Acts 4:23. After being released, they came to their own people and reported everything that the chief priests and elders had said to them. “They went to their friends.” At this time their friends were gathered in a common assembly (verse 31), probably praying for the release of the Apostles and for a successful outcome of their case (cf. Acts 12:5).

Acts 4:24. When they heard this, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: Sovereign Lord God, who made the heaven and earth and sea and everything in them! Acts 4:25. You, through the mouth of our father David your servant, said by the Holy Spirit: why do the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot vain things? Acts 4:26. The kings of the earth rose up, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Acts 4:27. For truly in this city they gathered together against your holy Son Jesus, whom you anointed — both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel — “With one accord... they said.” Likely one of those present — perhaps Peter — was the spokesman for the prayerful feelings of the believers, who, repeating in themselves the words of his prayer, thereby made it the unanimous prayer of the whole community (cf. Acts 1:24). The prayer is grounded in a saying from the second Psalm of David (Ps 2:1-2), which with Gospel-like vividness portrays the uprising of kings and rulers of the peoples against the Messiah and the one who sent him — which came to pass at the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus. Since the Apostles were continuing the work of the Messiah, the present uprising against them was likewise an uprising “against the Lord and against his Christ,” which is why it evoked a prayer for their protection and strengthening. “They cite the prophecy as though demanding from God the fulfillment of the promise, and at the same time comforting themselves with the fact that their enemies plan only in vain. Thus their words mean: bring all this to its end and show that they planned in vain.” (Chrysostom; cf. Theophylact). The authorship of the quoted Psalm by David is not apparent from the heading of the Psalm itself, but is here indicated by the Apostles presumably on the basis of tradition. “Whom you anointed,” όν έχρισας — more precisely in the Slavonic: “whom you anointed.” This took place at his baptism, with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him.

Acts 4:28. to do whatever your hand and your counsel had predetermined to take place. “To do this.” The enemies of Christ wanted to do something entirely different — to kill Jesus as a rejected Messiah — but in reality, without knowing it themselves, they did what the hand of God’s almighty power had predestined: through the death of the Messiah, to redeem all of humanity and restore it to its former dignity and glory (cf. Chrysostom and Theophylact).

Acts 4:29. And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, Acts 4:30. while you stretch out your hand for healings and for the performing of signs and wonders through the name of your holy Son Jesus. “While you stretch out your hand to heal,” Greek εν τῶ τήν χειρά σου εκτείνειν σε ειτ ίασιν — more precisely in the Slavonic: “when you stretch out your hand for healings.” This does not simply point to the signs accompanying the Apostles’ work, as the Russian translation inadequately conveys, but expresses the necessary condition that makes their work successful — and is therefore also the subject of their prayer. “Grant us to speak your word boldly, while you help on your side with miraculous healings and signs” — this is the thought of the Apostles, distorted by the Russian translation.

Acts 4:31. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. “The place was shaken” — this was not a natural earthquake, but a miraculous one (already from the fact that only “the place of assembly” was shaken), signifying that God had heard their prayer, and at the same time serving as a precursor of another subsequent miraculous event — the filling of the believers with the bold power of the Holy Spirit. It was also a symbol of God’s omnipotence, assuring the Apostles that they need not fear the threats of the Sanhedrin, that he who shakes the place of their prayer meeting is able to protect them (Chrysostom, Theophylact). Thus, in encouragement of the assembled believers, the Lord immediately fulfilled their prayer and granted what they had asked: to speak with boldness and to support their word with signs and wonders. So they did speak in this way, and the place of assembly “was shaken.”

Acts 4:32. The whole multitude of those who had believed was of one heart and one soul; and no one called any of his possessions his own, but everything was common to them all. Acts 4:33. And the Apostles were testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ with great power; and great grace was upon them all. The miraculous healing of the lame man and the great moral victory of the Apostles over the Sanhedrin at its first assault on the new community was a great event in the early Christian Church. From this point on the community of Christians grew nearly threefold compared to those who had believed on the first day of Pentecost. Therefore the author again finds it necessary to make general observations about the inner life of this enlarged community (verses 32–37). As the principal characteristic feature of this community, he points to the fact that among this multitude there was complete unanimity and brotherly love: “one heart and one soul” — perfect unity in thought, feeling, will, faith, and the entire order of spiritual life. Truly a wondrous phenomenon in a sinful, self-serving world. Another characteristic feature, naturally flowing from the first, was complete sharing of goods, not by compulsion or any law binding upon all, but entirely voluntarily, by the power of the brotherly love and moral unity animating all. “No one called anything his own” — though there was property, it was fraternally shared with all who were in need, according to their need, creating common sufficiency and a complete absence of those in want. This was the most characteristic and most grand society of mutual aid in human history, not lacking a wise and elaborate organization, with a special common fund that on the one hand was continuously replenished by the proceeds of donated and sold properties for the common benefit, and on the other continuously ensured the complete absence of poor and destitute people in the community. And at the head of this wise organization stood not great statesmen, but simple Galilean fishermen — the Apostles, or rather the abundantly “flowing through them new power of truly Christian grace-inspired enthusiasm,” the power of faith and love for the Savior (“great grace was upon them all”). In describing the intensity of the believers’ high enthusiasm, the author mentions the great power of the Apostles’ preaching “about the resurrection of the Lord.” This resurrection is the foundation of all Christian faith (1 Cor 15:14) and is therefore also the foundation and center of all apostolic preaching — being not the exclusive but simply the predominant, fundamental subject of that preaching.

Acts 4:34. There was not a needy person among them; for all who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold Acts 4:35. and laid them at the feet of the Apostles; and it was distributed to each as anyone had need. “As many as were owners,” όσοι κτήτορες... υπῆρχον — the more precise meaning of the expression is not “all who were” but “those who were.” Likewise, “sold them” does not say that the owners “sold everything,” leaving nothing for themselves. Both were a matter of each person’s own good will and brotherly love, permitting the most varied degrees, entirely free of any hint of outside compulsion (cf. Acts 5:4). “Laid it at the Apostles’ feet” — placing it entirely at their disposal and direction.

Acts 4:36. Thus Joseph, called Barnabas by the Apostles, which means son of consolation, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, As an example of the commendable gifts mentioned — probably the most instructive of them all — the author points to Joseph, surnamed by the Apostles Barnabas, meaning “son of encouragement.” This Barnabas, later so well known as the companion of the Apostle Paul, was a prophet (Acts 13:1), and his surname likely referred to the particularly comforting quality of his inspired prophetic speeches (1 Cor 14:3). He was also a “Levite.” This too is remarkable: until now there had been no instance of the sacred tribe bowing before Christ in faith. But soon there begin to appear references to many priests who submitted to the Christian faith (Acts 6:7). “A native of Cyprus” — from the island of Cyprus, the closest to the Palestinian coast in the Mediterranean Sea.

Acts 4:37. who owned a field, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the Apostles. Priests and Levites could hold real property, as is evident already from the example of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 32 and following).