Acts 3

Acts 3:1-5

X THE Acts 3:1-5:42.Acts 3-5 are devoted to the history of the first great persecution of the Spirit-filled and accredited church, with attendant circumstances. This, quite naturally, was of Sadducean origin. (1) The Sadducees were the rulers of the people, dominating in politics, and through the high priest, dominating the Sanhedrin. (2) They were materialists, believing in neither angel nor spirit, nor in the resurrection of the body. (3) The great issue, publicly and boldly made by the Spiritfilled church, was that Jesus was risen from the dead and exalted to the sovereignty of the universe, and was demonstrating these great truths by unmistakable signs and wonders. (4) The people were being swept away by these demonstrations, so that what the Sadducees might well call “the last error” was worse than the first. (5) Hence the Sadducees had to meet this issue, so publicly and convincingly made, or else lose both political and ecclesiastical power. (6) Moreover, the demonstration of the resurrection of Jesus established his messiahship, and convicted the rulers of sacrilege and murder in putting him to death, so that they were on trial for their lives, their faith, their offices, and their political leadership.

This important issue had been forced on them by Peter. In his great sermon on Pentecost he had alleged in the presence of myriads of the people, from all parts of the world, the following things: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; him being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it” (Acts 2:22-24). And again, “This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear” (Acts 2:32). And also, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom ye crucified” (Acts 2:36). He had introduced the testimony of the prophet Joel, and particularly the declaration of the great king, David.

Three thousand of the people were converted in one day, and every day following vast additions were made to their number. The meeting was protracted. They held services publicly in the Temple every day. Money, by voluntary contribution, poured into the treasury. Their baptisms and observances of the Lord’s Supper were public and continuous. They were jubilant in praise, and had favor with all the people.

The revival was a conflagration threatening to wrap all Jerusalem in its spiritual flame.

At this juncture occurred a public incident which forced the Sadducean rulers to take official notice of the great movement. In the very gate of the temple, Peter and John had wrought an amazing miracle on a well-known cripple, hopelessly lame from his mother’s womb; the miracle was wrought in the name of Jesus of Nazareth; a great concourse of the people were attracted to the scene of the miracle, recognizing the subject of it, witnessing the completeness of the healing, and standing in amazement before the miracle workers. Peter replies to their amazement (a) by disclaiming any power or holiness in himself and John to do this mighty work; (b) he boldly accuses them of denying the holy and righteous One, preferring a murderer instead, delivering him up to Pilate and forcing him reluctantly to condemn him, and of killing the Prince of Life; (c) that the God of Abraham raised him from the dead, of which fact they were witnesses, and (d) that through his name – through faith in his name – was given to this hopeless cripple, so well known to them, this perfect soundness in the presence of them all.

Peter further improved the occasion thus: (1) He admitted that spiritual ignorance caused the people and their rulers to commit so grave a blunder and so heinous a crime. (2) But the passion of the Messiah, foreshown by all the prophets, was thus fulfilled. (3) He therefore exhorts to repentance and turning, so that (a) their sins might be blotted out; (b) that great revivals might come from the glorified Lord; (c) that he must remain in heaven until the times of restoration of all things attested by all the prophets; (d) that this Jesus was the great Prophet like unto Moses, who according to Moses, God would raise up from among the brethren; (e) that whoever would not hear this prophet would be cut off from Israel; (f) that Samuel and all succeeding prophets foretold these things; (g) that they, as sons of the prophets and of God’s covenant that in Abraham’s seed, who is the Messiah, all nations should be blessed, were first offered the blessings of forgiveness. To this indictment of rulers and people and this marvelous exhortation, the people made great response. About 5,000 men, not counting women and children, were converted (Acts 4:4).

This issue, so made by Peter, was the boldest and most comprehensive challenge in all history.

It claimed all the books of the Jewish Bible, all their covenants and promises, all their patriarchs, mediators, prophets, illustrious kings and heroes, all their sacrifices and rituals. It charged sacrilege and murder in the rejection of Jesus. It affirmed the resurrection, the exaltation and the glorification of the rejected Lord. It preached repentance on account of this sin. It promised remission of sin and eternal life to those who believed. It threatened exclusion from the covenant of all the impenitent and unbelieving. It intimated a transfer of the kingdom to the Gentiles, if they persisted in their rejection, so the Sadducees had to accept the challenge.

The Sadducees felt compelled to respond to the challenge: (1) They arrested Peter and John, imprisoned them for the night, and held them to trial before the Sanhedrin on the morrow. (2) They gathered all the Sadducean kindred of the high priest, Caiaphas, including Annas, his father-in-law, ex-high priest, John and Alexander, thus assembling those most responsible for the crime of the murder of the Lord, and by thus gathering the special Sadducean kindred dominating the council. (3) The Sanhedrin itself was convened, and the prisoners set before it.

Their inquisition concedes the fact of the miracle, but demands, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” A prophecy of the Lord was thus fulfilled: “They shall deliver you up to councils.” Our Lord had foretold and provided for this very exigency. He said, “Be not anxious beforehand what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11; Matthew 10:16-20).

In this foretold strait, Peter obeyed the direction of Christ, as we find in Acts 4:8-12 : “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders, if we this day are examined concerning a good deed to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him, doth this man stand here before you whole. He is the stone which was set at nought of you, the builders, which was made the head of the corner. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.”

That is the noblest answer in history.

The effect of Peter’s boldness on the council is thus described – Acts 4:13 : “Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” That council could not understand that ignorant and unlearned men) arrested and imprisoned, and brought before that supreme court of the Jewish nation, should stand there, not as prosecuted, but as prosecutors, indicting their judges. This shows that the power of preachers is not dependent upon, or I should say, not proportioned to the amount of their education, but it is proportioned to their being filled with the Holy Spirit, and to their being educated or trained in the Word of God. Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, had a theory that only college graduates should be allowed to be preachers, and they refused to receive into their seminary anybody who did not graduate at a reputable institution of learning. He was amazed to hear of some work done by a blacksmith, who never had been to school much, and he kept on hearing so much about this blacksmith that he, after investigation, was himself persuaded and convinced that this unlearned man did shake the gates of hell every time he preached to the people. Dr. Wayland, who differed altogether from the Presbyterians (he was a Baptist), about the absolute necessity for college education in order to preach, cites this case of Alexander’s honest testimony to something that he did not understand – and he never did understand how that blacksmith could be such a power for God in his preaching.

This is why I have said in one of my opening addresses before our seminary that while I would always encourage every man to get all of the education that his means and his family condition would allow, yet I would never be guilty of the folly of saying that only college men could be preachers of power, and that when any theological seminary took the position not to admit into its theological department any but college graduates, it took a position that would have prevented either Christ or any one of the twelve apostles from entering it.

Here were two indisputable facts: A miracle confronted the Sanhedrin, and it was a good deed of healing and mercy. How keen the sarcasm of Peter: “If we be examined this day for a good deed, healing this impotent man.”

A well supported tradition exists among the Baptists of Virginia. It was in the period of the union of church and state. Two Baptist preachers were indicted for preaching without Episcopal license. This tradition says that Patrick Henry was employed to defend them, or took the case voluntarily, and that all he did was to stand up before the court and say, “What is the indictment against these men? Preaching the glorious gospel of the Son of God? Great God I That is the indictment! Are there no thieves going around unarrested and unconvicted? Are there no murderers upon whom to visit the vengeance of law, that you must indict and try men for preaching the gospel?”

This should ever be the challenge of the people of God: Here is our good work! Behold this monument of grace! This work was not done in a corner. It is self-interpretative. Here is a drunkard; look at him. See what he was, and behold what he is!

The result of the deliberation of this inquisition before the Sanhedrin seems a most impotent conclusion. It is expressed in Acts 4:15-18, thus: “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? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been wrought through them, is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and charged them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” That was their conclusion; so they called them back in again and charged them accordingly.

Acts 4:19-20 : “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.” In other words, “You may pass any judgment you please. You are the earthly court, but so far as we are concerned, being under higher authority, we must ignore both your threat and charge, and speak boldly and openly what we have seen and heard.” If one should wonder why the Sadducees stopped at a threat, the reason is given in Acts 4:21-22 : “And they, when they had further threatened them, let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people; for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was more than forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was wrought.” They had malice enough to kill them, but they were afraid of the people, and did not like to go before the people on such a case as that, with a forty-year-old man, who from his mother’s womb had been a cripple, and everybody knew him. It was a good thing done, and there he stood, perfectly healed.

Peter and John report the whole case to the church. Acts 4:23 : “And being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them.” The church reports it to God. “And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, O Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is: who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, didst say, Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, And the rulers were gathered together, Against the Lord, and against His Anointed: for of a truth, in this city against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever way thy hand and thy counsel foreordained to come to pass.” Let us hear them pray: “And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy servant, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”

This courage and fidelity on the part of leaders and people had a wonderful, fivefold result – first on themselves and then on others: (1) “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul. (2) And not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. (3) And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and (4) great grace was upon them all. For neither was there among them any that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as anyone had need.” Persecution unifies God’s people; it increases their love for one another, and makes them sacrifice for one another; it opens their hearts and their purses. As an old sailor once said, “It takes a side-wind to fill all the sails.” (5) lt developed great men, for example, Acts 4:36-37 : “And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, son of exhortation), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race, having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

From this it may be observed that in every meeting of very great power, when the root of things is gotten at, when the topmost twig is being shaken, when the sound of the wind is in the mulberry trees, when the fire is burning in every meeting of that kind, there suddenly steps out to the front some man who afterward shakes the world. That is one of the great powers of revivals of religion. It calls out heroes, who up to that time had never been awakened. Moreover, it exposes and eliminates hypocrites – for example, the marvelous judgment of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10).

From three viewpoints this case is very instructive. It is evident that these two were swept into the church on the wave of a great excitement, without spiritual preparation. They could not understand the coming of the Holy Spirit, nor the mighty emotions and deeds of those around them who were filled with the Spirit. They had witnessed the heroic sacrifice of Barnabas, and coveted, not a similar spirit, but the credit of his deed, without the sacrifice. They conspired together to obtain this credit. They sold a piece of land, agreeing to keep back a part of the price, while affirming that the part offered was all they received.

They had neither a consciousness of the presence of the omniscient Spirit, nor that Peter, as an apostle filled with the Spirit, could read their minds. They supposed they had only to fool a mere man. They were not prepared for the exposure, nor his awful sentence in Acts 5:3-5. They were filled with Satan – not the Holy Spirit. Similar tragedies frequently occur in great revivals. The shortest road to the eternal sin – the unpardonable sin – is from a great revival.

Satan attends them, ever ready to suggest a quick way to instant and eternal ruin.

Indeed, it is only from a place of great light that the unpardonable sin can be committed.

A second viewpoint of instruction is the apostolic power of judgment. It was not often exercised, but always possessed. A similar case thus appears in Acts 13:6-12. Here again the apostle recognizes the presence of Satan opposing, through an agent, the work of the Holy Spirit. There are other New Testament cases, but these two illustrate.

I have often heard Major Penn and other great evangelists affirm that, on certain occasions, when the Spirit’s power was greatest, by a kind of spiritual instinct they felt the hostile presence of Satan working some form of opposition through some human agent. On one occasion I witnessed his dramatic exposure of this hostile occult influence.

A not less important viewpoint is the effect of this judgment (1) on the church, (2) on hypocrites, and (3) on outsiders. On the church it brought great fear (Acts 5:11); on the hypocrites it says, “Of the rest durst no man join himself to them” (Acts 5:13). It was getting too hot for hypocrites. It is only in lukewarm times that conscious hypocrites most seek to join themselves to the churches. People then come in without regard to the spiritual requirement – regeneration. Let the time come when “judgment must begin at the house of God,” and the lightning begins to strike, they become very shy of joining the church.

What was the effect on the outsiders? The answer is found in Acts 5:14 : “Howbeit, the people magnified them; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” The power of the apostles grows: “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people: and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.” That is an answer to the prayer found in Acts 4:29-30 : “And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings; and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy servant, Jesus.” Here Peter’s power reaches a climax in special miracles. Here we have it: “Insomuch that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that, as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some one of them” (Acts 5:15).

My brother, J. M. Carroll, has a regular “sugar-stick” sermon on “The Shadow of Peter, or the Power of Influence.” When you get so near to God and so full of the Spirit that the people will bring the helpless cases where you would walk along, so that your shadow might fall on some of them, then you may know you are at the topnotch of power. The author has a sermon on special miracles – “The Bones, Fringes, Shadows, Handkerchiefs, and Aprons.” Here you have a miracle by a shadow. In Elisha’s case the miracle was by bones. In our Lord’s time they touched the fringe, the hem of his garment; and in the apostle Paul’s time they sent out aprons and handkerchiefs that had touched him.

The last two paragraphs of this chapter (Acts 5:17-42) recite a revival of the Sadducean persecution. The apostles not only continued their witness of the resurrection, but the Holy Spirit magnified their witness by mighty signs, wonders and Judgments, until vast multitudes were converted to the faith, and they grew to an astonishing height in love, faith, unity, and courage. The streams of the sick, of the troubled souls, that converged in a tide toward the apostles and the happy church, and every increase of the shouts of the healed and the joy of the redeemed, excited their wrath.

The record says: “But the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him [which is the sect of the Sadducees], and they were filled with jealousy, and laid hands on the apostles, and put them in public ward.” [This time they get all of them in prison.] “But an angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them out, and said, ‘Go ye, and stand and speak in the temple.’ " So they are to go right on preaching the word. And when the Sanhedrin the next morning sends for the prisoners, their officer cornea back with his finger on his lip, saying, “They’re gone.” Another comes running in and says, “I saw them; they are right back there in the Temple, still preaching, and great crowds of people around.” Then they send officers very quietly, without tumult or violence, for fear of the people, and bring them before the court again, and this is the inquisition now: “And the high priest asked them, saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

That shows that Peter had hit the mark. He had been indicting them as murderers in every speech he had made, and now they see the point. They say, “You intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Peter replied, “We must obey God rather than men.” He repeats his accusation: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. And we are witnesses of these sayings; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” They do not make much out of that man, but were cut to the heart, and thought in their hearts to slay them.

The end of the Sadducean persecution comes in this way: An old man, Gamaliel, who was a Pharisee and the teacher of Paul, a doctor of the law and of great repute, requests that the prisoners be put apart for another consultation. Gamaliel makes a great speech, commencing with a word of caution (Acts 5:35). He then recites two well-known incidents of turbulent movements, which, though so threatening for a time, came to naught, and the agitators perished, and then hinting that this movement had higher ends, motives and issues, closes with the advice found in Acts 5:38-39. The record says, “And to him they agreed.” But the context shows their agreement was only partial. (See Acts 5:40.) Just how weak and futile was their half- way measure appears from Acts 5:41-42. And so ended the Sadducean persecution. We may not leave the subject, however, without suggesting a dominant reason for their failure. Their unbelief in the supernatural utterly disqualified them for leadership.

Materialists who do not believe in angels, nor in spirit, nor the resurrection, but in this life only, never can carry the crowd. Therefore, the one who broke up this persecution, as we will see in another issue, was a Pharisee, who would not Join them on that issue. They were ready enough to join in the persecution in another issue, as we will see later, but they did not join in an issue of the resurrection, and that was the issue Peter had made – that Christ was risen. Therefore, we learn in our Lord’s time, as recorded in Luke 20:27-40, that when the Sadducees came to Jesus with a question about the resurrection, he replied to them, and the Pharisees sympathized with his answer in putting the Sadducees down. And in Acts 23, when Paul was arraigned before this very council, he divided the crowd by saying, “Brethren, the only thing against me is that I preached the resurrection of the dead,” and instantly the Pharisee part of the council stood with Paul. They would not fight on that issue, and today you need not have any dread of any opposition that comes from a materialist.

He can’t get a following, for all over the world men’s consciences and their nature teach that there is a life beyond this life – that there is a God and a place for the soul. The materialists, therefore, are a very small crowd; so the Sadducean persecution came to naught.

Before closing this chapter we recur, for practical observations, to several antecedent paragraphs lightly passed over in giving rapid history of the Sadducean persecution. First, the reply of Peter to the request of the lame man at the beautiful gate of the Temple: “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

It is related that a distinguished visitor on one occasion was waiting on the Pope, to whom the Pope showed all his treasures, jewels, the money, explaining that streams from all over the world continued to flow into this treasury. Says the Pope, “There has been a very great change since the first pope’s time) for Peter said, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’ " “Yes,” said the visitor, “and I am afraid there has been a very great change in another direction: that you cannot now make an impotent man walk; you have the silver and the gold, but have you Peter’s faith and power?”

We do well also to note that “silver and gold” are not the greatest, and most times, the best gifts in our power, and to be thankful for the fact, since otherwise only the rich could give.

Second, there can be no better example of true homiletics than Peter’s sermon to the people on the occasion of this great miracle. It equals his Pentecost sermon. It deserves a special analysis. It was a great occasion. Carlyle, on Stump Speaking, affirms that the first prerequisite to a great oration is a great occasion. It must not be manufactured to afford an opportunity for a speech. The stirring times and even the urgent hour must call for it. Then the speech must fit the occasion, and supply its calls and needs, leaving nothing more to be said.

There must be a man for the occasion, who, God-called and qualified, has something to say, and will so say it that action and not applause will cap its climax – prompt, decisive, fitting, and adequate action. All these conditions are filled in this case in Peter himself and the results.

The supreme court of the nation has put itself in opposition to the supreme court of heaven on the gravest question of conscience. Those who believed in rendering unto God the things that are God’s, were making an open, daylight, life and death issue. At the beautiful gate of the Temple God magnified their testimony by an amazing miracle. A beggar, crippled from his mother’s womb, and known to all the people, received as alms an instantaneous perfect healing. His frantic exhibitions of praise to God, and joyous, grateful clinging to Peter and John, drew an immense crowd whose speechless amazement and staring, louder than words, demanded an explanation. Peter’s sermon is that explanation.

1. He rebukes their marveling at the man: “Why should it be thought incredible that God should work a miracle?”

2. He rebukes their staring at him and John, as though this wonder should be attributed to either their goodness or power.

3. He attributes the miracle exclusively to his risen Lord, through faith in his name.

4. He then begins his indictment) seeking their conviction of sin, contrasting their way with the Father’s (Acts 3:13-15).

5. He shows again, without any attempt at harmony between free will and divine agency, that notwithstanding they had wickedly and murderously contributed to Christ’s sufferings, all these sufferings had been foreshown in all their prophets.

6. His tender heart next goes out to the indicted and convicted (Acts 3:17).

Here he introduces a new kind of ignorance characteristic of the New Testament, and delimiting the unpardonable sin. Theirs was not mental ignorance, for they had head knowledge of all the matters involved. They lacked spiritual enlightenment, without which the eternal sin cannot be committed. Compare the case of Paul. (See Acts 26:9; 1 Timothy 1:13.) See also the veil over the hearts of the Jews when they read Moses, 2 Corinthians 3:5, and compare Hebrews 10:26-29. And yet this spiritual illumination does not necessarily reach regeneration, for the regenerate cannot commit the unpardonable sin (see 1 John 5:16-18). Nor does spiritual conviction always result in that contrition or godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto life.

7. He now comes with great clearness and force to his exhortation and application (Acts 3:19-21). .Here he finely discriminates between repentance and conversion. Logically a change of mind must precede a change of life course.

8. But we are particularly interested in the motives toward, or the results conditioned on the repentance and conversion enjoined. These are three: (1) “So that your sins may be blotted out.” (2) “So that there may come seasons of refreshings (i.e., revivals) from the presence of the Lord.” (3) “So that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, whom the heavens must receive until the times of restoration of all things.” This part of his exhortation bristles with eschatological doctrine. It fixes far off the final advent of our Lord.

It unquestionably teaches, as many other scriptures, that the dramatic conversion of the whole Jewish nation, so vividly described by Paul, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Isaiah must not only precede the advent, but the advent itself cannot be until all prophecies of antecedent events have been fulfilled.

9. His sermon closes with the identification of the prophetic Messiah with Jesus of Nazareth, and suggests him, not only as their Messiah, but the one “in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Third, Acts 4:31 : “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together.” This miracle on nature, like the earthquake which followed the midnight praise and prayer service of Paul and Silas in the Philippian Jail (Acts 16:25-26), caused the solid earth to respond in thrills to its Creator’s mandate.

Fourth, Acts 4:32 (see the passage). From time immemorial this passage has been made the basis of the socialistic doctrine of “Community of goods – no private ownership of property.” The contention is untenable. It is true and deducible from many other passages, that as against God, there is no absolute ownership of private property – and in the light of his stewardship no Christian can say, “Aught of the things I possess is my own.” But it is not here taught that “Community ownership of private property is substituted for stewardship to God.” This is certainly the teaching of Peter’s reply to Ananias (see Acts 5:4). It does prove, however, that individual owners of private property, moved by love to God, did voluntarily sell their goods, and put it into a common fund for the necessitous believers. This was a charity fund for the poor in a great necessity. This necessity arose mainly from the Jews of the dispersion, enumerated by nations in Acts 2, lingering so long in Jerusalem to attend the great revival meeting commencing at Pentecost and lasting until the Christian part of it was all dispersed abroad by the Pharisee persecution under Saul of Tarsus (see Acts 8:1-3; Acts 11:19).

This is further evidenced by the necessity for the office of deacon (Acts 6). It became too burdensome a matter for the apostles personally to distribute daily the alms of this common fund. There is no hint here or elsewhere of “community ownership of private property,” but everywhere a custom of the churches to provide for their own poor, or in case of great necessity, for the poor saints elsewhere. See Paul’s great collections for the poor saints in Jerusalem, and his specific instructions to Timothy about each church’s home poor (1 Timothy 5:3-16).

Let us now explain Acts 4:4 : “But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” Thus reads the Revised Version, and the King James has it: “The number of the men was about five thousand.” Now, does that mean, with or without counting the 3000 on the day of Pentecost, that the number came to be 5000, or that 5000 were converted this day? It is based on the exegecies of the Greek, which reads: “The number of the men came to be about five thousand.” Dr. Newman says it means that there had been about 2000 converted since Pentecost, 3000 that day, and by this time had come to be about 5000, counting men only. Meyer says the same thing in his Acts; the great exegete, Hackett, a Baptist, in his Book on Acts, also says it, as do a great many others. But I say that it means 5000 that day; 5000 heard the word that day and 5000 believed that day; and the number, as they kept hearing and believing, came to be 5000 men in all. There is no reference to any conversions connecting with any previous occasion, and if we look in the “Pulpit Commentary,” Acts we find a fine Greek scholar saying that the grammar, although itself is a little doubtful in construction, is in favor of the position that 5000 that day were converted.

The Sadducees complained, saying, “You intend to bring this man’s blood upon us” (Acts 5:28). When they were crucifying the Lord, this very crowd said, “His blood be upon us, and our children.” Peter is not putting the blood on them; they put it on themselves, knowingly and willfully. They had said, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” They took that responsibility then, and now they begin to realize it. But there is a greater realization ahead of them.

Nations, like individuals, are responsible, and when they complete their rejection of the Spirit’s witness, as their rejection of our Lord himself, the doom and long exile of this favored people will commence with the destruction of Jerusalem and last until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

1. What is the theme of Acts 3:1-5:42?

2. Why does the first persecution come from the Sadducees?

3. Who of the church was to the front in making this issue, and what the Scripture showing the issue?

4. What the public incident which forced the Sadducean rulers to take official notice of the movement, what the effect of the incident on the people, and what Peter’s reply to their amazement?

5. How did Peter improve the occasion, and what the analysis of his exhortation?

6. How did the people respond to this exhortation?

7. What may we say of this issue so made by Peter, and what in particular makes it so?

8. How did the Sadducees respond to the challenge?

9. How did they begin their inquisition?

10. What prophecy of our Lord was thus fulfilled?

11. What direction did our Lord give for such exigency?

12. How did Peter obey the direction of Christ?

13. What the effect of Peter’s boldness on the council?

14. What does this show as to the preacher’s power, and what heresy here pointed out?

15. What are the two extreme positions with regard to this subject? Illustrate.

16. What is the force of Peter’s answer? Give the Virginia illustration.

17. What may always be the challenge of the people of God? Illustrate.

18. What is the result of the deliberation of this inquisition before the Sanhedrin?

19. What was Peter’s great reply to their threatening?

20. Why did the Sadducees stop at a threat?

21. How did Peter and John and the church respond to the injunction not to preach, and to the threat if they should preach?

22. What prophecy was here fulfilled as indicated by their prayer?

23. What were the results to the church in this first issue with the Sadducees?

24, What illustrious man comes to the front and, as an example of this, what benevolence?

25. What awful judgment at this juncture, and what the three viewpoints of the case?

26. What was the effect of this judgment (1) on the church, (2) on the hypocrites, and (3) on outsiders?

27. What is notable in the apostles now, and to what prayer Isaiah 5:12 an answer?

28. In what did Peter’s power find a climax?

29. What sermon of the author here cited?

30. How did the Sadducees again take up the challenge, and what was the result?

31, What ended the Sadducean persecution, and how did it end?

32. Why the failure of all Sadducean opposition and persecution, and what illustration from our Lord’s time?

33. What the story of the Pope and the visitor, and what the important lesson of this incident in Arts to us?

34. What great example of homiletics in this connection, and how does it rank with his other recorded sermons?

35. What, according to Carlyle, are the prerequisites to a great oration, and how do the occasion and Peter measure up to these prerequisites in his event?

36. Give complete analysis of Peter’s sermon here.

37. What can you say of the earthquake of Act 4:31?

38. What false doctrine founded on Acts 4:32, and how does the author refute it?

39. What does the passage really prove, and how is this further evidenced?

40. Explain Acts 4:4.

41. Explain Acts 5:28.

42. What greater realization was just ahead of these Jews?