Acts 4

Acts 4:1

F. The Persecution and Growth of the Church (4:1-7:60) 4:1-4 The first persecution of the infant church was about to break out. True to pattern, it arose from the religious leaders. The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees rose up against the apostles. Scroggie suggests that the priests represent religious intolerance; the captain of the temple, political enmity; and the Sadducees, rationalistic unbelief. The Sadducees denied the doctrine of resurrection. This brought them into open conflict with the apostles, since the resurrection was the keynote of apostolic preaching! Spurgeon sees a parallel: The Sadducees, as you know, were the Broad School, the liberals, the advanced thinkers, the modern-thought people of the day. If you want a bitter sneer, a biting sarcasm, or a cruel action, I commend you to these large-hearted gentlemen. They are liberal to everybody, except to those who hold the truth; and for those they have a reserve of concentrated bitterness which far excels wormwood and gall. They are so liberal to their brother errorists that they have no tolerance to spare for evangelicals. These leaders resented the fact that the apostles were teaching the people; they felt this was their sole prerogative. Then, too, they were angered by the proclamation in Jesus of the resurrection from the dead. If Jesus had risen from among the dead, then the Sadducees were discredited. In verse 2, the expression resurrection from the dead is important because it disproves the popular idea of a general resurrection at the end of the world. This passage and others speak of resurrection out from among dead ones. In other words, some will be raised while others (unbelievers) will remain in the grave until a later time. The leaders decided to hold the apostles under a sort of house arrest until the next day, since it was getting late. (The miracle of healing in chapter 3 had been performed around 3:00 p.m.) In spite of official opposition, many people turned to the Lord. About five thousand men (Greek andres, males) are mentioned as entering the Christian fellowship. Commentators are disagreed whether this included the three thousand saved at Pentecost. It does not include women and children. 4:5, 6 The next day, the religious council, known as the Sanhedrin, sat as a court of inquiry, intending to put a stop to the activities of these public nuisances. All they succeeded in doing was to give the apostles another chance to witness for Christ! Together with their rulers, elders, and scribes were:

1. Annas the high priest, before whom the Lord had been first taken. He formerly was high priest but perhaps was allowed to retain the title as a courtesy.
2. Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, who presided at the trial of the Lord.
3. John and Alexander, about whom nothing else is known.
4. All who were of the family of the high priest, men of high-priestly descent. 4:7 The trial opened by their asking the apostles by what power or by what name they had performed the miracle. Peter stepped forward to deliver his third successive public confession of Christ in Jerusalem. It was a priceless opportunity to preach the gospel to the religious establishment, and he seized it eagerly and fearlessly. 4:8-12 First he reminded them that they were unhappy because the apostles had performed a good deed … to a helpless man. Though Peter didn’t say it, the healed man had begged at the gate of the temple, and the rulers had never been able to heal him. Then the apostle delivered a thunderbolt by announcing that it was in the name of Jesus … whom they had crucified that the man was cured. God had raised Jesus from the dead, and it was by His power that the miracle had been performed. The Jews did not have any place for Jesus in their building scheme, so they rejected and crucified Him. But God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him in heaven.

The rejected stone thus became the chief cornerstone, the indispensable stone that completes the structure. And He is indispensable. There is no salvation without Him. He is the exclusive Savior. No other name under heaven has been given among men for salvation, and it is by this name alone that we must be saved. As we read verses 8-12, let us remember that these words were spoken by the same man who had denied the Lord three times with oaths and curses. 4:13 Dry, formal religion is ever intolerant of enthusiastic, vital evangelism that produces results in hearts and lives. Its leaders are nonplussed to see uneducated and untrained men making an impact on the community while they with all their wisdom fail to rise above flesh and blood.In the New Testament there is no distinction between clergy and laity. This distinction is a relic brought over from Romanism. John Huss fought and died in Czechoslovakia for the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, and the Hussite symbol to this present day is the communion cup standing upon the open Bible. It was this truth of a royal priesthood and every believer a witness that was the dynamic force in the early Church. Without the aid of any modern equipment, or transportation, or translation and publication of the Word, the Gospel of God’s grace shook the whole Empire until there were saints even in Caesar’s household. God is calling us back to primitive Christianity. The Sanhedrin was struck by the boldness of Peter and John. They would like to have brushed them aside as uneducated and ignorant fishermen from Galilee. But there was something about their self-control, their empowered lives, their fearlessness that made them think of Jesus when he was on trial. They attributed the boldness of the apostles to the fact that they had been with Jesus in the past, but the real explanation was that they were filled with the Holy Spirit now.4:14-18 Then, too, it was embarrassing to have the healed cripple there in the courtroom. There was no denying that a miracle had taken place. J. H. Jowett writes: Men may more than match you in subtlety of argument. In intellectual argument you may suffer an easy defeat. But the argument of a redeemed life is unassailable. Seeing the man that was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.In order to discuss their strategy, they sent Peter and John outside the room temporarily. Their dilemma was this: they could not punish the apostles for performing an act of kindness; yet if they did not stop these fanatics, their own religion would be seriously threatened by loss of members. So they decided to forbid Peter and John to talk to the people about Jesus in private conversation, or to preach Him publicly. 4:19, 20 Peter and John could not agree to such a restriction. Their first loyalty and responsibility was to God, not to man. If they were honest, the rulers would have to admit this. The apostles had witnessed the resurrection and ascension of Christ. They had sat under His teaching day after day. They were responsible to bear witness to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 4:21, 22 The weakness of the rulers’ position is seen in the fact that they could not punish the apostles; all the people knew that a gracious miracle had taken place. The healed man, over forty years old, was well known, because his sad plight had been displayed publicly for a long time. So all the Sanhedrin could do was to dismiss the accused apostles with further threats. 4:23 With an instinct of freeborn sons of God, the apostles went directly to their fellow believers as soon as they were let go by the authorities. They sought and found their fellowship with the panting, huddled flock whose only crime was Christ. So in all ages one test of a Christian’s character is where he finds fellowship and companionship. 4:24-26 As soon as the saints heard what had happened, they cried to the Lord in prayer. Addressing God with a word meaning Absolute Master, a word seldom used in the NT, they praised Him first as the Creator of all things (and therefore superior to the creatures who were now opposing His truth). Then they adopted the words of David in Psalms 2, which he spoke by the Holy Spirit in connection with the opposition of governmental powers against His Christ. Actually, the Psalm points forward to the time when Christ will come to set up His kingdom and when kings and rulers will seek to thwart that purpose. But the early Christians realized that the situation in their day was similar, so they applied the words to their own circumstances. As has been said, they showed true spirituality by the divine skill with which they wove Holy Scripture into the body of their prayers. 4:27, 28 Their application of the quotation from the Psalm is given next. Right there in Jerusalem the Romans and the Jews had leagued together against God’s holy Servant, Jesus. Herod represented the Jews, and Pilate acted for the Gentiles. But there is a surprise ending in verse 28. One would expect it to say that these rulers had gathered together to do whatever their wicked hearts had planned. Instead, it says that they had gathered together to do whatever God’s hand and purpose had determined before. Matheson explains: The idea is that their effort of opposition to the divine will proved to be a stroke of alliance with it. … They met together in a council of war against Christ; unconsciously to themselves they signed a treaty for the promotion of Christ’s glory. … Our God does not beat down the storms that rise against Him; He rides upon them; He works through them. 4:29, 30 Having expressed confidence in God’s overruling power, the Christians made three specific requests:

1. Look on their threats. They did not presume to dictate to God how to punish these wicked men, but simply left the matter with Him.
2. Grant to Your servants … all boldness. Their own personal safety was not the important thing. Fearlessness in preaching the word was paramount.
3. Stretching out Your hand to heal. The early preaching of the gospel was attested by God through signs and wonders performed through the name of . . . Jesus. Here God is petitioned to continue confirming the ministry of the apostles in this way. 4:31 When they had prayed, the place … was shakena physical expression of the spiritual power that was present. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, indicating their obedience to the Lord, their walking in the light, their yieldedness to Him. They continued to speak the word of God with boldness, a clear answer to their prayer in verse 29. There are seven times in the Book of Acts when men are said to be filled with or full of the Holy Spirit. Notice the purposes or the results:
4. For speaking (Act_2:4; Act_4:8; and here).
5. For serving (Act_6:3).
6. For shepherding (Act_11:24).
7. For rebuking (Act_13:9).
8. For dying (Act_7:55). 4:32-35 When hearts are aflame with love for Christ, they are also kindled with love for one another. This love manifests itself in giving. Thus the early believers expressed the reality of their common life in Christ by practicing a community of goods. Instead of selfishly holding on to personal possessions, they looked upon their property as belonging to all the fellowship. Whenever there was a need, they would sell lands or houses and bring the proceeds to the apostles for distribution. It is important to see that they distributed whenever a need arose; it was not an arbitrary equal division at one particular time. F. W. Grant explains: There was therefore no general renunciation of personal title but a love that knew no holding back from the need of another. It was the instinct of hearts that had found their real possessions in that sphere into which Christ had risen. Somewhat sarcastic but sadly too often true is F. E. Marsh’s modern parallel: One has said, in contrasting the early Church with the Christianity of today, Is it not a solemn thought, that if the evangelist Luke were describing modern instead of primitive Christianity, he would have to vary the phraseology of Act_4:32-35 somewhat as follows: … And the multitude of them that professed were of hard heart and stony soul, and every one said that all the things which he possessed were his own: and they had all things in the fashion. And with great power gave they witness to the attractions of this world, and great selfishness was upon them all. And there were many among them that lacked love, for as many as were possessors of lands bought more, and sometimes gave a small part thereof for a public good, so their names were heralded in the newspapers, and distribution of praise was made to every one according as he desired.There is mysterious power connected with lives that are utterly dedicated to the Lord. Thus it is not a coincidence that we read in verse 33, And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. It seems that when God finds people who are willing to turn their possessions over to Him, He gives their testimony a remarkable attractiveness and force. Many argue that this sharing of goods was a temporary phase of life in the early church and was not intended to be an example to us. Such reasoning only exposes our own spiritual poverty. If we had the power of Pentecost in our hearts, we would have the fruits of Pentecost in our lives. Ryrie points out: This is not Christian communism. The sale of property was quite voluntary (v. 34). The right of possession was not abolished. The community did not control the money until it had voluntarily been given to the Apostles. The distribution was not made equally but according to need. These are not communistic principles. This is Christian charity in its finest display. Note two marks of a great church in verse 33great power and great grace. Vance Havner lists four other marks, as follows: great fear (Act_5:5, Act_5:11); great persecution (Act_8:1); great joy (Act_8:8; Act_15:3); a great number who believed (Act_11:21). 4:36, 37 These verses are an introductory link with chapter 5. The generosity of Barnabas is set forth in striking contrast to the hypocrisy of Ananias. As a Levite, Joses … named Barnabas would not ordinarily have owned land. The Lord was to be the portion of the Levites. How or why he obtained the land, we do not know. But we do know that the law of love worked so powerfully in the life of this Son of Encouragement that he sold the land and laid the money at the apostles’ feet.