Acts 4

Acts 4:1

Being seen by them forty days - That is, many times during that space. And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God - Which was the sum of all his discourses with them before his passion also.

Acts 4:2

Wait for the promise of the Father, which ye have heard from me - When he was with them a little before, as it is recorded, Luke 24:49.

Acts 4:3

Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost - And so are all true believers to the end of the world. But the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost also are here promised.

Acts 4:4

Dost thou at this time - At the time thou now speakest of? not many days hence? restore the kingdom to Israel? - They still seemed to dream of an outward, temporal kingdom, in which the Jews should have dominion over all nations. It seems they came in a body, having before concerted the design, to ask when this kingdom would come.

Acts 4:5

The times or the seasons - Times, in the language of the Scriptures, denote a longer; seasons, a shorter space. Which the Father hath put in his own power - To be revealed when and to whom it pleaseth him.

Acts 4:6

But ye shall receive power - and shall be witnesses to me - That is, ye shall be empowered to witness my Gospel, both by your preaching and suffering.

Acts 4:10

A Sabbath - day’s journey - The Jews generally fix this to two thousand cubits, which is not a mile.

Acts 4:11

They went up into the upper room - The upper rooms, so frequently mentioned in Scripture, were chambers in the highest part of the house, set apart by the Jews for private prayer. These, on account of their being so retired and convenient, the apostles now used for all the offices of religion. Matthew 10:2; Mark 3:14; Luke 6:13.

Acts 4:12

His brethren - His near kinsmen, who for some time did not believe; it seems not till near his death.

Acts 4:13

The number of persons together - Who were together in the upper room. were a hundred and twenty - But he had undoubtedly many more in other places; of whom more than five hundred saw him at once after his resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:6.

Acts 4:14

Psalms 41:9.

Acts 4:16

This man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity - That is, a field was purchased with the reward of his iniquity; though very possibly Judas might design the purchase. And falling down on his face - It seems the rope broke before, or as he died.

Acts 4:17

In their own tongue - This expression, That is, the field of blood, St. Luke seems to have added to the words of St. Peter, for the use of Theophilus and other readers who did not understand Hebrew.

Acts 4:18

His bishopric - That is, his apostleship. Psalms 69:25.

Acts 4:19

All the time that the Lord Jesus was going in and out - That is, conversing familiarly: over us - as our Master. Psalms 109:8.

Acts 4:20

To be a witness with us of his resurrection - And of the circumstances which preceded and followed it.

Acts 4:21

And they appointed two - So far the faithful could go by consulting together, but no further. Therefore here commenced the proper use of the lot, whereby a matter of importance, which cannot be determined by any ordinary method, is committed to the Divine decision.

Acts 4:23

Fell - By his transgression - Some time before his death: to go to his own place - That which his crimes had deserved, and which he had chosen for himself, far from the other apostles, in the region of death.

Acts 4:26

At the pentecost of Sinai, in the Old Testament, and the pentecost of Jerusalem, in the New, where the two grand manifestations of God, the legal and the evangelical; the one from the mountain, and the other from heaven; the terrible, and the merciful one. They were all with one accord in one place - So here was a conjunction of company, minds, and place; the whole hundred and twenty being present.

Acts 4:27

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven - So will the Son of man come to judgment. And it filled all the house - That is, all that part of the temple where they were sitting.

Acts 4:28

And there appeared distinct tongues, as of fire - That is, small flames of fire. This is all which the phrase, tongues of fire, means in the language of the seventy. Yet it might intimate God’s touching their tongues as it were (together with their hearts) with Divine fire: his giving them such words as were active and penetrating, even as flaming fire.

Acts 4:29

And they began to speak with other tongues - The miracle was not in the ears of the hearers, (as some have unaccountably supposed,) but in the mouth of the speakers. And this family praising God together, with the tongues of all the world, was an earnest that the whole world should in due time praise God in their various tongues. As the Spirit gave them utterance - Moses, the type of the law, was of a slow tongue; but the Gospel speaks with a fiery and flaming one.

Acts 4:30

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews - Gathered from all parts by the peculiar providence of God.

Acts 4:31

The multitude came together, and were confounded - The motions of their minds were swift and various.

Acts 4:34

Judea - The dialect of which greatly differed from that of Galilee. Asia - The country strictly so called.

Acts 4:35

Roman sojourners - Born at Rome, but now living at Jerusalem. These seem to have come to Jerusalem after those who are above mentioned. All of them were partly Jews by birth, and partly proselytes.

Acts 4:36

Cretans - One island seems to be mentioned for all. The wonderful works of God - Probably those which related to the miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, together with the effusion of his Spirit, as a fulfilment of his promises, and the glorious dispensations of Gospel grace.

Acts 4:37

They were all amazed - All the devout men.