CRITICAL REMARKS
Acts 4:1. As they spake.—Lit., they, the apostles, either Peter for John or John with Peter speaking. The discourse was probably interrupted after the utterance of the preceding words. The priests.—I.e., those who had been at the time officiating in the temple. The captain of the temple.—The priestly commandant of the Levitical troops, whose business it was to preserve order in the sacred edifice (Luke 22:4). The Sadducees.—The rival sect to the Pharisees had taken a foremost part in persecuting Christ (Matthew 16:1; Matthew 22:23; Matthew 22:34), and were now most probably the instigators of this movement against the apostles, as they were of a later (Acts 5:17).
Acts 4:2. Through, or in, Jesus.—I.e., in the fact of His resurrection, in His personal example. The resurrection from the dead.—A tenet denied by the Sadducees (Acts 23:8).
Acts 4:3. It was now eventide.—When no judicial examination could take place.
Acts 4:4. Men.—Most likely including (Hackett, Spence), though, according to others (Meyer, Stier, Plumptre), excluding women. About five thousand.—The number of the new converts (Stier), or better, of disciples altogether in Jerusalem (Alford, Hackett, Holtzmann, Plumptre).
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Acts 4:1-4
The Apostles in Gad; or, the First Taste of Persecution
I. The time.—
1. While exhorting the people. At the very moment when their usefulness appeared to be at its height, when their words seemed to be effecting an entrance into the hearts of their hearers, they were apprehended. Verily, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.” One would have expected that the hand of Providence would have kept the adversaries’ movements in check, at least till Peter’s sermon was closed; but no; Peter’s enemies were allowed the freest scope to carry out their malignant designs. Divine wisdom is perfectly able to outwit the cleverest of man’s machinations, and cause man’s wrath to praise Him, and therefore never needs to be in a hurry either to hinder man’s projects or thwart his purposes.
2. At eventide. When Peter’s sermon must in any case have before long been brought to a termination, and when it was too late for him and John to be put on trial before the Sanhedrim; so that, on the one hand, Peter’s hearers had received the most of what he purposed saying, and, on the other hand, Peter himself, with John, had leisure to reflect upon the situation before being called into court to answer for their misdemeanour. There is always some mitigation, even in the worst lot.
II. The agents.—
1. The priests. Those engaged at the time in the Temple, the division into twenty-four orders originally made by David (1 Chronicles 24:3; 2 Chronicles 8:14) having been revived after the exile. If the Feast of Pentecost had not yet terminated, a larger number than usual of these religious officers may have been present on this occasion. A pitiful mistake it is when ministers of religion leave their proper work to become instigators of persecution. This unfortunately they have often done.
2. The captain of the Temple. Not the Roman officer who kept guard at the Tower of Antonia, near by, but the priestly commandant of the Levitical troops, whose business it was to preserve order about the sacred edifice (compare Jos., Wars, VI. Acts 4:3). Though the captain little thought of it, what looked to him like disorder was in accordance with the highest order of the Temple. It is not safe to judge according to appearances.
3. The Sadducees. The rivals of the Pharisees, properly the rationalists of the day (Acts 23:8). From the first bitter enemies of Jesus (Matthew 16:1; Matthew 16:6; Matthew 16:12; Matthew 22:23), these were most likely the prime movers in this hostile action against the two apostles. The men who killed Christ were not likely to be scrupulous in consigning His disciples to gaol.
III. The motives.—Twofold. Indignation at the apostles for—
1. Teaching the people. Strange that the priests should have been sore troubled at the apostles for doing what they themselves should have done—“the priests’ lips should keep knowledge” (Malachi 2:7)—but possibly the consciousness of neglected duty had rendered them uneasy. That the Sadducees should have objected to the education of the vulgar crowd, whom they despised as the “scum” of the world’s population, was not surprising. The Temple commandant presumably shared the prejudices of the official class to which he belonged.
2. Promulgating the doctrine of a resurrection.—This was the head and front of the apostles’ offence in the eyes of the Sadducees. To preach that Jesus, whom they had hunted to death, was risen, and that all who believed on Him should eventually rise like Him and by virtue of His power, was to lay the axe at the root of their favourite dogma, that this life was the whole of man’s existence. Such preaching was of course an outrage upon their superior wisdom.
IV. The consequence.—
1. The apostles were imprisoned. Their liberty was for the first time abridged. No such experience had befallen them prior to the crucifixion. They had seen their Master’s forerunner (Luke 3:20) consigned to a dungeon, and Peter at least had professed his readiness to follow Christ to prison and to death (Luke 22:33). Now, for the first time, they knew what it signified to languish within prison walls. How they spent their first night in gaol is not recorded. Perhaps, like Paul and Silas, they prayed and sang hymns to God, “who giveth songs in the night” (Job 35:10), and of whom it is written, “He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary … to hear the groaning of the prisoner,” etc. (Psalms 102:19-20).
2. The people believed. The most foolish thing in the world is to expect to hinder any cause, and least of all a good one, by means of persecution. So many received the word that afternoon that the number of believers (men and women) swelled to five thousand souls. The experience of Israel in Egypt was repeated in the history of the Christian Church (Exodus 1:12).
Learn.—
1. That what seems a hindrance often turns out a help to the gospel. 2 That that religion condemns itself which opposes the education of the people. 3 That that religion is worthless as well as false which has nothing to say about a resurrection.
4. That rationalism never will satisfy the deepest instincts of the heart.
5. That Christ’s enemies are always clever at outwitting themselves.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Acts 4:2. Troubles of Unbelievers.—Like the priests, the captain, and the Sadducees, many moderns are sore grieved—
I. At the exaltation of Jesus.—They would be much more comfortable were they sure that He was only a man crucified and buried.
II. At the preaching of a resurrection.—They can see well that if Christ is risen they are wrong in their opinions, and in danger of the judgment.
II. At the progress of Christianity.—Having so often and so confidently affirmed that Christianity was a decaying religion, if not already obsolete, it annoys them to see their predictions turned to foolishness.
Acts 4:3. Troubles of Christ’s Servants.
I. Severe, but not more so than were those of Christ. Like the apostles, Christ was arrested; but, unlike them, who were only committed to prison and afterwards liberated, He was hurried from the garden to the hall of judgment, and thence to the place of doom.
II. Undeserved, but not more so than those of Christ. The apostles were put in prison for doing good; Christ was nailed to the cross for seeking the salvation of a lost world. The apostles suffered while innocent of any crime; Christ was numbered with transgressors, though without sin.
III. Expected, but not more so than were those of Christ. The apostles must have known that opposition and persecution would await them the moment they stepped forth to advocate the cause of their Crucified and Risen Lord (John 16:2); but Christ’s sufferings and death were foreseen by Him from the first (Matthew 9:15; Matthew 16:21).
IV. Futile, but not more so than were those of Christ. They came too late to impede the triumph of the gospel; and Christ’s sufferings were too late to hinder the successful accomplishment of His design—the salvation of the world.
The Opposition of the Jewish Leaders.—
I. Why it began when it did. Why commenced it not on the Day of Pentecost? Perhaps—
1. Because they were then too much occupied with the festivities of the time.
2. Because the popular enthusiasm aroused by the apostles was too great.
3. Because the task of apprehending one hundred and twenty people without previous preparation would have been a somewhat formidable task.
II. Why it was prompted as it was.—By the healing of the lame man, and not by the preaching at Pentecost. Probably because—
1. They realised that the miracle would be more influential among the populace than the sermon.
2. They saw that the miracle confirmed what report said had taken place at Pentecost.
3. They feared that the miracle might authenticate the story of Christ’s resurrection.
III. Why it took the form that it did.—Why, instead of offering violence to the apostles, they did not expose the deception contained in the so-called miracle, and refute the errors propounded in the teaching of the apostles? Answer—
1. Because they knew well that they could do neither the one thing nor the other.
2. Because they understood that force was more convincing than argument.
3. Because the isolation of the two apostles afforded them an excellent opportunity for using the strong hand.
Acts 4:4. Hearing and Believing.
I. Hearing must precede believing, otherwise believing will be
(1) unenlightened and
(2) unavailing, if not
(3) impossible.
II. Believing ought to follow hearing, else hearing
(1) will not save, but
(2) will increase guilt, and
(3) result in hardening.