Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Having land. The Levites, though, as a tribe, they had no inheritance, might, and did acquire property as individuals (see Deuteronomy 18:8).
Sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. This is specified, not merely as a signal example of that spirit of generous self-sacrifice which pervaded all, but to introduce to us-in connection with this his first offering to the Lord Jesus-a name which the sequel of this history has rendered dear to every Christian.
Remarks:
(1) The weakness of the recent attempts to shake the credit of this book, considered as authentic history, is strikingly seen in the light of such a chapter as this. Look at the bearing of the two parties. Awed by the signal miracle so openly performed, yet determined to resist the evidence which it bore to Him whom they had put to death, the ecclesiastic, in full conclave, question the humble apostles on the subject, hoping to terrify them either into a disavowal of the act itself, or into silence regarding it as a testimony to their crucified and risen Lord. But the heroism of those simple men, and the grandeur of their testimony before that grave assembly, startle and confound them. And not knowing which of the two alternatives they were shut up to was the worst-to deny the miracle, while the evidence of its truth was in the midst of them, or to admit the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, which it manifestly attested, and fall down and worship Him-they order the court to be cleared, that they might consult among themselves.
The resolution come to is simply to silence the preachers, in the confident expectation that a peremptory mandate only was needed. To their consternation, the men decline to obey; not defiantly, but by a calm appeal to themselves whether it would be right to obey them rather than God, and by a respectful expression of their inability to refrain from proclaiming what their own eyes and ears had to tell of their blessed Master. This would doubtless have been visited with summary punishment, had the Council been sure that they had the people with them. But knowing as they did that the whole city was ringing with the miracle-the beneficence of which was not less signal than the power by which it was done-they were obliged to dismiss them with an impotent repetition of their threats. Unruffled, they hie them to "their own" - their fellow-disciples-assembled together in deep anxiety, no doubt, to learn the fate of their trusty leaders.
From the report they gave in, the critical condition of the infant cause flashes at once upon the meeting-with the authorities, on the one hand, determined to silence their testimony, and the apostles, on the other, giving notice that they shall not be silenced. What is to be done? With one accord they lift up their voice to God, sublimely asking Him to look at this state of matters, and come to the rescue-not of them, but of His anointed cause-by giving them the needful courage to testify to Jesus in face of all danger, and by so sealing their testimony from heaven as to ensure its triumph. While they are yet speaking, the place shakes at the presence of the Lord; the Holy Spirit fills the souls of all that were there, and that boldness to speak the word which they had sought is at once felt and exemplified: their hearts are knit together, and the disinterested emotion of 'none for himself, but each for all,' takes possession of the whole multitude of the disciples, expressing itself in a way and to an extent before unheard of. What unprejudiced reader does not see artless narrative, life-like, self-attesting historic truth stamped upon all this!
(2) The strictly Jewish point of view, from which the apostle addresses the Sanhedrim and the disciples pour out their hearts in prayer, must again be observed, throughout this chapter. (See the notes at Acts 2:14-47, Remark 1, at the close of that section.)
(3) When one reads that most explicit and peremptory statement of the apostle here, "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," what is to be thought of the growing tendency of what are called liberal theologians to disconnect salvation, not only from all faith in Jesus, but from all Biblical beliefs-from everything, in short, but the state of the heart-a thing so indefinite and flexible that everyone will put his own meaning on it? When men's liberality in religion comes so low down as this, they will not long retain their belief in salvation itself, considered as an eternal deliverance from a lost state, and all religion will eventually evaporate into mere sentiment. Nor will any alternative be found by the intelligent and awakened mind, but in the surrender of the heart to Jesus as the one revealed Way of a sinner's salvation, or in the abandonment of all certainty about eternal things.
(4) As the bearing of Peter and John brought up before the Jewish Council the recollection of Jesus Himself, so that Image lives still in the minds even of the enemies of His Gospel, and will be recognized by them in those who live for Him and breathe the atmosphere of His presence. And is it not worthy of a Christian's highest ambition to extort such a testimony, even from those who cannot bear his ways, that he has "been with Jesus"?
(5) The whole history of the opposition which our Lord and His apostles met with illustrates this humbling truth, that there is an unbelief which no amount of mere evidence for the Gospel will cure, and which only becomes the more virulent the clearer the evidence for the truth becomes. In the present case the evidence of an instantaneous and marvelous miracle of healing was before the eyes of the Jewish rulers; and, that this miracle was performed in the name of Him whom they had crucified, but whom the apostles testified that God had raised from the dead and exalted to His right hand, was not disputed, and could not possibly be denied; yet all this failed to dislodge the unbelief of these ecclesiastics, who, being determined beforehand not to be convinced, became only the more exasperated in proportion as the light shone more brightly around them. And is it not so still? Let us cease, then, to wonder when the clearest evidence proves unavailing; and feeling how powerless we are to carry the heart by mere demonstration, let us cast the case upon Him who turned a "Saul of Tarsus" into "Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ."
(6) When the apostles said, "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard," they gave utterance to a great Christian principle. 'On many things which our eyes and ears have attested to us (to use the words of Calvin) we both may and ought to keep silence, when the preservation of peace is the matter in hand; for to make a noise about things not necessary is the part of an inhuman and unworthy obstinacy. But it is otherwise when the Gospel of Christ is concerned, involving, as that does, the glory of God and the salvation of men. To suppress this by human interdicts, which God has ordered to be proclaimed, is a base and sacrilegious iniquity, especially when it is uttered by those whose mouths God has manifestly opened as chosen witnesses and preachers of Christ. Whoso commands silence in this case does his best to abolish the grace of God and the salvation of men.'
(7) But, for the encouragement of Christ's faithful witnesses in such circumstances, let it be observed, that a courageous testimony for the truth has often proved, as it did in this case, the best security against suffering for it; while timid submission to the enemies of the truth, instead of mollifying, has often emboldened them to proceed further than but for this they would have dared to go.
(8) How sweetly are Christ's suffering witnesses, in times of persecution, drawn and knit together; and when, on being unexpectedly released from impending danger, they return to the society of "their own," how entirely at home with each other do they feel, beyond anything that mere human relationship could beget! Pity that in times of peace this feeling among Christians is so very weak.
(9) Let the reader ponder the prayer which this assembly of primitive disciples sent up to heaven on hearing the report of Peter and John. Even the fact that it was the disciples themselves, and not apostles, that gave it utterance is worthy of notice. For though the spokesman may have been an apostle, the mere fact that this is not said, while it is expressly said that it was the assembled disciples that lifted up their voice in prayer, seems clearly to show that it was simply as a Christian mouth-piece of Christian men and women that the spokesman-whoever he was-offered this prayer. But it is the matter, and strain, and form of this prayer to which we now call attention. Directing their eye up to Him whose word had called everything into being, they remind Him that His own prophetic word had foretold and pictured forth the very hostility they were now encountering; and this done, they simply ask Him to look at this state of things, to embolden them to speak for Jesus, and to attest from heaven the word which they should give forth. While they yet spake, the answer came, and as gloriously as speedily. But it is the simplicity and directness of the prayer to which we would bespeak attention. Knowing that He to whom they spake was near to them, and pledged in their behalf, they come at once to the point-telling Him that they are shut up to Him, and that they rely on Him. With this they have done. And oh what power is there in such prayer-with its childlike confidence, reverential dignity, sublime brevity!
(10) If the "love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10), surely that state of the infant Church in which "none said that anything that he possessed was his own" must be deemed the highest spiritual condition of the Church of Christ upon earth; and as this was the result of a copious effusion of the Holy Spirit upon them-when, feeling themselves shut up to divine preservation against a hostile world, which they were nevertheless prepared to encounter, they cast themselves upon Him who made heaven and earth, and whom no events could take by surprise-so there seems nothing lacking to the attainment of the same spiritual elevation but the same childlike faith, the same dependence on the Lord of all, the same all-absorbing devotedness to Jesus, the same love unto all the saints, as having one precious interest to uphold against a hostile world.