And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
And great fear came upon all the church. No doubt this effect on the Christian community itself was the chief design of so startling a judgment, which had its counterpart, as the sin itself had, in Achan (Joshua 7:1-26), while the period at which it occurred-the commencement of a new era-was also similar. 'It is worthy of remarks (says Lechler), that here the word "church" х ekkleesia (G1577)] occurs for the first time in the Acts. Hitherto it is "the disciples" (Acts 1:15); "all that believed" (Acts 2:44); "the multitude of them that believed" (Acts 4:32). Luke here names "the whole Church" as a collection. It is not to be viewed as accidental that this collective idea of the Church is first brought forward in connection with that event which appears as an imposing act of "divine church discipline"' (as Thiersch expresses it).
Triumphs of the Gospel (5:12-16)