Actschapter 4
37 verses · Luke · about AD 62 · Acts
Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Introduction
Luke, Acts, Acts Overview.
Luke wrote this chapter for Theophilus to show where the first opposition to the church came from. It follows the healing of the lame man straight on, with the same apostles and the same crowd. The chapter moves from a night in custody to a hearing before the rulers who had condemned Jesus. Listen for the question the council asks and how Peter answers it. Notice what the believers pray for once the apostles are released. The chapter ends by naming one generous man who will matter later in the book.
Context
- Who
- Theophilus and Gentile readers, learning early that the opposition came from the ruling priests, not from Rome.
- What
- The arrest of Peter and John, their hearing before the Sanhedrin, the church's prayer, and the sharing of goods among the believers.
- Where
- Jerusalem, in the temple courts, a cell overnight, the council chamber, and the place where the believers gathered.
- When
- The first months of the Jerusalem church, about AD 30 or 33.
- Why
- To show that the apostles would obey God rather than the rulers and that the church answered threats with prayer for boldness.
Historical context
The Sanhedrin was the Jewish high court, about seventy men led by the high priest. Under Rome it kept real power over religious and much civil life in Judea, though the death penalty needed the governor's hand. Its dominant families were Sadducees, wealthy, priestly, and cooperative with Roman rule.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
That matters here, because the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection at all. Preaching a risen man in the temple courts attacked their theology and their authority in the same sentence.
The temple had its own police force under a commander called the captain of the temple, second in rank to the high priest. They could arrest and hold men overnight, which is what happened to Peter and John, courts did not sit after dark.
Annas is named alongside Caiaphas because he had been high priest earlier and remained the power behind the office; five of his sons and a son-in-law held the post in turn. Josephus describes the same family network.
Significance
The first readers saw the church tested and holding. Ordinary, unschooled Galileans stood before the men who had condemned Jesus and refused to stop speaking, and the court had no answer, because the healed man was standing there in the room.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The believers' response was not a protest but a prayer, and what they asked for was boldness rather than safety. Luke then shows the result on the ground: a community so bound together that people sold property to keep anyone from going without.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Arrested for Preaching the Resurrection
Acts 4:1-4
the priests and the captain: The priests, the Sadducees and the captain of the temple guard made an official arrest. The Sadducees denied any resurrection, so preaching in Jesus the resurrection of the dead gave them their own reason to stop it.
Acts 4:1
“The priests - It is probable that these priests were a part of the Sanhedrin, or Great Council of the nation. It is evident that they claimed some authority for preventing the preaching of the apostles. The captain of the temple - See the Mat 26:47; Luk 22:4 note. This was the commander of the guard stationed chiefly in the tower Antonia, especially during the great feasts; and it was his duty to preserve order and prevent any tumult.”
the resurrection of the dead: Chrysostom observes that the apostles preached a resurrection reaching beyond Christ, since believers also rise through him. Wesley adds that a risen Jesus proved him the Just One and laid his blood on the heads of those who condemned him. The rulers' distress carried guilt as well as doctrine.
Acts 4:2
“Peter, together with John, preached to them this plain message of glad tidings, that the promise which God made to the fathers had been fulfilled by Jesus; not certainly proclaiming another god, but the Son of God, who also was made man, and suffered; thus leading Israel into knowledge, and through Jesus preaching the resurrection of the dead, and showing, that whatever the prophets had proclaimed as to the suffering of Christ, these had God fulfilled.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book IIIpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:2
“Being grieved - Διαπονουμενοι, They were thoroughly fatigued with the continuance of this preaching; their minds suffered more labor, through vexation at the success of the apostles, than the bodies of the apostles did in their fatiguing exercise of preaching during the whole day.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
they put them in custody: Barnes explains that the council did not usually assemble at the hour of the evening sacrifice, so the apostles were held overnight. Chrysostom contrasts this with the arrest of Jesus, who was seized at midnight and led away at once. Theophylact says the delay only made them bolder.
Acts 4:3
"And they put them in custody until the morning." So the Jews dealt with the apostles and guarded them, wishing to humble them, while the prolonged time made the apostles all the more fearless.
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:3
“Put them in hold - That is, they took them into “custody,” or into safe keeping. Probably they committed them to the care of a guard. Eventide - Evening. It was not convenient to assemble the council at night. This was, moreover, the time for the evening prayer or sacrifice, and it was not usual to assemble the Sanhedrin at that hour.”
grew to about five thousand: Clarke reads the figure as the whole church so far: the hundred and twenty, the three thousand of Pentecost, and those added since. Bede and Oecumenius both recall the five thousand Jesus fed in the wilderness. Luke places this growth beside the arrest.
Acts 4:4
“The number - was about five thousand - That is, as I understand the passage, the one hundred and twenty which were converted before pentecost, the three thousand converted at pentecost, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty converted since the conversion of the three thousand; making in the whole five thousand, or ὡσει about that number: there might have been more or less; the historian does not fix the number absolutely. A goodly flock in one city, as the commencement of the Christian Church!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:5-7
the rulers, elders, and scribes: The council that assembled was largely the one that had tried Jesus weeks before, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas among them. It asks by what power or what name the apostles did this, and Peter's answer takes up both.
Acts 4:5
“And it came to pass on the morrow,.... The disciples being kept in custody all night: that their rulers, and elders, and Scribes; that is, their ecclesiastical rulers; the chief priests, who, with the Scribes, and elders of the people, made up the great council at Jerusalem, consisting of seventy one persons, so they are called in Mat 26:3.”
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:5
“Their rulers - The rulers of the Jews; doubtless the members of the Sanhedrin, or Great Council of the nation. Compare Act 4:15. See the notes on Mat 2:4; Mat 5:22. The expression their rulers looks as if this book was written for the Gentiles, or Luke would have said our rulers. Elders - Presbyters, or those who were chosen from among the people to sit in the Sanhedrin. It is probable that the rulers were those who held also some other office, but were also authorized to sit in the Great Council.”
Annas the high priest: Clarke explains that Annas had held the office eleven years, kept the title for life, and saw five of his sons hold it after him. Gill adds that Caiaphas, the high priest in office, was his son-in-law. Power in the council stayed within one household.
Acts 4:6
“And Annas the high priest,.... So called, either because he had been an high priest, though he was not now, but Caiaphas his son-in-law; or because he was the Sagan of the high priest, and had all the other priests under his government; and is mentioned first, because he was father-in-law to Caiaphas; See Gill on Luk 3:2 he could not be called so, because he was נשיא, "prince", or president of the council; for not he, but Gamaliel, was president at this time.”
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:6
“Annas - Though this man was not now actually in the office of high priest, yet he had possessed it for eleven years, bore the title all his life, and had the honor of seeing five of his sons fill that eminent place after him - an honor that never happened to any other person from the commencement of the Mosaic institution. He is the same who is called Ananus by Josephus, Ant. b. xx. c.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Chrysostom observes that the rulers already knew the answer and hoped the crowded court would frighten the apostles into recanting. Clarke suggests they suspected magic, since a name could be invoked as a spell. Barnes compares the question put to Jesus in Matthew 21:23.
Acts 4:7
“In the midst - In the presence of the Great Council. By what power ... - A similar question was put to Christ in the temple, Mat 21:23. By what name - That is, by whose authority. It is very probable that they expected to intimidate the apostles by this question. They claimed the right of regulating the religious affairs of the nation. They had vast power with the people.”
Acts 4:8-10
filled with the Holy Spirit: Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks before rulers, as Jesus promised the disciples in Luke 12:11 to 12. He answers directly that the man stands healed by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they crucified and God raised.
Acts 4:8
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost - Which guided him into all truth, and raised him far above the fear of man; placing him in a widely different state of mind to that in which he was found when, in the hall of Caiaphas, he denied his Master, through fear of a servant girl.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a kind service to a man: Barnes notes that Peter assumes the healing cannot be denied and names it an act of kindness. Matthew Henry observes that good men have often suffered for doing well. The court is examining a benefit.
Acts 4:9
“Let those be ashamed who bring us into trouble for it." Note, It is no new thing for good men to suffer ill for doing well. Bene agere et male pati vere Christianum est--To do well and to suffer punishment is the Christian's lot. [2.] He transfers all the praise and glory of this good deed to Jesus Christ.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:9
“The good deed done - Επι ευεργεσιᾳ, The benefit he has received in being restored to perfect soundness.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
whom you crucified but whom God raised: Clarke calls this a bold claim before such a court, resting on a cure anyone could check. The man was known and stood there whole. Wesley notes that the rulers, who had paid the soldiers to deny the resurrection, did not dare raise that story here.
Acts 4:10
“By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth - This was a very bold declaration in the presence of such an assembly; but he felt he stood on good ground. The cure of the lame man the day before was notorious; his long infirmity was well known; his person could be easily identified; and he was now standing before them whole and sound: they themselves therefore could judge whether the miracle was true or false.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:10
“That the Father is said to have raised from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ (the effect of the act being on his flesh, clearly) is not in doubt. He, being the life-creating and active power of the Father, gave life to his own temple, as in "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." What was made alive was not another's body, nor indeed one belonging to a man among us, but his own, the body of the Word.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena on the Acts of the Apostles 4.10patristic
Acts 4:10
“Whom God hath raised from the dead - They knew in their own consciences that it was so. And though they had hired the soldiers to tell a most senseless and incredible tale to the contrary, Matt. xxviii, 12, 15, yet it is observable, they did not, so far as we can learn, dare to plead it before Peter and John.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
This Jesus is: Peter quotes Psalm 118:22 to the very builders the psalm names, calling Jesus the stone they rejected which has become the cornerstone. Jesus had applied the verse to Himself before the same authorities in the parable of the tenants at Matthew 21:42.
Acts 4:11
“That Christ also is called a Stone. In Isaiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I place on the foundations of Sion a precious stone, elect, chief, a corner stone, honourable; and he who trusteth in Him shall not be confounded." Also in the cxviith Psalm: "The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is done by the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes. This is the day, which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, save therefore, O Lord, direct therefore.”
Cyprian · written before 258 · Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jewspatristic
Cross references
Acts 4:11
- QuotingPsalms 118:22“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
'the stone... set at nought of you builders' (before the Sanhedrin)
ConnectionsPsalms 118:22
Salvation exists in no one else: Peter makes this claim of the only saving name to Israel's highest court, the men who had condemned that name to death. It is the name in which the lame man was just healed (4:10).
Acts 4:12
“There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. I want to instill into you a sense of the power, the virtue and the glory of that name.”
Smith Wigglesworth · Ever Increasing Faith, Chapter 3: "The Power of the Name" (1924)British Pentecostal
3 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:12
“It is given among men, who need salvation, men who are ready to perish. We may be saved by his name, that name of his, The Lord our righteousness; and we cannot be saved by any other. How far those may find favour with God who have not the knowledge of Christ, nor any actual faith in him, yet live up to the light they have, it is not our business to determine.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Acts 4:12
“Neither is there salvation in any other - No kind of healing, whether for body or soul, can come through any but him who is called Jesus. The spirit of health resides in him; and from him alone its influences must be received. For there is none other name - Not only no other person, but no name except that divinely appointed one, Mat 1:21, by which salvation from sin can be expected - none given under heaven - no other means ever devised by God himself for the salvation of a lost world.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:12
“There is no other name whereby we must be saved - The apostle uses a beautiful gradation, from the temporal deliverance which had been wrought for the poor cripple, by the power of Christ, to that of a much nobler and more important kind, which is wrought by Christ for impotent and sinful souls.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Unlearned Men Who Had Been With Jesus
Acts 4:13-14
the boldness of Peter and John: The council learns that Peter and John are unschooled, ordinary men, and takes note that they had been with Jesus. Their own memory of Jesus explains a boldness their schooling could not.
Acts 4:13
“Boldness - This word properly denotes “openness” or “confidence in speaking.” It stands opposed to “hesitancy,” and to “equivocation” in declaring our sentiments. Here it means that, in spite of danger and opposition, they avowed their doctrines without any attempt to conceal or disguise them. Peter and John - It was they only who had been concerned in the healing of the lame man, Act 3:1. And perceived - When they knew that they were unlearned. This might have been ascertained either by report or by the manner of their speaking.”
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:13
“They set their faces like a flint, as the prophet, Isa. l. The courage of Christ's faithful confessors has often been the confusion of their cruel persecutors. Now, (1.) We are here told what increased their wonder: They perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the man who had been healed: Chrysostom notes the man's own courage, since he stayed beside the apostles even in the court. Barnes adds that the man was so well known that the rulers had no way to escape the conclusion. Clarke frames the logic: a real cure proves the doctrine.
Acts 4:14
“They could say nothing against it - They could not gainsay the apostolic doctrine, for that was supported by the miraculous fact before them. If the doctrine be false, the man cannot have been miraculously healed: if the man be miraculously healed, then the doctrine must be true that it is by the name of Jesus of Nazareth that he has been healed. But the man is incontestably healed; therefore the doctrine is true.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:15-17
then conferred together: In private the council admits that a remarkable miracle has occurred and that it cannot be denied, so a hostile source concedes the fact. Its plan is to warn them not to speak in this name, to contain a message it cannot refute.
Acts 4:15
“But when they had commanded them,.... That is, when the sanhedrim had ordered the apostles; or "commanded that both", as the Arabic version reads, both Peter and John; and, it may be, the man that was healed too: to go aside out of the council; or place where the council, or sanhedrim sat; which, whether it was in the chamber "Gazith", in the temple where they used to sit (g), or in the shops, or in the city, whither they removed, is not certain.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:15
“Why do they not bring them to Pilate through the priests, but judge them themselves? Because they were ashamed and embarrassed about what had happened before, and they feared that the apostles might accuse them.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
Acts 4:15
“What shall we do to these men? - The object which they had in view was evidently to prevent their preaching. The miracle was performed, and it was believed by the people to have been made. This they could not expect to be able successfully to deny. Their only object, therefore, was to prevent the apostles from making the use which they saw they would to convince the people that Jesus was the Messiah.”
a remarkable miracle has occurred: Clarke notes that all Jerusalem knew the man had been lame from birth and had begged for years at the Beautiful gate. Matthew Henry points out that the word means a known sign, done openly in Christ's name. Chrysostom calls their resistance folly.
Acts 4:16
“For, [1.] The people were convinced of the truth of the miracle; it was a notable miracle, gnoston semeion -- a known miracle; it was known that they did it in Christ's name, and that Christ himself had often the like before. This was a known instance of the power of Christ, and a proof of his doctrine.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
keep this message from spreading: Clarke explains that the rulers feared the doctrine itself, for more than a thousand had believed after the miracle. Gill notes that the threat was severe and could mean prison, a scourging of thirty-nine stripes, or death. Matthew Henry observes that they could prove no wrongdoing.
Acts 4:17
“But that it spread no further among the people,.... Meaning not in Jerusalem; for the fame of this miracle was spread among all the inhabitants of that city; but in other parts of the nation: let us straitly threaten them; or "in threatening threaten them"; that is, severely threaten them with imprisonment, or with the scourging of forty stripes save one, or with death itself.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:17
“But that it spread no further . . . let us straitly--strictly. threaten . . . that they speak henceforth to no man in this name--Impotent device! Little knew they the fire that was burning in the bones of those heroic disciples.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Acts 4:17
“But that it spread no farther - Not the news of the miraculous healing of the lame man, but the doctrine and influence which these men preach and exert. More than a thousand people had already professed faith in Christ in consequence of this miracle, (see Act 4:4), and if this teaching should be permitted to go on, probably accompanied with similar miracles, they had reason to believe that all Jerusalem (themselves excepted, who had steeled their hearts against all good) should be converted to the religion of him whom they had lately crucified.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:18-20
commanded them not to speak: Peter and John ask the council to judge whether it is right in God's sight to listen to it rather than God. Their ground is eyewitness, for they cannot stop speaking about what they have seen and heard.
Acts 4:18
“And they called them,.... From the apartment where they were; or ordered their servants to call them in to them: and commanded them not to speak at all; either privately or publicly, in the ministry of the word, or in working of miracles, in the city, or in the country: nor teach in the name of Jesus; any doctrine whatever; or "the name of Jesus", as the Arabic version reads; that is, the doctrine of Jesus, that which respects his person, his carnation, his offices, his sufferings, death, and resurrection from the dead.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:18
“Not to speak ...nor teach in the name of Jesus - Any other doctrine, and any other name, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites and infidels will bear, but the doctrine which is according to godliness, proclaiming salvation through the blood of Christ crucified, they will not bear. If their doctrine were not the truth of God it could not be so unpopular; there is such an enmity in human nature against all that is good and true, that whatever comes from God is generally rejected by wicked men.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:18
“We do not find that they give them any reason why the doctrine of Christ must be suppressed; they cannot say it is false or dangerous, or of any ill tendency, and they are ashamed to own the true reason, that it testifies against their hypocrisy and wickedness, and shocks their tyranny.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Peter hands the question back to his judges and asks what God would call right. Chrysostom reads God here as Christ, who had given the apostles their command to preach. Gregory the Dialogist recalls Peter's earlier fear of a servant girl.
Acts 4:19
“And again: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." And they went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to suffer insults for the name of Jesus. Behold, Peter rejoices in beatings, who before was afraid at mere words. And he who previously feared when questioned by the voice of a servant girl, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, though beaten, tramples down the powers of rulers.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:19
“Whether it be right ... - The apostles abated nothing of their boldness when threatened. They openly appealed to their judges whether their command could be right. And in doing this, they expressed their full conviction of the truth of what they had said, and their deliberate purpose not to regard their command, but still to proclaim to the people the truth that Jesus was the Messiah. In the sight of God - That is, whether God will judge this to be right. The grand question was how God would regard it. If he disapproved it, it was wrong.”
Chrysostom notes that eyewitnesses have a right to be believed, so the rulers must either refute them or let them speak. Gill calls the necessity moral, a matter of fidelity to Christ. Barnes finds here a principle of liberty of conscience.
Acts 4:20
“For we cannot but speak,.... It was not physically, but morally impossible; or it was not lawful, and therefore they would not speak any other, and they could not avoid speaking, say they, the things which we have seen and heard; as the miracles and doctrines of Christ, his resurrection from the dead, of which they were eye and ear witnesses. This shows their great fidelity and integrity, their inviolable attachment to Christ, and their fearlessness of the displeasure and wrath of men.”
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:20
“For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard--There is here a wonderful union of sober, respectful appeal to the better reason of their judges, and calm, deep determination to abide the consequences of a constrained testimony, which betokens a power above their own resting upon them, according to promise.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Acts 4:21-22
After further threats: The council releases them after further threats, unable to punish them because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened. Luke adds that the healed man was over forty years old, so the healing cannot be taken for a passing ailment.
over forty years old: Barnes explains that after forty years every ordinary hope of cure was gone, so no one could call the healing a trick. Erasmus adds that the man had begged in public for years, so his lameness was known to all. Matthew Henry finds grace magnified in so old a cure.
Acts 4:22
“For the man was above forty years old,.... So that the miracle was the greater, that a man born lame, and who had been so above forty years, should have a cure; and he was the more known to the people, and his testimony met with more credit: on whom this miracle of healing was showed; both for the good of men, for the glory of God, and for the confirmation of the Gospel of Christ.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:22
“The man was above forty years old - The disease was of long standing, and consequently the more inveterate; but all difficulties, small or great, yield equally to the sovereign power of God. It is as easy with God to convert a sinner of forty or four-score, as one of ten years old. But he who now refuses to obey the call of God has neither reason nor revelation to support himself even in the most distant hope that he shall get, in a future time, the salvation which he rejects in the present.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:22
“The older he grew the more inveterate the disease was, and the more hardly cured. If those that are grown into years, and have been long accustomed to evil, are cured of their spiritual impotency to good, and thereby of their evil customs, the power of divine grace is therein so much the more magnified.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Place Was Shaken When They Prayed for Boldness
Acts 4:23-24
On their release: Peter and John report the chief priests' threats to their own people, and the believers answer with one accord in prayer. The prayer opens on God as Creator of heaven, earth and sea before a word about the threat.
Acts 4:23
“The Apostles Peter and John "went to their own and reported" everything that had happened to them. They reported not out of ambition, but to show clear evidences of the grace of Christ.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:23
“That they might have it recorded in the history of the church, for the benefit of posterity, particularly for the confirmation of our faith touching the resurrection of Christ. The silence of an adversary, in some cases, is next door to the consent and testimony of an adversary.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Clarke notes that the word used for Lord means a sovereign master whose rule reaches heaven, earth and sea. Theophylact and Oecumenius observe the church fitted each prayer to its need, calling on the knower of hearts in Acts 1:24 and the Creator here.
Acts 4:24
“The whole Church, it is then said, "when they had heard that, lifted up the voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who, through the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, Thy servant, hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book 3.12.5patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:24
“Lord, thou art God - Δεσποτα, συ ὁ Θεος, Thou God art the sovereign Lord. Thy rule is universal, and thy power unlimited; for thou hast the heaven and its glories, the earth and the sea, and their endlessly varied and numerous inhabitants, under thy direction and control.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:25-28
You spoke by the Holy Spirit: The church reads Psalm 2 as its own crisis, with Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles and Israel as the psalm's raging rulers. They did what God's hand and will had decided beforehand, so God's plan and their guilt stand together, as at 2:23.
Acts 4:25
“Who by the mouth of thy servant David has said,.... In Psa 2:1 from whence we learn, that that psalm, though it is without a title, and does not bear David's name, yet is one of his and so Kimchi says, that David composed it at the beginning of his reign; though Aben Ezra thinks, that it was composed by one of the singers for him, on the day he was anointed; yet he afterwards seems to doubt of it, and on Psa 2:7 says, they are the words of David, or the words of the singer.”
3 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:25
“Who by the mouth ... - , Psa 2:1-2. This is a strong, solemn testimony to the inspiration of David. It is a declaration of the apostles, made in solemn prayer, that God himself spake by the mouth of David. This is the second part of their prayer. In the first, they acknowledge the right of God to rule; in this, they appeal to a prophecy; they plead that this was a thing foretold; and as God had foreseen it and foretold it, they appealed to him to protect them.”
Acts 4:25
“By thus departing from Judaism itself, when they exchanged the obligations and burdens of the law for the liberty of the gospel, they were fulfilling the psalm, "Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast away their yoke from us; "and this indeed (they did) after that "the heathen raged, and the people imagined vain devices; "after that "the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took their counsel together against the Lord, and against His Christ." What did the apostles thereupon suffer?”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book IIIpatristic
Acts 4:25
“David--to whom the Jews ascribed the second Psalm, though anonymous; and internal evidence confirms it. David's spirit sees with astonishment "the heathen, the people, the kings and princes of the earth," in deadly combination against the sway of Jehovah and His Anointed (his Messiah, or Christ), and asks "why" it is.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Cross references
Acts 4:25
- QuotingPsalms 2:1“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?”
'Why did the heathen rage', the believers' prayer ('who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said')
ConnectionsPsalms 2:1
Clarke notes that the Greek word is Christ, best rendered Anointed to match the anointing named in the next verse. Bede applies the kings to Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, and the rulers to the leaders of the Jews. The psalm had named the conspiracy in advance.
Acts 4:26
“Against the Lord and against his Christ - Κατα του Χριστου αυτου should be translated, against his Anointed, because it particularly agrees with ὁν εχρισας, whom thou hast Anointed, in the succeeding verse.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
ConnectionsPsalms 2:2
Your holy servant Jesus: The word rendered servant is the one used of David in verse 25, and Clarke argues it should be translated servant in both places. Barnes prefers son over child for it. Tertullian ties the title Christ to this anointing of the Son with the Spirit by the Father.
Acts 4:27
Whence Aaron is called "Christ," from the "chrism," which is "the unction; "which, when made spiritual, furnished an appropriate name to the Lord, because He was "anointed" with the Spirit by God the Father; as written in the Acts: "For truly they were gathered together in this city against Thy Holy Son whom Thou hast anointed."
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Baptismpatristic
what Your hand and will: Gill explains that the conspirators meant to feed their own malice, yet in the event they brought about what God had decreed. Leo the Great insists their crime did not spring from God's plan, since their will to kill differed from Christ's will to die.
Acts 4:28
“Did then the wickedness of Christ's persecutors spring from God's plan, and was that unsurpassable crime prefaced and set in motion by the hand of God? Clearly we must not think this of the highest Justice: that which was fore-known in respect of the Jews' malice is far different, indeed quite contrary to what was ordained in respect of Christ's Passion. Their desire to slay Him did not proceed from the same source as His to die: nor were their atrocious crime and the Redeemer's endurance the offspring of One Spirit.”
Leo the Great · written before 461 · Sermon LXVII. (on the Passion, XVI.: Delivered on the Sunday.)patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:28
“For to do whatsoever thy hand,.... It was not the end of their gathering together against Christ, or it was not their intention and design, to fulfil the purposes and decrees of God, but to fulfil their own lusts, and satiate their rage and malice against him; but it was so in the event, according to the wise disposal of providence, that by their gathering together, by their consultations and conspiracies, they brought about what God in his everlasting council had decreed.”
Acts 4:28
“For to do ... - See the notes on Act 2:23; Act 3:18. The facts which are brought to view in these verses are among the most remarkable on record. They are briefly these: (1) That the Jewish rulers were opposed to the Messiah, and slew him. (2) That the very people to whom he came, and for whose benefit he labored, joined in the opposition, so that it became the act of a united people.”
Acts 4:28
“The sense is, but they could do no more than thou wast pleased to permit, according to thy determinate counsel, to save mankind by the sufferings of thy Son. And what was needful for this end, thou didst before determine to permit to be done.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Acts 4:29-31
consider their threats: The church asks the Lord to consider the threats and enable His servants to speak His word with complete boldness. The answer is visible: the meeting place was shaken, and they spoke the word of God boldly, the boldness of 4:13 the Spirit's gift.
Acts 4:29
“Behold their threatenings - So look upon them as to grant us deliverance. They did not purpose to abandon their undertaking; they resolved to persevere; and they expected that this purpose would involve them in danger. With this purpose they implored the protection of God; they asked that he would not suffer them to be deterred from speaking boldly; and they sought that constant additional proof might be granted of the presence and power of God to confirm the truth of their message.”
stretch out Your hand to heal: Barnes notes that the believers asked for signs to confirm their preaching and left their own safety with God. Chrysostom observes that mighty deeds done in that name would give great boldness, and that God answered by shaking the place. Their request was for boldness and signs.
Acts 4:30
“By stretching forth thine hand to heal - Show that it is thy truth which we proclaim, and confirm it with miracles, and show how highly thou hast magnified thy Son Jesus, whom they have despised and crucified, by causing signs and wonders to be wrought in his name. Thy holy child Jesus - Του ἁγιου παιδος σου should be translated, thy holy Servant, as in Act 4:25. Δαβιδ παιδος σου, thy servant David, not thy Child David: the word is the same in both places.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
their meeting place was shaken: Barnes notes that the word for shaken describes violent agitation, such as an earthquake. Theophylact and Oecumenius observe that such a shaking can signal wrath, yet here it marked God's visitation and showed that the prayer was heard. The answer matched their request for boldness.
Acts 4:31
“And when they had prayed - The event which followed was regarded by them as an evidence that God heard their prayer. The place was shaken - The word which is translated “was shaken” commonly denotes “violent agitation,” as the raging of the sea, the convulsion of an earthquake, or trees shaken by the wind, Mat 11:7; Act 16:26; Heb 12:26. The language here is suited to express the idea of an earthquake. Whether the motion was confined to the house where they were is not said.”
One Heart and Soul; Barnabas Sells a Field
Acts 4:32-33
The multitude of believers: The believers were one in heart and soul and shared everything they owned, the portrait of 2:44 to 45 now drawn of thousands. The sharing is voluntary, as Peter's words to Ananias at 5:4 show.
Acts 4:32
“The multitude of them that believed - The whole 5000, mentioned Act 4:4, and probably many others, who had been converted by the ministry of the other apostles since that time. Were of one heart and of one soul - Were in a state of the most perfect friendship and affection. In all the 5000 there appeared to be but one heart and one soul; so perfectly did they agree in all their views, religious opinions, and holy affections. Some MSS. add, και ουκ ην διακρισις εν αυτοις ουδεμια, and there was no kind of difference or dissension among them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:32
“And the multitude of them that believed,.... The Gospel, and in Christ, the substance of it; and a multitude they were, for they were now about eight thousand persons.”
Acts 4:32
“For he said that experience was needed in order to distinguish between cases of genuine need and of mere greedy begging. For whoever gives to the afflicted gives to the Lord and from the Lord shall have his reward; but he who gives to every vagabond casts to a dog, a nuisance indeed from his importunity but deserving no pity on the ground of need.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · LETTER 150.3patristic
With great power the apostles: Barnes takes the power to be effectiveness in preaching, while Oecumenius links it to the divine signs. Theophylact notes that Luke presents their witness as a duty entrusted to them. Grace rested on the whole community.
Acts 4:33
“And with great power - See Act 1:8. The word “power” here denotes “efficacy,” and means that they had “ability” given them to bear witness of the resurrection of the Saviour. it refers, therefore, I rather to their preaching than to their miracles. Gave the apostles witness - The apostles bore testimony to. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus - This was the main point to be established.”
Acts 4:34-35
There were no needy ones: No one among them was needy, because owners sold property and the proceeds were given in response to need. The apostles distributed the gifts to anyone as he had need, the principle Paul commends in 2 Corinthians 8:13 to 15.
Acts 4:34
“Neither was there any among them that lacked,.... Bread to eat, or clothes to wear, or any of the necessaries of life; which shows their great charity, and gives a reason why they were in so much favour with the people, because they took so much care of their poor; and this flowed from the grace of God bestowed upon them: for as many as were possessors of lands and houses; or "vineyards", as the Ethiopic version reads, whether in Jerusalem or elsewhere; sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold; whether lands, houses, or vineyards.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:34
“Neither was there any among them that lacked - It was customary with the Jews to call the poor together, to eat of the sacrifices, but as the priests, etc., were incensed against Christ and Christianity, consequently the Christian poor could have no advantage of this kind; therefore, by making a common stock for the present necessity, the poor were supplied; so there was none among them that lacked. This provision therefore of the community of goods, which could be but temporary, was made both suitably and seasonably. See Bp. Pearce, and see the note on Act 2:44.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 4:34
“For neither was there any one among them that wanted - We may observe, this is added as the proof that great grace was upon them all. And it was the immediate, necessary consequence of it: yea, and must be to the end of the world. In all ages and nations, the same cause, the same degree of grace, could not but in like circumstances produce the same effect.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Oecumenius reads the gift placed at their feet as reverence that made the apostles its stewards. Jerome sees a sign that covetousness must be trampled underfoot. Barnes notes that the task soon grew heavy and passed to appointed men in Acts 6.
Acts 4:35
“Then, as you know, believers sold their possessions and brought the prices of them and laid them down at the apostles' feet: a symbolic act designed to show that people must trample on covetousness.”
Jerome · written before 420 · LETTER 71.4patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 4:35
“And laid them down ... - That is, they committed the money received for their property to the disposal of the apostles, to distribute it as was necessary among the poor. This soon became a burdensome and inconvenient office, and they therefore appointed men who had special charge of it, Act 6:1-2, etc.”
Acts 4:36-37
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus: called Barnabas, meaning Son of Encouragement, sold a field and laid the money at the apostles' feet. The named case sets up the contrast with Ananias in the next chapter, whose gift is given the opposite way.
Acts 4:36
“Joses - Or, Joseph, as many excellent MSS. read; but who he was, farther than what is here said, we know not. Surnamed Barnabas - Or, Barsabbas, according to the Coptic. The son of consolation - Υἱος παρακλησεως; As παρακλησις signifies exhortation, as well as consolation, and is indeed distinguished from the latter, 1Co 14:3, the original name was probably בר נבא Bar naba, or בר נביא Bar nebia, which signifies the son of prophecy or exhortation; and this is certainly one sense which prophecy has in the New Testament; and in this way Barnabas distinguished himself among the apostles.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Acts 4:36
“Barnabas means, 'Son of a prophet', or 'son of one coming', or, as many think, son of consolation. All the derivations, as 'Bar' (son of) either 'Nabi' (a prophet), or a derivative from 'Bo' (to come) or from 'Bee' (to console), as by the Syriac interpreter it is also rendered, 'Son of consolation.'”
Jerome · written before 420 · Book on Hebrew Names, On the Acts of the Apostles, Bpatristic
Acts 4:36
“A son of consolation - Not only on account of his so largely assisting the poor with his fortune; but also of those peculiar gifts of the Spirit, whereby he was so well qualified both to comfort and to exhort.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Acts 4:36
“Joses, &c.--This is specified merely as an eminent example of that spirit of generous sacrifice which pervaded all. son of consolation--no doubt so surnamed from the character of his ministry. a Levite--who, though as a tribe having no inheritance, might and did acquire property as individuals (De 18:8).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
sold a field he owned: Wesley notes that as a Levite Barnabas had no inheritance in Israel, so the land may have lain in Cyprus. Erasmus calls him an example for many and says he laid the money down as though it were a trifle. Bede, following Arator, sees gold trampled underfoot.
Acts 4:37
“Having an estate - Probably of considerable value. It is not unlikely that it was in Cyprus. Being a Levite, he had no portion, no distinct inheritance in Israel.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: The apostles' first trial before the council, then the church at prayer and the church sharing its goods, as 4 classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The question of the name | The word name comes six times in the chapter. The council asks in verse 7 by what power or what name the healing was done. Peter answers in verse 10 with the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and in verse 12 he says there is no other name under heaven. The council forbids the name in verses 17 and 18, and the church's prayer in verse 30 asks for signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.Counted from the Berean Standard Bible text of Acts 4, The chapter's own text, verses 7 to 30. | Acts 4:7, Acts 4:10, Acts 4:12, Acts 4:17, Acts 4:18, Acts 4:30 |
| A prayer in three parts | The prayer of verses 24 to 30 opens by naming God as the maker of the heaven and the earth and the sea. It then quotes David in verses 25 and 26 and applies his words to Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel in verses 27 and 28. Only then does it ask, and it asks God to consider their threats and to let His servants speak Your word with complete boldness. Theophylact of Ohrid notes that the only request the believers make about their enemies is that God look on their threats.Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts. | Acts 4:24, Acts 4:25, Acts 4:27, Acts 4:29 |
| Barnabas set beside Ananias | The chapter ends with Joseph called Barnabas, who sold a field and brought the money to the apostles. The next chapter opens with Ananias, who sold property and brought only a portion. The words laid it at the apostles’ feet come in 4:37 and again in 5:2. Cassiodorus reads the two as examples of the faithful and the deceitful, with Barnabas bringing the whole price and going away unhurt.Cassiodorus, Complexiones on the Acts of the Apostles. | Acts 4:36, Acts 4:37, Acts 5:1, Acts 5:2 |
How this chapter is built
1 more paragraph on the patterns
Acts 4 has three movements. Verses 1 to 22 carry the arrest, the hearing before the rulers and elders, Peter's short defence in verses 8 to 12 and the council's warning. Verses 23 to 31 return the apostles to their own people, who pray, and the place where they met is shaken. Verses 32 to 37 give a summary of the church's shared life and end on one man, Barnabas. The word boldness marks the first two movements, in the council's surprise at the boldness of Peter and John and in the believers who spoke the word of God boldly. The third says abundant grace was upon them all.
Keep studying
Studies14
Words12
Trails1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David on Psalm 118 and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah.
The form and classifications
Counted from the Berean Standard Bible text of Acts 4, The chapter's own text, verses 1 to 37 and Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Bede; Cyril of Alexandria, CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 4.10; Erasmus of Rotterdam, Commentary (church-history corpus); Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30; J. A. Alexander, The Acts of the Apostles Explained; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, LETTER 71.4; John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Leo the Great, Sermon LXVII. (on the Passion, XVI.: Delivered on the Sunday.); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts; Tertullian, On Baptism; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts and William Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen.