ACTS CHAPTER 4 ACTS 4:1 The rulers of the Jews, offended with the teaching of Peter and John, imprison them. ACTS 4:5 Being brought before the council, Peter boldly avouches the late cure to have been wrought in the name of Jesus, and that men can be saved by no other name. ACTS 4:13 The council, st... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING GRIEVED; or angry to such a degree that it was a great trouble to them. The doctrine of _the resurrection_ alone could not but vex the Sadducees, who denied it; but it did more afflict them, that the apostles PREACHED it THROUGH JESUS; asserting, not only the resurrection of our Saviour, which... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT THEM IN HOLD; some think this not to have been so strait a custody as that of a prison, but that rather the apostles were delivered to some who promised that they should be forthcoming. The prediction of our Saviour began now to be fulfilled, LUKE 21:12. THEY SHALL LAY THEIR HANDS ON YOU, AND PE... [ Continue Reading ]
_ Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, _ ROMANS 10:17. It being the ordinary means which God hath appointed; the apostles themselves make use of it towards the conviction of this people. The number of the hearers is not intended to be set here, or in any other place; but either t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR RULERS; the sanhedrim, or great council. ELDERS AND SCRIBES; the magistrates of the city, scribes, doctors, or teachers of the law, &c.; howsoever these might be distinguished, they are all as one against the doctrine of the gospel, and endeavour to put out the light as soon as it began to shi... [ Continue Reading ]
ANNAS THE HIGH PRIEST, AND CAIAPHAS; both these are said to be high priests, LUKE 3:2; whether they bare this office by turn each other year, as some think, or that the Roman power put in and out whom they pleased, and in courtesy he that was laid aside still retained the title during his life, is n... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY HAD SET THEM IN THE MIDST; the sanhedrim, or great council, did sit in a circular form; and the apostles being to answer for themselves, were placed so as they might better hear and be heard. BY WHAT POWER; natural, or supernatural and Divine? BY WHAT NAME? At whose command, or in whose au... [ Continue Reading ]
FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST; guiding and strengthening of him in what he did speak, by which so mightily Peter differed from himself, that though formerly he was afraid of a servant, and denied our Saviour, now he is not afraid before the rulers to confess him. RULERS OF THE PEOPLE, AND ELDERS OF ISR... [ Continue Reading ]
EXAMINED; juridically called in question; it is a forensic word. OF THE GOOD DEED; though they disputed not the authority of the court, yet they assert their integrity; that it was no other than a good deed they had done, which rulers ought not to be a terror unto, ROMANS 8:3. BY WHAT MEANS, that is... [ Continue Reading ]
BE IT KNOWN UNTO YOU ALL, AND TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL; the apostles are not dismayed, but make their boldness, spoken of ACTS 4:13, to appear; they preach Christ to all of them, and wish they could make him known to all others. JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH: see ACTS 2:22. WHOM GOD RAISED; i.e. God t... [ Continue Reading ]
Alluding to PSALMS 118:22, in which there is a prophecy of what was now fulfilled: see ACTS 2:23. YOU BUILDERS; so by their office they were, and ought to have been so indeed, and are here so called, that they might be minded of their duty, viz. to increase, strengthen, and beautify the building, an... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION, for soul or body, IN ANY OTHER person or thing. FOR THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME; because in distress men did usually call upon their false gods by name, as, _O Baal, hear us,_ 1 KINGS 18:26. UNDER HEAVEN; whether patriarch or prophet, priest or king; especially referring unt... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE UNLEARNED; not wholly unlearned, but such as were without any polite learning, or more than ordinary education, such as every one amongst them had. IGNORANT MEN; idiots, so the Greek word, from whence ours come, signifying such as were brought up at home, and never acted in a larger sphere... [ Continue Reading ]
STANDING; whereas, before he was either carried, or was forced to lay down. THEY COULD SAY NOTHING AGAINST IT; they could not deny but that it was a good deed, and that it was miraculously done.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO GO ASIDE OUT OF THE COUNCIL; the place where the council met; for the apostles were not dismissed to go away at their liberty. THEY CONFERRED AMONG THEMSELVES; it was their joint endeavour to stifle the gospel, and would now consult about the best expedient, but they would not let the apostles he... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL WE DO? At what a loss are these great men, about the manner of their proceeding with the apostles! They might seem to have the victory in their hands, and yet they are evidently overcome by three witnesses; viz. by both the apostles and the lame man, and especially by the evidence of this... [ Continue Reading ]
STRAITLY THREATEN THEM; the pleonasm here used implies a very sore and heavy threatening, as of the most grievous punishment upon the most heinous fact. THAT THEY SPEAK HENCEFORTH TO NO MAN IN THIS NAME; either, 1. By preaching; or: 2. By praying in it; or: 3. By doing miracles again by it.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT TO SPEAK AT ALL; neither privately nor publicly. NOR TEACH IN THE NAME OF JESUS; as his apostles and ministers sent from him.... [ Continue Reading ]
PETER AND JOHN ANSWERED; both spake by one and the same Spirit, and agreed in one and the same answer; they are not solicitous what will best bring them off at present, but SAID UNTO THEM, WHETHER IT BE RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD, from whom nothing is hid, and who is the avenger of all wrong, TO HEAR... [ Continue Reading ]
WE CANNOT BUT SPEAK; in a moral, not in a physical sense; they could not restrain speaking, because of the necessity which was laid upon them, and the woe which would have befallen them, if they had not preached the gospel, 1 CORINTHIANS 9:16. If any man denies to bear testimony for man to a truth,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY LET THEM GO for the present; for amongst them no acquittal was so peremptory or asolute, but that they might be tried again for the same fact upon further evidence. BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE; it was not the sense of the evil or sin, nor the apprehensions of God's displeasure and wrath, which deterr... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore: 1. The harder to be cured. 2. The man was the more credible, who had so long known what it was to be without the use of his limbs, which now he enjoyed. 3. Whom they could not themselves but have often seen and heard begging. But if he had laid so many years in the porch of the temple... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WENT TO THEIR OWN COMPANY, the rest of the apostles and believers, who have a special propriety and delight in one another; sheep with sheep, and goats with goats: though the separation will be made at the last day, the foundation of it is laid here. AND REPORTED ALL; to forewarn them of what t... [ Continue Reading ]
OLBGrk; AND WHEN THEY, their own company, believers, unto whom they went, HEARD THAT, THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE TO GOD WITH ONE ACCORD; either jointly, with one heart and spirit, agreeing in the same words, or saying Amen to the same thing. AND SAID, LORD; they begin prayer with such a reverend co... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO BY THE MOUTH OF THY SERVANT DAVID; through the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David; so it is read in many ancient copies; and shows, that what David and other holy men spake, was from the Holy Ghost, and is to be attended unto and believed as spoken by him. _Servant, _ or son; David's relation to G... [ Continue Reading ]
These words do not vary in sense from what we read, PSALMS 2:2, but are the same for substance. THE KINGS; not only such who in a strict sense we call kings, but any chief governors, as Herod and Pilate were. THE RULERS; the sanhedrim, or great council of the Jews. AGAINST THE LORD; God looks upon i... [ Continue Reading ]
THY HOLY CHILD; it speaks Christ's dearness to God as a child, and obeying of God as a servant. WHOM THOU HAST ANOINTED, to be a King Priest, and Prophet to his church. BOTH HEROD AND PONTIUS PILATE, &C.: a strange agreement against Christ, his truths, and people; Gentiles and Jews never combined so... [ Continue Reading ]
The apostles mind not so much second causes in what my Saviour or themselves suffered, but see and acknowledge God in all; who makes a straight line with a crooked stick; and is holy, wise, and good in overruling and permitting the greatest evils; and does deserve to have praise for all things, EPHE... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD THEIR THREATENINGS; they had acknowledged God the Maker of heaven, ACTS 4:24, and accordingly here they desire that from heaven his dwelling place he would behold them and their sufferings; as all things are visible to such as sit above us. WITH ALL BOLDNESS; freeness, or presence of mind, he... [ Continue Reading ]
BY STRETCHING FORTH THINE HAND; they desire nothing else to embolden them, but God's owning them and their work. THAT SIGNS AND WONDERS MAY BE DONE: miracles were then necessary, as being the seal of their commission from God; they desire to have this patent with them, to show as often as occasion s... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PLACE WAS SHAKEN; miraculously moved up and down, as on the waves of the sea, to evidence God's presence with them, and acceptance of them and their prayers in an extraordinary manner. THEY WERE ALL FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST; according to their conditions, whether apostles (for whom these praye... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE OF ONE HEART AND OF ONE SOUL; as if one heart and one soul had moved that multitude; to be sure there was one Spirit in them all, that is, the Spirit of God, by whose grace they agreed in all truths, and in hearty affections towards one another; insomuch, that they were as willing that what the... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH GREAT POWER; by sundry miracles which they wrought, as also by their boldness with which they spake; it being no small wonder to see and hear such illiterate men testifying the truths of the gospel amidst so many learned rabbins. THE RESURRECTION was the greatest point in controversy, which bei... [ Continue Reading ]
So far forth as might relieve the present necessities of believers; not that every one parted with all that he had, for that had taken away (at least) the use and force of the eighth commandment; for where there is no propriety there can be no theft. Now Christ came not to dissolve any law, but to f... [ Continue Reading ]
LAID THEM DOWN AT THE APOSTLES FEET; submitted them to the apostles disposal: this metaphor is used, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:27, HE HATH PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET. ACCORDING AS HE HAD NEED; the poor man's want is the fittest measure for our relief.... [ Continue Reading ]
JOSES; some read Joseph; the Hebrew names, when turned into Greek, meet with divers terminations or endings. SURNAMED BARNABAS; full of consolation; not only in that he gave so liberally towards the relief of the poor, parting with his possessions for them; but that he excelled in propounding inward... [ Continue Reading ]
This is an instance of what was said ACTS 4:34,35; and Joses probably is instanced in it, either because he sold a greater quantity of land, as having large possessions, or as being one of the first that was remarkable in this kind of charity. LAID IT AT THE APOSTLES FEET: see ACTS 4:35.... [ Continue Reading ]