Acts 4:13

The Apostles are dismissed unpunished

13. the boldness The word implies freedom and readiness of speech such as would not be expected from the unlearned.

of Peter and John Here we have evidence that not all the speeches which were made are reported by St Luke, for we have no record of any word spoken by John, yet his boldness of speech, no less than St Peter's, is observed by the council. Christ's speeches had produced a like effect (John 7:15).

ignorant men The Greek signifies plebeian, as opposed to noble men. Render, common.

they took knowledge of them These words have been interpreted as though they meant that the members of the Sanhedrin now for the first time discovered the relation in which the two Apostles stood to Jesus. Those who press such a rendering must overlook the force of the very same verb as used in Acts 3:10, "They knewthat it was he which sat for alms." The men of whom this is said had known the cripple for years, but now observed in addition that he was a cripple no longer, though still the same man whom they had so long seen begging. Just so with the Jewish authorities; they could hardly fail to have known the connection of the preachers with Jesus after the sermon on the day of Pentecost and the events which followed it, and now they further(ἐπὶ) notice that as the Master's words had been powerful, so there was like power in the language of those who had been with Him. We are told (John 18:15) of one disciple, taken always to be St John himself, who was known to the high-priest before the Crucifixion.