_AFTER THAT ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA HIS WIFE, FOR THEIR HYPOCRISY, AT PETER'S REBUKE, HAD FALLEN DOWN DEAD, AND THAT THE REST OF THE APOSTLES HAD WROUGHT MANY MIRACLES, TO THE INCREASE OF THE FAITH; THE APOSTLES WERE AGAIN IMPRISONED, BUT DELIVERED BY AN ANGEL; BIDDING THEM TO PREACH OPENLY TO ALL: WHE... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT A CERTAIN MAN, &C.— In Psalms 110 where our Saviour is prophetically described in the person of a king advanced to the throne of divine majesty, glorious and triumphant, it is said, that _his people, in the day of his power, should offer him free-will-offerings;_ which alludes to the Eastern cus... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY HATH SATAN FILLED THINE HEART, &C.— The phrase rendered _filled thine heart,_ signifies _emboldened,_ as appears from the Septuagint version of Esther 7:5 and Ecclesiastes 8:11. _To lie to the Holy Ghost,_ is expressed, Acts 5:4 by lying _unto God,_ a plain proof that the Holy Ghost is God. The... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILES IT REMAINED, WAS IT NOT THINE OWN, &C.?— That is, "Before it was sold, was it not thine? and being sold, was not the money paid thee, and in thine own power?—Thou hast therefore no excuse for what thou hast done;"—for there were two cases, which might have been pleaded by Ananias, in excusefo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ANANIAS HEARING THESE WORDS, &C.— This severity was not only righteous, considering that complication of vain glory and covetousness, of fraud and impiety, which the action contained; but was wise and gracious, both as it served to vindicate the honour of the blessed Spirit, so notoriously affro... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE YOUNG MEN AROSE, &C.— They were persons of an inferior rank, who were usually employed in this office. They stripped, swathed him,— συνεστειλαν,— and afterwards carried him to his grave. The Jews now inter their dead within twenty-four hours at farthest from the time of their death, and gene... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GREAT FEAR CAME UPON ALL, &C.— In the striking narrative before us, we have an example of the severest temporal punishment inflicted throughout the New Testament; a punishment inflicted by the apostle, not out of a spirit of passion, cruelty, or revenge, but by a prophetic spirit; not by the swo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OF THE REST, &C.— That is, the people held them in distant admiration, and presumed not, on any false pretence, to join them, if not truly converted; which yet it appears by the next verse many were, who readily came into a full and solemn profession of the gospel; as indeed the late miracle was... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT AT LEAST THE SHADOW, &C.— The efficacy of St. Peter's shadow in curing distempers, is so far from being natural, or likely to enter into the minds of any, that nothing but the force of truth could have rendered it credible; and it must have been experience which first gave the idea of it. For t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SECT OF THE SADDUCEES,— The Sadducees, as they denied the resurrection from the dead, and a future state of rewards and punishments, were the most constant and implacable enemies to Christianity. Grotius and other commentators have concluded from this text, that the high-priest and his kindred w... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LIFE.— _The whole doctrine of life._ Heylin—"that glorious gospel with which you are "charged, on which the eternal life of man so evidently depends, and by which alone their final happiness can be secured." See 2 Timothy 1:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
CALLED THE COUNCIL—AND, ALL THE SENATE, &C.— _The whole Sanhedrim, and all the elders of Israel,_ πασαν την γερουσιαν. Some render it _the Sanhedrim, even,_ or _that is to say, the whole senate of the children of Israel._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DOUBTED OF THEM, &C.— _They were in great perplexity about the apostles, and what this matter might come to._ Heylin. It might be rendered more literally, _They were in great doubt concerning them,_ (namely, τους λογους, _these words,_ or _this report,_) _what this could be_—that is, whether th... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY FEARED THE PEOPLE, &C.— This may seem a surprizing change in the people, considering the eagerness with which they demanded that Christ should be crucified: but if we consider that the common people, in many cases, judge without the fixed and inveterate prejudices which entangle the minds o... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN'S BLOOD UPON US,— That is, the odium and the guilt of it. See Matthew 27:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM YE SLEW AND HANGED ON A TREE,— _Whom ye crucified._ Heylin. Literally, _Whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree._ See Deuteronomy 21:23. Instead of raised up, some read _hath raised up._... [ Continue Reading ]
HIM HATH GOD EXALTED, &C.— "Even him has God not only raised to life, but likewise, by a glorious operation of his almighty power, has exalted to the greatest dignity, honour, and universaldominion in heaven and earth, that he may live and reign on high, with all authority and grace, as a prince ent... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SO IS—THE HOLY GHOST,— The testimony arising from this miraculous communication of the Spirit to Christians at that time, entirely removes the objection from Christ's not appearing in public after his resurrection; for had there been any imposture, it certainly would have been easier of the two... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE CUT TO THE HEART,— The word Διεπριοντο expresses the action of those, who, through rage, grate with their teeth, as it were with a saw; from the word πριω, which signifies _to cut with a saw._ See Acts 7:54.... [ Continue Reading ]
A PHARISEE, NAMED GAMALIEL,— He is said to have been the son of good old Simeon, mentioned Luke 2:25 and was the person at whose feet St. Paul was brought up. He was a man in so great esteem among the Jews, that Onkelos, the author of the Targum, is said to have burned seventy pounds weight of perfu... [ Continue Reading ]
ROSE UP THEUDAS, BOASTING HIMSELF, &C.— _Pretending to somewhat extraordinary._ Heylin. _Theudas_ was a very common name among the Jews; the person therefore here mentioned most probably was one among the many leaders who, as Josephus informs us, took up arms in defence of the public liberties, when... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL—AS MANY AS OBEYED HIM,— Dr. Lardner has justly observed, that the word rendered _dispersed,_ by no means implies that these men, were _destroyed._ Gamaliel's reason will for ever hold good against all persecution and intolerance. See the note on Luke 13:1. We may just observe, for the classi... [ Continue Reading ]
REJOICING, &C.— The punishment ordered by the Sanhedrim, some suppose, was inflicted in some open market-place, whereby the sufferers were exposed; and therefore it is said, says Dr. Lardner, that _they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame._ But in Acts 5:40 the apostles are repres... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN EVERY HOUSE,— Κατ οικον, in the house where their upper-room was. See on ch. Acts 2:46. _INFERENCES.—_Who can behold, without humble reverence, the aweful instance of the divine severity recorded in this chapter, so well calculated to impress the minds of these new converts, and to prevent an... [ Continue Reading ]