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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 4 ch. 4:1-23 ch.4:23-31 ch. 4:32-37 Peter And John Before The Sanhedrin (ch. 4:1 - 22) This
section in Acts describes the arrest of Peter, John and the beggar who was
healed in the last chapter. When
Luke speaks of “the council”, or “the Sanhedrin”, he is speaking of the
ruling council of men over the Jews. You
might say that these men were like a parliament, so to speak.
The Sanhedrin was led by one man, called the “high priest”.
There were 71 men in this group, although some say there were 70 or
possibly 72 men. They were
divided into 2 groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
Although the Sadducees were the smaller group they seemed to hold more
sway. They were rich men, and
usually the high priest was a Sadducee. The
main difference between these two groups were doctrinal differences.
You will see Paul use this difference later as a means to defend himself
before the Sanhedrin. Some think
that the Sanhedrin was an outgrowth of the 70 elders that Moses chose, but
whatever the case, they went far beyond the role that Moses laid out for them,
if that were the case. In
verse 1 and 2 Luke says the priests, the captain of the Verse
3 says that “they seized Peter and John” and put them into jail for the
night. The verb tense here suggests
a quick and possible violent seizing. Verse
5 says that Peter and John were brought before the “rulers, elders and
teachers”. These were all men of
the Sanhedrin. Some men, more laymen
with expertise in certain areas were part of the Sanhedrin.
These men were called elders. The
teachers were the experts in the Old Testament Law, which normally consisted of
Pharisees. Peter
and John were questioned by these men; “by what power or what name did you do
this”? These men were greatly
disturbed, but on the other hand there had to be some amazement on their part as
well. So their
question is an obvious one. “Then
Peter filled with the Holy Spirit…” began to answer their question.
Notice once again that Peter was the spokesman.
Also notice that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit”.
This is one of those instances in Acts where you see the phrase “filled
with the Spirit”. Another similar phrase is “the Spirit poured out”, or
“outpouring of the Spirit”. Being
“filled with the Spirit”, as seen in this case, is one of those special
moments when for one reason or another the Holy Spirit, who is already in you,
also comes “on you” and “fills you up”.
There is more to the Holy Spirit than one body can contain and this is
why you can have the Spirit in you and also have Him come on you, or fill you up
with His presence. When
the Spirit fills you, as in this case with Peter, it is for a reason.
The reason here was to aid Peter in his speaking to these men who opposed
him. In some Pentecostal circles one
gets the impression that the only reason why the Holy Spirit comes on a person
is to make them feel good. If that
is your thinking, He will soon not come on you any more.
That is not why we are filled with the Spirit. Every time in the book of
Acts people are filled with the Spirit, something dramatic happens in a form of
a witness to Jesus to others.
Peter
once again is very bold. These men
have power to do as they wish with Peter. He
says that if you are inquiring “about the act of kindness shown to the cripple
.. then know this, you and all the people of Peter’s
words here are very similar to those of his first sermon in chapter 2.
He told the Jewish leadership that they killed Jesus, yet God raised Him
from the dead. He is basically
comparing them to God in the sense they killed Jesus, and God raised Jesus. Peter
calls Jesus, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth”.
I believe Peter did not want these people to have a misunderstand what
Jesus he was talking about The
Jesus in whose name Peter and John healed the crippled man was that same Jesus
of Nazareth that they knew very well from His own ministry, not too many days
earlier. It was the Jesus they
killed. There were other men named
Jesus. Jesus was not an
uncommon name. There were also a
number of so-called Messiah's in those days.
Peter wanted everyone to be clear who he was talking about.
Once
again, in his defense Peter quotes from the Psalms.
(Psa. 118:22) It says,
“the stone you builders rejected has become the capstone” (or cornerstone).
Peter calls these Jewish leaders builders, and indeed they were the
builders of the Jewish community, but in Peter’s mind they have rejected the
most important part for the construction site.
Jesus is referred to as the “cornerstone”, the most important part of
the building. Little
did Peter know that when Jesus told him and the others that they would be
witnesses to Him after the Holy Spirit came on them that it would take the form
of an arrest. This more often than
not seemed to be one way in which the new church gave witness to Jesus.
Note the life of Paul. Most
likely, if you ever attended Sunday School as a child, you would have memorized
the next verse, Acts 4:12. It reads,
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven
given to men by which we must be saved”.
There is a lot in this one verse. First
off, we have the word “salvation”. The
Messiah would bring salvation to His people, the children of Abraham.
When thinking of salvation, these Jewish people would think in terms of
deliverance. They would promptly
think of being delivered from their enemies.
Yet Peter is speaking of another type of deliverance. Peter
is speaking of a spiritual deliverance. As Christians, when we first enter into
God’s salvation, we are delivered from many things.
We often think in terms of being delivered from, or saved from hell.
Yet this is only one aspect of salvation.
We are saved from hell, but the most important thing that we are saved
from is God Himself. For it is God
who will deliver the sinner to hell, and then the lake of fire.
We
are also saved from other secondary things, such as the world and ourselves.
Both the world around us, and the world within us brings us into
condemnation. God’s salvation that
is implemented through His Holy Spirit enables us to be free from the world of
temptation that lies within us and around us. This
salvation “is found in no one else”. Salvation,
in Biblical terms is only found in one place.
This is where Christians are deemed to be exclusive, and exclusive we
are. We do not believe that there is
more than one road to God. We do not
believe that all religions end up at the same destination.
There is only one way, and that one way is found in the name of Jesus
Christ out Lord. And as Peter says
here, “there is no other name given under Heaven”.
The name of Jesus has been given to us as a gift from God to save us.
Jesus Himself was given in our place to bring us salvation, so we could
escape the wrath and anger of the
Almighty God. These
words took great courage for Peter to say. Yes,
he was normally the one to speak up first. Maybe
he was impetuous and barged in where others feared to go.
Yet this Peter was the one who was afraid to tell the truth when Jesus
was arrested. He denied even knowing
Jesus. But not this time.
The Holy Spirit had changed Peter and given him the courage and the
boldness to tell the truth as it should be told, no matter the consequences. Two
things caught the Jewish leaders attention about Peter and John.
They were amazed at their courage and the things that they said, because
they “were unschooled”, or unlearned men.
Peter and John were standing before the elite and educated men in This
might raise the question concerning Peter’s knowledge of Scripture, since he
quoted specific verses from the Old Testament on this occasion as well as on the
day of Pentecost. He must have had
some knowledge of these things. Yet
on the other hand, maybe his knowledge was limited yet helped on by the Holy
Spirit. The
second thing that the men in the Sanhedrin took note of was that “these men
had been with Jesus”. They had
first hand information, first hand experience with the One they were speaking
about. It was these same Jewish leaders that started the proceedings that killed
Jesus, and now His followers have come back to haunt them.
For this reason they probably did not feel very good about the situation,
but could do little at the moment to stop them. The
reason why they could do little was because the man that the apostles had healed
was standing with them as a living witness to what had happened.
How can you criticize Peter and John when you see the proof of their
preaching standing beside them, healed and well. (ch. 4:14)
This put the men of the Sanhedrin at a distinct disadvantage, something
else they most likely weren’t very happy about. After
hearing what Peter had to say, and seeing the crippled man who was made whole,
they told Peter and John to leave their immediate presence while they decided
what to do. In
verse 16 they ask themselves, “what are we going to do with these men?
Everyone in Verse
16 says, “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or
teach at all in the name of Jesus “. Peter,
being who Peter was, and inspired by the Holy Spirit would not accept this
command. Both
Peter and John replied, Luke says. Maybe
in unison, and out of a sense of amazement and indignation they said, “judge
for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.
For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard”.
The time might well come for Christians in the western world to be as
bold as these two men. As we move
away from the Christian consensus that we once had, Christians will become more
isolated and despised. We will have
to stand up for what we believe in, despite what happens to us.
Once
again, a witness is someone who speaks about “what they have seen and
heard”. Jesus, in Acts 1:8 said
that these men would be witnesses. And
so Peter and John say to their opposition that it is impossible for them to do
nothing else but to speak about what they have seen and heard, which was Jesus
and His teaching. Furthermore, who
should these men obey. The men of
the Sanhedrin would say that they obey God and not man, so Peter and John say
the same. When putting it this way,
there is no logic in the idea of obeying man over God.
And that is just what Peter and John intended to do. Surely
the Sanhedrin wanted to do more than to issue a command, but the people in The Believers Prayer (ch. 4:23 - 31) In
verse 23 Luke says that “Peter and John went back to their own people” and
told them everything that had happened. Note
the words “their own people”. This
is a significant change in the apostles thinking.
Who were their own people? Well,
at this time their “Christian” brothers and sisters were their own people,
even beyond their own Jewish brothers and sisters.
The words “their own people” is in direct correlation
to the Sanhedrin, who no longer was their own people.
Before Jesus came along, all Jewish people would have been classified as
Peter and John’s own people, but no longer.
Only believers in Jesus were classified as “their own people”.
How true this is, even with us today.
Sometimes the family of God is more real to us as a family than our own
biological family. Upon
hearing what Peter and John had to say, the others in the room along with Peter
and John “raised their voices” in prayer.
They prayed, “Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the
sea, and everything in them. You
spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David;
‘why do the nations rage, and the people plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together
against the Lord and against His anointed One’…”
The
prayer goes on. We don’t know who
actually led in this prayer, possibly Peter, but we don’t know for sure.
But the very first words are extremely important to our Christian
understanding., “Sovereign Lord”. We
need to know that God is Sovereign. By
this we mean that there is no authority higher than God Himself.
He can and He will do what He wants to do, whether we like it or not.
He has the supreme prerogative to do as He pleases, because He is God and
there is no one like Him. This is
what sovereignty means.
Whoever prayed this prayer knew this well. Within
the context of the prayer is a quote from Psa. 2:1 and 2.
In this Psalm the writer is asking God why the heathen wants to rage war
against the Sovereign God. To him it
seems so very futile. Obviously the
one who is praying this prayer is thinking the same.
He would be thinking, “why is the Sanhedrin trying to fight against the
Sovereign Lord, and His Anointed One, meaning Jesus.
This would not make sense either. In
verse 27 the one praying rehearses the account of Herod and Pilate conspiring
together with the Jews to kill Jesus, God’s Anointed
One. Yet as before, Peter, or
whoever was praying points out the
sovereignty of God by saying,
“they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen”.
These words are similar to the words that Peter spoke in Acts 2:23.
The early church believed strongly that it was God’s will for Jesus to
die, and that the Jews with the help of wicked men, meaning the Gentile
authorities, was the way in which His death took place. Understanding
the situation that the Sanhedrin had put them in, and also understanding the
sovereignty of God, the disciples
asked the Lord for even more boldness to continue to speak about Jesus.
They did not want to give into fear, or the will of man.
They wanted to go forth and preach, no matter the cost, thus fulfilling
Jesus’ prophecy of Acts 1:8 that says you shall be witnesses… Verse
30 says, “stretch out your hand to heal and to perform miraculous signs and
wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus”.
Note here that the people praying believed that it was God Himself that
heals, not them. They are asking God
to “stretch forth His hand to heal’. The
Sanhedrin attributed the healing of the crippled man to Peter and John, but
Peter and John attributes this healing to God Himself, something that the
Sanhedrin could not bring themselves to believe. Luke
reports that after these people finished praying, the house where they were
praying shook. He also says that
“they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly”.
Note that the same people in Acts 2 who were filled then, were also
refilled now. Note also that this
filling produced a boldness to preach in the name of Jesus.
Again I say, God does not fill us with the Holy Spirit to merely make us
feel good and have exciting meetings. Way
too often that's what we think about and experience when it comes to the power
of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I
wonder what we call the Holy Spirit in a meeting is not simply emotion aided by
soft music and humanistic techniques. God
pours His Spirit upon us and into us to do His
will, that is, to do certain things, not just to experience a happy time.
The Believers Share Their Possessions (ch. 4:32 - 37) In
the next few verses we see for the second time the communal nature of the infant
church. Verse 32 says that “all
the believers were one in heart and mind”.
It appears that all of the new converts had one focus, “one in heart
and mind”. As I said earlier, this
does not mean that they all believed alike, because they were still young in the
faith and did not necessarily know exactly what they believed.
Yet they were of the same mind in that they trusted in Jesus and wanted
to see the gospel spread. By this
time their numbers had reached to at least 5000 men, not counting women and
children, (ch.4:4) so their numbers were great. In
times past some people used this passage to promote communal living, but the
passage really doesn't say they lived all together.
Besides, there were way too many Christians to live together.
The communal aspect was a matter of the heart, and an expression of love
when needed. Luke
mentions again about these early Christians mentality that they believed
“everything they had was not their own”.
They would share when necessary to those who had need.
As time went on, you will see this sharing got more organized, but at the
moment it seemed to be spontaneous. This
is what communal living means in this passage. As
Luke also said earlier in chapter two, “with great power the apostles
continued to testify to the resurrection…”
Once again, it was the apostles that performed the powerful and
miraculous works, not the ordinary Christian.
Luke
says that “much grace was upon them all”.
Who does the “all” refer to? The
“all”, in my opinion refers to the 5000 plus new believers. Luke
also says that there “were no needy persons among them”.
Why? Because “from time to
time those who owned land and houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
and put it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to anyone who had
need”. (ch. 4:35) Note here
that these things were happening “from time to time”.
Also note that the money was brought to the apostles, and they were the
ones who gave it to those in need. In
chapter 6 we will learn that this changed. The
apostles simply had no time to do these things and preach the word of God as
well. Luke names “Joseph,
a Levite” as an example of a person who actually sold some land and
handed the proceeds over to the apostles. I
think we should view these acts of kindness as being led by the Holy Spirit and
not being forced on the people by the apostles.
I don't believe the apostles were dictators, or once who had heavy handed
authority.
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