Sunday, September 27, 2020

The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 4:5-14 comments : Peter's hearing before the rulers, elders, scribes, the high priest

 




Acts 4:5 ¶  And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, 6  And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7  And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? 8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, 9  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; 10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. 14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

 

Notice the use, in verse 7, of the word power for authority.

 

Luke 4:36  And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

 

Here are leaders in the temple and the high priest and members of his family, also priests, with Annas and Caiaphas having been the high priests in their turn at the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry a few years earlier.

 

Luke 3:2  Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

 

They may have taken turns in that position. One source I read said that the Romans appointed the High Priest during their occupation before the rebellions that resulted in the temple being destroyed.

 

John 18:13  And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

 

Priests served in family groups.

 

2Chronicles 35:4  And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. 5  And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.

 

Luke 1:5 ¶  There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth…8  And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,

 

Peter has preached yet another sermon, this time to the rulers. He has witnessed to proselytes from the many countries in which Jews had been scattered, to the people visiting the temple, and now to the rulers. No one has any excuse. Peter’s boldness can be attributed to the Holy Ghost and if you look at the sermons he stays right on track.

 

He accuses them of crucifying Christ who defied their authority by rising from the dead. What a statement!  

 

Verse 11 refers back to Psalm 118:22 which both Jesus and Peter quote as well.

 

Verse 12 is a meaningful statement not unlike John 14:6.

 

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

Here is one fulfillment of a promise Christ made.

 

Luke 12:11  And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: 12  For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

 

The leadership understands that these common, uneducated men had been with Jesus and they were impressed with their boldness to talk about Him. The healed man was evidence in their favor as well that left the leadership of the Jews nothing to say.

 

Acts 4:15 ¶  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. 17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. 18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. 21  So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. 22  For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

 

Peter and John are now sent to wait outside. This is a cause of grave concern because it is impossible to deny that this healing has happened. News of it is spreading. If these men can do the work that Jesus did, healing the sick and the lame, who can say but what His claims were true and maybe their claims are, as well. This news has got to be squelched right away.

 

Peter and John now declare, not only to them but to us, the grounds on which we may disobey any civil law. There is no law that has any authority over the Holy Spirit that works inside of us. No law can contain that Spirit.

 

Galatians 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

 

We are called to be witnesses for Christ and to make disciples.

 

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

 

The leadership, probably caught between the amazement of the people for this miracle and the danger to their position if this aroused a disturbance that would come to the attention of their Roman masters, can only threaten them and then let them go. They were always torn between trying to squelch what was being preached or trying to ignore it for fear of public unrest.

 

Mark 12:12  And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

 

John 11:46  But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. 47  Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48  If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

 

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