Sermon Tone Analysis

*»*  Introduction

/Peter and John before the Council ~/ 4:1-22/

Evidently a large crowd had gathered at Solomon’s Colonnade (3:11) where Peter began to preach.

While Acts is a record of powerful sermons, astounding miracles, and the rapid spread of the Christian church throughout the world, it is also a reminder of the truth of spiritual warfare.

Whenever believers are seeking to impact their culture, whenever the gospel is preached in power, wherever the church is growing and making inroads, the enemy stirs up fierce opposition.

*4:1* This crowd in the Temple drew the attention of the religious leaders, who *came over* to see what was going on.

The *leading priests* were mostly *Sadducees.*

The Sadducees were members of a small but powerful Jewish religious sect that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.

They were the religious leaders who stressed cooperation with the Roman Empire.

They also rejected the idea of a coming Messiah, believing that he was an ideal, not a person who would intervene in history.

The *captain of the Temple guard* was also a high-ranking Sadducee.

He was the leader of the guards who ensured order in and around the Temple.

The captain was considered second in authority only to the high priest himself.

The Temple guard had arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Luke 22:52-54).

*4:2* Imagine these Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, listening to Peter *claiming,* right there in the Temple, the *resurrection of the dead.*

No wonder *they were very disturbed.*

Peter and John were refuting one of the Sadducees’ fundamental beliefs and thus threatening their authority as religious teachers.

The religious leaders had thought this uprising would be finished with the death of its leader, so it disturbed them to find Jesus’ followers teaching the people in the Temple.

*4:3* Even though Israel was under Roman rule, the Sadducees had almost unlimited power over the Temple grounds.

Thus, they were able to arrest Peter and John for no reason other than teaching something that contradicted their beliefs.

Assuming that the healing of the crippled man occurred as Peter and John made their way to the 3:00 p.m. prayer time (3:1) and that Peter’s sermon to the gathered masses followed this miracle, it would have been too late in the day (*already evening*) to gather the necessary religious leaders to hold an official inquiry.

*4:4* The Jewish religious leaders were able to arrest (at least for one night) Christ’s messengers; they could not, however, stop the spread of Christ’s message.

The miraculous healing of the crippled man in such a visible place, combined with the powerful preaching of the apostles, sent spiritual shock waves through Jerusalem.

This brought the total number of believers to *about five thousand men, not counting women and children.*

God was mightily using Peter, for at his first sermon, three thousand people had become believers (2:41)!

Estimates of Jerusalem’s population at this time range from twenty-five thousand to eighty-five thousand.

Josephus recorded that there were a total of six thousand Pharisees in Palestine.

Thus, a total of five thousand Jewish Christian men (not counting women and children) was a very high percentage of the population!

*4:5* The *rulers, elders,* and *teachers of religious law* made up the Jewish *council*—the same council that had condemned Jesus to death (Luke 22:66).

This council acted as the ruling government of Israel.

They handled the local problems and religious questions but had to work under Rome’s supervision.

For crimes that carried capital punishment, they had to obtain Rome’s approval.

For instance, the council had condemned Jesus to death, but it could not carry out the sentence; the Roman leader in the area alone had the authority to order an execution.

That is why the religious leaders had taken Jesus to Pilate, the Roman leader in the Jerusalem area (Luke 23:1).

The council had seventy members plus the current high priest, who presided over the group.

The Sadducees held a majority in this ruling group.

These were the wealthy, intellectual, and powerful men of Jerusalem.

Jesus’ followers stood before this council, just as he had.

*4:6 Annas* had been deposed as high priest by the Romans, who then had appointed *Caiaphas,* Annas’s son-in-law, in his place.

But because the Jews considered the office of high priest a lifetime position, they still called Annas by that title and gave him respect and authority within the council.

*John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest* were also there, supporting the power base of the high priest’s office.

Annas and Caiaphas had played significant roles in Jesus’ trial (John 18:24, 28).

It did not please them that the man whom they thought they had sacrificed for the good of the nation (John 11:49-51) had followers who were just as persistent and who promised to be just as troublesome as he had been.

*4:7* The council asked Peter and John *by what power, or in whose name,* they had healed the man (see 3:6-7).

“In whose name” refers to exorcism practices.

They wanted to know what formula Peter and John had used.

Their concern was more about the apostles’ teaching, but they began their questioning with the miracle, for the healed man was there as well (4:14).

The actions and words of Peter and John threatened these religious leaders who, for the most part, were more interested in their reputations and positions than in the glory of God.

*4:8-10* Peter, the rough ex-fisherman, stood before a room of disapproving, scowling faces and, *filled with the Holy Spirit,* began to speak.

There are two kinds of courage: reckless courage that is unaware of the dangers it faces, and the courage that knows the peril and yet is undaunted.

Peter’s boldness is of the latter variety as he *clearly* stated in whose name they had healed and how they could do so.

*4:11 Peter* quoted a familiar Old Testament passage—Psalm 118:22—and gave it new meaning.

Most Jews regarded their nation, Israel, as the stone chosen by God but rejected by the nations.

Jesus had referred to himself as the *stone* that the builders* rejected.*

The cornerstone was the most important stone in a building, used as the standard to make sure that the other stones of the building were straight and level.

Israel’s leadership, like the builders looking for an appropriate cornerstone, would toss Jesus aside because he didn’t seem to have the right qualifications.

They wanted a political king, not a spiritual one.

Peter made it clear that *you builders* were the Jewish religious leaders.

Yet God’s plans will not be thwarted.

One day the rejected stone will *become the cornerstone,* for Jesus will come as King to inaugurate an unending Kingdom.

He already had begun a spiritual Kingdom as the cornerstone of a brand-new “building,” the Christian church (see also 1 Peter 2:7).

Jesus’ life, teachings, death, and resurrection would be the church’s foundation.

*4:12* The resurrected Jesus had healed the crippled man physically.

That same Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah, can heal all people spiritually.

Salvation does not come from being a descendant of Abraham (Luke 3:8) or by following the law of Moses (John 6:32-33).

The clear gospel teaching is that *there is salvation in no one else* but Jesus (John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5).

*4:13* *Peter and John,* fishermen by trade, had never received formal theological or rhetorical training in the rabbinical schools; they were *ordinary men who had had no special training.*

Yet they were bold, composed, confident, and undaunted in their defense.

As the apostles stood there with the healed cripple, speaking with authority, the members of the council *recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.*

Their boldness was possible only because they were filled with the Holy Spirit (4:8; cf.

4:29, 31; 9:27-28; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26; 19:8; 26:26; 28:31).

*4:14-15* In the same way that the words and works of Jesus had often left the Jewish leaders speechless (Mark 12:34), the council had *nothing to say* in the face of this supernatural healing and preaching.

The *council chamber* was cleared so that the leaders could decide on a course of action.

How Luke knew what went on in this closed discussion has been debated.

Possibly a sympathizer among the council “leaked” the information.

Perhaps Gamaliel, a member of the council, told his student Paul, who later told Luke (5:34; 22:3).

*4:16-17* The council was in a quandary.

The apostles had performed an undeniable, widely publicized *miraculous sign.*

The masses were gravitating toward this new sect.

How could the religious leaders save face (in light of the obviously healed man), discourage further teaching and healing in the name of Jesus, and preserve the status quo?

Their solution was to order the apostles *not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.*

It seems as though they thought that their power and position could convince these men to be silent.

*4:18* Because Peter and John had not broken any laws and were enjoying popular support among the people, the Jewish council’s best attempt at damage control was to summon the apostles and try to scare them into silence with vague warnings.

They were *told never again to speak or teach about Jesus.*

Jewish law specified that at the first instance of wrong or illegal action, the guilty were to be warned and released.

The second time they did wrong, they were to be beaten with rods (5:28, 40).

With this official order, the council would have legal grounds to impose more punishment in the future should the apostles choose to disobey.

*4:19-20* Commanded by Christ to be witnesses (1:8) and utterly convinced of the truth of the gospel, *Peter and John* announced their rejection of any such ban on speaking in the name of Jesus.

In effect, the apostles’ response accused the council of being at odds with the will of God.

The apostles already knew the answer, so they asked the council members to judge for themselves whether they should obey the council’s orders or God’s.

This principle of obeying God rather than people is a major Christian ethical principle (see commentary at 5:29).

These men had indeed “been with Jesus” (4:13), and he had completely transformed their lives.

They had lived with him; they had witnessed his resurrection; they had experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit.

And so they said, *“We cannot stop telling about the wonderful things we have seen and heard.”*

To have obeyed the council’s command would have been to disobey God.

*4:21-22* Stunned by the courage of Peter and John and fearful of their popularity among the masses, the religious leaders could do nothing more than threaten them and *let them go.*

One would think that these leaders would be thrilled that the people were *praising God.*

But that was not the case.

Luke’s comment heightens the significance of the miracle—the man had been healed of a forty-year condition.

/The Believers Pray for Courage ~/ 4:23-31/

After being sternly threatened by the same group of men who had orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus only six weeks earlier, the followers of Jesus gathered and prayed.