Day #321

Sermon - Audio
Acts 4-6 - Reading
Acts 4-6 - Audio

Daily Insights - Please Comment

4.1 Peter and John play a predominant role in these early chapters of Acts.

4.2: “greatly disturbed” can also be translated “very annoyed”. The reason they are annoyed is that in teaching the resurrection and basing it on Jesus’ resurrection the apostles are directly challenging the teaching and authority of the Sadducees. If people believed in the resurrection of Jesus the Sadducees could lose their authority (and their place of money and privilege).

4.3: It was illegal to have a trial at night. Jesus’ trial was at night which showed its illegal nature.

4.4: The size of the early church (5000 men--plus women and children) is staggering. The historian Josephus tells us that the Pharisees numbers 6,000. So in a rather brief span of time there are almost as many Christians as Pharisees. Remember that some of these new Christians were Pharisees (as Paul would be).

4.7: Power and name mean the same thing.

4.8: Being filled with the Holy Spirit recalls Jesus’ promise to his disciples that when they were brought before councils that they did not have to be concerned because the Holy Spirit would tell them what to say (Matthew 10.17-20).

4.11: Jesus uses this verse to describe himself in Mark 12.10. It is teaching in which he condemns the temple authorities. Does Peter use it here to remind the authorities of Jesus’ earlier condemnation and Jesus’ telling them that they were going to lose their place?

4.12: The word “salvation” has broad implications. It is to be saved bodily (the healing) but also from sin.

4.13: “Unschooled” means not to be trained in Greek Rhetoric. All children in Israel would have some level of schooling so they could learn the Torah.

4.13: The disciples of a rabbi would often be like their rabbi. The boldness and clarity of speech reflected the life of Jesus.

4.14: There was nothing that they could charge Peter and John with.

4.17: “Stop this thing” i.e. Teaching about Jesus and the reality of the resurrection.

4.19: Peter and John take on the role of Old Testament prophets like Elijah who spoke in opposition to kings. The rulers take on the role of the kings who ignored the prophets. The rulers also show their disregard for the prophets of the Old Testament by their desire to silence the apostles (cf. Matthew 23.29-32 and Mark 12.1-11).

4.24: As they begin their prayer they declare their confidence that God is ruler over all. The words that describe God come from Psalm 146.6. The Psalm in its entirety talks about trusting God, not men and how God will care for the downtrodden.

4.28: A declaration that all things are in the hands of God, even the death of his Son occurs only because he allows it.

4.29: “boldness” The apostles have already displayed boldness. They want more.

4.36: The temple establishment comes from the Levite clan, but not all Levites are part of the beliefs and power of the temple establishment. Here we find a man who is a Levite and part of the new community.

5:1 1ff: God takes the corporate purity and witness of his people very seriously. Out of concern for this purity in the early days of the church he carries out the ultimate punishment on those who would stain the bride of Christ.

• 5.2: cf. 4.37 “put it at the apostles’ feet” The early church understood that gifts were to be brought to the apostles who then had the responsibility for distributing the funds.

• 5.3: Peter’s reference to lying to the Holy Spirit in combination with his words in verse 4 make it clear that Peter sees the Spirit as God.

• 5.5: Ancient peoples generally knew there was great danger in lying to a god or one of his representatives.

•5.5: Punishment, such as the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira were seen as putting the fear of God into others so that they would not sin. This putting the fear of God into a person has Old Testament roots (e.g. Dt. 13.6-11)

•5.11: This is the first time that the Christian community is referred to as “church” in the book of Acts.

• 5.12: Solomon’s Colonnade was a large open “porch” area in the temple that stretched along the eastern part of the temple. It was a prime area that rabbis used to teach. Jesus also used this area to teach (see John 10.23).

• 5.13: After the death of Ananias and Sapphira only those who were serious about the faith join the community.

• 5.14: The NIV’s “more and more” is better translated “multitudes”--this gives a better sense of the vast growth of this early movement. Also, Luke does an unusual thing for the day—but usual for him--he mentions that women are also becoming followers (disciples) of Jesus.

• 5.15: The belief of the day was that a person’s shadow was part of the person (so if your shadow touched a corpse the rabbis considered you unclean). To be touched by Peter’s shadow was the same as being touched by Peter himself.

• 5.17: It is worth noting that while we have records of priests and Pharisees becoming followers of Jesus there is no record of a Sadducee becoming a follower of Jesus. This maybe because of the financial and power investment they had in the present structure.

• 5.19: An unexpected prison break. It is one of several in the book of Acts. God shows that he is the one in charge and the one to be obeyed.

•5.26: The fact that no force is used is amazing from the point of view of the apostles. They know they face punishment and yet they go willingly. Could it be they had learned to become like their Rabbi?

•5.32: These words indicate that the people they are talking to have neither a heart of obedience nor the Holy Spirit.

•5.34: Gamaliel is the most famous sage of the day. He is said to have had 1,000 disciples. One of those disciples will become the Apostle Paul. What is clear here is that Gamaliel is a rabbi with a moderating spirit. However, when we are introduced to Paul we find a totally different kind of person i.e. Paul fails in that he does not become like his rabbi Gamaliel.

•5.39: There is a constant battle against God by many Jewish leaders. At the same time vast number of Jewish people believe in Jesus. For the first decade the church is, in fact, overwhelmingly Jewish.

•5.40: “flogged” the traditional 40 lashes minus 1. A painful beating.

•5.41: The belief of the Jewish people that those who were persecuted unjustly would receive a reward in the life to come.


6.1: The theme of the ever growing church continues in this verse. This time, however, the growth of the church causes some problems as it seeks to care for the needy widows in their midst. What is interesting is that the early church draws widows in. Could it be that the widows saw the heart of this church (see Acts 2.42-47) and decided that this was the perfect place for a widow to be?

•6.1: Grecian Jews are those who have moved to Jerusalem/Israel from other places. There were a large population of widows from this group in Jerusalem because it was considered virtuous to be buried in the land of Israel. This meant that many Jewish men and their wives moved back to Israel for their last years of life. Since women typically outlive men, many widows with few means were left to be cared for.

•6.1: Carrying for widows (and orphans) was considered a high duty by the Jewish people (see James 1.27). In the rest of the world widows and orphans were not well cared for.

•6.2: The apostles delegate the work. The point out that they have to remain committed to their calling “the ministry of the word”

•6.3: The central requirements for these new leaders is that they are full of wisdom and the Spirit. Given the tensions over the lack of distribution of food these seem to be very important attributes.

•6.5: Those who are chosen come from the very group of people that have been ignored. The seven all come from the Grecian part of the church.

•6.6: To lay hands on was a symbol of ordination (Numbers 27.18,23). In ordaining these men to this task the Apostles make it clear that their work is of great importance to the church.

•6.7: A summary statement pointing out that by doing the right thing that the church was able to continue its rapid growth.

•6.8: Stephen is a man who not only cares for the widows, but is also on the front lines of speaking the gospel.

•6.9: Freedmen were those whose ancestors had been slaves in Rome but later they were set free and came back to Israel.

•6.10: On several occasions we find that the wisdom of those who speak the gospel and point to the Messiah by using the Old Testament overwhelms their opponents.

•6.11: As in the case of Jesus false witnesses are brought in to condemn an innocent to death.

•6.15: We are not told what the face of an angel looks like but most of us probably imagine it as being full of light, wonder, and glory.