Bible Commentaries
Acts 4

Verses 1-37

IV 1-4 Arrest of St Peter and St John —1-2. The priests, better the high-priests, objected to being accused of murder in crucifying our Lord, the temple police to the crowd in Solomon’s Porch, and Sadducees to the preaching of a resurrection, which implied a general resurrection they denied, 23:8. The Officer, cf. 5:24 and 26, was a priest and like the high-priests, one of the Sadducees, who were always more antagonistic than the Pharisees at this time.

5-7 The Meeting of the Sanhedrin —Annas had been deprived in a.d. 15, but St Luke regards him as associated with his son-in-law Caiaphas, who was high-priest, a.d. 18-36; cf.Luke 3:2. He ruled through his son-in-law, and later through his sons.

8-12 St Peter’s Speech before the Sanhedrin —8. He who had trembled before the servant-maid, is fearless before the high-priest, through a grace of the Holy Spirit, as our.Lord had promised, Matthew 10:19; Luke 21:14. He rather preaches the new Faith than defends himself.

9. ’A good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed’. He was present, cf. 14. 10. cf. note on 3:6.

11. Another prophetic text is quoted, to prove the Resurrection, used by our Lord, Luke 20:17, and repeated in 1 Peter 2:7. The Messias is the corner-stone of the New House of Israel. 12. Salvation comes through the Person of our Lord, all mention of the law being conspicuously absent, and it is perhaps implied that the saving name of Yahweh has been superseded by the Holy Name.

13-18 The Deliberation of the Sanhedrin —13. ’Unlearned, ordinary men’. SS Peter and John were ordinary citizens and unlearned in the teaching of the Rabbis. Their scriptural knowledge aroused astonishment. 17. The Person of Jesus was not to be the basis of their teaching.

19-22 The Reply of Peter and John —19. God must be obeyed, even against the supreme authority in Israel, and it was from Jesus that the order to preach came, 1:8; Luke 24:47.21. ’For all men glorified God for what had happened’.

23-31 Thanksgiving Prayer of the Church —24. The first recorded prayer after 1:24, begs for grace and miracles to spread the faith. Gk ’Sovereign Lord’. cf.Psalms 145:6.25. Psalms 2:1.27. The same word pa? + ?? is used as in 3:13, here and in 30. Within the Church it seems best translated ’Son’, especially in the context of the Ps, in which God calls the Messias his Son. He is the Christ, proclaimed to be Son, at his baptism, Ps: 2:2, 7. Only St Luke describes Herod’s part in the Passion. 28. cf. 2:23 and 1 Peter 1:20.

29. The prayer is not for enemies to be confounded, but for the spread of the Gospel.

31. God shows that the prayer is answered, and a further outpouring of the Spirit enables the Gospel to be preached boldly.

32-35 Summary Description of the Life of the Community —Charity and miracles are the work of the Spirit, cf. 2:43-47. These vv prepare for the accounts of Barnabas and Ananias.

32. Sharing of goods is due to the unity produced by the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church, cf. Encyclical Mystici Corporis, 55 (CTS).

33. The Apostles gave ’their witness to the Resurrection’, now confirmed by miracles.

34-35. The Gk participles here, and the imperfect tense in 2:45 show that property was sold, from time to time, by the owners of it, according as the Church’s need dictated. The sharing of goods was always voluntary. ’All things’ in Lucan parlance has no absolute sense, and in 32 a general picture is being given. The story of Ananias and Saphira, cf. 5:4, makes it clear that they were not bound to sell, and that after they had, the price was still theirs. When Barnabas gave all his property, such. exceptional generosity was chronicled. There are examples of houses held privately at Jerusalem, 12:12; 21:16. St James, in his Epistle, reveals the existence of rich and poor there. The community of goods does not seem to have been very successful, 6:1, and other churches had continually to send alms, voluntarily, ’each man according to his ability’, to Jerusalem, 11:29.

36-37 The Generosity of Barnabas —He sold all his property, and later, like St Paul, worked rather than ’live by the gospel’, 1 Corinthians 9:6. St Luke loved this lover of poverty, who wanted to give himself up to the Spirit, and found himself caught in the labours and quarrels of a missionary. He must often have met the Apostles at the Eucharist, in the house of the mother of his cousin St Mark, 12:12, Colossians 4:10, and enjoyed their confidence. He was a large-minded man, and introduced his fellow Hellenist St Paul to them, 9:27. Later they sent him on the delicate mission to the Gentile church at Antioch. Being ’full of the Holy Ghost’, he approved of what had been done, fetched St Paul to help, and together they gave Christianity its orientation, 11:22-26. They went on the relief mission to Jeruslaem, and returned with St Mark, 12:25. For the later history of Barnabas see 13-15, and note on 15:39