Sunday Meeting..Bible Study..ACTS Chapter 4, Notes..1-24-21

 

ACTS 4

Peter and John before the Sanhedrin

1While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2greatly disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in custody until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

5The next day the rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, 6along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and many others from the high priest’s family. 7They had Peter and John brought in and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being examined today about a kind service to a man who was lame, to determine how he was healed, 10then let this be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11This Jesus is‘the stone you builders rejected,which has become the cornerstone.

12Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

The Name Forbidden

13When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they marveled and took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14And seeing the man who had been healed standing there with them, they had nothing to say in response. 15So they ordered them to leave the tribunal and then conferred together.

Why were Peter and John before a tribunal in the first place? Following Pentecost the disciples went out 2 by 2 to do as Jesus had instructed them armed with the power to do great things in the name of Jesus…So….

As this story unfolds Peter Heals a Lame Beggar….

3 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter then spoke to the people..

11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’[a]

24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’[b] 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

So…..

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

16“What shall we do with these men?” they asked. “It is clear to everyone living in Jerusalem that a remarkable miracle has occurred through them, and we cannot deny it. 17But to keep this message from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in this name.”



18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God. 20For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

21After further threats they let them go. They could not find a way to punish them, because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened. 22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old. The average life span was at that time about 35 for common men…

The Sanhedrin or counsel were assemblies of either twenty-three or seventy-one elders (known as "rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temple), who were appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the ancient Land of Israel.

There were two classes of Jewish courts which were called Sanhedrin, the Great Sanhedrin and the Lesser Sanhedrin. A lesser Sanhedrin of 23 judges was appointed to sit as a tribunal in each city, but there was only supposed to be one Great Sanhedrin of 71 judges, which among other roles acted as the Supreme Court, taking appeals from cases which were decided by lesser courts.



The Believers’ Prayer

(Psalm 2:1–12)

23On their release, Peter and John returned to their own people and reported everything that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant,

c our father David:



‘Why do the nations rage



and the peoples plot in vain?



26The kings of the earth take their stand



and the rulers gather together



against the Lord



and against His Anointed One.’d



27In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. 28They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen. 29And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness, 30as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

31After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.



Sharing among Believers

(Acts 2:42–47)

32The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned. 33With great power the apostles continued to give their testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And abundant grace was upon them all.

34There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales, 35and lay them at the apostles’ feet for distribution to anyone as he had need.

36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (meaning Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Beyond these events,which are both highly significant event,s in their respective religions (where Pentecost celebrates the arrival of the Holy Spirit, Shavuot celebrates God giving the Torah to the Israelites). Today, Pentecost is still a meaningful day for baptism within Eastern and Western forms of Christianity

In Acts 3 Peter and John miraculously healed a lame man. They preached the Word of God to those who had witnessed it. At the beginning of Acts 4, the Jewish leaders were unhappy about these events, so they arrested Peter and John. However, that did not stop many of those who had heard the gospel from believing. The next day, Peter and John were put before a council of the Jewish rulers, scribes and priests. They interrogated them about what they had been doing. When asked about where their authority came from, they answered that it was from Jesus whom they had killed. The men were taken aback by the boldness of the apostles. They told them to stop preaching Jesus and that they could go. The apostles refused to stop teaching and preaching about Christ. They left to meet with the saints and pray for more boldness in the face of adversity. At the end of the chapter, we see how such experiences bond a church and allow it to have “everything in common” (v. 32) and be gracious toward one another.


There are a few lessons that we could take away from this chapter, though I would encourage you to study these passages deeply on your own and correlate them with our current bible study..It is a comprehensive picture or understanding of our faith that we need. Bits and pieces are woefully inadequate as we seek to make sense for our own souls, God’s precious word…



The first lesson here is the authority of Jesus. In Matt.28:18 Jesus stated His supreme authority over everything. He did so because in Matt.28:17 He sensed that some still doubted Him even upon seeing Him. In Acts 4:12, we see a statement of Jesus’ authority from His apostles, “… there is salvation in no one else….” I believe this statement with all my heart. Men have tried and failed for centuries to find happiness, salvation, and peace from somewhere or someone besides Jesus. But we know that Jesus alone has the power to save, teach, judge, and exalt. He is the only One who has defeated death. He did that so we might not fear it and let it control us. Do we believe that Jesus has this power and that He alone has it?



Peter and John were not afraid to die for Jesus. They had boldness. In verse 13 we see that these officials were astonished by the boldness of these uneducated men, these commoners. This boldness allowed them to stand there and defend Jesus and His authority before these powerful men. It allowed them to heal strangers and preach to Jews about their need for salvation. Without boldness, Peter and John would not have been taken seriously. They probably would have given up fairly quickly after running into a few difficulties that came as a result of spreading the gospel. The disciples prayed together for boldness in verses 28-30, so that they could continue to preach and teach because they knew it was going to become harder.

We can ask ourselves..Are we being bold in our efforts to spread the good news? Let us pray for boldness in teaching the Word of God! We teach by word and by deed…..Our lives are a living testimony to our righteousness , belief and our faith..Our words are powerful and we need but few. We need not think that we are required to preach from a pulpit or in the time square for us to articulate the word of God…A few well placed words are very powerful when they come from one who lives a godly life….



The attitude of these men was one of devotion, total commitment. In verse 18, when the Jewish leaders tell them to stop preaching about Jesus or in the name of Jesus, they answered in verse 20, “for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” . Do we have that same attitude? For these men, they had no desire to stop teaching about our wonderful Savior. Sometimes I think it’s all we can do to work up the energy or courage to say anything about Jesus to someone else. But for these men, it would’ve taken every ounce of energy within them to not talk about Him. Are we, as followers of Jesus, or even as someone interested in Jesus, giving Him priority? Are we willing ?



There are many more lessons to be learned from this chapter. I encourage you to study this rich text more on your own. Let us all be praying for more boldness, devotion, and faith in Jesus and spread of Word of God. He is the one we are striving to please. He is the one who can save.

In our lives today ,fraught with sickness, the onset of old age, political strife,the restrictions of covid , the stifling of our faith around the planet, the hunger across the globe (but few countries greater than here in the Philippines)..In this time let us remember that we have power in and of ourselves as it is given to us by God..Let us also remember that we are faced with hunger naturally and spiritually and as we share with needy souls we are blessed for it..A loaf of bread, a bag of rice or a well placed word from God. Peace be with you always….

Our meeting is now open for discussion and testimony….