Acts 4:21

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. SO, WHEN THEY HAD FURTHER THREATENED THEM, - or, added a threat to the prohibition recorded in Acts 4:18, THEY LET THEM GO, FINDING NOTHING HOW THEY MIGHT PUNISH THEM, [ meeden (G3367) heuriskontes (G2147) to (G3588) poos (G4459)] - rather, 'no means of punishing them' (not, no cause for doing so), Because of the people-for fear of a riot: for a...

21._And when they had threatened them. _And here is the end of sedition, that the wicked cease not to breathe out their fury, yet are they bridled by the secret power of God, so that they cannot tell how to do any hurt. (218) How is it that being content with threatenings, they do not also rage against their bodies, save only because the power of God doth bind them as a chain? Not that the fear of God doth prevail with them, for it is the regard of the people alone which hindereth them; but the Lord doth bind them with his bonds, though they be ignorant thereof. Luke commendeth unto us the providence of God in preserving his children; and though it be hidden from the wicked, yet we may behold the same with the eyes of faith, Furthermore, the wonderful counsel of God doth show itself here, in that the glory of Christ is furthered by those which are his most deadly enemies. For whereas the...

15-22 All the care of the rulers is, that the doctrine of Christ spread not among the people, yet they cannot say it is false or dangerous, or of any ill tendency; and they are ashamed to own the true reason; that it testifies against their hypocrisy, wickedness, and tyranny. Those who know how to put a just value upon Christ's promises, know how to put just contempt upon the world's threatenings. The apostles look with concern on perishing souls, and know they cannot escape eternal ruin but by Jesus Christ, therefore they are faithful in warning, and showing the right way. None will enjoy peace of mind, nor act uprightly, till they have learned to guide their conduct by the fixed standard of truth, and not by the shifting opinions and fancies of men. Especially beware of a vain attempt to serve two masters, God and the world; the end will be, you can serve neither fully....

Verse Acts 4:21. _WHEN THEY HAD FARTHER THREATENED THEM_] προσαπειλησαμενοι, When they had added to their former threatenings, repeating the former menaces, and adding new penalties. _FINDING NOTHING HOW THEY MIGHT PUNISH THEM_] Or, as the _Codex_ _Bezae_ reads, μηεὑρισκοντες αιτιαν, πως κολασωνται, _not finding, a_ _cause why they might punish them_. This reading is supported by the _Syriac_ and _Arabic_. Bp. Pearce says, "This is better sense and better Greek." _BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE_] The people saw the miracle, confessed the finger of God, believed on the Lord Jesus, and thus became converts to the Christian faith; and the converts were now so numerous that the sanhedrin was afraid to proceed to any extremities, lest an insurrection should be the consequence....

FINDING NOTHING ... - That is, not being able to devise any way of punishing them without exciting a tumult among the people, and endangering their own authority. The Sanhedrin was frequently influenced by this fear; and it shows that their own authority was much dependent on the caprice of the multitude. Compare Matthew 21:26. ALL MEN - That is, the great mass or body of the people. GLORIFIED GOD - Praised God for the miracle. This implies: * That they believed that the miracle was genuine. (2)That they were grateful to God for so signal a mercy in conferring health and comfort on a man who had been long afflicted. We may add further, that here is the highest evidence of the real

EXPOSITION ACTS 4:1 THE CAPTAIN OF THE TEMPLE. Only here and Acts 5:24, and Luke 22:4, Luke 22:52 in the plural some have thought that the commander of the Roman garrison of the castle of Antonia is here meant. But as the scene is laid in the court of the temple, this is very improbable. Josephus ('Ant. Jud.,' 20, Luke 6:2) speaks of an officer apparently of the temple, who was called ὁ στρατηγός, and was certainly a Jew by his name Ananus, and being, as Josephus relates farther ('Bell Jud.,' 2, 12. 6), the son of the high priest Ana

SO WHEN THEY HAD FURTHER THREATENED THEM,.... Either repeated the same, as before; or added some more severe ones, to terrify them, if possible; not being able to answer their arguments, or invalidate their reasoning: THEY LET THEM GO; they did not acquit them as innocent persons, but dismissed them from custody: FINDING NOTHING HOW THEY MIGHT PUNISH THEM; not being able, though they sought most diligently for it, to fix anything upon them, which might be a cause, or occasion, or pretence of inflicting any punishment upon them: BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE: they would not have stuck at the injustice of it, or have been under any concern about offending God; but they were afraid of the people, of losing their credit among them, and lest they should rise up against them, and on the side of the apostles: FOR ALL MEN GLORIFIED GOD FOR THAT WHICH WAS DONE; they saw the hand of God in it, and asc...

Peter and John were summoned before the priests to give an account for having healed the lame man, and for having preached in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. In the eighth verse we read: Acts 4:8. _Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole: 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. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved._ Nothing can exceed the directness, the comprehensi

CHAPTER 4 __ 1. Their Arrest (Acts 4:1). 2. The Result of the Testimony (Acts 4:4). 3. Peter and John before the Rulers and Elders (Acts 4:5). 4. Peter's bold witness (Acts 4:8). 5. The astonished Sanhedrin and their Release (Acts 4:13). 6. With their own company (Acts 4:23). 7. The saved multitude (Acts 4:32). The enemy begins now his acts, and the first indication is gi

DILEMMA OF THE RULERS: THEIR VERDICT. The promise of Luke 21:15 is at once literally fulfilled, and the reasoning is given by which the judges felt themselves overborne. It is that Peter and John are certain of their case, and show no hesitation though they possess no literary training and are generally uncultured, and that the man they cured stood beside them, a living corroboration. The recognition of the apostles as having been with Jesus is regarded by many as irrelevant. but if Jesus was still active, He would act most naturally through His former intimates. The apostles are ordered to withdraw while the members of the court deliberate; yet we have a full account of their discussion, an account which has an appearance of probability. It is not based on the discussion of the Sanhedrists on John the Baptist (Mark