Acts 4:23-31

Return of the Apostles to their Own People. The Christians are spoken of as if they lived together (cf. Acts 1:14, Acts 2:44) or at least had a hall where they could all meet. The prayer (Acts 4:24) does not thank God directly for the deliverance of His servants but rather for the fulfilment of His promises as seen in the proceedings of their enemies; what is asked is that the cause may develop still further in the same direction. The opening sentence shows the beginning of the Christian liturgy, and is to be compared with the prayers in the Didaché (p. 641) and in 1 Clement. The praise for the creation is composed of various OT phrases (cf. especially Isaiah 37:16). An exact and detailed account is found in Psalms 2 of the proceedings leading to the Crucifixion and continued in the late meeting of the Sanhedrin. The Gentiles of Psalms 2 are the Roman power; the peoples are the Jews, the kings Herod, the rulers Pilate. They all conspired against God and His Servant Jesus whom God has anointed Messiah (cf. Luke 23:1). But they all served a higher purpose. It was God's counsel that they were realising; and the literal fulfilment of the psalm shows that the Divine purpose is maturing and that the end is not far off. The petition (Acts 4:29 f.) is that these threatenings to which the believers are still exposed in the Sanhedrin may not avail; that God's servants may continue their even course of bold preaching, and that He may aid them by the healings, signs, and wonders He enables them to do (Acts 2:22; Acts 2:43; Mark 16:20) in the name of His holy Servant Jesus. The answer follows promptly (Acts 4:31) in the shaking of the place of meeting. There are many examples in profane writers of a tremor of the earth being taken to indicate Divine presence (cf. also Isaiah 6:4; Acts 16:26). [An interesting parallel may be found in George Fox's Journal (Bicentenary Ed., vol. i. p. 24): After this I went again to Mansfield, where was a great meeting of professors and people; here I was moved to pray; and the Lord's power was so great that the house seemed to be shaken. When I had done, some of the professors said it was now as in the days of the apostles, when the house was shaken where they were. A. S. P.] What was prayed for is granted. All receive an access of the Holy Spirit and go on boldly delivering the message.