Acts 5:1. Account of Ananias and Sapphira The narrative with which this chapter commences is one which none but a veracious narrator would have inserted where it stands. The last chapter concludes with a description of the unity of heart and soul which prevailed among the brethren, and expressly no... [ Continue Reading ]
_But a certain man_ It is not by way of contrast that the story of Ananias is put side by side with that of Barnabas, therefore much stress is not to be laid on the word _But_. Acts 5:36 of the last chapter begins, in the original, with the same conjunction, and it is often employed in narratives wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_and kept back part of the price_ i.e. while at the same time they professed to be bringing the whole sum into the common fund. The portion which was kept back was probably not large, for otherwise the general sense of the value of the land would have made it conspicuous. The word translated "kept b... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Peter said, Ananias, why_, &c. The interrogative particle is of a strengthened form in the original, and seems to indicate that there had been a possibility of resisting the influence which led to this offence, had Ananias been desirous to do so. We must believe that the Holy Spirit gave Peter... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whiles it remained, was it not thine own_?] The verb in the original is repeated. _Whiles it remained, did it not remain thine own_? That is, there was no compulsion on him to sell it, the only thing expected from him being that, if he were moved to sell, he should honestly set forth what he had do... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Ananias hearing these words fell down_ Smitten through the power of that Spirit whom he had intended to deceive. Here is no description of a death from apoplexy or mental excitement under the rebuke of the Apostle, but a direct intervention of the Divine power. Terrible as this Divine judgment... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the young men arose_ (Lit. the younger.) Some have suggested that these were persons connected with the Church whose business it was to take charge of funerals. But it seems unlikely that, at a time when assistance had not been provided to relieve the Apostles from "serving tables" and distribu... [ Continue Reading ]
_the space of three hours after_ Time enough for the bestowal of the dead body, but yet so short that the news of what had befallen her husband had not reached Sapphira. It may have been that their home was in the country at a distance from Jerusalem, and that the husband alone came in to offer the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Peter answered unto her_ This use of the English verb _answer_, where no question has preceded and often where no remark has gone before, is not uncommon in the Bible (cp. 1 Kings 13:6; Daniel 2:14-15; Daniel 2:26; Luke 3:16), but in the present verse what St Peter says is not an answer but a _... [ Continue Reading ]
_ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord_ To try whether the deception which you had planned would be found out; whether God's Spirit would make it known to us. _behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door_ They were heard returning from the burial of Anan... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then fell she down straightway at his feet_ Close to the place where the money, for which they had sinned, had been laid, and where perhaps it was still lying. For we cannot think that St Peter would be willing to mix an offering given in such a hypocritical spirit with the more pure offerings of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things_ Lit. _upon the whole church and upon all that heard_, &c. To produce such a fear as should deter others from a like offence was God's intention in this miracle of punishment. And St Luke seems to have pointed to the re... [ Continue Reading ]
Miraculous powers of the Apostles. Continued growth of the Church 12. _And by the hands of the apostles_, &c. _By the hands_may here only be the Hebrew mode of expressing _by_. Cp. (Joshua 14:2) "By lot was their inheritance as the Lord commanded _by the hand_of Moses." But as in the description of... [ Continue Reading ]
_And of the rest durst no man join himself to them_ The sentence seems to convey an opposition to what has been stated in Acts 5:12, and should begin with _But_. The sense intended is that the assemblies of Christians made the porch of Solomon their special rendezvous when they went up to the Temple... [ Continue Reading ]
_And believers were the more added to the Lord_ In the Greek it is clearly seen that the words rendered _to the Lord_belong quite as closely to _believers_as to _were added_. "Persons believing in the Lord were added to His Church." The addition of this verse makes clear what has been said on Acts 5... [ Continue Reading ]
_Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets_ Instead of the preposition _into_, the best authorities read _even … into_, "they even brought forth," &c. These words are a description of one way in which the new believers gave evidence of their faith. To bring a sick person on a couch... [ Continue Reading ]
_There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem_ The best MSS. have no word for _unto_. The construction without that preposition would be _and there came also together the multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem_. The use of the word _city_(πόλις) is common even... [ Continue Reading ]
Arrest of the Twelve. Their miraculous deliverance and their Defence before the Sanhedrin 17. _Then the high priest rose up_ The conjunction at the beginning of the sentence should be _But_. While the multitudes thronged to be healed, the effect on the authorities was to provoke them to opposition.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and laid their hands on the apostles_ The best MSS. omit their. The whole of the twelve are now seized, for the authorities are roused to activity. It is clear from this that, though St Luke has only mentioned the speeches of Peter, with some slight notice that John also was a speaker, yet all the... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the angel of the Lord_ Better, AN _angel by night opened the prison-doors_. As if for a protest against the actions of those who taught that "there was neither angel nor spirit." There is no possibility of explaining St Luke's words into anything but a miraculous deliverance. He gives no word t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go, stand and speak in the temple_ There is a conjunction in the Greek which is not here expressed. Render, _Go ye and stand and speak_. There was to be no attempt made to conceal their escape. They were to go back to the same place where their most frequent teachings had been given before, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
_early in the morning_ The words indicate a time as soon as possible after day dawn. They lost no time in obeying the command. How early it was possible for them to come to the Temple we find from the directions in the Talmud concerning the morning sacrifice. It is said (Mishna _Joma_iii. 1), "The M... [ Continue Reading ]
_But when the officers came_ The name may imply a military body or it may have been only some of the Levitical guard who were sent. The same word is used (Luke 4:20) of the "minister" of the synagogue.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The prison truly found we shut_ The word rendered _truly_is omitted in the best MSS. _and the keepers standing without before the doors_ The best MSS. read, _and the keepers standing at the doors_. Of course they were unconscious that their charge was no longer there.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple_ The best MSS. have only _Now when the captain of the temple_. The word which in the A. V. is rendered _high priest_is simply = _priest_, but the like usage is common enough in Hebrew. _On the captain of the temple_, see Acts 4:1; and on _chie... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then came one and told them_ Better, _And there came_, &c. The English _then_is often in such a position taken for an adverb of time. The proceedings were evidently well known, and the hall of judgment was not far from where the Apostles were teaching at the very time. _are standing in the temple... [ Continue Reading ]
_without violence_ Nor can we suppose that the Apostles were at all likely to offer resistance, for their examination before the council would afford them an opportunity of proclaiming the message of the Gospel. _lest they should have been stoned_ We have already had evidence of the favour with whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when they had brought them_ i.e. to the judgment hall.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Did not we straitly command you_ The best authorities have here an affirmative sentence, _We straitly charged you_. The charge had been given only to Peter and John, but the council assume that it would have been by them conveyed to the rest of the twelve. _that you should not teach in this name_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said_ The Greek has no word for _other_. It is quite like the style of the New Testament to say "Peter and the apostles," and it is not implied hereby that Peter was excluded from the number of the Apostles, but, as he probably was the chief speaker, h... [ Continue Reading ]
_The God of our fathers raised up Jesus_ As Peter did in Acts 3:13, so here the Apostles point out that there is no severance of themselves from the worship of the Covenant God of Israel, but that they were teaching that His promise through Moses had now been fulfilled, for that in Jesus the promise... [ Continue Reading ]
_Him hath God exalted with his right hand_ The right hand is the symbol of might. Cf. Exodus 15:6, and "His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory" (Psalms 98:1). _to be a Prince and a Saviour_ Mark how with the claim of sovereignty there is closely joined the promise of salvatio... [ Continue Reading ]
_And we are his witnesses of these things_ The best texts omit _his_, while some ancient authorities add _in him_in place of _his_. _these things_ i.e. the Crucifixion and the Resurrection and Ascension. _and so is also the Holy Ghost Also_is not found in the best MSS. Christ had said, while alive... [ Continue Reading ]
Effect of the Apostles" defence. Counsel of Gamaliel. Release and subsequent conduct of the Twelve 33. _When they heard that, they were cut to the heart_ There is no Greek here for _to the hearty_, but as in the only other place in the N. T. where this verb is found (Acts 7:54) those words are adde... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then stood there up one in the council_ Better, _But there stood up_, &c. See note on Acts 5:25. _a Pharisee, named Gamaliel_ It may very well be believed that some small sympathy towards the Christian teachers would be roused in the breast of a Pharisee, because they maintained, as he did, the do... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye men of Israel_ It has been remarked upon the frequent occurrence of this and similar formulæ in the introduction of speeches in the Acts, that they are evidence that the speeches themselves are the composition of the writer of the book, and are only his own thoughts of the matter put into the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_For before these days rose up Theudas_ Gamaliel proceeds to give illustrations that mere pretenders will come to naught. But about the mention of Theudas much discussion has been raised, because it is declared that the statements of Gamaliel contradict the facts recorded by Josephus, and therefore... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judas of Galilee_ With this account agrees the history of Josephus (_Antiq_. xviii. 1. 1), except that, as has been already noticed, he calls Judas a _Gaulonite_, but as when speaking of the same man again (xx. 5. 2) he calls him Judas of _Galilee_, and in the same sentence alludes to the history b... [ Continue Reading ]
_it will come to nought_ As the verb is the same as that in the following verse it is better to render, _it will be overthrown_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_but if it be of God_ The verb is not in the same mood as in the previous clause, and had the construction been in classical Greek, it might have indicated some opinion on Gamaliel's part of the truth of Christianity = "If it is [as it is] of God." But in the N. T. the construction indicates no more... [ Continue Reading ]
_and when they had called the apostles_ i.e. back again to the judgment-hall. _and beaten them_ As the guilty parties in the controversy (see Deuteronomy 25:1-3).... [ Continue Reading ]
_worthy to suffer shame_ The Apostles count as their glory what the world would count as shame, cp. Galatians 6:14, "God forbid that I should _glory_save in the _cross_of our Lord Jesus Christ." This figure of speech (called oxymoron, and consisting in the effective contrast of words apparently oppo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And daily in the temple, and in every house_ Read, as in Acts 2:46, _in the temple and at home_. These are their two fields of labour, in the Temple, while they may be there, and then in their own houses; and it may be that some would not be able to go to the Temple, yet these at home were teachers... [ Continue Reading ]