Acts 5:32

“And we are witnesses of these things,” R.V. (W.H [183]), but in margin, “witnesses in Him,” ἐν αὐτῷ (cf. Luke 24:47); “nos in eo testes sumus,” Iren., see also above critical notes. For an explanation of the reading in T.R. and the two genitives, see Simcox, Language of the N. T., p. 84, note, and compare 2 Corinthians 5:1; Philippians 2:30; 1 Thessalonians 1:3. ῥημάτων : here=Hebrew דָּבַר, cf. Acts 10:37 (Grotius, Blass), the words standing for their contents, i.e., the things, the facts. Meyer understood the facts to be the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, but Wendt understands them to be the gifts of the Messianic salvation mentioned in Acts 5:31, and compares Acts 5:20. But the use of the word in Acts 5:20 need not limit its use here: the Apostles were called above all things to witness to the facts of Christ's life, Acts 10:37, and the ζωή in Acts 5:20 depended upon the Resurrection. In Luke 1:37 R.V. has “no word,” ῥῆμα, where A.V. has “no thing,” cf. Luke 1:65, where A. V. has “things” in the margin (ῥήματα), and R.V. reads “sayings” in text: Luke 2:15, where R.V. has “this thing” (ῥῆμα) in the text, and “saying” in margin; in Luke 2:19; Luke 2:51, R.V. has “sayings” in the text, “things” in the margin so in LXX, the same uncertainty, cf. Genesis 15:1; Genesis 18:14; Exodus 2:14-15. ῥῆμα is used frequently by St. Luke in his writings, and much more so than by the other Evangelists; although it is found in all parts of the Acts, it is noticeable that it is employed more frequently in the earlier Chapter s, as in the first two Chapter s of the Gospel. καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον δὲ : on the expression see Acts 4:8. The Holy Ghost συμμαρτυρεῖ with the Apostles, Romans 8:16 (cf. Acts 15:28). We may well compare with these words of St. Luke our Lord's parting words in John 15:26-27. Here we have also the twofold witness the historical witness borne to the facts and the internal witness of the Holy Ghost in bringing home to men's hearts the meaning of the facts (see Westcott on St. John, in loco). τοῖς πειθαρχοῦσιν αὐτῷ : not to be limited to the Apostles, although by repeating this verb used at the opening of the speech St. Peter intimates that the ὑπακοὴ τῆς πίστεως (Romans 1:5) was the first requisite for the reception of the divine gift. In their own case the witness of the Spirit had been clearly shown, not only in the miracles which the Apostles had done, but also in the results of their preaching, in the enthusiasm of their charity, and we need not limit with Nösgen the thought of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the events of Pentecost. If this short speech of St. Peter, 29 32, reads like a summary of much which he is represented as saying on former occasions, we have no warrant for dismissing it as unhistorical, or even for supposing that St. Luke has only given us a summary of the address. It is rather “a perfect model of concise and ready eloquence,” and a striking fulfilment of the Lord's promise, Matthew 11:19. Nothing was more natural than that St. Peter and his fellow-Apostles, like men whose minds were finally made up, should thus content themselves with an emphatic reassertion of the main issues involved in teaching which was already widely known, and with a justification of their disobedience to man by an appeal to the results which accompanied their obedience to God.

[183] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.