Acts 13

(In preparation. Sorry for the hiatus. Getting out the truth about the coup in Honduras has been my primary means of worship for the last four months).

Acts 12

Where the Jewish leaders dared not tread, the political rulers had no qualms. Herod Agrippa I [1], the grandson of Herod the Great who ordered the slaying of the infants in Nazareth, inaugurated the persecution of the Church by the execution of James [2], brother of John [3], and the arrest of others, including Peter [4]. Peter was put under exceptionally heavy guard by sixteen men, two of whom were chained to him, apparently inside the Antonia Fortress. An angel appears, wakes Peter by slapping him in the side [5], striking off the chains, and leading him through the iron gate leading to the city and one block farther before departing.

A model of the Antonia Fortress produced by Ariely and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons; copyright by Creative Commons

The rest of the chapter follows two arms of sequelae from the escape. Herod cross-examined the guards and executed them. He left Judea to go to Caesarea. Tyre and Sidon [6], which had annoyed [7] Herod, sued for peace through Blastus in order to gain access to the food supply. Herod gave a royal speech. The crowd shouted that this was the voice of a god. Because Herod failed to praise God, an angel struck him (or slew him) and he was eaten by maggots [8].

Peter’s branch of the story is happier. He knocks at the door of Mary, mother of John/Mark. The servant girl Rhoda [9] is so happy that she forgot to open the door, simply running back in and telling everyone that Peter is at the door. After debating whether this is Peter’s angel, they at last let him in. He orders them to be silent, tells them the story of his escape, orders them to tell James [10] and the brothers about the events and leaves for another place [11].

The chapter closes with the return of Saul and Barnabas from Jerusalem, taking Mark and spreading the Word.

Notes

1. Herod means “sprung from a hero” (Who’s Who in the Bible). The text says literally that he “stretched out his hands to oppress” (epiballo cheir kakoo), a kind of inverse healing. The word for king is basileus, related to the basilisk which is reputed to bring death with a glance. Note that this Herod is not Herod the Great, but Agrippa I, his grandson (per Who’s Who in the Bible; Cornay & Brownrigg).
2. James is “Jacobus” in Greek, and means “supplanter.” This is James bar Zebedee who, with his brother, was also called Boanerges (“sons of thunder”).
3. John means “God has been gracious.”
4. While other strikes against the church had been against the peripheral members of its leadership, these arrests and the murder of James were aimed at the heart of the church. James and Peter had both been with Jesus at the Transfiguration. Since Herod did these terrible deeds during the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, it was plain that he was acting completely outside of Jewish law. There is a metaphoric resonance with the final plague associated with escape from Egyptian exile, with James being the lamb used to blood the lintel and the doorways, and Herod as the Angel of Death. The fact that “the Jews” (presumably, key Jewish leaders) were pleased with the arrests and execution suggests the religious establishment had become politicized.
5. Side is “pleura,” the same word for the piercing of Jesus.
6. Tyre means rock, Sidon means fishery, and Blastus means “sprout” according to Who’s Who in the Bible. According to that source, Josephus corroborates the general outline of the account in Acts, adding the detail that Herod was clothed in a silver robe and that he died of some kind of intestinal problem.
7. The Greek is thymomacheo, a compound word formed from thymos meaning “angry” or “boiling” or “breathing violently” and a second meaning “hand to hand combat” or its verbal equivalent.
8. The same word, skolex, is used by Jesus in Mark 9 to decribe Hell, where “the worm does not die.”
9. Rhoda means “rose.”
10. The order to notify James seems puzzling, given that James brother of John has just been executed. This may have been James son of Alphaeus, who was among the original 12. In any case, it gives a sense that if one James is stricken down, another will arise.

Acts 11

This chapter recapitulates Peter’s encounter with Cornelius, but with some notable variations. In Acts 11, Peter says that included among the animals in the sheet were wild beasts. In Acts 11, Peter intensifies his claim in Acts 10 that he has never eaten anything impure or unclean to a claim that nothing impure or unclean has entered his mouth [1]. In Acts 11, the number of Joppa brothers who accompany Peter on the trip to Caesarea is specified from “some” to “six.” In Acts 11, Peter explains why he felt that baptism could not be held back, quoting his thought as “I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” Acts 10 mentions speaking in tongues, while Acts 11 does not.

The chapter separately describes what happened to the church diaspora, saying that those who were scattered transmitted the message to Jews in Phoenicia [2], Cyprus [3], and Antioch [4]. Those from Cyprus and Cyrene [5], however, preached to the Greeks of Antioch. Barnabas [6] was sent to encourage the Antioch congregation, and he brought Saul from Tarsus. A prophet from Jerusalem, Agabus [7] came to Antioch to predict a famine during the time of Emperor Claudius [9]. The converts sent contributions to the elders in Jerusalem, in effect treating the Church as the new Temple. Since the contributions were sent via Saul and Barnabas, these must have traveled to Jerusalem.

Notes
1. According to the Blue Letter Bible, the Greek word “stoma” can also mean a double-edged sword.
2. Phoenicia was a coastal, seafaring empire stretching from Dor in Israel through Tyre and Tripolis in Lebanon to north of Arwad in Syria. The Greek word “phoinix” (phoinike in the present text) refers to purple, though Strong’s says it means “land of palm trees.”
3. Cyprus is 100 miles west of the Syrian coast and 50 miles south of Turkey. The word Cyprus means “copper,” though the Blue Letter Bible says it means “love: a blossom” and it apparently is also a unit of measure.
4. Antioch means “universal,” although the Blue Letter Bible says it means “driven against.” The Antioch referred to here is in Syria, but there is also an Antioch in Pisidia (Central Turkey) which is mentioned later in Acts.
5. Cyrene was a Greek colony in Libya. Simon the Cyrene bore the cross in Mat. 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23. Cyrenians disputed with Stephen in Acts 6. Lucius of Cyrene is listed among the teachers and prophets of Antioch in Acts 13.
6. Barnabus means “son of encouragement.”
7. According to the Blue Letter Bible, Agabus means “locust.” Agabus appears again in Acts 21 to warn Paul that he will be hogtied by the Jews and turned over to the Gentiles (presumably the Romans)
8. Tarsus means “flat basket.” It is a commercial center, presently in Turkey, though then in Cilicia, to the east of Pamphylia.
9. The reign of Claudius was AD 41-54.

Acts 10

This chapter initiates a full reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles, and clearly separates the Christians from the Jews. God appears to Peter, while he is in a trance, in Joppa, and repeals Jewish dietary law, even declaring reptiles to be clean. Simultaneously, an angel appears to a righteous Roman centurion named Cornelius in Caesarea. Cornelius sends for Peter, and Peter brings some (in the next chapter, he says six) of the Christian congregation of Joppa with him. Peter notes that it is contrary to Jewish law to associate with Gentiles. But Peter extends the vision having to do with dietary law to relationship, declaring Cornelius to be pure. At Caesarea, the Holy Spirit descends upon Cornelius and his family and friends and on Peter and his brothers from Joppa. The Gentiles speak in tongues to praise God. Peter baptizes Cornelius and his family.

There are many clues and cues in this chapter. Note the frequent appearance of the number three.
* Cornelius [1] is of the Italian [2] regiment, living in Caesarea [3]. He and his family are devout and God-fearing, giving to the poor and praying regularly.
* Having fasted, Cornelius is praying at 3 in the afternoon [4] when an angel distinctly appears. Cornelius apparently recognizes the angel because of his shining clothes [5].
* Cornelius sends three people (two servants and a soldier) to fetch Peter in Joppa [6].
* Joppa to Caesarea was roughly 40 kilometers, or 25 miles. Since the contingent from Caesarea arrives on the outskirts of Joppa at around noon, they must have traveled either by horse or at night.
* Peter is staying at a tanner’s house [7] in Joppa.
* Peter was praying on the roof at noon [8].
* Peter sees three times a vision of creatures which were forbidden to Jews [9] by dietary laws and hears a voice that commands him to kill and eat.
* The Spirit commands Peter to go with the contingent from Cornelius.
* Peter, being a good host, asks his guests to stay with him, overnight and perhaps through a full day or more.
* The round trip apparently requires four days (it could be three, depending on how Cornelius counts)
* Peter arrives at about three in the afternoon.
* Peter asserts that Cornelius knows about Jesus, specifically that Jesus is Lord, that He is the means by which we obtain peace, that God empowered Him by anointing with the Spirit and with power, and that He healed. Then Peter seems to shift to things which Cornelius may not know: that Jesus was crucified, that He rose on the third day, that He appeared to witnesses, and instructed the witnesses to testify that Jesus will judge the living and the dead. Finally, Peter tells Cornelius that the Prophets testify about Jesus and that all who believe in Jesus receive forgiveness through the Name of Jesus.
* There is a new outpouring of the Spirit on Jews and Gentiles alike, and the Gentiles speak in tongues.
* Peter associates the appearance of the Holy Spirit with the baptism of water, whereas in Acts 2, it is associated with a baptism of fire.
* Cornelius, being as good a host as Peter, asks the contingent from Joppa to stay a few days.

Notes
1. “Cornelius” means “horn” or “antler.” Nowadays, the immediate association is with the devil, but in the Old Testament and in Revelation, the horn is associated with power.
2. Cornelius, as a member of the Italian regiment is truly a citizen of Rome and not a mercenary or a conscript.
3. Living in a city dedicated to Augustus Caesar intensifies the connection to Rome
4. Three in the afternoon, the ninth hour (Luke 23:44ff), is the time that Jesus died.
5. This is how the angels appeared at the tomb (Luke 24).
6. Joppa is the town from which Jonah departed to Tarshish, to flee from the Lord.
7. The occupation of tanner was disfavored, though not because of concerns related to Jewish Law. According to Hershey Friedman’s Ideal Occupations: the Talmudic Perspective, the Babylonia Talmud says “woe to him whose occupation is that of a tanner.” The noxious odors and undignified nature of the work (because it involved selling to women) made it one to avoid.
8. Noon was the time in the crucifixion when darkness came over the land (Luke 23:44ff)
9. Since the vision involved all kinds of four-footed animals, it included pigs.

Acts 9

Acts 9 has two segments. In the first, Saul [1] is stricken with blindness as he tries to hunt down Jesus’s followers, is taken to Damascus [2], is healed by a follower of Jesus by the laying on of hands, and immediately turns around and preaches the gospel as passionately as he persecuted it. In the second segment, Peter heals a paralytic and raises a woman from the dead.

This chapter provides us with an exposition on religious experience and some guidance on what it means to be a member of the body of Christ. Saul initially is “breathing out murderous threats” but appears to be acting under the authority of the high priest to arrest followers of the Way. Jesus appears to him as a blinding light and Saul falls to the ground. In attacking Jesus’ disciples, Saul has attacked Jesus Himself [3]. His companions hear “the sound,” presumably of Jesus speaking, but they see nothing. In Damascus, Saul sat in blindness in the house of Judas on Straight Street [4] for three days, until Jesus directed Ananias [5] to lay hands on Saul. God says that He will show Saul how much he has to suffer. Ananias tells Saul that not only will he heal him but that Saul will be filled with the Spirit. Something like scales fall from Paul’s eyes, he is baptized, and begins preaching in favor of Jesus. The Damascus Jews conspire to kill Saul, but he is lowered in a basket outside the walls, and goes to Jerusalem. Barnabas takes him to the apostles and tells them Saul’s story [6]. Saul starts preaching to the Grecian Jews, who try to kill him, so the apostles dispatch Saul to Tarsus via the port of Caesarea [7]. The church had peace and grew stronger in all of Israel.

In the second part of the chapter, Peter goes to Lydda and performs a miracle much like Jesus’ . He tells a bedridden Aeneas to pick up his mat and walk, that Jesus has healed him. This miracle converted both Lydda and Sharon. In Joppa[8], Peter also raises a dead Tabitha/Dorcas [9] from the dead. Before he does so, the widows show Peter all the clothes that Tabitha/Dorcas made, presumably for them as a good work. Joppa was converted. Peter stayed with a tanner named Simon.

Notes
1. Saul means “desired.” The name occurs in Genesis 36 as an Edomite king, but more centrally was the name of the first king of Israel, a king the Lord rejected.
2. Damascus occurs many times in the Old Testament. It generally symbolizes foreign, pagan power. In Genesis 14, Abram pursues the four kings as far as Damascus. In 2 Samuel 8, David conquers as far as Damascus. In 2 Kings 8, Elisha goes to Damascus to encourage rebellion against the king.
3. Followers are as cells in Jesus’s body.
4. “Straight” (euthys) can mean “level,” “immediate” (straight away), or “upright,” “true,” or “sincere.” In the Gospels, it generally means “level” or “immediate”
5. Ananias means “whom Jehovah has graciously given.” In Acts, it has an ominous overtone, since Ananias and Sapphira were slain by the Lord for lying to the Holy Spirit. Ananias is also the high priest of Acts 24 who denounces Paul.
6. Barnabas means “Son of Consolation” or “Son of Exhortation”. It’s unclear why Barnabas tells Saul’s story. Perhaps the church elders would be disinclined to believe Saul.
7. Caesarea was built by Herod for Caesar Augustus. It was a town always associated with paganism, having begun as a Phoenician port.
8. Joppa is the port from which the prophet Jonah’s hoped to flee to Tarshish. In Mathew 12, Matthew 16, and Luke 11, Jesus says that this generation will not get a miraculous sign, but only “the sign of Jonah,” presumably the miracle of seeing the dead rise. And through Peter, Joppa receives the sign of Jonah.
[9] Tabitha/Dorcas means “gazelle,” the first in Hebrew, the second in Greek. Peter calls her “Tabitha.” The widows call her “Dorcas.” Presumably this means that the widows she had been tending were Greek, but that she was a Jew.

Acts 8

This chapter recapitulates Saul’s passive participation in the stoning of Stephen and describes his transition to an active destroyer of the church, imprisoning the faithful and forcing all except the apostles to flee [1]. But rather than diminishing the church, persecution spread its teachings. This chapter focuses on the evangelism of Philip, who exorcised spirits, baptized, and healed in an unnamed city in Samaria. An acclaimed sorcerer [2] who had been called the Great Power, Simon was one of many who were baptized. Peter and John came and transmitted the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands[3]. Simon tried to buy knowledge of the power from them. Peter cursed Simon [4] and told him to repent and pray for having had such a thought. Simon asks Peter to pray for him [5].

Next, an angel of the Lord sends Philip to the Jerusalem-Gaza road, which is called a desert road. There Philip meets a eunuch who is the treasurer of the Ethiopian queen Candace, riding in a chariot on his return and reading scripture. The Holy Spirit directs Philip to approach the chariot and stay near it [6]. Philip asks the eunuch if he understands the scripture he is reading. The eunuch confesses that he does not, and asks Philip to explain a passage in Isaiah describing the suffering servant. The eunuch asks to be baptized and orders the chariot to be stopped. They both went into the water, but when they emerge, the Holy Spirit transported Philip to Azotus. From there, he traveled around preaching until he reached Caesarea [7].

Notes
1. Matthew Henry says that Saul assented with delight to the murder of Stephen and he notes that there was no respecting of gender in the persecution. He also points out that in Acts 26, Saul confesses to having forced followers of Jesus to blaspheme and even urged that they be condemned to death. Notably, the apostles were not dispersed, unlike the rest of the church.
2. The word for practicing the arts of sorcerery is mageuo and occurs only in this instance in the New Testament. However, in Acts 13, the magos bar-Jesus/Elymas appears. The concept of sorcery is also infrequent in the scriptures. The most memorable example occurs in the plagues of Exodus. The Egyptian sorcerers (Hebrew kashaph) and magicians (Hebew chartome) are consulted in Exodus 7. Kashaph occurs six times and chartome occurs ten times, mostly in Exodus. The terms used when Saul consults the “witch” of Endor are ‘owb (medium) and yidd@oniy (spiritist). The latter are strongly censured in Mosaic law. Kashaph (who apparently invoked their magic through prayer) also come in for censure, but chartome (apparently scribes) appear to be unsanctioned.
3. Again there is an emphasis that baptism is purely for repentance and that the acceptance of the Holy Spirit is a separate act
4. Peter says that bitterness has induced Simon to try to pay for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and made him captive to sin.
5. This echoes Saul and Samuel in 1 Sam. 15
6. We can infer from this that the chariot is moving. Later, the eunuch orders the chariot to be stopped.
7. Azotus, which is modern-day Ashdod, was one of the principal cities of the Philistines, as was Gaza. Caesarea was a former Phoenician port, which Herod dedicated to Augustus, and was the site at which the Jewish rebellion against the Romans began.

Acts 7

In this chapter of Acts, Stephen is tried by the Sanhedrin [1]. In answer to the charges laid by members of the Synagogue of Freedmen [2], he re-tells the story of the Jewish people, then presents the accusation to the Jewish leaders that they are prideful and irreligious [3], resistant to the urgings of the Spirit of God, murderous of the prophets, murderers of Jesus, and ultimately lawless. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen sees Jesus, the glory of God, and God Himself. When he tells the crowd what he sees, they become enraged, cover their ears and yell, rush at him, drag him out of the city and stone him [4]. Stephen, however, is no longer at their mercy. He asks Jesus not to hold the crowd responsible for his murder, commends his soul into the hands of Jesus, and “falls asleep[5].” 

In this chapter, we also meet Saul.  We are told that the witnesses against Stephen lay their clothes at Saul’s feet as the crowd is stoning Stephen and that Saul gives his approval to the stoning of Stephen.

So, there are three central issues. How does Stephen’s telling of the story of the Jewish people compare and contrast with scripture as we have it?  What is Stephen’s experience of God? And what is Saul’s role in Stephen’s death? 

As to the first, consider Stephen’s version of Jewish history. It begins with the departure of Abraham from Mesopotamia (Iraq) to live in Haran in Chaldea (Syria) and then to Canaan. In Canaan, God foretells Abraham of the future enslavement in Egypt and teaches him the rite of circumcision. Abraham circumcises Isaac, Isaac fathers Jacob, and Jacob becomes the progenitor of the twelve tribes. He calls the children of Jacob “the twelve patriarchs,” and says that “the patriarchs” sold Joseph into slavery. This is an odd locution that implies that Joseph was not a patriarch. Stephen tells of Joseph’s sojourn in Egypt, the famine, the arrival of 75 of Jacob’s family in Egypt (Gen. 24 says 70; Ex. 1 says 75), and the burial of Jacob and his sons in a cave in the land (Stephen calls it a tomb) that in Schechem Abraham purchased from Hamor (Genesis says it was Ephron the Hittite).

Stephen turns to the story of the genocide ordered by the new Pharoah in which the Hebrews are told “to throw out their newborn babies.”  Exodus says they are instructed to throw the babies into the Nile. The adoption of Moses, his training, his slaying of the Egyptian, and his flight from Egypt follows the account in Genesis closely. It specifies that Moses thought that the Hebrews would recognize that God had chosen him, but Exodus does not claim this. Fleeing to Midian, Moses waits 40 years for God to speak to him through the burning bush. Stephen says that Moses led the Israelites for 40 years, though it was longer. He calls the visitation on Mt. Sinai that of an angel, though Exodus is clear that this is God Himself. Stephen recounts the Golden Calf, but then says that God turned against the Israelites by turning them over to the worship of heavenly bodies, a point that is not found in Exodus. Stephen quotes from Amos, but the quote is loose. The first line matches, but the second line mentioning Molech and Rephan is found only in the Septuagint, and in the third line Stephen says the exile is “beyond Babylon,” while Amos says it is “beyond Damascus.”  Stephen then finishes the account by focusing on the Ark of the Covenant, Solomon’s building of the Temple, and a repudiation of the Temple as the dwelling place of God based on Isaiah 66:1-2.

Clearly there are major differences between the Jewish scriptures that Stephen knew and the scriptures that are accepted today. Some of the differences are due to the currency of the Septuagint Bible, which is widely regarded as flawed and which has been replaced by more modern translations. But some variations could be due to oral traditions.

As for Stephen’s experience of God, it is more direct than any other character in the Bible, except perhaps Moses. He is not only filled with the Holy Spirit, but he actually sees God (and Jesus) in Heaven. He is so intoxicated with the experience of the divine that he does not feel pain, fear, or anger from being stoned. Instead, he is able to forgive his enemies even as they are killing him. And he does not die, but rather falls asleep. 

Saul’s role in the stoning of Stephen is presented as relatively benign. We are not told that he casts a stone or orders any stone to be cast. But what does it mean that those who are stoning Stephen lay their clothes at his feet? And was he a member of the Sanhedrin?  It seems unlikely that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, since they were elders, some perhaps drawn from the high priest’s clan and they would have been expected to be men of learning, probably not associated with a trade of questionable purity like tentmaking. As for the laying of clothes at Saul’s feet, it certainly meant that he was trustworthy and of too high a station to participate in the stoning directly.
 
Notes

1. The nature of the Sanhedrin is described in the Catholic Encyclopedia
2. Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia
3. Acts 7: 51 “Uncircumcised in heart and ears” echoes Jeremiah 4:4
4. No judgment is issued by the religious court, so stoning cannot be an acceptable punishment. 
5. This is the first instance of dying being termed “falling asleep” (other instances occur in 1 Cor, 1 Th, and 2 Peter).  This portrayal of death is not typical of other Jewish scripture.  In the gospels, falling asleep is associated with inattention or sloth, as when the disciples fall asleep at Gethsemane.
6. The irony of Stephen, an ordinary man, lecturing the religious leaders of Jerusalem on theology is very rich. If there is any point to God’s expenditure of one of His early workers on scolding the Sanhedrin, it may be in illustrating that Truth is freely available through the Holy Spirit. The licensure of holiness through the Temple and the religious bureaucracy is completely void of meaning.

Acts 6

The first real division among the followers of Jesus occurs between the Greeks and the Hebrews and it occurs over the feeding of widows. The disciples delegate to seven men the task of caring for the widows (Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas [1]), laying hands [2] on them in their commissioning. The proximate effect of the delegation is that the disciples multiply and “a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”  The former reminds one of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, in which division leads to multiplication. The latter suggests that the more who are willing to serve, the more leaders appear.   

The delegation to the seven represents a division of preaching from service to the poor, with preaching given a higher status than deaconship. However, despite his status as a lowly server of widows, Stephen also “did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.”

Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia [3] called the Synagogue of the Libertines (Freedmen) tried to debate Stephen but “they could not stand up against his wisdom [4] or the Spirit by whom he spoke,” so they accused Stephen of blaspheming Moses [5] and God, and produced false witnesses to testify that he said that Jesus will destroy “this place”[6] and change the customs handed down from Moses [7]. The Sanhedrin saw that Stephen’s face looked like that of an angel.

Notes.
1. The names Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas are Greek. Since the complaint was that Greeks were being neglected, this suggests that Greeks were given control of the distribution of food as a means of guaranteeing that this complaint would be resolved. Stephen is was martyred in Acts 7, and Philip evangelized the eunuch in Acts 8. Of the others, we know little. The names have these meanings:
Stephen: crowned (since Stephen suffers the fate of Jesus, he is in a sense the king of the deacons)
Philip: lover of horses (notice that he approaches the eunuch in a chariot in Acts 8 )
Procurus: leader of the chorus
Nicanor: conqueror
Timon: honorable; this is also the name of a Skeptic philosopher
Parmenas: constant
Nicolas: conqueror of the people
2. The laying on of hands carries many meanings. It is most commonly associated with healing. However, in the Old Testament, it is the means by which the priest transfers the nation’s sins to a sacrificial animal as well as the means by which a father’s blessing is passed to his sons. 
3. Stephen’s opponents are Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia, from the Synagogue of Freedmen (or, in the KJV, Libertines). These would have been foreigners and outsiders. However, the Blue Letter Bible proposes that “Libertines” carries the sense of being blessed.  It notes that there are many interpretations of who may have freed these people. 
4. Notice that it is not only the Spirit that gives Stephen’s arguments force, but also his own wisdom.
5. This is an interesting charge. Blasphemy in the present day is generally understood to be a denunciation of God, not of a man.
6. Presumably the Temple.
7. It’s unclear why changing customs would be a religious issue. The Greek word for “customs” is “ethos”

Acts 5

Ananias [1] and Sapphira attempt to defraud the church by telling them they are handing over all the money from the sale of a piece of land while withholding some. Peter confronts them with their misdeed. They die, stricken down by the Lord[2].

The apostles and the believers gathered under Solomon’s Colonnade [3] and performed miracles of healing and exorcism. Non-believers, even those who respected the apostles, would not join them. But even having Peter’s shadow fall on the afflicted as he passed by was believed to help.

The high priest and his associates, Sadducees all, become jealous and jail the apostles. An angel releases the apostles at night and tells them to preach “the full message of this new life” in the temple courts. When the high priest and the Sanhedrin call for the apostles to be called forth, the jail is empty. The captain of the guard and his officers find and escort the apostles to the assembly of Caiphas and the Sanhedrin, but are careful not to use force, since they are afraid the people would stone them [4].

The high priest complains that not only are the apostles teaching of Jesus, they are blaming the high priest and the Sanhedrin for Jesus’s death. Peter says he is compelled by God to teach that God raised Jesus from the dead and placed Him at His right hand as Prince and Savior to help Israel find repentance and to forgive the sins of Israel. Israel’s leaders are furious and want to kill the apostles, but the Pharisee Gamaliel gives them very wise counsel: “Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

So, the leaders of Israel order the apostles to be flogged. Everyone leaves happy, the apostles for having the opportunity to be abused for Jesus’s Name. And they don’t stop preaching.

  Notes

1.  There are three Ananiases in Acts. The second is known as Ananias of Damascus. In Acts 9 (and 22), he lays hands on the blind Saul of Tarsus (later known as St. Paul) and Saul’s sight is restored.   The third is the high priest of Acts 23, who had his men ready to smite Paul. 
2.  It’s significant that the only supernatural death recorded in the epistles is inflicted on people who refuse to share. However, what made the sin mortal was the lie they conspired in, rather than the selfishness. Jesus warned that the one sin that God would not forgive was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29). The Holy Spirit is to be understood as the principle that leads people to truth, and is referred to as the Spirit of Truth in John 14-16. See Higgs.  
3.  As was mentioned earlier, Solomon’s Colonnade was a place of kingly judgment dating back to the First Temple. 
4.  Stoning was the punishment for only a handful of capital sins, notably blasphemy.

Acts 4

In the middle of the sermon that Peter and John were preaching, the Establishment (in the form of priests, Sadducees, and the captain of the Temple guard [1]) seized and jailed the two apostles for teaching independently of the priests. especially regarding the resurrection of the dead as evidenced in Jesus. But at least two thousand men were converted [2].

The next day, the rulers, elders and teachers of the Law, led by high priest Annas and comprising the Sanhedrin [3], conducted an investigation. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter answered them that the healing of the cripple was done by the name of Jesus. Quoting Psalm 118:22, Peter declares that Jesus is the capstone, the sole means of salvation. Dismissing Peter, John, and the former cripple from the Sanhedrin, the leaders of Israel decided that the best they can do is to threaten Peter and John to be silent to try to keep “this thing from spreading further.” Peter and John rejected the command to remain silent. The Sanhedrin, however, were unable to decide how to punish them, since people were praising God for such an extraordinary miracle– the cripple was over 40, after all.

Peter and John went back and reported to the followers of Jesus what had happened, and quoted Psalm 2:1-2 (“Why do the heathen rage… against the Lord and His Anointed One?”) They blamed Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel for conspiring against Jesus who, they said, God had anointed. They asked God to enable them to speak boldly and to perform healing and miraculous signs. There was an earthquake, and the followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The community was marked by solidarity and by strong testimony: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them.” People who owned land and houses, such as Barnabas (also known as Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus), sold those properties and provided the apostles with money [4], which was distributed to the needy.
_____________________
Notes

1. The opponents of Peter and John were the priests, the captain of the Temple Guard, and the Sadducees. Matthew Henry thinks that the captain of the Temple Guard would have been a Roman, but this seems doubtful, since the Romans weren’t allowed in the Temple. The Sadducees were named after Sadoc, the high priest in the times of David and Solomon and were hellenizers, aligned with the ruling elite.
2. The math gets a little hard to follow. In Acts 1, there are 120 believers of both genders. In Acts 2, three thousand (gender unspecified) are converted. In Acts 4, the number of male believers increases to 5,000, but since we don’t know how many of the 3,100 are men, we can only be certain that at least 1,900 men were converted in Acts 4.
3. Matthew Henry points out that the Sanhedrin met the day after the arrest, unlike the trial of Jesus, in which he was tried the same night as His arrest.
4. The sale of lands and houses were very extreme steps, implying a breakup of communities and perhaps even families. Matthew Henry presents an argument that it was the time of the Jubilee, meaning that land could not be reclaimed for 50 years, but the argument is based on dubious numerology. Perhaps people may have been convinced that the End of Day was upon them. J.W. Carter draws attention to the point that Barnabas was a Levite, the one tribe that had not been allotted land in Old Testament days. (Carter uses that to argue that Barnabas was therefore not obligated to donate the land to the church, but the conclusion does not seem to follow). Perhaps the early church would have found that particularly satisfying, since the Levites were not supposed to own land, so a Levite sacrificing his land would seem to be a removal of a historical corruption.
Certainly the feature of sharing as a fundamental mark of Christians is noteworthy. Christians claim to be members of the same body, the body of Christ. If there is not a smooth sharing of necessities in that community, the claim of following Christ is probably not true.