Chapter Eight: A Church on the Move (Acts 8)
Key theme: The expansion of the church in the world
I.THE MINISTRY OF PETER—chapters 1–12
Jerusalem the center
Ministry primarily to Israel
A.Peter and the Jews—1–7
B.Peter and the Samaritans—8
C.The conversion of Paul—9
D.Peter and the Gentiles—10–11
E.Peter’s arrest and deliverance—12
II.THE MINISTRY OF PAUL—chapters 13–28
Syrian Antioch the center
Ministry primarily to the Gentiles
A.Paul’s first missionary journey—13–14
B.The Jerusalem Conference—15
C.Paul’s second missionary journey—16:1–18:22
D.Paul’s third missionary journey—18:23–21:17
E.Paul’s arrest and voyage to Rome—21:18–28:31
(Acts 1)
(Acts 2)
(Acts 3:1–4:4)
(Acts 4:32–5:16)
(Acts 6–7)
(Acts 8)
(Acts 9:32–10:48)
(Acts 11)
(Acts 12)
(Acts 13–14)
(Acts 15:36–16:40)
(Acts 17)
(Acts 18:23–19:41)
(Acts 20)
(Acts 21:1–22:29)
(Acts 22:30–23:35)
(Acts 24)
(Acts 25–26)
(Acts 27–28)
Acts 1
A famous Hollywood producer once said that for a movie to be successful, it must start with an earthquake and work up to a climax. Luke certainly didn’t follow that formula when he wrote the Book of Acts. Except for the ascension of Jesus Christ, events recorded in Acts 1 are anything but dramatic. After all, what is exciting about a business meeting?
Then why record these events? Why didn’t Luke just start with the story of Pentecost? For several reasons.
To begin with, Luke was writing volume two of a work that started with what we call the Gospel of Luke (see ); and he had to begin with the proper salutation and introduction. We don’t know who Theophilus was or even if he was a believer; but Luke’s salutation suggests that he may have been an important Roman official (see ; ; ). Likely Theophilus was a Christian or at least a seeker who was carefully studying the Christian faith. His name means “friend of God,” and we hope he lived up to his name.
But even more important, Luke had to build a bridge between his Gospel and the Book of Acts (). At the close of his Gospel, he had left the believers in the temple, praising God. Now he had to pick up the story and explain what happened next. Imagine how confused you would be if, in reading your New Testament, you turned the last page of the Gospel of John and discovered—Romans! “How did the church get to Rome?” you would ask yourself; and the answer is found in the Book of Acts.
The Book of Acts is also the account of the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the church. The Gospel of Luke records what Jesus “began both to do and teach” in His human body, and the Book of Acts tells us what Jesus continued to do and teach through His spiritual body, the church. Even today, congregations can learn much about church life and ministry from this book, and this even includes the business meetings!
In this chapter, we see the believers taking care of “unfinished business” and getting ready for Pentecost. What they said and did reveals to us the faith of the church. In what did they really believe?
They Believed in the Risen Christ ()
After His resurrection, Jesus remained on earth for forty days and ministered to His disciples. He had already opened their minds to understand the Old Testament message about Himself (), but there were other lessons they needed to learn before they could launch out in their new ministry. Jesus appeared and disappeared during those forty days, and the believers never knew when He might show up. It was excellent preparation for the church because the days were soon coming when He would no longer be on earth to instruct them personally. We believers today never know when our Lord may return, so our situation is somewhat similar to theirs.
The Lord taught them several important lessons during that time of special ministry.
The reality of His resurrection (v. ). Some of the believers may have had their doubts forty days before (), but there could be no question now that Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead. To strengthen their faith, He gave them “many infallible proofs” which Luke did not explain. We know that when Jesus met His disciples, He invited them to touch His body, and He even ate before them (). Whatever proofs He gave, they were convincing.
Faith in His resurrection was important to the church because their own spiritual power depended on it. Also, the message of the Gospel involves the truth of the Resurrection (; ); and, if Jesus were dead, the church would be speechless. Finally, the official Jewish position was that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body from the tomb (), and the believers had to be able to refute this as they witnessed to the nation.
These believers were chosen to be special witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, and that was the emphasis in their ministry (; ; ; ). Most of the people in Jerusalem knew that Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified, but they did not know that He had been raised from the dead. By their words, their walk, and their mighty works, the believers told the world that Jesus was alive. This was “the sign of Jonah” that Jesus had promised to the nation ()—His death, burial, and resurrection.
The coming of His kingdom (v. ). This refers to the reign of God over the hearts and lives of those who have trusted Him (see ; ; ). When you read the four Gospels, you discover that the Apostles had a strongly political view of the kingdom and were especially concerned about their own positions and privileges. Being loyal Jews, they longed for the defeat of their enemies and the final establishment of the glorious kingdom under the rule of King Messiah. They did not realize that there must first be a spiritual change in the hearts of the people (see ).
Jesus did not rebuke them when they “kept asking” about the future Jewish kingdom (). After all, He had opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (), so they knew what they were asking. But God has not revealed His timetable to us and it is futile for us to speculate. The important thing is not to be curious about the future but to be busy in the present, sharing the message of God’s spiritual kingdom. This is another emphasis in the Book of Acts (see ; ; ; , ).
The power of His Holy Spirit (vv. ). John the Baptist had announced a future baptism of the Holy Spirit (; ; ; ; and see ), and now that prophecy would be fulfilled. Jesus had also promised the coming of the Spirit (, ; ; ). It would be an enduement of power for the disciples so that they would be able to serve the Lord and accomplish His will (). John had spoken about “the Holy Spirit and fire,” but Jesus said nothing about fire. Why? Because the “baptism of fire” has to do with future judgment, when the nation of Israel will go through tribulation (). The appearing of “tongues of fire” at Pentecost () could not be termed a “baptism.”
is a key verse. To begin with, it explains that the power of the church comes from the Holy Spirit and not from man (see ). God’s people experienced repeated fillings of the Spirit as they faced new opportunities and obstacles (; , ; ; ). Ordinary people were able to do extraordinary things because the Spirit of God was at work in their lives. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is not a luxury; it is an absolute necessity.
“Witness” is a key word in the Book of Acts and is used twenty-nine times as either a verb or a noun. A witness is somebody who tells what he has seen and heard (). When you are on the witness stand in court, the judge is not interested in your ideas or opinions; he only wants to hear what you know. Our English word martyr comes from the Greek word translated “witness,” and many of God’s people have sealed their witness by laying down their lives.
We hear a great deal these days about “soul winning,” and the emphasis is a good one. However, while some of God’s people have a calling to evangelism (), all of God’s people are expected to be witnesses and tell the lost about the Saviour. Not every Christian can bring a sinner to the place of faith and decision (though most of us could do better), but every Christian can bear faithful witness to the Saviour. “A true witness delivereth souls” ().
also gives us a general outhne of the Book of Acts as it describes the geographical spread of the Gospel: from Jerusalem (Acts 1–7) to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8–9), and then to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth (Acts 10–28). No matter where we live, as Christians we should begin our witness at home and then extend it “into all the world.” As Dr. Oswald J. Smith used to say, “The light that shines the farthest will shine the brightest at home.”
The assurance of His coming again (vv. ). Our Lord’s ascension into heaven was an important part of His ministry, for if He had not returned to the Father, He could not have sent the promised gift of the Holy Spirit (). Also, in heaven today, the Saviour is our interceding High Priest, giving us the grace that we need for life and service (). He is also our Advocate before the Father, forgiving us when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9–2:2). The exalted and glorified Head of the church is now working with His people on earth and helping them accomplish His purposes ().
As the believers watched Jesus being taken up to glory, two angels appeared and gently rebuked them. Angels play an important role in the ministry described in Acts, just as they do today, even though we cannot see them (see ; ; ; , ; ). The angels are the servants of the saints ().
The two messengers gave the believers assurance that Jesus Christ would come again, just as He had been taken from them. This seems to refer to His public “coming in clouds” (; ; ) rather than to His coming for His church “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (; ). Regardless of what views different people may take of God’s prophetic program, Christians agree that Jesus is coming again and that He can come at any time. This in itself is a great motivation for faithful Christian service ().
They Believed in Each Other ()
They obeyed their Lord’s commandment and returned to Jerusalem “with great joy” (). It is likely that the group met in the Upper Room where the last Passover had been celebrated, but they were also found at worship in the temple ().
What a variety of people made up that first assembly of believers! There were men and women, apostles and “ordinary” people, and even members of the Lord’s earthly family (see ; ). His “brethren” had not believed in Him during His ministry (), but they did come to trust Him after the Resurrection (). Mary was there as a member of the assembly, participating in worship and prayer along with the others. The center of their fellowship was the risen Christ, and all of them adored and magnified Him.
How easy it would have been for someone to bring division into this beautiful assembly of humble people! The members of the Lord’s family might have claimed special recognition, or Peter could have been criticized for his cowardly denial of the Saviour. Or perhaps Peter might have blamed John, because it was John who brought him into the high priest’s house (). John might well have reminded the others that he had faithfully stood at the cross, and had even been chosen by the Saviour to care for His mother. But there was none of this. In fact, nobody was even arguing over who among them was the greatest!
The key phrase is “with one accord,” a phrase that is found six times in Acts (; , ; ; ; ; and note also ). There was among these believers a wonderful unity that bound them together in Christ (Ps. 133; ), the kind of unity that Christians need today. “I do not want the walls of separation between different orders of Christians to be destroyed,” said the godly British preacher Rowland Hill, “but only lowered, that we may shake hands a little easier over them!”
It is not enough for Christians to have faith in the Lord; they must also have faith in one another. To these 120 people () the Lord had given the solemn responsibility of bearing witness to a lost world, and none of them could do the job alone. They would experience severe persecution in the days ahead, and one of them, James, would lay down his life for Christ. It was not a time for asking, “Who is the greatest?” or, “Who committed the greatest sin?” It was a time for praying together and standing together in the Lord. As they waited and worshiped together, they were being better prepared for the work that lay before them.
Prayer plays a significant role in the story of the church as recorded in the Book of Acts. The believers prayed for guidance in making decisions () and for courage to witness for Christ (). In fact, prayer was a normal part of their daily ministry (; ; ). Stephen prayed as he was being stoned (). Peter and John prayed for the Samaritans (), and Saul of Tarsus prayed after his conversion (). Peter prayed before he raised Dorcas from the dead (). Cornelius prayed that God would show him how to be saved (), and Peter was on the housetop praying when God told him how to be the answer to Cornelius’ prayers ().
The believers in John Mark’s house prayed for Peter when he was in prison, and the Lord delivered him both from prison and from death (). The church at Antioch fasted and prayed before sending out Barnabas and Paul (; and note ). It was at a prayer meeting in Philippi that God opened Lydia’s heart (), and another prayer meeting in Philippi opened the prison doors (). Paul prayed for his friends before leaving them (; ). In the midst of a storm, he prayed for God’s blessing (), and after a storm, he prayed that God would heal a sick man (). In almost every chapter in Acts you find a reference to prayer, and the book makes it very clear that something happens when God’s people pray.
This is certainly a good lesson for the church today. Prayer is both the thermometer and the thermostat of the local church; for the “spiritual temperature” either goes up or down, depending on how God’s people pray. John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, said, “Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan.” In the Book of Acts, you see prayer accomplishing all of these things.
They Believed in God’s Leading ()
The Lord Jesus was no longer with them to give them personal directions, but they were not without the leading of the Lord, for they had the Word of God and prayer. In fact, the Word of God and prayer formed the foundation for the ministry of the church as recorded in the Book of Acts ().
Peter has been criticized for taking charge, but I believe he was doing the will of God. Jesus had made it clear that Peter was to be their leader (; ; ). Peter was “first among equals,” but he was their recognized leader. His name is mentioned first in each listing of the Apostles, including .
But should Peter and the others have waited until the Spirit had been given? We must not forget that the Lord had previously “breathed” on them and imparted the Spirit to them (). When the Spirit came at Pentecost, it was for the purpose of filling them with power and baptizing them into one body in Christ.
We must also remember that the Lord had opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures (). When Peter referred to and , he was not doing this on his own, but was being led by the Spirit of God. These people definitely believed in the divine inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures (; and see ; ), and they also believed that these Scriptures had a practical application to their situation.
A radio listener once wrote to ask me, “Why do you teach from the Old Testament? After all, it’s ancient history and it’s all been fulfilled by Jesus!” I explained that the only “Bible” the early church had was the Old Testament, and yet they were able to use it to discover the will of God. We need both the Old and the New; in fact, the New Testament writers often quote from the Old Testament to prove their point. St. Augustine said, “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is by the New revealed.”
Certainly we must interpret the Old by the New, but we must not think that God no longer speaks to His people through the Old Testament Scriptures. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable” (, italics mine). “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (, italics mine). We must use the whole Bible and balance Scripture with Scripture as we seek to discover the mind of God.
“But it was wrong for them to select a new apostle,” some claim, “because Paul was the one who was chosen by God to fill up the ranks. They chose Matthias and he was never heard of again!”
Except for Peter and John, none of the original Twelve are mentioned by name in the Book of Acts after ! Paul could not have “filled up the ranks” because he could never have met the divine qualifications laid down in . Paul was not baptized by John the Baptist; he did not travel with the Apostles when Jesus was with them on earth; and, though he saw the glorified Christ, Paul was not a witness of the Resurrection as were the original Apostles.
Paul made it clear that he was not to be classified with the Twelve (; ), and the Twelve knew it. If the Twelve thought that Paul was supposed to be one of them, they certainly did not show it! In fact, they refused to admit Paul into the Jerusalem fellowship until Barnabas came to his rescue! () The 12 Apostles ministered primarily to the twelve tribes of Israel, while Paul was sent to the Gentiles ().
No, Paul was not meant to be the twelfth apostle. Peter and the other believers were in the will of God when they selected Matthias, and God gave His endorsement to Matthias by empowering him with the same Spirit that was given to the other men whom Jesus had personally selected (, ).
It was necessary that twelve men witness at Pentecost to the twelve tribes of Israel, and also that twelve men be prepared to sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes (). From Acts 2–7, the witness was primarily to Israel, “to the Jew first” (see ; ; ). Once the message had gone to the Gentiles (Acts 10–11), this Jewish emphasis began to decline. When the Apostle James was martyred, he was not replaced (Acts 12). Why? Because the official witness to Israel was now completed and the message was going out to Jews and Gentiles alike. There was no more need for 12 Apostles to give witness to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Peter’s account of the purchase of the land and the death of Judas appears to contradict the record in ; but actually it complements it. Judas did not buy the field personally, but since it was his money that paid for it, in that sense, he was the buyer. And, since the thirty pieces of silver were considered “blood money,” the field was called “the field of blood” (). It was not Judas’ blood that gave the field its name, for the Jews would not use as a sacred cemetery a place that had been defiled by a suicide. Judas hanged himself, and apparently the rope broke and his body (possibly already distended) burst open when it hit the ground.
The believers prayed for God’s guidance before they “voted,” because they wanted to select the man that God had already chosen (). Their exalted Lord was working in them and through them from heaven. This is the last instance in the Bible of the casting of lots, and there is no reason why believers today should use this approach in determining God’s will. While it is not always easy to discover what God wants us to do, if we are willing to obey Him, He will reveal His will to us (). What is important is that we follow the example of the early church by emphasizing the Word of God and prayer.
Not all our Lord’s followers were in the Upper Room, for there were only 120 present and states that at least 500 persons saw the risen Christ at one time. Bible scholars do not agree on the size of the population of Palestine at that time, and their estimates run from 600,000 to 4 million. But regardless of what figure you select, the 120 believers were still a minority; yet they turned their world upside down for Christ!
What was their secret? The power of the Holy Spirit!
Dr. Luke explains this in Acts 2.
Acts 2
“We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.”
Vance Havner made that statement and he was right. The early church had none of the things that we think are so essential for success today—buildings, money, political influence, social status—and yet the church won multitudes to Christ and saw many churches established throughout the Roman world. Why? Because the church had the power of the Holy Spirit energizing its ministry. They were a people who “were ignited by the Spirit of God.”
That same Holy Spirit power is available to us today to make us more effective witnesses for Christ. The better we understand His working at Pentecost, the better we will be able to relate to Him and experience His power. The ministry of the Spirit is to glorify Christ in the life and witness of the believer (), and that is what is important. Acts 2 helps us understand the Holy Spirit by recording four experiences in the life of the church.
The Church Waiting for the Spirit ()
Pentecost means “fiftieth” because this feast was held fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits (). The calendar of Jewish feasts in Leviticus 23 is an outhne of the work of Jesus Christ. Passover pictures His death as the Lamb of God (; ), and the Feast of Firstfruits pictures His resurrection from the dead (). Fifty days after Firstfruits is the Feast of Pentecost, which pictures the formation of the church. At Pentecost, the Jews celebrated the giving of the Law, but Christians celebrate it because of the giving of the Holy Spirit to the church.
The Feast of Firstfruits took place on the day after the Sabbath following Passover, which means it was always on the first day of the week. (The Sabbath is the seventh day.) Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week and “became the firstfruits of them that slept” (). Now, if Pentecost was fifty days later—seven weeks plus one day—then Pentecost also took place on the first day of the week. Christians assemble and worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, because on that day our Lord arose from the dead, but it was also the day on which the Holy Spirit was given to the church.
On the Feast of Firstfruits, the priest waved a sheaf of grain before the Lord; but on Pentecost, he presented two loaves of bread. Why? Because at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit baptized the believers and united them into one body. The Jewish believers received this baptism at Pentecost, and the Gentile believers in the home of Cornelius (Acts 10). This explains the presence of two loaves of bread (see ). The fact that there was leaven (yeast) in the loaves indicates the presence of sin in the church on earth. The church will not be perfect until it gets to heaven.
We must not conclude that this ten-day prayer meeting brought about the miracles of Pentecost, or that we today may pray as they did and experience “another Pentecost.” Like our Lord’s death at Calvary, Pentecost was a once-for-all event that will not be repeated. The church may experience new fillings of the Spirit, and certainly patient prayer is an essential element to spiritual power, but we would not ask for another Pentecost any more than we would ask for another Calvary.
The Church Worshiping the Lord ()
As we study the events of Pentecost, it is important that we separate the accidentals from the essentials. The Spirit came and the people heard the sound of rushing wind and saw tongues of fire. The Spirit baptized and filled the believers, and then spoke as they praised God in various languages. The Spirit empowered Peter to preach, and then He convicted the listeners so that 3,000 of them trusted Christ and were saved. Let’s consider these ministries one by one.
The Spirit came (vv. ). The Holy Spirit had been active prior to Pentecost and had worked in Creation (), in Old Testament history (; ), and in the life and ministry of Jesus (; , ; ). However, now there would be two changes: the Spirit would dwell in people and not just come on them, and His presence would be permanent, not temporary (). The Spirit could not have come sooner, for it was essential that Jesus die, be raised from the dead, and return to heaven before the Spirit could be given (; ). Remember the Jewish calendar in Leviticus 23: Passover, Firstfruits, and then Pentecost.
There were three starthng signs that accompanied the coming of the Spirit: the sound of a rushing wind, tongues of fire, and the believers praising God in various languages. The word Spirit is the same as “wind” in both the Hebrew and the Greek (). The people did not feel the wind; they heard the sound of a mighty wind. It is likely the believers were in the temple when this occurred (). The word house in can refer to the temple (see ). The tongues of fire symbolized the powerful witness of the church to the people. Campbell Morgan reminds us that our tongues can be set on fire either by heaven or by hell! () Combine wind and fire and you have—a blaze!
The Spirit baptized (). The Greek word baptizo has two meanings, one literal and the other figurative. The word literally means “to submerge,” but the figurative meaning is “to be identified with.” The baptism of the Spirit is that act of God by which He identified believers with the exalted Head of the church, Jesus Christ, and formed the spiritual body of Christ on earth (). Historically, this took place at Pentecost; today, it takes place whenever a sinner trusts Jesus Christ and is born again.
When you read about “baptism” in the New Testament, you must exercise discernment to determine whether the word is to be interpreted literally or symbolically. For example, in and , the reference is symbolic since water baptism cannot put a sinner into Jesus Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can do that (; ; see ). Water baptism is a public witness of the person’s identification with Jesus Christ, while Spirit baptism is the personal and private experience that identifies the person with Christ.
It is important to note that historically, the baptism of the Spirit took place in two stages: the Jewish believers were baptized at Pentecost, and the Gentiles were baptized and added to the body in the home of Cornelius (; ; and see ).
The Spirit filled (v. ). The filling of the Spirit has to do with power for witness and service (). We are not exhorted to be baptized by the Spirit, for this is something God does once and for all when we trust His Son. But we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (), for we need His power constantly if we are to serve God effectively. At Pentecost, the Christians were filled with the Spirit and experienced the baptism of the Spirit; but after that, they experienced many fillings (, ; ; ) but no more baptisms.
Occasionally someone says, “What difference does it make what words we use? The important thing is that we have the experience!” I doubt that they would apply that same approach to any other area of life such as medicine, cooking, or mechanics. What difference does it make if the pharmacist uses arsenic or aspirin in the prescription, just so long as you get well? Or if the mechanic installs an alternator or a carburetor, just so long as the car works?
The Holy Spirit has revealed God’s truth to us in words (), and these words have definite meanings that must not be changed. Regeneration must not be confused with justification, nor propitiation with adoption. Each of these words is important in God’s plan of salvation and must be defined accurately and used carefully.
The baptism of the Spirit means that I belong to His body; the fullness of the Spirit means that my body belongs to Him. The baptism is final; the fullness is repeated as we trust God for new power to witness. The baptism involves all other believers, for it makes us one in the body of Christ (); while the fullness is personal and individual. These are two distinct experiences and they must not be confused.
The Spirit spoke (vv. ). Note that the believers were praising God, not preaching the Gospel, and that they used known languages, not an “unknown tongue” (, ). Luke named fifteen different geographical locations and clearly stated that the citizens of those places heard Peter and the others declare God’s wonderful works in languages they could understand. The Greek word translated “language” in and “tongue” in is dialektos and refers to a language or dialect of some country or district (; ; ). Unless we are instructed otherwise in Scripture, we must assume that when “speaking in tongues” is mentioned elsewhere in Acts, or in 1 Corinthians, it refers to an identical experience: believers praising God in the Spirit in languages that are known.
Why did God do this? For one thing, Pentecost was a reversal of the judgment at the Tower of Babel when God confused man’s language (). God’s judgment at Babel scattered the people, but God’s blessing at Pentecost united the believers in the Spirit. At Babel, the people were unable to understand each other; but at Pentecost, men heard God’s praises and understood what was said. The Tower of Babel was a scheme designed to praise men and make a name for men, but Pentecost brought praise to God. The building of Babel was an act of rebellion, but Pentecost was a ministry of humble submission to God. What a contrast!
Another reason for this gift of tongues was to let the people know that the Gospel was for the whole world. God wants to speak to every person in his or her own language and give the saving message of salvation in Jesus Christ. The emphasis in the Book of Acts is on worldwide evangelization, “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (). “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions,” said Henry Martyn, “and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we must become.”
Apparently the sound of the wind drew the people to the temple where the believers were gathered, but it was the praise by the believers that really captured their attention. The careless listeners mocked and accused the believers of being drunk, but others were sincerely concerned to find out what was going on. The people were perplexed (), amazed (, ), and they marveled ().
It is interesting that the mockers should accuse the believers of being drunk, for wine is associated with the Holy Spirit (). Paul relates the two in contrast, for when a man is filled with strong drink, he loses control of himself and ends up being ashamed; but when a person is filled with the Spirit, he has self-control and glorifies God. Strong drink can bring a temporary exhilaration, but the Spirit gives a deep satisfaction and a lasting joy.
The Church Witnessing to the Lost ()
Peter did not preach in tongues; he addressed his audience in the everyday Aramaic that they understood. The message was given by a Jew, to Jews (, , , ), on a Jewish holy day, about the resurrection of the Jewish Messiah whom their nation had crucified. The Gentiles who were there were proselytes to the Jewish religion (). Peter would not open the door of faith to the Gentiles until he visited Cornelius (Acts 10).
There are three explanations in Peter’s sermon.
He explained what happened: the Spirit had come (vv. ). The joyful worship of the believers was not the result of too much wine; it was the evidence of the arrival of God’s Holy Spirit to dwell in His people. Orthodox Jews did not eat or drink before 9 A.M. on the Sabbath or on a holy day, nor did they usually drink wine except with meals.
Peter did not say that Pentecost was the fulfillment of the prophecy of , because the signs and wonders predicted had not occurred. When you read Joel’s prophecy in context, you see that it deals with the nation of Israel in the end times, in connection with “the Day of the Lord.” However, Peter was led by the Spirit to see in the prophecy an application to the church. He said, “This is that same Holy Spirit that Joel wrote about. He is here!” Such an announcement would seem incredible to the Jews, because they thought God’s Spirit was given only to a few select people (see ). But here were 120 of their fellow Jews, men and women, enjoying the blessing of the same Holy Spirit that had empowered Moses, David, and the prophets.
It was indeed the dawning of a new age, the “last days” in which God would bring to completion His plan of salvation for mankind. Jesus had finished the great work of redemption and nothing more had to be done except to share the Good News with the world, beginning with the nation of Israel. The invitation is, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” ().
He explained how it happened: Jesus was alive (vv. ). News travels fast in the East; and probably most of the adults in Jerusalem, residents and visitors, knew about the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. They also had heard rumors of an “official announcement” that His followers had stolen the body of Jesus just to make people think that He had kept His word and been raised from the dead.
But Peter told them the truth: Jesus of Nazareth had indeed been raised from the dead, and the Resurrection proves that He is the Messiah! Peter gave them four proofs of the resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and then he called on them to believe on Christ and be saved.
His first proof was the person of Jesus Christ (vv. ). Peter’s audience knew that Jesus was a real Person from the town of Nazareth and that He had performed many signs and miracles. (On “Jesus of Nazareth,” see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; also .) It was clear that God’s hand was on Him. They had heard Him speak and had watched His life. They had even seen Him raise the dead, yet they could find no fault in Him—and these things were not “done in a corner”! ()
It was incredible that such a Man should be defeated by death. From one point of view, the crucifixion of Jesus was a terrible crime (), but from another point of view it was a wonderful victory (). The word translated “pains” means “birth pangs,” suggesting that the tomb was a “womb” out of which Jesus was “born” in Resurrection glory (see ).
Peter’s second proof was the prophecy of David (vv. ). He quoted , verses that obviously could not apply to David who was already dead and buried. Being a prophet of God, David wrote about the Messiah, that His soul would not remain in hades (the realm of the dead) or His body in the grave where it would decay.
The third proof was the witness of the believers (v. ). After His resurrection, Jesus did not appear to the world at large, but to His own followers whom He had commissioned to give witness to others that He was alive (, ). But were these people dependable witnesses? Can we trust them? We certainly can! Prior to Christ’s resurrection, the disciples did not even believe that He would be raised from the dead; and they themselves had to be convinced (; ). They had nothing to gain by preaching a lie, because their message aroused official opposition and even led to the imprisonment and death of some of the believers. A few fanatics might be willing to believe and promote a lie for a time, but when thousands believe a message, and when that message is backed up by miracles, you cannot easily dismiss it. These witnesses were trustworthy.
Peter’s fourth proof of the resurrection of Christ was the presence of the Holy Spirit (vv. ). Follow his logic. If the Holy Spirit is in the world, then God must have sent Him. Joel promised that one day the Spirit would come, and Jesus Himself had promised to send the gift of the Holy Spirit to His people (; ; ; ). But if Jesus is dead, He cannot send the Spirit; therefore, He must be alive. Furthermore, He could not send the Spirit unless He had returned to heaven to the Father (); so, Jesus has ascended to heaven! To back up this statement, Peter quoted , a verse that certainly could not be applied to David (note ).
Peter’s conclusion was both a declaration and an accusation: Jesus is your Messiah, but you crucified Him! (see ) Peter did not present the cross as the place where the Sinless Substitute died for the world, but where Israel killed her own Messiah! They committed the greatest crime in history! Was there any hope? Yes, for Peter gave a third explanation that was good news to their hearts.
He explained why it happened: to save sinners (vv. ). The Holy Spirit took Peter’s message and used it to convict the hearts of the listeners. (In and , a different Greek word is used that suggests anger rather than conviction for sin.) After all, if they were guilty of crucifying their Messiah, what might God do to them! Note that they addressed their question to the other Apostles as well as to Peter, for all twelve were involved in the witness that day, and Peter was only first among equals.
Peter told them how to be saved: they had to repent of their sins and believe on Jesus Christ. They would give proof of the sincerity of their repentance and faith by being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, thus identifying themselves publicly with their Messiah and Saviour. Only by repenting and believing on Christ could they receive the gift of the Spirit (, ), and this promise was for both the Jews and the “far off” Gentiles ().
It is unfortunate that the translation of in the King James Version suggests that people must be baptized in order to be saved, because this is not what the Bible teaches. The Greek word eis (which is translated “for” in the phrase “for the remission of sins”) can mean “on account of” or “on the basis of.” In John the Baptist baptized on the basis that people had repented. should not be used to teach salvation by baptism. If baptism is essential for salvation, it seems strange that Peter said nothing about baptism in his other sermons (; ; ). In fact, the people in the home of Cornelius received the Holy Spirit before they were baptized! () Since believers are commanded to be baptized, it is important that we have a clean conscience by obeying (), but we must not think that baptism is a part of salvation. If so, then nobody in Hebrews 11 was saved because none of them was ever baptized.
indicates that the Apostles continued to share the Word and to urge the people to trust Jesus Christ. They looked on the nation of Israel as a “crooked generation” that was under condemnation (; ; ). Actually, the nation would have about forty years before Rome would come and destroy the city and the temple and scatter the people. History was repeating itself. During the forty years in the wilderness, the new generation “saved itself” from the older generation that rebelled against God. Now, God would give His people another forty years of grace; and on that day, 3,000 people repented, believed, and were saved.
The Church Walking in the Spirit ()
The believers continued to use the temple for their place of assembly and ministry, but they also met in various homes. The 3,000 new converts needed instruction in the Word and fellowship with God’s people if they were to grow and become effective witnesses. The early church did more than make converts; they also made disciples ().
Two phrases in may need explanation. “Breaking of bread” probably refers to their regular meals, but at the close of each meal, they probably paused to remember the Lord by observing what we call “the Lord’s Supper.” Bread and wine were the common fare at a Jewish table. The word fellowship means much more than “being together.” It means “having in common” and probably refers to the sharing of material goods that was practiced in the early church. This was certainly not a form of modern communism, for the program was totally voluntary, temporary (), and motivated by love.
The church was unified (), magnified (), and multiplied (). It had a powerful testimony among the unsaved Jews, not only because of the miracles done by the Apostles (), but also because of the way the members of the fellowship loved each other and served the Lord. The risen Lord continued to work with them () and people continued to be saved. What a church!
The Christians you meet in the Book of Acts were not content to meet once a week for “services as usual.” They met daily (), cared daily (), won souls daily (), searched the Scriptures daily (), and increased in number daily (). Their Christian faith was a day-to-day reality, not a once-a-week routine. Why? Because the risen Christ was a living reality to them, and His resurrection power was at work in their lives through the Spirit.
The promise is still good: “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (; ). Have you called? Have you trusted Jesus Christ to save you?
Acts 3:1–4:4
The emphasis in Acts 3 and 4 is on the name of the Lord Jesus (, ; , , , , ). A name, of course, implies much more than identification; it carries with it authority, reputation, and power. When somebody says, “You can use my name!” you sincerely hope the name is worth using. If an order is given in the name of the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of Great Britain, those who receive the order know that they are obligated to obey. If I were to issue orders at the White House or at No. 10 Downing Street (even if I could get in), nobody would pay much attention because my name has no official authority behind it.
But the name of the Lord Jesus has all authority behind it, for He is the Son of God (). Because His name is “above every name” (), He deserves our worship and obedience. The great concern of the first Christians was that the name of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, be glorified; and believers today should have that same concern.
As we study this section, we should note that the Jewish emphasis is very pronounced. Peter addressed Jewish men () and called them “children of the prophets and of the covenant” (). He referred to the Jewish fathers () as well as to the prophets (, ). The phrase “times of restitution” () is definitely Jewish and refers to the messianic kingdom promised in the prophets. The message is still going out “to the Jew first” () and is presented in Jewish terms.
There are three stages in this event, and each stage reveals something wonderful about Jesus Christ.
Amazement: Jesus the Healer ()
The believers were still attached to the temple and to the traditional hours of prayer (; ; ). Keep in mind that Acts 1–10 describes a gradual transition from Israel to the Gentiles and from “Jewish Christianity” (note ) to the “one body” made up of both Jews and Gentiles. It took several years before many of the Jewish believers really understood the place of the Gentiles in God’s program, and this understanding did not come without its conflicts.
The contrast between Acts 2 and 3 is interesting: Peter the preacher—Peter the personal worker; multitudes—one poor man; ministry resulting in blessing—ministry resulting in arrest and persecution. The events in Acts 3 are an illustration of the last phrase in , showing us how the Lord added to His church daily. While the Holy Spirit is not named in this chapter, He was certainly at work in and through the Apostles, performing His ministry of glorifying Jesus Christ ().
Peter and John are often found together in Scripture. They were partners in the fishing business (); they prepared the last Passover for Jesus (); they ran to the tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning (); and they ministered to the Samaritans who believed on Jesus Christ (). Now that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, the Apostles were no longer competing for greatness, but were at last working faithfully together to build the church (Ps. 133).
That Peter noticed the lame beggar is another evidence of the Spirit’s ministry. No doubt thousands of people were near the temple (), and perhaps scores of beggars, but the Lord told Peter to heal a lame man lying at the Beautiful Gate. There were nine gates that led from the court of the Gentiles into the temple itself. Scholars are not agreed, but the Beautiful Gate was probably the “Eastern Gate” that led into the court of the women. Made of Corinthian bronze, the gate looked like gold; and it certainly was a choice place for a lame man to beg.
The giving of alms was an important part of the Jewish faith, so beggars found it profitable to be near the temple. Since the believers had pooled their resources (), the two Apostles had no money to give; but money was not what the man needed most. He needed salvation for his soul and healing for his body, and money could provide neither. Through the power of the name of Jesus, the beggar was completely healed; and he was so happy and excited that he acted like a child, leaping and praising God.
It is easy to see in this man an illustration of what salvation is like. He was born lame, and all of us are born unable to walk so as to please God. Our father Adam had a fall and passed his lameness on to all of his descendants (). The man was also poor, and we as sinners are bankrupt before God, unable to pay the tremendous debt that we owe Him (). He was “outside the temple,” and all sinners are separated from God, no matter how near to the door they might be. The man was healed wholly by the grace of God, and the healing was immediate (). He gave evidence of what God had done by “walking, and leaping, and praising God” () and by publicly identifying himself with the Apostles, both in the temple () and in their arrest (). Now that he could stand, there was no question where this man stood!
Indictment: Jesus, the Son of God ()
The healing of the lame beggar drew a crowd around the three men. Solomon’s Porch, on the east side of the temple, was a corridor where our Lord had ministered () and where the church worshiped ().
In his sermon at Pentecost, Peter had to refute the accusation that the believers were drunk. In this sermon, he had to refute the notion that he and John had healed the man by their own power. (Paul and Barnabas would face a similar situation after healing a lame man. See .) Peter immediately identified the source of the miracle—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Wisely, Peter said that this was the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Spirit certainly gave Peter boldness as he reminded the Jews of the way they had treated Jesus. They had denied Him and delivered Him up to be crucified. Even worse, they had asked for a guilty man, Barabbas, to be set free so that an innocent prisoner might be crucified! In order to convince them of their crimes, Peter used several different names and titles for our Lord: God’s Son, Jesus, the Holy One, the Just One, the Prince (Pioneer) of life. This was no ordinary man that they had handed over to the Romans to crucify!
Calvary may have been man’s last word, but the empty tomb was God’s last word. He glorified His Son by raising Him from the dead and taking Him back to heaven. The enthroned Christ had sent His Holy Spirit and was working through His church. The healed beggar was proof that Jesus was alive. If ever a people were guilty, it was the people Peter addressed in the temple. They were guilty of killing their own Messiah!
This is probably not the kind of message we would give at an evangelistic meeting today, because it was designed especially for Peter’s Jewish audience. As at Pentecost, Peter was addressing people who knew the Scriptures and were acquainted with the recent events in Jerusalem (see ). It was not a group of ignorant pagans with no religious background. Furthermore, the Jewish leaders had indeed perpetrated a great injustice when they arrested and condemned Jesus and asked Pilate to have Him crucified. How many citizens agreed with their decision, we do not know; but you can imagine the remorse of the people when they learned that they had betrayed and killed their own Messiah.
There must be conviction before a sinner can experience conversion. Unless a patient is convinced that he is sick, he will never accept the diagnosis or take the treatment. Peter turned the temple into a courtroom and laid all the evidence out for everybody to see. How could two ordinary fishermen perform such a great miracle unless God was with them? Nobody would dare deny the miracle because the beggar stood there before them all in “perfect soundness” (; ). To accept the miracle would have been to admit that Jesus Christ is indeed the living Son of God and that His name has power.
Encouragement: Jesus, the Saviour (Acts 3:17–4:4)
But Peter did not leave the people without hope. In fact, he almost seemed to defend them by pointing out that they had acted in ignorance () while at the same time they had fulfilled the Word of God ().
In the Old Testament Law, there is a difference between deliberate sins and sins of ignorance (see Lev. 4–5; ). The person who sinned presumptuously was a rebel against God and was guilty of great sin. He was to be “cut off” from his people (), which could mean excommunication and even death. The defiant “high-handed” sinner was condemned, but the person who sinned unwittingly and without deliberate intent was given opportunity to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. Ignorance does not remove the sinner’s guilt, but it does mitigate the circumstances.
Jesus had prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (); and God had answered that prayer. Instead of sending judgment, He sent the Holy Spirit to empower His church and to convict lost sinners. Israel’s situation was something like that of the “manslayer” who killed his neighbor without prior malicious intent, and fled to the nearest city of refuge (). So long as he remained in the city, he was safe, for then the avengers could not reach him and kill him. He was free to go home only after the death of the high priest. Peter invited these “murderers” to flee by faith to Jesus Christ and find refuge in Him ().
In his previous sermon, Peter had explained that the Cross was the meeting place of divine sovereignty and human responsibility (); and he repeated this truth in this second sermon (). There are mysteries here that the human mind cannot fully understand, so we must accept them by faith. God had a plan from all eternity, yet His plan did not force men to act against their own will. The prophets had foretold the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and the nation fulfilled these prophecies without realizing what they were doing. When God cannot rule, He overrules and always accomplishes His divine purposes and decrees.
Having announced the crime, presented the evidence, and explained the nature of their sin, Peter then offered them pardon! () What a strange thing for the prosecuting attorney to become the defense attorney and the pardoning judge! Peter’s burden was to encourage his people to trust Christ and experience His gracious salvation.
What did he tell them to do? First of all, they had to repent of their sins (see ; ; ), which means to have a change of mind about themselves, their sin, and Jesus Christ. Repentance is much more than “feeling sorry for your sins.” As the little Sunday School girl said, “It means feeling sorry enough to quit!” False sorrow for sin could be mere regret (“I’m sorry I got caught!”) or remorse (“I feel terrible!”); and such feelings have a tendency to pass away. Repentance is not the same as “doing penance,” as though we have to make a special sacrifice to God to prove that we are sincere. True repentance is admitting that what God says is true, and because it is true, to change our mind about our sins and about the Saviour.
The message of repentance was not new to the Jews, for John the Baptist had preached it and so had Jesus (; ). In one sense, repentance is a gift from God (); in another sense, it is the heart’s response to the convicting ministry of the Spirit of God (). The person who sincerely repents will have little problem putting his faith in the Saviour.
Second, they had to be converted, “to turn again” and exercise saving faith in Jesus Christ. The biblical message is “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (), and the two go together. Unless we turn from our sins, we cannot put saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is unfortunate that some preachers have so ignored the doctrine of repentance that their “converts” lack a true sense of conviction of sin. Balanced evangelism presents to the sinner both repentance and faith.
Peter announced what would happen if they repented and turned to Jesus Christ: “in order that your sins may be blotted out, in order that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, in order that He may send Jesus Christ” (literal translation). There was a promise for the individual (sins forgiven) and a promise for the nation (times of spiritual refreshing). Peter was actually calling for national repentance, for the nation through its leaders had denied its Messiah and condemned Him to die. The declaration is that, if the nation repented and believed, the Messiah would return and establish the promised kingdom. The nation did not repent—and certainly God knew this would happen—so the message eventually moved from the Jews to the Samaritans (Acts 8) and to the Gentiles (Acts 10).
The emphasis in is on the prophets who had announced the coming of the Messiah. Peter quoted from Moses (, ) and reminded his listeners that Moses had predicted the arrival of a Prophet, and this Prophet was the Messiah (see ; ; ). Not to obey (“hear”) this Prophet meant condemnation. But Moses was not the only one who foretold the coming of Jesus Christ, for all the prophets united in their witness to Him (see , ).
When Peter spoke about “these days,” to what “days” was he referring? The days of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the days when God’s Prophet would speak to His people and offer them salvation. The nation’s rejection of Him made them especially guilty because the Jews were the privileged “sons of the prophets and of the covenant.” They had sinned against a flood of light!
When God called Abraham, He made an unconditional covenant with him and his descendants that through them the nations of the world would be blessed (). This promise was fulfilled when Jesus Christ came into the world through the Jewish nation (). The Gospel message came “to the Jew first” because the Jews were God’s chosen instrument through whom the Gentiles would be blessed (; ; ). The first Christians were Jews and the first missionaries were Jews.
But notice that Peter did not permit the “national blessings” to overshadow the personal responsibility of the individuals listening to his message (). God raised up Jesus Christ and sent Him to each one who would turn away from his iniquities (note ). National repentance depends on personal repentance, the response of individual sinners to the message of salvation. Peter was addressing a large crowd, but he still made the application personal.
His message produced two opposite results: (1) some 2,000 Jews believed the Word and were converted, and (2) the religious leaders of the nation rejected the message and tried to silence the Apostles. We have here the beginning of the persecution about which Jesus had already warned His followers (; ; John 15:18–16:4).
We would expect the Sadducees to oppose the message because they did not believe in the resurrection of the human body (). Peter’s fearless declaration that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead ran contrary to their religious beliefs. If the common people questioned the theology of their spiritual leaders, it could undermine the authority of the whole Jewish council. Instead of honestly examining the evidence, the leaders arrested the Apostles and kept them in custody overnight, intending to try them the next day. However, the arrival of the temple guards could not prevent 2,000 men from trusting Jesus Christ and identifying themselves with the believers in Jerusalem.
As you review this section of Acts, you cannot help but be impressed with some practical truths that should encourage all of us in our witnessing for Christ.
1. God is long-suffering with lost sinners. The leaders of Israel had rejected the ministry of John the Baptist () and the ministry of Jesus, and yet God gave them another opportunity to repent and be saved. They had denied and slain their own Messiah, and yet God patiently held back His judgment and sent His Spirit to deal with them. God’s people today need patience as we witness to a lost world.
2. True witness involves the “bad news” of sin and guilt as well as the “good news” of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. There can be no true faith in Christ unless first there is repentance from sin. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict lost sinners (), and He will do this if we faithfully witness and use God’s Word.
3. The way to reach the masses is by helping the individual sinner. Peter and John won the crippled beggar and his transformed life led to the conversion of 2,000 men! The servant of God who has no time for personal work with individual sinners will not be given many opportunities for ministering to great crowds. Like Jesus, the Apostles took time for individuals.
4. The best defense of the truth of the Christian faith is a changed life. The healed beggar was “Exhibit A” in Peter’s defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In his evangelistic ministries, the Methodist preacher Samuel Chadwick used to pray for “a Lazarus” in every campaign, some “great sinner” whose conversion would shock the community. He got the idea from . God answered his prayers in meeting after meeting as infamous wicked men trusted Christ and became witnesses through their changed lives. Let’s go after the “hard cases” and see what God can do!
5. Whenever God blesses, Satan shows up to oppose the work and silence the witness; and often he uses religious people to do his work. The same crowd that opposed the ministry of Jesus Christ also opposed the work of the Apostles, and they will oppose our ministry today. Expect it—but don’t let it stop you! The important thing is not that we are comfortable, but that the name of the Lord is glorified through the preaching of the Gospel.
6. God has promised to bless and use His Word, so let’s be faithful to witness. Jesus even prayed that our witness would have success (), so we have every reason to be encouraged. There is power in the name of Jesus, so we need not fear to witness and call sinners to repent.
7. The name of Jesus Christ still has power! While we may not perform the same apostolic miracles today that were seen in the early church, we can still claim the authority of Jesus Christ as He has instructed us in the Word.
We can preach the “remission of sins” in His name () so that people might believe and have “life through His name” (). We can give someone a cup of cold water in His name (), and we can receive a child in His name (). These ministries may not seem as spectacular as healing a cripple, but they are still important to the work of God.
We can ask in His name as we pray (; ; ). When we ask the Father for something “in the name of Jesus Christ,” it is as though Jesus Himself were asking it. If we remember this, it will help to keep us from asking for things unworthy of His name.
Yes, the name of Jesus Christ still has authority and power. Let’s go forth in His name and conquer!
The early church had none of the “advantages” that some ministries boast of and depend on today. They did not have big budgets provided by wealthy donors. Their pastors lacked credentials from the accepted schools, nor did they have the endorsement of the influential political leaders of that day. Most of their ministers had jail records and would probably have a hard time today joining our churches, let alone leading them. What really was the secret of their success? This chapter provides the answer: the Christians of the early church knew how to pray so that God’s hand could work in mighty power.
When asked to explain the secret of his remarkable ministry, the noted British preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon replied, “My people pray for me.” St. Augustine said, “Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you.” Prayer is not an escape from responsibility; it is our response to God’s ability. True prayer energizes us for service and battle.
Once again, the focus of attention is on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (, , , ). In this chapter, we see what three groups of people do with His name.
The Apostles: Defending His Name ()
The court (vv. ). The court was essentially composed of the high priest’s family. The Jewish religious system had become so corrupt that the offices were passed from one relative to another without regard for the Word of God. When Annas was deposed from the priesthood, Caiaphas his son-in-law was appointed. In fact, five of Annas’ sons held the office at one time or another. Somebody has defined a “nepotist” as “a man who, being evil, knows how to give good gifts to his children.” Annas certainly qualified.
This was an official meeting of the Sanhedrin (), the same council that a few months before had condemned Jesus to die. In fact, these officials recognized Peter and John as the associates of Jesus (). The Sanhedrin was charged with the responsibility of protecting the Jewish faith, and this meant that they had to examine every new teacher and teaching that appeared in the land (see Deut. 13). They certainly had the right to investigate what the church was doing, but they did not have the right to arrest innocent men and then refuse to honestly examine the evidence.
Their question was legal, but they did everything they could to avoid admitting that a miracle had taken place (). They were evasive and merely referred to the miracle as “this.” They were probably scornful as well, so that their question might be paraphrased, “Where did common people like you get the power and authority to do a thing like this?” It was once again the question of “By whose name?” After all, the Apostles might be in league with the devil! Even Satan can perform miracles!
The case (vv. ). Peter spoke in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Note that Peter was again filled with the Spirit (see ) and would experience another filling before the day ended (). There is one baptism of the Spirit, and this is at conversion (), but there must be many fillings of the Spirit if the believer is to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ ().
Peter respectfully began with an explanation of how the miracle occurred. Certainly the members of the Sanhedrin had seen the crippled beggar many times, and perhaps they had even given alms to him and piously prayed for him. How was this well-known man healed? “By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!” Those words must have pierced the hearts of the members of the council! They thought they had finished with the Prophet from Nazareth, and now His followers were telling everybody that Jesus was alive! Since the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, Peter’s statement was almost a declaration of war!
But the Spirit was telling Peter what to say (see ), and the apostle quoted , definitely a messianic reference (see ; ). He made it clear that the members of the council were “the builders” and that they had rejected God’s Stone, Jesus, the Son of God.
The image of “the stone” was not new to these men who were experts in the Old Testament Scriptures. They knew that the “rock” was a symbol of God (, , , ; ; ; ), and that the Prophet Daniel had used the rock to picture Messiah and the coming of His kingdom on earth (). The Jews stumbled over the Rock (; ) and rejected Him, just as had predicted. However, to those who have trusted Him, Jesus Christ is the precious Cornerstone () and the chief Cornerstone ().
Peter went on to explain that Jesus is not only the Stone, but He is also the Saviour (). Peter saw in the healing of the beggar a picture of the spiritual healing that comes in salvation. “Made whole” in is a translation of the same Greek word that is translated “saved” in , for salvation means wholeness and spiritual health. Jesus Christ is the Great Physician who alone can heal mankind’s greatest malady, the sickness of sin (). Of course, Peter also had “all the people of Israel” in mind as he spoke (see ) because the message was still going out exclusively to the Jews. Even Psalm 118, from which Peter quoted, speaks of a future national salvation for Israel.
The Council: Opposing His Name ()
Their problem (vv. ). They were in a dilemma; no matter which way they turned, they were “trapped.” They could not deny the miracle, because the man was standing before them; and yet they could not explain how “uneducated and untrained men” (NASB) could perform such a mighty deed. Peter and John were ordinary fishermen, not professional scribes or authorized ministers of the Jewish religion. They were disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, but—He was dead! The council took notice of the courage and confidence of Peter and John, as well as the power of Peter’s words; and it all added up to perplexity.
It is important to note that, of itself, the miracle was not proof of the resurrection of Christ or even of the truth of Peter’s message. Satan can perform miracles () and false prophets can do wonders (). The miracle and the message, in the context of all that had been going on since Pentecost, was one more evidence that Jesus Christ was alive and at work in the church by His Holy Spirit. In both sermons, Peter used the Old Testament to support and explain his claims, and this is one evidence of a true prophet of God (; ). Miracles are not a substitute for the Word of God ().
Their deliberation (vv. ). The council did not seek for truth, but rather sought for some way to avoid the truth! Had they honestly considered the evidence and meekly listened to the message, they might have been saved, but their pride and hardness of heart stood in the way. Some of the chief priests and elders had experienced a similar dilemma during Passover when they had tried to trap Jesus in the temple (). Some people never learn! But their response is proof that miracles alone can never convict or convert the lost sinner. Only the Word of God can do that (see ; ).
Their conclusion. They wanted to “let the thing die a natural death.” This meant threatening the Apostles and forbidding them to teach and preach in the name of Jesus. This official sentence shows how much the enemy fears the witness of the church, for Satan has been trying to silence God’s people from the very beginning. Sad to say, he has succeeded with far too many Christians, the “silent witnesses” of the church. Even the existential philosopher Albert Camus said, “What the world expects of Christians is that Christians should speak out, loud and clear … in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could arise in the heart of the simplest man.”
The council did not want the Gospel message to spread, and yet that is exactly what happened! From 120 praying men and women in Acts 1, the church increased to more than 3,000 on the Day of Pentecost; and now there were more than 5,000 disciples in the fellowship. In the days that followed, “believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women” (; and see , ). Satan’s attempts to silence the church only led to a stronger witness for the Lord.
The failure of the council (vv. ). This was evident when Peter refused to be intimidated by their threats. All of us need to follow Peter’s example and make our decisions on the basis of “Is it right?” and not “Is it popular?” or “Is it safe?” However, we must be sure that we have the clear teaching of the Word of God on our side before we take a stand against the authority of the government. Peter knew what the Lord had commanded the believers to do (), and he was going to obey Him at any cost.
It is popular today to promote various causes by defying the government, disobeying the law, and defending these actions on the basis of conscience. Since even some Christians are involved in this approach to social action, it is important to understand the kind of “civil disobedience” practiced by people in the Bible. Peter and John are not the only ones who disobeyed the authorities in order to serve God. A list of “dedicated conscientious objectors” would include, among others: the Jewish midwives (Ex. 1), Moses’ parents (), Daniel (Dan. 1; 6), and the three Hebrew children (Dan. 3). When you examine the records, you discover the biblical principles by which they operated, principles that are not always followed today.
To begin with, each of these “objectors” had a message from God that could not be questioned. The midwives and Moses’ parents knew that it was wrong to murder the babies. Daniel and his friends, and the three Hebrew men, knew that it was wrong to eat food offered to idols or to bow down to idols in worship. Peter and John knew that they were under orders from their Master to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and that it would be wrong to obey the Sanhedrin. All of these people were faithfully obeying a clear word from God and not just following some selfish personal whim of their own.
Second, their convictions touched every area of their lives. In other words, they did everything “with conscience toward God” () because they belonged to God. The university student today whose conscience permits him to cheat on exams or drive while drunk, but not register for military service, does not convince me that he is really cultivating a healthy conscience. When a person’s total life is under the direction of a godly conscience, then I find it easier to have confidence in his unpopular decisions.
Note also that our examples from the Bible acted with respect and courtesy, even when they defied the law. It is possible for Christians to respect authority and at the same time disobey the authorities (see Rom. 13; ; ). Daniel tried to avoid getting his guard into trouble, and the Apostles used their arrests as opportunities for witness. This is quite a contrast to some of the modern “Christian objectors” who seem to major on denunciation and accusation rather than loving witness.
Of course, the greatest example of unjust suffering is that of Jesus Christ, and we must imitate Him (see ). Jesus teaches us that righteous protest against injustice always involves sacrifice and suffering, and must be motivated by love. God’s people must be careful not to clothe their prejudice in the garments of “righteous indignation” and pass themselves off as courageous soldiers of conscience. We must examine our own hearts honestly to make certain we are not conducting a “holy war” just to satisfy inner frustrations.
Because they had no real case to offer, the council could only threaten the men and let them go. After all, when you have a living miracle before you, as well as an approving public around you, you must be careful what you do!
The Church: Calling on His Name ()
The greatest concentration of power in Jerusalem that day was in the prayer meeting that followed the trial. This is one of the truly great prayers recorded in the Bible, and it is a good example for us to follow.
To begin with, it was a prayer that was born out of witness and service for the Lord. Peter and John had just come in “from the trenches,” and the church met to pray in order to defeat the enemy. Too often today, believers gather for prayer as though attending a concert or a party. There is little sense of urgency and danger because most of us are comfortable in our Christian walk. If more of God’s people were witnessing for Christ in daily life, there would be more urgency and blessing when the church meets for prayer.
It was a united prayer meeting as they “lifted up their voice to God with one accord” (; see ). The people were of one heart and mind, and God was pleased to answer their requests. Division in the church always hinders prayer and robs the church of spiritual power.
Their praying was based solidly on the Word of God, in this case, Psalm 2. The Word of God and prayer must always go together (). In His Word, God speaks to us and tells us what He wants to do. In prayer, we speak to Him and make ourselves available to accomplish His will. True prayer is not telling God what to do, but asking God to do His will in us and through us (). It means getting God’s will done on earth, not man’s will done in heaven.
They did not pray to have their circumstances changed or their enemies put out of office. Rather, they asked God to empower them to make the best use of their circumstances and to accomplish what He had already determined (). This was not “fatalism” but faith in the Lord of history who has a perfect plan and is always victorious. They asked for divine enablement, not escape; and God gave them the power that they needed.
“Do not pray for easy lives,” wrote Phillips Brooks. “Pray to be stronger men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.” That is the way the early Christians prayed, and that is the way God’s people should pray today.
They addressed God as “Sovereign Lord,” the God who is in control of all things. The Greek word gives us our English word despot, a ruler who exercises absolute power, either benevolently or abusively. Simeon used this same title when he prayed in the temple (). It is good to know the Sovereign Lord when you are experiencing persecution.
They also approached Him as the Creator, for, after all, if your Father is “Lord of heaven and earth,” what have you to fear? (see ) Nehemiah approached God on this same basis (), and so did the psalmist (see Ps. 145) and the Prophet Isaiah (Isa. 42). Years later, when he wrote his first epistle, Peter encouraged suffering saints to yield themselves to the faithful Creator ().
Psalm 2 describes the revolt of the nations against the Lord and His Christ. The psalm originally grew out of the crowning of a new king in Israel, perhaps David; but its ultimate message points to the King of kings, Jesus Christ. Whenever a new king was enthroned, the vassal rulers around were required to come and submit to him; but some of them refused to do this. God only laughed at their revolt, for He knew that they could never stand up against His King.
The early believers applied the message of this psalm to their own situation and identified their adversaries as Herod, Pilate, the Romans, and the Jews. These enemies had “ganged up” against Jesus Christ and even crucified Him, yet God raised Him from the dead and enthroned Him in heaven. All of this was a part of God’s perfect plan (see ; ), so there was no need to fear.
The early church strongly believed in God’s sovereignty and His perfect plan for His people. But note that they did not permit their faith in divine sovereignty to destroy human responsibility, for they were faithful to witness and pray. It is when God’s people get out of balance and overemphasize either sovereignty or responsibility that the church loses power. Again, we are reminded of Augustine’s wise words, “Pray as though everything depends on God, and work as though everything depended on you.” Faith in a sovereign Lord is a tremendous encouragement for God’s people to keep serving the Lord when the going is difficult.
They did not ask for protection; they asked for power. They did not ask for fire from heaven to destroy the enemy (see ), but for power from heaven to preach the Word and heal the sick (see , ). Their great desire was for boldness in the face of opposition (see ). The emphasis is on the hand of God at work in the life of the church (, ), not the hand of man at work for God. Believing prayer releases God’s power and enables God’s hand to move (; ).
Finally, note that they wanted to glorify God’s Child (Servant) Jesus Christ (, ). It was His name that gave them power to minister the Word and to perform miracles, and His name alone deserved the glory. The glory of God, not the needs of men, is the highest purpose of answered prayer.
God’s answer was to shake the place where they were meeting and to fill the people once again with the Spirit of God (). This gave them the boldness that they needed to continue to serve God in spite of official opposition. This was not a “second Pentecost” because there cannot be another Pentecost any more than there can be another Calvary. It was a new filling of the Spirit to equip the believers to serve the Lord and minister to the people.
We will consider in our next study, but it is worth noting that the new fullness of the Spirit also created a deeper unity among the people () and a greater desire to sacrifice and share with one another. They enjoyed “great power” and “great grace,” which ought to be the marks of a “great” church. This led to a great ingathering of souls for the Lord.
“Lord, Thou art God!” What a declaration of faith and what a practical application of good theology! However, if their lives had not been submitted to His control, they could not have prayed that way. Boldness in prayer is the result of faithfulness in life and service. The sovereignty of God is not an abstract doctrine that we accept and defend. It is a living truth that we act on and depend on for every need. When you are loyal to the Lord and put Him first (), then you can trust Him to be faithful to you and see you through.
The name of Jesus Christ has not lost its power, but many of God’s people have lost their power because they have stopped praying to the sovereign God. “Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.” I don’t know who first said that, but the statement is absolutely true. Dr. R.A. Torrey, the noted evangelist and educator, said, “Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all—pray.”
The early church prayed, and God answered in mighty power.
Acts 4:32–5:16
Satan had failed completely in his attempt to silence the witness of the church. However, the enemy never gives up; he simply changes his strategy. His first approach had been to attack the church from the outside, hoping that arrest and threats would frighten the leaders. When that failed, Satan decided to attack the church from the inside and use people who were a part of the fellowship.
We must face the fact that Satan is a clever foe. If he does not succeed as the “devouring lion” (), then he attacks again as the “deceiving serpent” or an “angel of light” (, ). Satan is both a murderer and a liar (), and the church must be prepared for both attacks.
The Generosity of the Believers ()
The believers had prayed and God’s Spirit had filled them and given them new power. The church that depends on believing prayer will know the blessing of the Holy Spirit in its ministry. How can we tell when a local church is really filled with the Spirit? When you go back to the record of the first filling at Pentecost (), you discover three outstanding characteristics of a Spirit-filled church.
It is unified (, ). This is a God-given spiritual unity, not a man-made organizational uniformity. The church is an organism that is held together by life, and that life comes through the Holy Spirit. Of course, the church must be organized; for if an organism is not organized, it will die. However, when the organization starts to hinder spiritual life and ministry, then the church becomes just another religious institution that exists to keep itself going. When the Holy Spirit is at work, God’s people will be united in their doctrinal beliefs, as well as in fellowship, giving, and worship ().
A Spirit-filled church is magnified and will have “favor with all the people” (). In spite of the opposition of the rulers, the common people were drawn to the believers because something new and exciting was happening. When the religious leaders tried to silence the church, it was their fear of the people that restrained them (; ). Yes, a Spirit-filled church will have its enemies, but what the Lord is doing will attract the attention and the admiration of people who are hungry to know God.
A Spirit-filled church is multiplied, because the Lord will daily add new believers to the church (). Evangelism will not be the work of a chosen few, but the daily delight and ministry of the whole congregation. In the early church, each member sought to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ, no matter where he happened to be. No wonder the church grew from 120 to over 5,000 in just a short time!
How did Satan’s attack affect the spiritual condition of the church? Not at all! The fact that Peter and John were arrested, tried, and threatened had absolutely no effect on the spiritual life of the church, for the church was still unified (), magnified (), and multiplied! ()
One evidence of the unity of the church was the way they sacrificed and shared with one another. When the Holy Spirit is at work, giving is a blessing and not a burden. We must keep in mind that this “Christian communism” was very unlike the political Communism of our day. What the believers did was purely voluntary () and was motivated by love. No doubt many of the new believers were visitors in Jerusalem, having come for the feasts; and they had to depend on their Christian friends to help meet their daily needs.
Nor should we think that every believer sold all his goods and brought the money to the Apostles. indicates that some of the members “from time to time” sold various pieces of property and donated to the common treasury. When the assembly had a need, the Spirit directed someone to sell something and meet the need.
While the early church’s spirit of sacrifice and loving generosity is worthy of our emulation, believers today are not required to imitate these practices. The principles of Christian giving are outhned in the epistles, especially in 2 Corinthians 8–9; and nowhere are we instructed to bring our money and lay it at the pastor’s feet (), as though he were an apostle. It is the spirit of their giving that is important to us today and not the “letter” of their system.
Joseph, nicknamed “Barnabas” (son of encouragement), is introduced at this point for several reasons. First, he was a generous giver and illustrated the very thing Dr. Luke was describing. Second, his noble act apparently filled Ananias and Sapphira with envy so that they attempted to impress the church with their giving and ended up being killed. Third, Barnabas had a most important ministry in the church and is mentioned at least twenty-five times in the Book of Acts and another five times in the epistles. In fact, it is Barnabas who encouraged Paul in his early service for the Lord (; ; ), and who gave his cousin John Mark the encouragement he needed after his failure (; ; ).
Levites were not permitted to own land, so it is difficult to understand how Barnabas acquired the property that he sold. Perhaps that particular law (; ) applied only in Palestine and the property was in Cyprus, or perhaps the corrupt religious leaders had become lax in enforcing the law. There is much we do not know about Joseph Barnabas, but this we do know: he was a Spirit-filled man who was an encouragement to the church because he gave his all to the Lord. Not every believer can be like Peter and John, but we can all be like Barnabas and have a ministry of encouragement.
The Hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira ()
George MacDonald wrote, “Half of the misery in the world comes from trying to look, instead of trying to be, what one is not.” The name that Jesus gave to this practice is “hypocrisy,” which simply means “wearing a mask, playing the actor.” We must not think that failure to reach our ideals is hypocrisy, because no believer lives up to all that he or she knows or has in the Lord. Hypocrisy is deliberate deception, trying to make people think we are more spiritual than we really are.
When I was pastoring my first church, the Lord led us to build a new sanctuary. We were not a wealthy congregation, so our plans had to be modest. At one point in the planning, I suggested to the architect that perhaps we could build a simple edifice with a more elaborate facade at the front to make it look more like an expensive church.
“Absolutely not!” he replied. “A church stands for truth and honesty, and any church I design will not have a facade! A building should tell the truth and not pretend to be what it isn’t.”
Years later, I ran across this poem, which is a sermon in itself:
They build the front just like St. Mark’s,
Or like Westminster Abbey;
And then, as if to cheat the Lord,
They make the back parts shabby.
That was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira: putting on a lovely “front” in order to conceal the shabby sin in their lives, sin that cost them their lives.
Ananias means “God is gracious,” but he learned that God is also holy; and Sapphira means “beautiful,” but her heart was ugly with sin. No doubt some people are shocked when they read that God killed two people just because they lied about a business transaction and about their church giving. But when you consider the features connected with this sin, you have to agree that God did the right thing by judging them.
It is worth noting that the Lord judges sin severely at the beginning of a new period in salvation history. Just after the tabernacle was erected, God killed Nadab and Abihu for trying to present “false fire” to the Lord (Lev. 10). He also had Achan killed for disobeying orders after Israel had entered the Promised Land (Josh. 7). While God was certainly not responsible for their sins, He did use these judgments as warnings to the people, and even to us ().
To begin with, the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was energized by Satan (); and that is a serious matter. If Satan cannot defeat the church by attacks from the outside, he will get on the inside and go to work (). He knows how to lie to the minds and hearts of church members, even genuine Christians, and get them to follow his orders. We forget that the admonition about the spiritual armor () was written to God’s people, not to unbelievers, because it is the Christians who are in danger of being used by Satan to accomplish his evil purposes.
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.” Satan is a liar and a murderer (). He lied to and through this couple, and the lie led to their deaths. When God judged Ananias and Sapphira, He was also judging Satan. He was letting everybody know that He would not tolerate deception in His church.
Their sin was motivated by pride, and pride is a sin that God especially hates and judges (). No doubt the church was praising God for the generous offering that Barnabas had brought when Satan whispered to the couple, “You can also bask in this kind of glory! You can make others think that you are as spiritual as Barnabas!” Instead of resisting Satan’s approaches, they yielded to him and planned their strategy.
Jesus made it very clear that we must be careful how we give, lest the glory that belongs to God should be given to us (, ). The Pharisees were adept at calling attention to their gifts, and they received the praises of men—but that’s all they received! Whatever we possess, God has given to us; we are stewards, not owners. We must use what He gives us for His glory alone (see ).
Daniel Defoe called pride “the first peer and president of hell.” Indeed, it was pride that transformed Lucifer into Satan (), and it was pride (“Ye shall be as God!”) that caused our first parents to sin (Gen. 3). Pride opens the door to every other sin, for once we are more concerned with our reputation than our character, there is no end to the things we will do just to make ourselves “look good” before others.
A third feature of their sin was especially wicked: their sin was directed against God’s church. We have reason to believe that Ananias and Sapphira were believers. The spiritual level of the church at that time was so high that it is doubtful that a mere “professor” could have gotten into the fellowship without being detected. The fact that they were able to lie to the Spirit () and tempt the Spirit () would indicate that they had the Spirit of God living within.
God loves His church and is jealous over it, for the church was purchased by the blood of God’s Son (; ) and has been put on earth to glorify Him and do His work. Satan wants to destroy the church, and the easiest way to do it is to use those who are within the fellowship. Had Peter not been discerning, Ananias and Sapphira would have become influential people in the church! Satan would have been working through them to accomplish his purposes!
The church is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (), and Satan attacks it with his lies. The church is God’s temple in which He dwells (), and Satan wants to move in and dwell there too. The church is God’s army (), and Satan seeks to get into the ranks as many traitors as he can. The church is safe so long as Satan is attacking from the outside, but when he gets on the inside, the church is in danger.
It is easy for us to condemn Ananias and Sapphira for their dishonesty, but we need to examine our own lives to see if our profession is backed up by our practice. Do we really mean everything we pray about in public? Do we sing the hymns and Gospel songs sincerely or routinely? “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me” (, NIV). If God killed “religious deceivers” today, how many church members would be left?
What is described in this chapter is not a case of church discipline. Rather it is an example of God’s personal judgment. “The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (). Had Ananias and Sapphira judged their own sin, God would not have judged them (), but they agreed to lie, and God had to deal with them.
Ananias was dead and buried, and Sapphira did not even know it! Satan always keeps his servants in the dark, while God guides His servants in the light (). Peter accused her of tempting God’s Spirit, that is, deliberately disobeying God and seeing how far God would go (; ). They were actually defying God and daring Him to act—and He acted, with swiftness and finality. “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” ().
We must keep in mind that their sin was not in robbing God of money but in lying to Him and robbing Him of glory. They were not required to sell the property; and, having sold it, they were not required to give any of the money to the church (). Their lust for recognition conceived sin in their hearts (, ), and that sin eventually produced death ().
The result was a wave of godly fear that swept over the church and over all those who heard the story (). We have moved from “great power” and “great grace” () to “great fear,” and all of these ought to be present in the church. “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” ().
The Ministry of the Apostles ()
We have learned that the Spirit-filled church is unified, magnified, and multiplied. Satan wants to divide the church, disgrace the church, and decrease the church; and he will do it, if we let him.
But the church described here completely triumphed over the attacks of Satan! The people were still unified (), magnified (), and multiplied (). Multitudes were added to the Lord, and for the first time, Luke mentions the salvation of women. Both in his Gospel and in Acts, Luke has a great deal to say about women and their relationship to Christ and the church. There are at least a dozen references in Acts to women, as Luke shows the key role women played in the apostolic church. This is a remarkable thing when you consider the general position of women in the culture of that day (see ).
God gave the Apostles power to perform great miracles. While it is true that some of the ordinary members exercised miraculous powers (), it was primarily the Apostles who did the miracles. These “signs and wonders” were God’s way of authenticating their ministry (; ; ).
Just as there were special judgments at the beginning of a new era, so there were also special miracles. We find no miracles performed in Genesis, but at the beginning of the age of Law, Moses performed great signs and wonders. Elijah and Elisha were miracle workers at the beginning of the great era of the Prophets, and Jesus and the Apostles performed signs and wonders when the Gospel Age was inaugurated. Each time God opened a new door, He called man’s attention to it. It was His way of saying, “Follow these leaders, because I have sent them.”
The mighty wonders performed by the Apostles were the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that they would do “greater works” in answer to believing prayer (). When Jesus performed miracles during His ministry on earth, He had three purposes in mind: (1) to show compassion and meet human need; (2) to present His credentials as the Son of God; and (3) to convey spiritual truth. For example, when He fed the 5,000, the miracle met their physical need, revealed Him as the Son of God, and gave Him opportunity to preach a sermon about the Bread of Life (John 6).
The apostolic miracles followed a similar pattern. Peter and John healed the crippled beggar and met his need, but Peter used that miracle to preach a salvation sermon and to prove to the people and the council that he and John were indeed the servants of the living Christ. One of the qualifications for an apostle was that he had seen the risen Christ (; ); and, since nobody can claim that experience today, there are no apostles in the church. The Apostles and prophets laid the foundation for the church (), and the pastors, teachers, and evangelists are building on it. If there are no apostles, there can be no “signs of an apostle” as are found in the Book of Acts ().
This certainly does not mean that God is limited and can no longer perform miracles for His people! But it does mean that the need for confirming miracles has passed away. We now have the completed Word of God and we test teachers by their message, not by miracles (; ). And we must keep in mind that Satan is a counterfeiter and well able to deceive the unwary. In the Old Testament, any prophet who performed miracles but, at the same time, led the people away from God’s Word, was considered a false prophet and was killed (Deut. 13). The important thing was not the miracles, but whether his message was true to the Word of God.
A radio listener wrote me and wanted to debate this issue with me, insisting that there were instances today of people being raised from the dead. I wrote him a kind letter and asked him to send me the testimonies of the witnesses, the kind of evidence that could be presented in court. He wrote back and honestly admitted that that kind of evidence was not available, but he still believed it because he had heard a TV preacher say it was so. Most of the miracles recorded in the Bible were out in the open for everybody to see, and it would not be difficult to prove them in a court of law.
Peter and the other Apostles found themselves ministering as their Lord had ministered, with people coming from all over, bringing their sick and afflicted (; ; ). The Twelve must have found it very difficult to walk down the street, for people crowded around them and laid before them sick people on their pallets. Some of the people even had the superstitious belief that there was healing in Peter’s shadow.
It is significant that all of these people were healed. There were no failures and nobody was sent away because he or she “did not have faith to be healed.” These were days of mighty power when God was speaking to Israel and telling them that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed their Messiah and Saviour. “For the Jews require a sign” (), and God gave signs to them. The important thing was not the healing of the afflicted, but the winning of lost souls, as multitudes were added to the fellowship. The Spirit gave them power for wonders and power for witness (), for miracles apart from God’s Word cannot save the lost.
The greatest miracle of all is the transformation of a lost sinner into a child of God by the grace of God. That is the miracle that meets the greatest need, lasts the longest, and costs the greatest price—the blood of God’s Son.
And that is one miracle we can all participate in as we share the message of the Gospel, “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” ().
After Pentecost, the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ spread rapidly in Jerusalem as Spirit-empowered witnesses shared the Gospel with the lost. Signs and wonders accompanied the preaching of the Word, and no one could deny that God was at work in a new way among His ancient people.
But not everybody was happy with the success of the church. The “religious establishment” that had opposed the ministry of Jesus, and then crucified Him, took the same hostile approach toward the Apostles. “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you,” said Jesus. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service” (; , NKJV). These words were beginning to be fulfilled.
It was the age-old conflict between living truth and dead tradition. The new wine could not be put into the old wineskins nor could the new cloth be sewn on the worn-out garments (). The English martyr Hugh Latimer said, “Whenever you see persecution, there is more than a probability that truth is on the persecuted side.”
We see in this account four different responses to God’s truth, responses we still see today.
The Council: Attacking the Truth ()
The high priest and his associates had three reasons for arresting the Apostles (this time it was all of the Apostles) and bringing them to trial. To begin with, Peter and John had not obeyed the official orders to stop preaching in the name of Jesus Christ. They were guilty of defying the law of the nation. Second, the witness of the church was refuting the doctrines held by the Sadducees, giving every evidence that Jesus Christ was alive. Third, the religious leaders were filled with envy (“indignation”) at the great success of these untrained and unauthorized men (see ; ). The traditions of the fathers had not attracted that much attention or gained that many followers in such a short time. It is amazing how much envy can be hidden under the disguise of “defending the faith.”
The Apostles did not resist arrest or organize a public protest. They quietly went along with the temple guard and actually spent a few hours in the public jail. But during the night, an angel set them free and told them to return to their witnessing in the temple. (The Sadducees, of course, did not believe in angels. See .) In the Book of Acts, you will find several instances of angelic ministries as God cared for His people (; , ; , ; ). The angels are servants who minister to us as we serve the Lord ().
As in Peter’s deliverance (), neither the guards nor the leaders knew that the prisoners had been liberated. You are tempted to smile as you imagine the surprised looks on the faces of the guards when they discovered that their most important prisoners were gone. And just imagine the astonishment of the envious members of the Sanhedrin when they heard the report! Here they were trying to stop the miracles, but their actions only multiplied the miracles!
What a contrast between the Apostles and the members of the council. The council was educated, ordained, and approved, and yet they had no ministry of power. The Apostles were ordinary laymen, yet God’s power was at work in their lives. The council was trying desperately to protect themselves and their dead traditions, while the Apostles were risking their lives to share the living Word of God. The dynamic church was enjoying the new; the dead council was defending the old.
You find a variety of emotions in this section: envy (), bewilderment (), and fear (; see and ). Yet, when the Apostles came in, the high priest boldly accused them of defying the law and causing trouble. He would not even use the name of Jesus Christ, but instead said “this name” and “this Man’s blood,” lest by speaking His name he would defile his lips or bring down the wrath of God (see ).
But even this hateful indictment was an admission that the church was increasing and getting the job done! The wrath of man was bringing praise to the Lord (). The high priest realized that if the Apostles were right, then the Jewish leaders had been wrong in condemning Jesus Christ. Indeed, if the Apostles were right, then the council was guilty of His blood (; ). As this “trial” progressed, the Apostles became the judges and the council became the accused.
The Apostles: Affirming the Truth ()
The Apostles did not change their convictions (). They obeyed God and trusted Him to take care of the consequences. They could not serve two masters, and they had already declared whose side they were on. Had they been diplomats instead of ambassadors (), they could have pleased everybody and escaped a beating. But they stood firmly for the Lord, and He honored their courage and faith.
Neither did they change their message (). Peter indicted the leaders for the death of Jesus (see ; ), and boldly affirmed once again that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead. Not only was Jesus raised from the dead, but He was also exalted by God to heaven. The work of the Holy Spirit in recent days was evidence that Jesus had returned to heaven and sent His Spirit as He promised. The Sadducees certainly did not rejoice to hear the Apostles speak about resurrection from the dead.
That Jesus Christ is at God’s right hand is a key theme in the Scriptures. The right hand is, of course, the place of honor, power, and authority. is the basic prophecy, but there are numerous references: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and . Soon, Stephen would see Jesus standing at God’s right hand ().
In his second sermon, Peter had called Jesus “the Prince of life” (); and here he called Him “a Prince and a Saviour.” The word Prince means “a pioneer, one who leads the way, an originator.” The Sanhedrin was not interested in pioneering anything; all they wanted to do was protect their vested interests and keep things exactly as they were (see ). As the “Pioneer of life,” Jesus saves us and leads us into exciting experiences as we walk “in newness of life” (). There are always new trails to blaze.
calls Him “the Pioneer [captain] of their salvation,” for our salvation experience must never become static. The Christian life is not a parking lot; it is a launching pad! It is not enough just to be born again; we must also grow spiritually () and make progress in our walk. In , Jesus is called “the Pioneer [author] … of our faith,” which suggests that He leads us into new experiences that test our faith and help it to grow. One of the major themes of Hebrews is “let us press on to maturity” (, NASB), and we cannot mature unless we follow Christ, the Pioneer, into new areas of faith and ministry.
The title Savior was not new to the members of the council, for the word was used for physicians (who save people’s lives), philosophers (who solve people’s problems), and statesmen (who save people from danger and war). It was even applied to the Emperor. But only Jesus Christ is the true and living Saviour who rescues from sin, death, and judgment all who will trust Him.
Peter again called the nation to repentance (; ; ) and promised that the gift of the Spirit would be given to all who “obey Him.” This does not imply that the gift of the Spirit is a reward for obedience, for a gift can be received only by faith. The phrase “obey Him” is the same as “obedient to the faith” in , and means “to obey God’s call and trust God’s Son.” God does not suggest that sinners repent and believe; He commands it ().
It was a bold witness that the Apostles gave before the highest Jewish religious court. The Spirit of God enabled them and they were not afraid. After all, Jesus had promised to be with them and, through His Holy Spirit, empower them for witness and service. They were His witnesses of His resurrection (; , ; , ; ), and He would see them through.
Gamaliel: Avoiding the Truth ()
Gamaliel was a Pharisee who probably did not want to see the Sadducees win any victories. He was a scholar highly esteemed by the people, rather liberal in his applications of the Law, and apparently moderate in his approach to problems. “When Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died,” said the Jews, “the glory of the Law ceased and purity and abstinence died.” Paul was trained by Gamaliel (). Gamaliel’s “counsel” was unwise and dangerous, but God used it to save the Apostles from death. That the Sadducees would heed the words of a Pharisee shows how distinguished a man Gamaliel was.
In spite of the fact that Gamaliel tried to use cool logic rather than overheated emotions, his approach was still wrong. To begin with, he automatically classified Jesus with two rebels, which means he had already rejected the evidence. To him, this “Jesus of Nazareth” was just another zealous Jew, trying to set the nation free from Rome. But did Theudas or Judas ever do the things that Jesus did? Were they raised from the dead? With a clever twist of bad logic, Gamaliel convinced the council that there was really nothing to worry about! Troublemakers come and go, so be patient.
Furthermore, Gamaliel assumed that “history repeats itself.” Theudas and Judas rebelled, were subdued, and their followers were scattered. Give these Galileans enough time and they too will disband, and you will never again hear about Jesus of Nazareth. While some students do claim to see “cycles” in history, these “cycles” are probably only in the eyes of the beholder. By selecting your evidence carefully, you can prove almost anything from history. The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ had never happened before and would never happen again. God had broken into history and visited this earth!
Gamaliel also had the mistaken idea that, if something is not of God, it must fail. But this idea does not take into consideration the sinful nature of man and the presence of Satan in the world. Mark Twain said that a lie runs around the world while truth is still putting on her shoes. In the end, God’s truth will be victorious; but meanwhile, Satan can be very strong and influence multitudes of people.
Success is no test of truth, in spite of what the pragmatists say. False cults often grow faster than God’s church. This world is a battlefield on which truth and error are in mortal combat, and often it looks as if truth is “on the scaffold” while wrong sits arrogantly on the throne. How long should the council wait to see if the new movement would survive? What tests would they use to determine whether or not it was successful? What is success? No matter how you look at it, Gamaliel’s “wisdom” was foolish.
But the biggest weakness of his advice was his motive: he encouraged neutrality when the council was facing a life-and-death issue that demanded decision. “Wait and see!” is actually not neutrality; it is a definite decision. Gamaliel was voting “No!” but he was preaching “maybe someday.”
There are many matters in life that do not demand a courageous decision of conscience. I had a friend in seminary who became emotionally disturbed because he tried to make every decision a matter of conscience, including the cereal he ate at breakfast and the route he took when he walked to the store. But when we face a serious matter of conscience, we had better examine the evidence carefully. This, Gamaliel refused to do. He lost an opportunity for salvation because he turned the meeting into a petty discussion about Jewish insurrectionists.
Jesus made it clear that it is impossible to be neutral about Him and His message. “He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad” (). The members of the council knew the words of Elijah, “How long will you waver between two opinions?” (, NIV) There are times when being neutral means making a quiet (and perhaps cowardly) decision to reject God’s offer. It is significant that the first group named among those who go to hell is “the fearful” (), the people who knew the truth but were afraid to take their stand.
If Gamaliel was really afraid of fighting against God, why did he not honestly investigate the evidence, diligently search the Scriptures, listen to the witnesses, and ask God for wisdom? This was the opportunity of a lifetime! Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, claimed that nobody was born a coward. “Truth makes a man of courage,” he wrote, “and guilt makes that man of courage a coward.” What some men call caution, God would call cowardice. The Apostles were true ambassadors; Gamaliel was really only a “religious politician.”
The Church: Announcing the Truth ()
Part of the council wanted to kill the Apostles (), but Gamaliel’s speech tempered their violence. In a compromise move, the council decided to have the Apostles beaten; so the men were given thirty-nine strokes (see ; ). Then the Apostles were commanded to stop speaking in the name of Jesus Christ lest something worse happen to them. (Review ; , ; , , , .)
When people refuse to deal with disagreements on the basis of principle and truth, they often resort to verbal or physical violence, and sometimes both. The sad thing is that this violence often masquerades as patriotism or as religious zeal. When understanding fails, violence starts to take over; and people begin to destroy each other in the name of their nation or their God. It is tragic that even the history of religion is punctuated with accounts of persecutions and “holy wars.” William Temple said that Christians are “called to the hardest of all tasks: to fight without hatred, to resist without bitterness, and in the end, if God grant it so, to triumph without vindictiveness.”
How did the Apostles respond to this illegal treatment from their nation’s religious leaders? They rejoiced! Jesus had told them to expect persecution and had instructed them to rejoice in it (). The opposition of men meant the approval of God, and it was actually a privilege to suffer for His name ().
To paraphrase Phillips Brooks, the purpose of life is to glorify God by the building of character through truth. The Sanhedrin thought that it had won a great victory, when actually the council had experienced a crushing defeat. No doubt they congratulated each other for doing such a good job of defending the faith! But it was the Apostles who were the winners, because they grew in godliness as they yielded to God’s will and suffered for their Master. In later years, Peter would have much to say in his first epistle about the meaning of suffering in the life of the believer; but now he was learning the lessons.
Neither the threats nor the beatings stopped them from witnessing for Jesus Christ. If anything, this persecution only made them trust God more and seek greater power in their ministry. True believers are not “quitters.” The Apostles had a commission to fulfill, and they intended to continue as long as their Lord enabled them. summarized the apostolic pattern for evangelism, an excellent pattern for us to follow.
To begin with, they witnessed “daily.” This meant that they took advantage of witnessing opportunities no matter where they were (). Every Christian is a witness, either a good one or a bad one; and our witness either draws others to Christ or drives them away. It is a good practice to start each day asking the Lord for the wisdom and grace needed to be a loving witness for Christ that day. If we sincerely look for opportunities and expect God to give them to us, we will never lack for open doors.
D.L. Moody was fearless in his witness for Christ and sought to speak about spiritual matters to at least one soul each day. “How does your soul prosper today?” he would ask; or, “Do you love the Lord? Do you belong to Christ?” Some were offended by his blunt manner, but not a few were led to Christ then and there. “The more we use the means and opportunities we have,” he said, “the more will our ability and our opportunities be increased.” He also said, “I live for souls and for eternity; I want to win some soul to Christ.” He was not satisfied only to address great crowds; he also felt constrained to speak to people personally and urge them to trust Jesus Christ.
The believers witnessed “in the temple.” After all, that was where the “religious” people gathered, and it was easier to reach them there. For several years, the church was looked on as another “sect” of the Jewish faith, and both the temple and the many synagogues were open to believers. In his missionary journeys, Paul always went first to the local synagogue or Jewish place of prayer, and he witnessed there until he was thrown out.
My counsel to new Christians has usually been, “Go back to your home and church, be a loving witness for Christ, and stay until they ask you to leave” (see ). The Apostles did not abandon the Jewish temple, though they knew the old dispensation was ended and that one day the temple would be destroyed. They were not compromising; they were “buying up the opportunity” to reach more people for Christ.
While I was ministering at the Moody Church in Chicago, it was my joy to lead a pastor to Christ, a gifted man who ministered to a wealthy congregation. He went back to his church and began to share Christ, and numbers of his people were saved. Then the denominational leaders stepped in and started to threaten him with dismissal.
“What do I do?” he asked; and I said, “Stay there until they throw you out. Be loving and kind, but don’t give in!” Eventually he was forced out of the church, but not before his witness had influenced many both in the church and in the community. Today, God is using him in a remarkable way to witness for Christ and to train others to witness. He is able to get into churches and groups that might never invite me!
The early Christians also witnessed “in every house.” Unlike congregations today, these people had no buildings that were set aside for worship and fellowship. Believers would meet in different homes, worshiping the Lord, listening to teaching, and seeking to win the lost (see ). Paul referred to a number of “house fellowships” when he greeted the saints in Rome (, , ). The early church took the Word right into the homes, and we should follow their example. This does not mean that it is wrong to have special buildings set aside for church ministry, but only that we must not confine the ministry to the four walls of a church building.
Their ministry went on without ceasing. The authorities had told them to stop witnessing, but they only witnessed all the more! Their motive was not defiance to the law but rather obedience to the Lord. It was not something they turned on and off, depending on the situation. They were “always at it” and they kept at it as long as God gave them opportunities.
The witness of the church included both teaching and preaching, and that is a good balance. The word translated “preach” gives us our English word evangelize, and this is the first of fifteen times it is used in Acts. It simply means “to preach the Gospel, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.” (See for the official statement of the Gospel message.)
However, proclamation must be balanced with instruction (see ) so that the sinners know what to believe and the new converts understand why they believed. The message cannot produce fruit unless the person understands it and can make an intelligent decision (). Believers cannot grow unless they are taught the Word of God ().
Finally, it was Jesus Christ who was the center of their witness. That was the very name that the Sanhedrin had condemned! The early church did not go about arguing religion or condemning the establishment: they simply told people about Jesus Christ and urged them to trust in Him. “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (). “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me” ().
It was my privilege to speak at a service celebrating the fortieth anniversary of a pastor friend whose ministry has blessed many. A number of his friends shared in the service and quite candidly expressed their love for him and their appreciation for his ministry. My friend became more and more embarrassed as the meeting progressed; and when it came time for me to bring the message, he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Warren, please tell them about Jesus!”
In his clever and convicting book The Gospel Blimp, the late Joe Bayly wrote: “Jesus Christ didn’t commit the Gospel to an advertising agency; He commissioned disciples.”
That commission still stands.
In your life, is it commission—or omission?
Acts 6–7
There are two words for “crown” in the New Testament: diadema, which means “a royal crown” and gives us the English word “diadem”; and stephanos, the “victor’s crown,” which gives us the popular name Stephen. You can inherit a diadema, but the only way to get a stephanos is to earn it.
Acts 6 and 7 center on the ministry and martyrdom of Stephen, a Spirit-filled believer who was crowned by the Lord. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (). He was faithful both in life and in death and therefore is a good example for us to follow.
These chapters present Stephen as a faithful believer in four different areas of ministry.
The church was experiencing “growing pains” and this was making it difficult for the Apostles to minister to everybody. The “Grecians” were the Greek-speaking Jews who had come to Palestine from other nations, and therefore may not have spoken Aramaic, while the “Hebrews” were Jewish residents of the land who spoke both Aramaic and Greek. The fact that the “outsiders” were being neglected created a situation that could have divided the church. However, the Apostles handled the problem with great wisdom and did not give Satan any foothold in the fellowship.
When a church faces a serious problem, this presents the leaders and the members with a number of opportunities. For one thing, problems give us the opportunity to examine our ministry and discover what changes must be made. In times of success, it is easy for us to maintain the status quo, but this is dangerous. Henry Ward Beecher called success “a last-year’s nest from which the birds have flown.” Any ministry or organization that thinks its success will go on automatically is heading for failure. We must regularly examine our lives and our ministries lest we start taking things for granted.
The Apostles studied the situation and concluded that they were to blame: they were so busy serving tables that they were neglecting prayer and the ministry of the Word of God. They had created their own problem because they were trying to do too much. Even today, some pastors are so busy with secondary tasks that they fail to spend adequate time in study and in prayer. This creates a “spiritual deficiency” in the church that makes it easy for problems to develop.
This is not to suggest that serving tables is a menial task, because every ministry in the church is important. But it is a matter of priorities; the Apostles were doing jobs that others could do just as well. D.L. Moody used to say that it was better to put ten men to work than to try to do the work of ten men. Certainly it is better for you, for the workers you enlist, and for the church as a whole.
Church problems also give us an opportunity to exercise our faith, not only faith in the Lord, but also faith in each other. The leaders suggested a solution, and all the members agreed with it. The assembly selected seven qualified men, and the Apostles set them apart for ministry. The church was not afraid to adjust their structure in order to make room for a growing ministry. When structure and ministry conflict, this gives us an opportunity to trust God for the solution. It is tragic when churches destroy ministry because they refuse to modify their structure. The Apostles were not afraid to share their authority and ministry with others.
Problems also give us the opportunity to express our love. The Hebrew leaders and the predominantly Hebrew members selected six men who were Hellenists and one man who was both a Gentile and a proselyte! What an illustration of and ! When we solve church problems, we must think of others and not of ourselves only.
We commonly call these seven men of Acts 6 “deacons” because the Greek noun diakonos is used in (“ministration”), and the verb diakoneo (“serve”) is used in . However, this title is not given to them in this chapter, although you find deacons mentioned in and their qualifications given in . The word simply means “a servant.” These seven men were humble servants of the church, men whose work made it possible for the Apostles to carry on their important ministries among the people.
Stephen was one of these men. The emphasis in Stephen’s life is on fullness: he was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom (, ), full of faith (), and full of power (). In Scripture, to be “full of” means “to be controlled by.” This man was controlled by the Spirit, faith, wisdom, and power. He was a God-controlled man yielded to the Holy Spirit, a man who sought to lead people to Christ.
What was the result? The blessing of God continued and increased! The church was still unified (), multiplied (), and magnified (). is one of several “summaries” found in the book, statements that let us know that the story has reached an important juncture (see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and ). In , Dr. Luke describes the climax of the ministry in Jerusalem, for the persecution following Stephen’s death will take the Gospel to the Samaritans and then to the Gentiles. It has been estimated that there were 8,000 Jewish priests attached to the temple ministry in Jerusalem, and “a great company” of them trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour!
This Spirit-filled man did not limit his ministry to the serving of tables; he also won the lost and even did miracles. Up to this point, it was the Apostles who performed the miracles (; ), but now God gave this power to Stephen also. This was part of His plan to use Stephen to bear witness to the leaders of Israel. Stephen’s powerful testimony would be the climax of the church’s witness to the Jews. Then the message would go out to the Samaritans and then to the Gentiles.
Jews from many nations resided in Jerusalem in their own “quarters,” and some of these ethnic groups had their own synagogues. The freedmen (“libertines”) were the descendants of Jews who had previously been in bondage but had won their freedom from Rome. Since Paul came from Tarsus in Cilicia (), it is possible that he heard Stephen in the synagogue and may have debated with him. However, nobody could match or resist Stephen’s wisdom and power (see ). Their only alternative was to destroy him.
Their treatment of Stephen parallels the way the Jewish leaders treated Jesus. First, they hired false witnesses to testify against him. Then, they stirred up the people who accused him of attacking the Law of Moses and the temple. Finally, after listening to his witness, they executed him (see ; ).
The Jews were jealous over their Law and could not understand how Christ had come to fulfill the Law and to bring in the new age. They were proud of their temple and refused to believe that God would permit it to be destroyed. Stephen faced the same spiritual blindness that Jeremiah faced in his ministry (see Jer. 7). The church faced the opposition of Jewish tradition for many years to come, from within its own ranks (Acts 15) and from false teachers coming in from the outside ().
The enemy surprised Stephen and arrested him while he was ministering (“having came upon him suddenly” is Wuest’s translation of ); and they took him before the same council that had tried Jesus and the Apostles. It was not even necessary for Stephen to speak in order to give witness, for the very glow on his face told everybody that he was a servant of God. Certainly the members of the Sanhedrin would recall Moses’ shining face (). It was as though God was saying, “This man is not against Moses! He is like Moses—he is My faithful servant!”
This is the longest address in the Book of Acts and one of the most important. In it, Stephen reviewed the history of Israel and the contributions made by their revered leaders: Abraham (), Joseph (), Moses (), Joshua (), and David and Solomon (). But this address was more than a recitation of familiar facts; it was also a refutation of their indictments against Stephen and a revelation of their own national sins. Stephen proved from their own Scriptures that the Jewish nation was guilty of worse sins than those they had accused him of committing. What were these sins?
They misunderstood their own spiritual roots (vv. ). Stephen’s address opens with “the God of glory” and closes with the glory of God (); and all the time he spoke, his face radiated that same glory! Why? Because Israel was the only nation privileged to have the glory of God as a part of its inheritance (). Alas, the glory of God had departed, first from the tabernacle () and then from the temple (, ). God’s glory had come in His Son (), but the nation had rejected Him.
Abraham was the founder of the Hebrew nation, and his relationship to God was one of grace and faith. God had graciously appeared to him and called him out of heathen darkness into the light of salvation, and Abraham had responded by faith. Abraham was saved by grace, through faith, and not because he was circumcised, kept a law, or worshiped in a temple. All of those things came afterward (see Rom. 4; Gal. 3). He believed the promises of God and it was this faith that saved him.
God promised the land to Abraham’s descendants, and then told Abraham that his descendants would suffer in Egypt before they would enter and enjoy the land; and this took place just as God promised. From the very beginning, God had a wise plan for His people; and that plan would be fulfilled as long as they trusted His Word and obeyed His will.
The Jews greatly revered Abraham and prided themselves in being his “children.” But they confused physical descent with spiritual experience and depended on their national heritage rather than their personal faith. John the Baptist had warned them about this sin () and so had Jesus (). The Jews were blind to the simple faith of Abraham and the patriarchs, and they had cluttered it with man-made traditions that made salvation a matter of good works, not faith. God has no grandchildren. Each of us must be born into the family of God through personal faith in Jesus Christ ().
The Jews prided themselves in their circumcision, failing to understand that the rite was symbolic of an inner spiritual relationship with God (; ; ; ; ; ; ). Over the years, the fulfilling of ritual had taken the place of the enjoyment of reality. This happens in churches even today.
They rejected their God-sent deliverers (vv. ). I have combined the sections dealing with Joseph and Moses because these two Jewish heroes have this in common: they were both rejected as deliverers the first time, but were accepted the second time. Joseph’s brethren hated their brother and sold him into servitude, yet later he became their deliverer. They recognized Joseph “at the second time” () when they returned to Egypt for more food. Israel rejected Moses when he first tried to deliver them from Egyptian bondage, and he had to flee for his life (). But when Moses came to them the second time, the nation accepted him and he set them free ().
These two events illustrate how Israel treated Jesus Christ. Israel rejected their Messiah when He came to them the first time (), but when He comes again, they will recognize Him and receive Him (; ). In spite of what they did to His Son, God has not cast away His people (). Israel today is suffering from a partial spiritual blindness that one day will be taken away (). Individual Jews are being saved, but the nation as a whole is blind to the truth about Jesus Christ.
Before leaving this section, we must deal with some seeming contradictions between Stephen’s address and the Old Testament Scriptures.
states that seventy people made up the household of Jacob, including Joseph’s family already in Egypt; but Stephen claimed that there were seventy-five (; and see ). The Hebrew text has seventy in both Genesis and Exodus, but the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) has seventy-five. Where did the number seventy-five come from in the Septuagint? In their count, the translators included Joseph’s grandchildren (, ). Being a Hellenistic Jew, Stephen would naturally use the Septuagint. There is no real contradiction; your total depends on the factors you include.
suggests that Jacob was buried at Shechem, but states that he was buried in the cave of Machpelah at Hebron, along with Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah (). It was Joseph who was buried at Shechem (). It is likely that the Children of Israel carried out of Egypt the remains of all the sons of Jacob, and not just Joseph alone, and buried them together in Shechem. The “fathers” mentioned in would be the twelve sons of Jacob.
But who purchased the burial place in Shechem—Abraham or Jacob? Stephen seems to say that Abraham bought it, but the Old Testament record says that Jacob did (). Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah (). The simplest explanation is that Abraham actually purchased both pieces of property and that Jacob later had to purchase the Shechem property again. Abraham moved around quite a bit and it would be very easy for the residents of the land to forget or ignore the transactions he had made.
They disobeyed their Law (vv. ). Stephen’s opponents had accused him of speaking against the sacred Law of Moses, but the history of Israel revealed that the nation had repeatedly broken that Law. God gave the Law to His congregation (“church”) in the wilderness at Mount Sinai, His living Word through the mediation of angels (see ; ). No sooner had the people received the Law than they disobeyed it by asking Aaron to make them an idol (Ex. 32), and thereby broke the first two of the Ten Commandments ().
The Jews had worshiped idols in Egypt (; ), and after their settlement in the Promised Land they gradually adopted the gods of the pagan nations around them. God repeatedly disciplined His people and sent them prophets to warn them, until finally He carried them off to Babylon where they were finally cured of idolatry.
should be compared with , for all of these verses describe the judgment of God when He “takes His hands off” and permits sinners to have their own way. When Stephen quoted , he revealed what the Jews had really been doing all those years: in outward form, they were worshiping Jehovah; but in their hearts, they were worshiping foreign gods! The form of the question in demands a negative reply: “No, you were not offering those sacrifices to the Lord!”
In this day of “pluralism” of religions and an emphasis on “toleration,” we must understand why God hated the pagan religions and instructed Israel to destroy them. To begin with, these religions were unspeakably obscene in their worship of sex and their use of religious prostitutes. Their practices were also brutal, even to the point of offering children as sacrifices to their gods. It was basically demon worship, and it opened the way for all kinds of godless living on the part of the Jews. Had the nation turned from the true God and succumbed to idolatry, it could have meant the end of the godly remnant and the fulfillment of the promise of the Redeemer.
God’s Law was given to the Jews to protect them from the pagan influence around them, and to enable them to enjoy the blessings of the land. It was the Law that made them a holy people, different from the other nations. When Israel broke down that wall of distinction by disobeying God’s Law, they forfeited the blessing of God and had to be disciplined.
They despised their temple (vv. ). The witnesses accused Stephen of seeking to destroy the temple, but that was exactly what the Jewish nation did! Moses built the tabernacle and God’s glory graciously dwelt in the holy of holies (). Solomon built the temple, and once again God’s glory came in (). But over the years, the worship at the temple degenerated into mere religious formality, and eventually there were idols placed in the temple (; ). Jeremiah warned people against their superstitious faith in the temple and told them that they had turned God’s house into a den of thieves ().
Had the nation heeded their own prophets, they would have escaped the horrors of the Babylonian siege (see the Book of Lamentations) and the destruction of their city and temple. Even Solomon recognized the truth that God did not live in buildings (), and the Prophet Isaiah made it even clearer (). We really make nothing for God, because everything comes from Him; and how can the Creator of the universe be contained in a man-made building? () The Jewish defense of their temple was both illogical and unscriptural.
They stubbornly resisted their God and His truth (vv. ). This is the climax of Stephen’s speech, the personal application that cut his hearers to the heart. Throughout the centuries, Israel had refused to submit to God and obey the truths He had revealed to them. Their ears did not hear the truth, their hearts did not receive the truth, and their necks did not bow to the truth. As a result, they killed their own Messiah!
The nation refused to accept the new truth that God was revealing from age to age. Instead of seeing God’s truth as seed that produces fruit and more seed, the religious leaders “embalmed” the truth and refused to accept anything new. By the time Jesus came to earth, the truth of God was encrusted with so much tradition that the people could not recognize God’s truth when He did present it. Man’s dead traditions had replaced God’s living truth (see ).
You wonder what kind of a world we live in when good and godly men like Stephen can be murdered by religious bigots! But we have similar problems in our “enlightened” age today: taking hostages, bombings that kill or maim innocent people, assassinations, and all in the name of politics or religion. The heart of man has not changed, nor can it be changed apart from the grace of God.
What were the results of Stephen’s death? For Stephen, death meant coronation (). He saw the glory of God and the Son of God standing to receive him to heaven (see ). Our Lord sat down when He ascended to heaven (; ), but He stood up to welcome to glory the first Christian martyr (). This is the last time the title “Son of man” is used in the Bible. It is definitely a messianic title (), and Stephen’s use of it was one more witness that Jesus is indeed Israel’s Messiah.
Stephen was not only tried in a manner similar to that of our Lord, but he also died with similar prayers on his lips (, ; ). A heckler once shouted to a street preacher, “Why didn’t God do something for Stephen when they were stoning him?” The preacher replied, “God did do something for Stephen. He gave him the grace to forgive his murderers and to pray for them!” A perfect answer!
For Israel, Stephen’s death meant condemnation. This was their third murder: they had permitted John the Baptist to be killed; they had asked for Jesus to be killed; and now they were killing Stephen themselves. When they allowed Herod to kill John, the Jews sinned against God the Father who had sent John (). When they asked Pilate to crucify Jesus, they sinned against God the Son (). When they stoned Stephen, Israel sinned against the Holy Spirit who was working in and through the Apostles (; ). Jesus said that this sin could never be forgiven (). Judgment finally came in A.D. 70 when Titus and the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
For the church in Jerusalem, the death of Stephen meant liberation. They had been witnessing “to the Jew first” ever since Pentecost, but now they would be directed to take the message out of Jerusalem to the Samaritans (Acts 8) and even to the Gentiles (). The opposition of the enemy helped prevent the church from becoming a Jewish “sect” and encouraged them to fulfill the commission of and .
Finally, as far as Saul () was concerned, the death of Stephen eventually meant salvation. He never forgot the event (), and no doubt Stephen’s message, prayers, and glorious death were used of the Spirit to prepare Saul for his own meeting with the Lord (Acts 9). God never wastes the blood of His saints. Saul would one day see the same glory that Stephen saw and would behold the Son of God and hear Him speak!
When Christians die, they “fall asleep” (; ). The body sleeps and the spirit goes to be with the Lord in heaven (; ; ; ). When Jesus returns, He will bring with Him the spirits of those who have died (), their bodies will be raised and glorified, and body and spirit will be united in glory to be “forever with the Lord.” Even though we Christians weep at the death of a loved one (), we do not sorrow hopelessly; for we know we shall meet again when we die or when the Lord returns.
God does not call all of us to be martyrs, but He does call us to be “living sacrifices” (). In some respects, it may be harder to live for Christ than to die for Him; but if we are living for Him, we will be prepared to die for Him if that is what God calls us to do.
In 1948, Auca martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.” Two years later, he wrote: “I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling Eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women.”
Like Stephen, Jim Elliot and his four comrades were called on January 8, 1956, to “people Eternity” as they were slain by the people they were seeking to reach. What has happened to the Aucas since then is proof that the blood of the martyrs is indeed the seed of the church. Many Aucas are now Christians.
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” ().
Acts 8
“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world,” wrote Victor Hugo, “and that is an idea whose time has come.”
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is much more than an idea. The Gospel is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (,NKJV). It is God’s “dynamite” for breaking down sin’s barriers and setting the prisoners free. Its time had come and the church was on the move. The “salt” was now leaving the “Jerusalem saltshaker” to be spread over all Judea and Samaria, just as the Lord had commanded ().
The events in Acts 8 center around four different men.