Acts 4 Peter and John Before t

Acts 4

Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin

¹The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. ²They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. ³They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. ⁴But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
⁵The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. ⁷They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, ¹⁰then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.' ¹²Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
¹³When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. ¹⁵So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. ¹⁶"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. ²⁰For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
²¹After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. ²²For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Acts 4:1-22

Explanation:

A Healing Miracle and Its Consequences (3:1--4:31)
Crammed into first-story rooms of an undistinguished building in a suburb of Seoul are pews, a pulpit and other sanctuary furniture suitable for an auditorium seating five hundred to a thousand people, not the fifty to seventy-five who meet there for an organizing service. The overabundant furniture is a sign of their hope of what God will do through the preaching of the gospel in that place.

How is he going to do it? What is the divinely ordained pattern for the church's advance? Luke tells us in four episodes clustered around Peter and John's healing of a lame beggar. The church ministers via apostolic sign (3:1-10) and proclaims its saving significance (3:11-26). Religious leaders' opposition surfaces but is finally frustrated (4:1-22) as the church, in answer to prayer, continues in bold, Spirit-filled witness (4:23-31).

Temple Arrest, Sanhedrin Hearing and Release (4:1-22)

The uninterrupted progress of the church in Acts 1--3 is quite unlike the situation in our world, but with the story of the apostles' arrest, incarceration and trial Luke brings us "down to earth." The progress of the Jerusalem church did not occur without opposition. But advance it did, and therein lies the challenge to us: to accept the truth of its message and to be faithful in following its courageous example.

Official Opposition (4:1-7)

The apostles were interrupted in their preaching by the sudden, dramatic appearance of hostile officials (ephistemi is stronger than the NIV came up to; compare Lk 20:1; Acts 6:12; 17:5). The priests (Sadducean in conviction), the captain of the temple guard (a highly placed member of the high priest's family charged with temple security) and Sadducees (probably aristocratic laymen) were greatly disturbed (compare 16:18). In Jesus the people were being offered a particular instance of and foundational argument for the resurrection "from the dead" (NIV somewhat follows the Western text, anastasei ton nekron--the resurrection of the dead).

The Sadducees, the priestly and lay aristocracy who had ruled the Jews in religious and political matters at the behest of foreign overlords since Hasmonean times, did not believe that anyone but the priests should be instructing the people in spiritual matters. They believed that the messianic age dawned with the Hasmoneans in the second century B.C. Anyone making messianic claims was at best mistaken and at worst a political revolutionary posing a threat to their comfortable position. In matters of doctrine they considered themselves traditional, holding only to the written Torah and rejecting the oral Torah, the sayings of the fathers, which the Pharisees accepted. One doctrine they did not find in the written Torah was resurrection from the dead (Josephus Jewish Antiquities 18.16-17).

Seizing Peter and John, . . . they put them in jail until the next day (compare Jesus' prediction, Lk 21:12). It was already evening, and the Sanhedrin normally commenced its judicial business only during daylight hours (m. Sanhedrin 4:1). Luke lets us know through the Sadducees' negative example that those with vested interests in power and comfort and with unbiblical preconceived notions will view the gospel as a threat.

Luke will not allow us to think for a moment, though, that human beings had thwarted the advance of God's saving work. He immediately gives a summary statement on church growth: many who heard the message (literally, the word) believed (compare Lk 8:11-15; Acts 2:44; 3:22; 4:29, 31-32). The total church membership grew to about five thousand males, not to mention women and children. In our own day Muslim rulers' imprisonment of Christians also works to advance the gospel. Persecuted believers get to know one another in their confinement, forming a network for communication and support once they are released.

The next day the Sanhedrin convened. This highest legislative and judicial body in Israel consisted of seventy-one members from three groups: rulers, or temple officials, many from the high-priestly families; elders from the chief families, the landed gentry; and teachers of the law, professional Torah scholars who taught, expounded and applied the law, as well as arguing it in court. Identifying by name key members from the high-priestly component, Luke emphasizes the Sadducean viewpoint, which predominated in the council because of these members' prominence.

They placed Peter and John in their midst (the Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle--m. Sanhedrin 4:3). Just as they had challenged Jesus after he rid the temple court of the high-priest families' concession booths (Lk 20:2), so now they want to know by what kind of power (Acts 4:7; compare 1:8; 3:12; 4:33) or in what kind of name (3:6, 16; 4:10, 12, 17-18, 30) Peter and John had healed the beggar. Thus the council charged with distinguishing between truth and error in Jewish religion exercised its prerogative to test the basis for this healing. Their interrogation, however, was not unprejudiced. The emphatic placement of you in the question lets us know the contempt with which they hold these unschooled, ordinary men (4:13).

Whenever members of an establishment confuse their desire to maintain their own power with their duty to guard the public trust, sound judgment will invariably become impossible for them. Their blind ambition will keep them from seeing and comprehending the very truth they are to guard (see Jn 9:40-41).

Bold Declaration of the Word of Salvation (4:8-14)

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit (experiencing his "intense presence" and "abnormally strong" working), addresses the leaders (compare 9:17; 13:9). Their amazed reaction to the apostles' boldness and their inability to reply to Peter's scripturally and experientially based defense shows us the effect of the Spirit's filling (4:13-14). Jesus is here fulfilling his promise (Lk 12:11-12; 21:15). Peter's example is our challenge and encouragement. "What are we attempting which could not be accomplished without the Holy Spirit? What is there about our lives which demands an explanation? We will be `filled with the Holy Spirit' when we dare to do what could never be accomplished on our own strength and insight" (Ogilvie 1983:98).

Peter begins his defense by reframing the council's question. The miracle--what they called simply this--becomes an act of kindness. Peter further defines it as he was healed (literally "saved," sesostai). By introducing the word sozo, which can refer to rescue from both physical dangers and afflictions (Lk 7:50; 17:19; 23:35-37; Acts 14:9) and the spiritual danger of eternal death (Lk 19:10: Acts 2:21, 40, 47; 4:12; 11:14; 15:11; 16:31), Luke initiates a wordplay that he will complete in verse 12. Finally Peter places John and himself in the background and concentrates on the name of Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus and his saving power (compare the same tactic before the crowd in 3:12, 16; see comment at 3:4).

Peter transforms his formal defense into evangelistic proclamation as he answers the council's question with an open invitation for them, along with all the people of Israel, to know that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth the man stands before them completely healed. In his brief reference to Jesus' saving work--whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead--Peter provides the authentic basis for the claim that Jesus' name can indeed have the power to heal. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, the beggar could not have been healed (compare 2:32-33; 3:16).

Now Peter alludes to Psalm 118:22 to help the leaders understand that their rejection of Jesus and the Father's resurrection of him were the fulfillment of God's saving plan. A number of Jewish leaders had last heard this verse applied messianically by Jesus himself, as he interpreted their opposition to him (Lk 20:9-19). That opposition had manifested itself with the same question: "Tell us by what authority you are doing these things. . . . Who gave you this authority?" (Lk 20:2; compare Acts 4:7). Not heeding Jesus' interpretation, they had rushed on in blind rage to fulfill the prophecy. Would they in hindsight repent now?

Peter declares that Jesus has become the capstone. The NIV marginal reading cornerstone is more literal, picturing a stone at the base of a corner where two walls meet and take their line from it (Williams 1985:67).

Peter now declares the significance for every human being of Jesus' position: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven--throughout the whole world--in which (NIV takes the instrumental understanding only, by which) we must be saved. These leaders know from the Old Testament that the God of Israel is the only Savior (Is 43:11; 45:21; Hos 13:4). Now Peter claims this role for Jesus Christ (compare 4QFlor 1:13; 1QH 7:18-19; Jubilees 31:19). And this name has been given to men.

In an age of religious pluralism, this radical claim is rejected outright by some (Hick and Knitter 1987). Others will admit the uniqueness of Christ in the objective accomplishment of salvation, but they say this text does not teach that it is essential to hear the good news about Jesus' saving work and consciously "name the name" (Sanders 1988). Such a bifurcation of the accomplishment and application of salvation runs counter to the explicit thrust of this verse. Peter makes his universal claim by explicitly asserting that this name has been given to humankind as a means by which we must be saved (compare Lk 24:46; Acts 11:14). Appropriation of the name is an essential part of God's salvation transaction. To be true to Peter and Luke, we must never water down the fact that apart from Jesus there is no salvation for anyone--neither its accomplishment nor its appropriation.

Peter's Spirit-filled speech elicits amazement not unlike what the crowd experienced when they saw the crippled beggar walking (3:11). Peter's Spirit-endowed courage empowers him to tell the whole truth even though it will turn his judges into defendants and call into question their conviction that resurrections don't happen (4:10).

He tells an intelligent truth, skillfully handling the Scriptures to prove that all this happened according to God's plan (v. 11). Yet he and John have not had the rabbinic training required, humanly speaking, to sustain such theological argumentation. They are unschooled. They are ordinary men, more precisely "laymen." They lack the recognized credentials of a professional teacher of the law, which alone would command respect in the council. Nevertheless, amid their astonishment the council grasps the fact that these men had been with Jesus. Their Lord also lacked credentials yet handled the Scriptures in the same effective way. With a completely healed man (note the perfect-tense tetherapeumenon) standing before them as living proof of a truly risen Lord, the council has nothing to say in reply (compare Lk 21:15).

Today, as well, the Spirit's witness to the truth through Christ's messengers will be unanswerable, though still unacceptable, for many people. Here is the challenge not to hear the gospel message in vain. To be astonished at it, even to admit we cannot refute it, is not enough: we must allow it to do its saving work in our lives.

The Word of Salvation Frustrates the Opposition (4:15-22)

The Sanhedrin confers in closed session over their dilemma. Jesus' followers and their message are unacceptable, yet they have performed an outstanding miracle (literally, manifest sign). It is outstanding in that everyone knows about it, and a sign in that it points beyond itself to make claims for the dawn of the age of salvation in Jesus (compare 4:22; 8:6; Lk 11:16, 29-30). There is no denying the reality of this miracle.

Note that the council does not even consider seeking to discredit the apostles' message by marshaling evidence against Jesus' resurrection. Their pragmatic solution is to stop the spread of the message, either temporally or in degree, by warning the apostles to speak no longer to anyone in (on the basis of) this name (pointing to the divine power and authority of Jesus; Foulkes 1978:123).

Calling the apostles back in, they command them in the strongest terms possible to stop speaking (literally, proclaiming) and teaching on the basis of the name of Jesus. Thus the Sanhedrin not only seeks to cope with truth by the only effective means known--silencing it--but also creates a basis for further judicial proceedings against the apostles. And the method is still the same today. Tentmaking missionaries seeking to penetrate "creative access" countries should not be surprised to find people who are kept ignorant of the gospel's truth by those who control the media and make laws against "proselytizing."

Again taking the offensive, Peter and John command the council to make a judgment: is it right in God's presence to obey (literally, hear; compare 3:22) a human council, even one that views itself as ordained by and speaking for God, rather than God? They show their basic submission to the council's authority by calling on them to make that judgment (see 1 Pet 2:13-17). Yet at the same time, as our Lord did, they show the council members both the limits to their authority (compare Lk 20:25) and how they abuse it when they prohibit divinely commanded actions.

The council will need to make that judgment now, or in the very near future, for the apostles serve notice that they cannot help speaking what they have seen and heard. In obedience to the risen Lord's mandate they must continue to be eyewitnesses of these salvation truths (Lk 24:48; Acts 1:8; 3:15; 2 Pet 1:16-18).

Such a declaration of loyalty to God in the face of human opposition has been echoed often in church history, not least during the Reformation. Think of Martin Luther before the Diet of Worms, or the Scots Reformer John Knox, of whom it was said "He feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man" (Barclay 1976:41). And today the church faces the same challenge when confronted with human authorities that demand that it stop advancing in its mission. The church's willingness to keep spreading the Word despite threats of peril is clear evidence that its message is truly from God.

That Peter and John spoke and acted as they did should challenge Theophilus and others to consider the gospel's claims all the more closely. If these Jews were willing to put their highest tribunal on notice that they were going to continue to obey God, then their message must be true!

The council released them unpunished for two reasons. Judicially, they could not find a punishable offense on which to base a verdict (NIV's smoothing of the syntax obscures this point by referring to the means of punishment). This had not stopped them in Jesus' case (Lk 23:14-15, 22-25). Now the people make the difference. They are praising God (literally, glorifying God) for this miraculously healed man who was over forty years old (compare Lk 5:26; 7:16). To punish the human instruments of the miracle would not be a good move politically.

Luke ends his account of this episode in triumph. In reminding us of the man's helplessness, a congenital defect of long standing (see 3:2), he stresses the greatness of the miracle. But he also calls the miracle "this sign of healing." God's act of kindness has a significance beyond the beggar's physical restoration or even the amazement and praise of the crowd. It points to a salvation now offered to all in a gospel message whose proclamation, by the Spirit's power and the messengers' obedience, is unstoppable.

Acts 4

The Believers' Prayer

²³On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. ²⁴When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
   " 'Why do the nations rage
       and the peoples plot in vain?
   ²⁶The kings of the earth take their stand
       and the rulers gather together
       against the Lord
       and against his Anointed One.' ²⁷Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. ²⁸They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. ²⁹Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. ³⁰Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Acts 4:23-31

Explanation:

The Church's Prayer for Boldness (4:23-31)

When ordered to be silent, the apostles make clear that they "cannot help speaking about what [they] have seen and heard" (4:20). How will they sustain such determination? The church looks in prayer to its sovereign Lord and finds the strength to continue its advances with boldness. In this way Luke gives further evidence for the truth of a gospel that is more than a sectarian Jewish message.

The Apostles' Report (4:23)

The apostles are released, showing for the first time what Luke will contend consistently: Christianity is both innocent before the state and triumphant when its enemies seek to use state authority to hinder its advance (5:40; 16:35-40; 18:14-16; 23:28-29; 25:25-27; 26:32). They report to their own people--probably not simply the other ten apostles nor the whole assembly of more than five thousand, but their close friends and supporters, perhaps the original 120 of the pre-Pentecost upper room days (1:13-15; Kistemaker 1990:165). They report all that the chief priests and elders had said, particularly the threats (4:17-18, 21). (By referring to the Sanhedrin as the chief priests and elders Luke highlights the Sadducean loyalists among them.)

The first Christians were realists, and so must we be. These threats, coming as they did from the highest civil authority, had the force of law. Obedience to Christ in the midst of a hostile environment will be costly. Will we realistically face that cost?

The Prayer's Ascription (4:24-28)

The news drives the believers immediately to their knees. In united (compare 1:14; 2:46; 5:12), urgent prayer they raise their voices to God the Father (either praying in unison, repeating the words of one apostle, or greeting his prayer with a hearty amen). They address God the Father as Sovereign Lord (Despotes). Not common in Scripture, this divine title emphasizes the complete ownership God exercises over his servants (Lk 2:29; compare Jude 4; Rev 6:10). It was a common ascription in Jewish prayers (see Josephus Jewish War 7:323) and among the Greeks (see Aelius Aristides Works 37:1; Xenophon Anabasis 3:2, 13).

With such liturgical language, grounded in the Old Testament (such as Ex 20:11; Ps 146:6), the believers declare the scope of God's omnipotence. So they encourage themselves through praise that even the threatening Sanhedrin is not outside God's sovereign control. Confessing the truth about God's relationship to our circumstances always brings encouragement, especially when we are aware of danger and feel out of control.

The prayer turns to an Old Testament text, Psalm 2:1, understood as foretelling the Messiah's suffering and making reference to a united (note the reverse parallelism: nations . . . peoples . . . kings . . . rulers), rebellious, conspiring, yet futile hostility against the Lord's Anointed One. Via the pesher method, the believers proceed to make immediate application to Jesus' suffering at the hands of a king, Herod (Lk 13:31; 23:6-12; see Bruce 1990:158); a ruler, Pilate; the Gentiles (the nations); and the people of Israel (laoi--literally, peoples--probably to maintain correspondence with the quote's wording).

This immediately raises a number of issues. Historically there is no inaccuracy in the believers' interpretation, for even though both Herod and Pilate declared Jesus innocent, they did cooperate with those who conspired against Jesus (Lk 23:6-25; Acts 3:13). The psalm is properly understood as messianic, for it speaks of a universal reign (Ps 2:8, 10-11; contra Marshall 1980:105; compare the pre-Christian Jewish messianic interpretation of the psalm, 4QFlor 1:18-19/Ps 2:1-2; also compare Psalms of Solomon 17:22-23/Ps 2:2, 9). Theologically, Jesus' anointing at a particular time--his baptism (see Acts 10:38)--does not contradict the fact that he was always Messiah, conceived by the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35); his baptism may be viewed as the time when he "received the endorsement of the Father and the enduement with the Spirit" (E. F. Harrison 1986:97). The identification of Israel with the "peoples," in parallel with a pagan king represented by Herod, points out graphically that by rejecting Jesus, Israel was forfeiting its position as God's special people; if the Jews did not repent, God would view them no differently from Gentiles (see Acts 3:23).

The church's confessional ascription climaxes by celebrating God's sovereignty in the active accomplishment of his plan, as even his enemies do what his power (literally, hand) has predetermined (see 2:23; Lk 22:22). What a great encouragement! The very same group that is threatening these believers opposed their Lord. The persecutors' earlier success brought Christ's death but was really according to God's plan and by his hand. Surely any suffering these believers--or we--endure, then, is not outside God's control and will serve only to advance the purposes of the risen and reigning Messiah.

Prayer for Boldness (4:29-30)

The church asks God to pay attention to the Sanhedrin's threats (4:17, 21) without further defining what they expect him to do about them. The easy transition from opposition to Jesus to threats against the apostles is possible because theologically there is a close identification of the people of God with their suffering and risen Lord, not only in continuing his work (1:1) but also in the pattern of his life (Lk 24:25-27; Acts 14:22; compare 1 Pet 2:20-25; 4:13). The great (literally, complete) boldness or candor the believers ask for is not only the freedom of speech of a Greek citizen versus a slave (Demosthenes Orations 9.3) but also the courage that stands up to all those who would limit the right to reveal the truth (Dio Chrysostom Discourses 32.26-27; Schlier 1967:872-73). Peter has already demonstrated such Spirit-filled boldness in declaring the whole truth to the Sanhedrin (4:8, 13; compare 28:31; the verb form, 9:27-28; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26; 19:8; 26:26). With this request we learn the believers' great concern is not for their own safety but for the mission's advance.

In the Greek, verse 30 is not a request (contra NIV; E. F. Harrison 1986:97) but a confident assumption of what will accompany the enablement to speak the word boldly ("while you stretch out your hand"). The believers understand the corroborative weight that the healings, signs and wonders have for their preaching of the gospel. The recent experience with the crippled beggar has taught them both the impact and the limits of a miraculous sign through the name of your holy servant Jesus (3:6-7, 16; 4:10, 14; see comments at 3:7-8).

When we realize that this statement is not a request but an assumption of what God can do, we are freed from both the presumption and subsequent anxiety which come with demanding the miraculous from God.

The Answer: Spirit-Filled Witness (4:31)

In answer to their prayer and in fulfillment of his promise (Lk 11:13), the place is shaken, and all--not just the apostles--are filled with the Holy Spirit (2:4; 4:8, see comment). They speak (literally, were speaking--continuous action at intervals) the word of God (God's great good news of salvation; 11:19; 13:46; 14:25) with boldness. The messengers are unstoppable. The mission continues with divine momentum. As Chrysostom observed about the place being shaken: "and that made them the more unshaken" (Homily on the Acts of the Apostles 11).

Acts 4

The Believers Share Their Possessions

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
³⁶Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), ³⁷sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

Acts 4:32-37

Explanation:

The Church's Common Life (4:32--5:11)
We would like to know so much more about church life in those early days. Luke lets us catch our breath from the action of the Jerusalem church's advance by giving us some tantalizing glimpses: a summary statement and a few vignettes about its inner life, which further develop 2:44-45.

General Description and Positive Example: Barnabas (4:32-37)

"Admirable but impractical"--that's what human beings through the ages have said about the communal ideal. Still, we wonder, Is there a way we can live together in harmony which at the same time liberates us from selfishness and assures us of support when we need it? Luke says a resounding "Yes!" and points us to a corporate salvation blessing: the church's common life.

Unity: Motive for Caring (4:32)

Luke shows that the answer to the church's prayer (vv. 29-30) includes much grace . . . upon them all (v. 33), which results in a Spirit-given unity with practical outworking. All the believers (literally, "the congregation of those who believed," or the church in its corporate totality; compare 6:2, 5; 15:12, 30; see also 2:44) are one in heart and mind (kardia kai psyche mia). This phrase masterfully brings together both the Greek ideal of friendship--"a single soul [mia psyche] dwelling in two bodies" (Aristotle in Diogenes Laertius Lives of the Philosophers 5.20)--and the Old Testament ideal of total loyalty (1 Chron 12:39, note Hebrew and LXX; compare Deut 6:5; 10:12). From this unity comes a mindset. Each member chooses not to look at his possessions as first and foremost his own. Rather, he chooses to see them as first of all available for common use.

Justin Martyr, the early Christian apologist, observed, "We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have to a common stock, and communicate to every one in need" (Apology 1.14:2-3). This is where the common life begins, with the heart and soul and a mindset (see Lk 9:24; 12:19, 22; 14:26; 12:34; Acts 2:46).

Mission: Context of Caring (4:33)

The caring fellowship continues to be a witnessing fellowship. The apostles bear witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (1:8, 22; 3:15; 5:32). They do so with great power, not miracles (as Bruce 1990:160) or the new life of the believing community (as Longenecker 1981:311), but effectiveness: their "utterances cannot be ignored by the hearers but force them to decision either for or against the gospel" (Marshall 1980:108). On all (the whole congregation, not just the apostles; this comment prepares for v. 34) there is much grace, God's sustaining favor (Haenchen 1971:231; compare Lk 2:40; not the favor of the people, as Kistemaker 1990:174, nor a spirit of generosity, see Stott 1990:106). Then and now it is God's power that makes the church effective in witness and in depth of fellowship.

Voluntary, Equitable Sharing: Method of Caring (4:34-35)

Luke begins with the end result: There were no needy persons among them--an allusion to Deuteronomy 15:4. God's fulfillment of this covenant promise in the church demonstrates not only his faithfulness but also the fact that the church is the true Israel. In a voluntary, periodic fashion those with means sell real estate or houses, bring the proceeds and lay them at the apostles' feet.

Does this point to a customary practice in property transfer (Lake and Cadbury 1979:49), to an educational context (compare 22:3; Williams 1985:79) or to a political context (compare 2:35)? Whatever the background, it is clear that the apostles have full authority over the fund. As a development of the ad hoc arrangements of Acts 2:45 (see comment there), a common fund for the poor has been created, and the rich in the congregation keep it continuously supplied.

Jerusalem's tenuous local economy and Palestine's famines and political unrest placed some members in economic need. The displacement of the Galilean apostles and other members of the church's central core away from their normal means of livelihood, together with social and economic persecution, necessitated a ministry to meet economic needs (Longenecker 1981:310).

Should we see this process as normative for God's people in all times and all places? Whether because of Luke's supposedly unhistorical, idealized picture (L. T. Johnson 1981:129) or its supposed failure and lack of precedent in other churches (compare 11:27-30; 24:17; Rom 15:26) or the presence of examples that are really exceptions to the rule (Longenecker 1981:311), many have said this passage gives no normative teaching about structuring the church's common life. We must understand, however, that the structure Luke points to is not a coercive communism that dispenses with private property through once-for-all expropriation to a common fund. Luke never presents the system as a failure but rather sees all churches as living out not only their responsibility for the poor (Acts 20:35) but also their interdependence through caring for one another. The Jerusalem church just happened to be on the receiving end most of the time. Seen in this light, what Luke calls for is fully normative.

With a mindset of unity we will view our economic resources as available to meet others' needs. We will voluntarily, periodically supply our local assembly's common fund for the poor. Such a structure should not bind the Spirit's prompting to be generous as we encounter various needs, nor should it become a matter of obligation. If grace is on us, we will be gracious to others.

Barnabas: A Man Who Cared (4:36-37)

Joseph, nicknamed Barnabas by the apostles, is a positive example. Luke translates the nickname for us: Son of Encouragement, that is, one who habitually manifests this quality (Bruce 1990:160). Barnabas is a "bridge person," bringing diverse parties together so that the cause of Christ advances and both older and newer believers are encouraged (9:27; 11:22-23, 25; 15:3, 12, 25; 30-35). For Luke he embodies the fully integrated life of external witness and care for the church's internal needs of "a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith" (11:24). We learn he is a Levite, from the tribe of priests and temple staff. He is from Cyprus, which had a large Jewish population in the first century A.D. (Philo Legatio ad Gaium 282). He has a field suitable for growing crops; he sells it and brings the proceeds to the apostles.

Admirable but impractical? No, admirable and doable when we keep in step with the Spirit. Where are the Barnabases for today's church?