Chapter 4
1 While they were still speaking to the people, the priests,
the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees[a] confronted them, 2
disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They laid hands on them and put them in custody
until the next day, since it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard
the word came to believe and [the] the number of men grew to [about] five thousand.
Before the Sanhedrin. 5 On the next day, their leaders,
elders and scribes were assembled in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest,
Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly class. 7 They
brought them into their presence and questioned them, “By what power or by what
name have you done this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, answered
them, “Leaders of the people and elders: 9 If we are being examined today about
a good deed was done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, 10 then all
of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of
Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in
his name this man stands before you healed. 11 He is ‘the stone rejected by
you,[b] the builders, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 [c]There is no
salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given
to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
13 Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving
them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they were amazed, and they recognized them
as the companions of Jesus. 14 Then when they saw the man who had been cured
standing there with them, they could say nothing in reply. 15 So they ordered them
to leave the Sanhedrin, and conferred with one another, saying, 16 “What are we
to do with these men? Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign
was done through them, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it may not be
spread any further among the people, let us give them a stern warning never
again to speak to anyone in this name.”
18 So they called them back and ordered them not to speak or
teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 Peter and John, however, said to them in
reply, “Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than
God, you be the judges. 20 It is impossible for us not to speak about what we
have seen and heard.” 21 After threatening them further, they released them,
finding no way to punish them, on account of the people who were all praising
God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing had been
done was over forty years old.
Prayer of the Community. 23 After their release they went
back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had
told them. 24 And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one
accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all
that is in them, 25 you said by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father
David, your servant:
‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples entertain folly?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand and the princes
gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.’
27 Indeed they gathered in this city against your holy
servant Jesus whom you anointed, Herod[d] and Pontius Pilate, together with the
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do what your hand and [your] will have
long ago planned to take place. 29 And now, Lord, take note of their threats,
and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30 as you
stretch forth [your] hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the
name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 [e]As they prayed, the place where they
were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Life in the Christian Community.[f] 32 The community of
believers were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his
possessions were his own, but they had everything in common. 33 With great power
the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great the favor was accorded them all. 34 There was no needy person among them, for those
who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale,
35 and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each
according to need.
36 Thus Joseph, also named by the apostles Barnabas (which
is translated “son of encouragement”), a Levite, a Cypriot by birth, 37 sold a
piece of property that he owned, then brought the money and put it at the feet
of the apostles.
Footnotes
4:1 The priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the
Sadducees: the priests performed the temple liturgy; the temple guard was
composed of Levites, whose captain ranked next after the high priest. The
Sadducees, a party within Judaism at this time, rejected those doctrines,
including bodily resurrection, which they believed alien to the ancient Mosaic
religion. The Sadducees were drawn from priestly families and from the lay
aristocracy.
4:11 Early Christianity applied this citation from Ps 118:22
to Jesus; cf. Mk 12:10; 1 Pt 2:7.
4:12 In the Roman world of Luke’s day, salvation was often
attributed to the emperor who was hailed as “savior” and “god.” Luke, in the
words of Peter, denies that deliverance comes through anyone other than Jesus.
4:27 Herod: Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee and Perea from 4
B.C. to A.D. 39, who executed John the Baptist and before whom Jesus was
arraigned; cf. Lk 23:6–12.
4:31 The place…shook: the earthquake is used as a sign of
the divine presence in Ex 19:18; Is 6:4. Here the shaking of the building
symbolizes God’s favorable response to the prayer. Luke may have had as an
additional reason for using the symbol in this sense the fact that it was
familiar in the Hellenistic world. Ovid and Virgil also employ it.
4:32–37 This is the second summary characterizing the
Jerusalem community (see note on Acts 2:42–47). It emphasizes the system of the
distribution of goods and introduces Barnabas, who appears later in Acts as the
friend and companion of Paul, and who, as noted here (Acts 4:37), endeared
himself to the community by a donation of money through the sale of the property.
This sharing of material possessions continues a practice that Luke describes
during the historical ministry of Jesus (Lk 8:3) and is in accord with the
sayings of Jesus in Luke’s gospel (Lk 12:33; 16:9, 11, 13).
Source Catholic Bible: New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)
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