Crosscultural Evangelism

Facing Opposition Acts
4:1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, :2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. :3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. :4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

The first persecution of the infant church was about to break out.

True to pattern, it arose from the religious leaders. The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees rose up against the apostles.

Scroggie suggests that the priests represent religious intolerance; the captain of the temple, political enmity; and the Sadducees, rationalistic unbelief. The Sadducees denied the doctrine of resurrection. This brought them into open conflict with the apostles, since the resurrection was the keynote of apostolic preaching!

Spurgeon sees a parallel: The Sadducees, as you know, were the Broad School, the liberals, the advanced thinkers, the modern-thought people of the day. If you want a bitter sneer, a biting sarcasm, or a cruel action, I commend you to these large-hearted gentlemen. They are liberal to everybody, except to those who hold the truth; and for those they have a reserve of concentrated bitterness which far excels wormwood and gall. They are so liberal to their brother errorists that they have no tolerance to spare for evangelicals.

These leaders resented the fact that the apostles were teaching the people; they felt this was their sole prerogative. Then, too, they were angered by the proclamation in Jesus of the resurrection from the dead. If Jesus had risen from among the dead, then the Sadducees were discredited.

In verse 2, the expression resurrection from the dead is important because it disproves the popular idea of a general resurrection at the end of the world. This passage and others speak of resurrection out from among dead ones. In other words, some will be raised while others (unbelievers) will remain in the grave until a later time.

The leaders decided to hold the apostles under a sort of house arrest until the next day, since it was getting late. (The miracle of healing in chapter 3 had been performed around 3:00 p.m.) In spite of official opposition, many people turned to the Lord. About five thousand men (Gk. andres, “males”) are mentioned as entering the Christian fellowship. Commentators are disagreed whether this included the three thousand saved at Pentecost. It does not include women and children.

Acts 4:5 And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, :6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.

The next day, the religious council, known as the Sanhedrin, sat as a court of inquiry, intending to put a stop to the activities of these public nuisances. All they succeeded in doing was to give the apostles another chance to witness for Christ!

Acts 4:7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”

The trial opened by their asking the apostles by what power or by what name they had performed the miracle. Peter stepped forward to deliver his third successive public confession of Christ in Jerusalem. It was a priceless opportunity to preach the gospel to the religious establishment, and he seized it eagerly and fearlessly.

Acts 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
:9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made
well, :10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before
you whole. :11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief
cornerstone.’ :12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given
among men by which we must be saved.”

First he reminded them that they were unhappy because the apostles had performed a good deed … to a
helpless man. Though Peter didn’t say it, the healed man had begged at the gate of the temple, and the rulers
had never been able to heal him.

Then the apostle delivered a thunderbolt by announcing that it was in the name of Jesus … whom they had
crucified that the man was cured. God had raised Jesus from the dead, and it was by His power that the
miracle had been performed.

The Jews did not have any place for Jesus in their building scheme, so they rejected and crucified Him. But
God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him in heaven.

The rejected stone thus became the chief cornerstone, the indispensable stone that completes the structure.
And He is indispensable. There is no salvation without Him. He is the exclusive Savior. No other name under
heaven has been given among men for salvation, and it is by this name alone that we must be saved.

As we read verses 8–12, let us remember that these words were spoken by the same man who had denied
the Lord three times with oaths and curses.

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were
uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Dry, formal religion is ever intolerant of enthusiastic, vital evangelism that produces results in hearts and lives.

Its leaders are nonplussed to see uneducated and untrained men making an impact on the community while
they with all their wisdom “fail to rise above flesh and blood.”

In the New Testament there is no distinction between clergy and laity. This distinction is a relic brought over
from Romanism.

John Huss fought and died in Czechoslovakia for the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, and the
Hussite symbol to this present day is the communion cup standing upon the open Bible.

It was this truth of a royal priesthood and every believer a witness that was the dynamic force in the early
Church. Without the aid of any modern equipment, or transportation, or translation and publication of the
Word, the Gospel of God’s grace shook the whole Empire until there were saints even in Caesar’s household.

God is calling us back to primitive Christianity…. What are your thoughts?

The Sanhedrin was struck by the boldness of Peter and John. They would like to have brushed them aside as
uneducated and ignorant fishermen from Galilee. But there was something about their self-control, their
empowered lives, their fearlessness that made them think of Jesus when he was on trial. They attributed the
boldness of the apostles to the fact that they had been with Jesus in the past, but the real explanation was
that they were filled with the Holy Spirit now… What can we learn from this?

Acts 4:14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Acts 4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among
themselves, :16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been
done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

Acts 4:17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from
now on they speak to no man in this name.”

Acts 4:18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to
listen to you more than to God, you judge. :20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen
and heard.”

Peter and John could not agree to such a restriction. Their first loyalty and responsibility was to God, not to man.

If they were honest, the rulers would have to admit this. The apostles had witnessed the resurrection and ascension of Christ. They had sat under His teaching day after day. They were responsible to bear witness to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What can we learn from this?

Acts 4:21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. :22 For the man was
over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

The weakness of the rulers’ position is seen in the fact that they could not punish the apostles; all the people knew that a gracious miracle had taken place.

The healed man, over forty years old, was well known, because his sad plight had been displayed publicly for a long time. So all the Sanhedrin could do was to dismiss the accused apostles with further threats.

Acts 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

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