Acts 4 Footnotes

4:1-3 Having legal authority over the temple area, the Sanhedrin had the apostles placed in custody for preaching the resurrection. (A Sanhedrin trial was not to take place at night.) The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, claiming they did not find it in the OT.

4:9 Peter boldly proclaimed that the lame man had been healed through the name of Jesus. The worshipers who witnessed what happened praised God; the religious leaders were more concerned with how he was healed than that he was well.

4:12 Peter’s message of salvation through Christ alone echoed Jesus’s own words in Jn 14:6.

4:19 Disobedience to the Sanhedrin was based on what the apostles themselves had witnessed. Despite threats, they prayed for divinely empowered boldness (v. 29).

4:32-36 Distributing possessions was no problem while the Christians shared a unified purpose to provide for those in need. The wealthy Joseph (Barnabas) serves as a positive example of this Christian communalism.