Acts 4:3

Act_4:3-4

And they laid hands upon them … Howbeit many of them which heard the Word believed.

The impotence and benefit of persecution

1. Peter had boasted, I am ready to go with Thee to prison. He was not ready then, and hence the folly of his boast. He was ready now, and so did not boast, but doubtless reflected on his Masters words, Thou shalt follow Me afterwards.

2. The time-honoured method of the opponents of truth was here practised, No case; abuse defendants attorney. You cant refute the preacher; lock him up. The only answer that pagan Rome had for Christians was prison and death; the only answer that papal Rome has is the same.

3. But the policy does not answer. The preachers as cheerfully accept the prison as the pulpit when their Master bids them, and may take as theirs the crest--an ox with the plough on one side and the altar on the other, with the legend, Ready for either. Ready for work or for sacrifice, Nor does the policy answer in another sense. You may silence the teacher, but you cannot silence the truth. In the case before us many believed.

I. In spite of the apostles imprisonment. Gods work goes on whether His agents are bound or free, living or dead. It is independent of its best and worthiest supporters. Peter and John are in prison, but the fact that many believed shows that even the chief among the apostles are not indispensable. How foolish, then, the unbelieving anxiety expressed in the question about this or that distinguished minister, Who can take his place? Plenty, if God wills; if not the Holy Ghost will take his place.

1. The preacher is imprisoned or dead, but the Word which does the work is not. Fragments of the Bible left behind by the missionaries in Madagascar did more for Christianity than their vocal teaching.

2. The preacher is imprisoned or dead, but his teaching and example are not. They remain in the memory to influence the life. The stone sinks in the water, but the ripples on the lake extend till they reach either shore.

II. Because of the apostles imprisonment. Their endurance of persecution for the truth was a guarantee of their sincerity, and an exhibition of the power of the gospel on themselves. It is an easy thing to preach when Christianity is popular, but when unpopular, and when men notwithstanding are prepared to endure bonds or death rather than be silent about it--this shows that they believe in and enjoy the mighty power they preach. So in the milder forms of affliction. How many powerful sermons are silently preached from sick beds! (J. W. Burn.)

Persecution a stimulus

A certain amount of persecution rouses a mans defiance, stirs his blood for magnificent battle, and makes him fifty times more a man than he would have been without the persecution. So it was with the great reformer when he said, I will not be put down; I will be heard. And so it was with Millard, the preacher, in the time of Louis XI. When Louis XI. sent word to him that unless he stopped preaching in that style he would throw him into the river, he replied, Tell the king that I will reach heaven sooner by water than he will reach it by fast horses. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

Persecution for well-doing

Sad, that so good news should find so bad entertainment! but happy for some, that as it was raised for so good a Word (Mat_13:21), so occasioned by so good a deed done to an impotent man. Such may ever our sufferings be, that if a black shadow must needs follow us, it may be only because we walk in the light; and that if it prove our lot to hear and fare ill, it may be for doing well (1Pe_3:17; 1Pe_4:16; Joh_10:32). (A. Tuckney, D. D.)

Peter and John before the council

I. The arrest was brought about--

1. While the service was being held (verse 1). The devil has a keen aversion to the proclaiming of the gospel, and will stop it if he can.

2. By ecclesiastical officials. In proportion as Christ is exalted, the Jewish idea of an official priesthood must lose its hold upon the minds of men.

3. By men who felt deeply--grieved. The preaching of the gospel causes heaven to rejoice, and it brings joy to those who receive it, but these men were grieved because of it. How thoroughly even religious men may be out of touch with sympathies that emanate from God! What a pity there should be so much deep feeling wrongly directed! There has been quite a Niagara of human emotion, which, during the Christian ages, has spent itself in win in dashing against the impregnable rock of Christian verities.

II. The detention. Tim apostles had started out to visit the temple at the hour of the evening sacrifice, but as that evening closed they themselves offered a sacrifice with which the Lord would be well pleased. The bars and bolts of the strong door might keep them in, but they could not keep Jesus out. Even on earth suffering saints have Often found what Thomas Cooper calls the paradise of martyrs.

III. The trial.

1. Christ was honoured.

2. There was a word for the rulers.

3. There was a word for everybody.

IV. The result.

1. The rulers were impressed.

2. The apostles were threatened.

3. The apostles were released.

4. God was glorified. To Peter and John this would be an all-sufficient recompense. (H. Thorne.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 4:3. Εἰς τήρησιν, in confinement, custody) So Peter and John were sharpened (exercised) in faith.—αὔριον, the morrow, the next day) The morrow is here put for the next day, by Mimesis (i.e. using the words which were probably used by the persons committing the apostles to prison: Append.). [On that night what great things we may suppose occurred (passed) in the souls of those great apostles!—V. g.]—ἑσπέρα, evening) of that day, the morning of which is in ch. Act 3:1.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_4:3. Εἰς τήρησιν] into custody, i.e. into prison. Comp. Thuc. vii. 86. 1; Act_5:18.

ἑσπέρα] as they had gone to the temple at the ninth hour, and so at the beginning of the first evening (Act_3:1), the second evening, which commenced at the twelfth hour, had probably already begun. See on Mat_14:15.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 4:3 . ἐπέβαλον αὐτοῖς τὰς χεῖρας : the verb is always as here joined with the same noun in Acts, and twice in the Gospel; the phrase is found once in Matthew and Mark, and twice in John; see Luk 20:19 ; Luk 21:12 , Act 4:3 ; Act 5:18 ; Act 12:1 ; Act 21:27 , cf. in LXX, Gen 22:12 , 2Sa 18:12 ; Est 6:2 , so also in Polybius. τήρησιν , cf. Act 5:18 , only used elsewhere in N.T. by St. Paul, 1Co 7:19 ; in Thuc., vii., 86 (Wendt), it denotes not only the act of guarding, but also a place of custody. Five times in LXX, but in the former sense. For another instance of its meaning as a place of custody (see Deissmann, Neue Bibelstudien , p. 55), on papyrus in Egypt, second or third century after Christ. ἦν γὰρ ἑσπέρα ἤδη , cf. Act 3:1 , the judicial examination must therefore be postponed until the next day, see Jer 21:12 , on which it appears that the Rabbis founded this prohibition against giving judgment in the night (Lumby and Felten, in loco ). ἑσπέρα : only in St. Luke in the N.T., Luk 24:29 , Act 4:3 (Act 20:15 , W.H [147] margin) and Act 28:23 .

[147] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(3) It was now eventide.—The narrative started, it will be remembered, from 3 P.M. (Act_3:1). The “eventide” began at 6 P.M.

Put them in hold.—Literally, in custody. In Act_5:18, the word is translated “prison.” The old noun survives in our modern word “strong-hold.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. and put them in hold] i.e. in prison. The word means ward, safe keeping. And it is worth noticing on the use of it, that the Jews only employed imprisonment for this precautionary purpose. It was not a mode of punishment with them, and where we find mention of it so used in the Scripture records, the authorities who inflicted it were not Jewish.

unto the next day: for it was now eventide] The Jews were not allowed to give judgment in the night, and their day ceased with the twelfth hour. It was already about the ninth hour when Peter and John were going up to the Temple (Act_3:1), so that before the address of Peter and the arrest of him and John was completed it would be too late to enter on a judicial enquiry. The Rabbis founded the prohibition on Jer_21:12, “O house of David, thus saith the Lord, Execute judgment in the morning.” In Mishna Sanhedrin iv. 1 it is said: “Judgments about money may be commenced in the day and concluded in the night, but judgments about life must be begun in the day and concluded in the day.” And even the rule about the declaration of the new moon, which was looked on as a judicial proceeding, is similarly regulated (Mishna Rosh ha-Shanah iii. 1), and it may not be declared unless the examination of the witnesses, and all other preliminaries enjoined before its proclamation, be completed before dark.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they laid hands on them,.... The Arabic version renders it, "on both"; on Peter and John; seized them by force, and drew them out of the temple:

and put them in hold unto the next day; not in the common public prison, as in Act 5:18 but they put them into the hands, and under the care and custody of a set of men, to keep and guard them; that they might not go away, until they had an opportunity of bringing them before the sanhedrim, to be examined and punished by them:

for it was now eventide; it was at the ninth hour, or about three o'clock in the afternoon, when Peter and John went up to the temple, where they healed the lame man; after which, both of them preached to the people; so that it must now be evening; at least, as the Syriac version renders it, "the evening was near", or was drawing on.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.

Ver. 3. Put them in hold] In the sergeant’s ward, τηρησις, not in the jail or dungeon. God doth by degrees inure his to suffer hardship. Pauciores (saith Cajuto in an epistle to the brethren of Basilea) vobiscum perimuntur, quod ita Domino visum est, ut stabiliantur seu lenibus pluviis, et sementis mollioribus plantulae in arbores maximas proditurae. God tempteth not his above what they are able, 1Co 10:13.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Put them in hold - That is, they took them into “custody,” or into safe keeping. Probably they committed them to the care of a guard.

Eventide - Evening. It was not convenient to assemble the council at night. This was, moreover, the time for the evening prayer or sacrifice, and it was not usual to assemble the Sanhedrin at that hour.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Put them in hold; some think this not to have been so strait a custody as that of a prison, but that rather the apostles were delivered to some who promised that they should be forthcoming. The prediction of our Saviour began now to be fulfilled, Luk 21:12.

They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you. Howsoever, God was pleased to suffer persecution to come by degrees on his church; after the sun was down, (Christ was gone from them), it was not presently pitch darkness with them. God always remembers his people’s condition, and his own promise, and lays no more upon them than they are able to bear.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. In hold—Detention or imprisonment.

Eventide—Evening time. The old word tide signified time. The Jews had a double eve; the one beginning at about three o’clock, prayer time, (see note on Act_3:1,) and the other at six o’clock or sundown. The proceeding at this time had just filled the interval between the two.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ward for hold, A.V. (see ver. 18); morrow for next day, A.V. They laid hands on them. The harsh persecution of the disciples at Jerusalem at this time when the Sadducees were in power is in exact accordance with Josephus"s statement in the passage just referred to, that the Sadducees were more severe and cruel in their administration of justice than any other Jews. Their tenet of no life to come made them look to severe punishments in this life.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK.

The first prisoners for Christ.

It appears that by this time the movements of the apostles were beginning to be an object of serious concern to the religious authorities in Jerusalem. Probably the Sadducee party, which succeeded in securing our Lord"s death, was still predominant in the great council; this is indicated by the prominence given to the Resurrection" by the enemies of the disciples. In addition to the general annoyance at the public preaching of the apostles, the officials of the temple were grieved at the crowding of the people round the new teachers in the temple courts. So in the name of order, but really in the spirit of jealousy, they were arrested, late in the evening, and put in safe keeping until the next day. Jewish rules did not allow judgment to be given at night. Imprisonment was only a precautionary measure; the Jews did not punish by imprisonment. Where mention is made of it, as used for punishment, in the Scripture records, the authorities who inflicted it were not Jewish. The point to which we now direct attention is, that a confession of moral impotence is made in all physical attempts to stop and crush teachers. Intellectual and moral error can only be fairly met by the teaching of the corrective truth. O nly when men fail to conquer by reasoning, can they wish to take up material weapons of any kind. When reason fails then men imprison, and beat, and torture, and kill. And physical forces never can succeed in crushing moral ones. It has been true for every age, and is as true as ever today, that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Physical restraints are only proper in relation to wrongs that disturb the social order. They are wholly out of place in connection with matters of opinion.

I THESE PRISONERS WERE ONLY TEACHERS. They only talked to the people. They only appealed to mind and judgment. They only announced some new truths. They only invited the people"s belief. Part of the offence against them arose from the known fact that they were unlearned and ignorant men; not specially trained rabbis, and so not regarded as fit to preach. An instance of the class-prejudice which sadly prevails still. Illustrate from the story of great missionaries. They have only been teachers, yet how often, in different countries, they have excited prejudice and suffered persecution! The same is still, in measure, true of all great thought-leaders; all men who are "before their time" must expect to be misunderstood and persecuted.

II THESE PRISONERS TAUGHT NOTHING AFFECTING SOCIAL ORDER. They did not encourage vice or lawlessness. They did not interfere with family life, local government, social customs, or politics. Like their Master, they dealt with broad and general principles, expecting these, when implanted, to gain their own growth and expressions. Even their little excitement in the temple courts, and temporary interference with the temple order, was a matter of no moment. There was no occasion for the temple police to interfere with them.

III THESE PRISONERS TAUGHT NOTHING AFFECTING CEREMONIAL RITES. There were, indeed, personal examples of diligent and devout Mosaism; strict in all matters of ceremonial duty. They never uttered a word that could be regarded as disrespectful to the temple or the Jewish system. They never tried to break one single person away from his ceremonial duties. Their teachings were within Judaism, and the most jealous conservators of the old system had no good reason for fearing their influence. This, however, applies to true Mosaism, and not to the burdensome ritual added by the rabbis, against which both our Lord and his disciples vigorously pleaded. But on this particular occasion the apostles had not even attacked the rabbinical system.

IV THE TEACHINGS OF THESE PRISONERS ACTUALLY TENDED TO PRESERVE SOCIAL ORDER AND MAKE BETTER CITIZENS. Such is everywhere the natural results of the preaching of Christ and the teaching of Christianity. Loyalty to Christ helps to secure loyalty to the earthly ruler, and the virtues Christianity cultivates find their expression in the social and national spheres. Then why were these men arrested? Because the men in power were jealous of the influence they were gaining, and feared they would lose their own authority and influence on the people. Self-seeking is at the root of all religious persecution. And because the men who opposed them could not meet and answer them in argument, they had to fall back upon the unworthy weapons of threatening and force (see vers. 16, 17). Impress that no physical bonds have ever yet been forged that could bind in the truth. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 1

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Put them in hold. In prison until the next day, for it was now late in the evening.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

3. τήρησιν, ward, safe keeping, i.e. in a prison-house. And it is worth noticing on the use of it, that the Jews only employed imprisonment for this precautionary purpose. It was not a mode of punishment with them, and where we find mention of it so used in the Scripture records, the authorities who inflicted it were not Jewish.

ἑσπέρα ἤδη, already eventide. The Apostles had gone up to the Temple about the ninth hour, so sundown would soon come on, and the Jews were not allowed to give judgment in the night, while their day ceased at the twelfth hour. The Rabbis founded the prohibition on Jer 21:12, ‘O house of David, thus saith the Lord, Execute judgment in the morning.’ In Mishna Sanhedrin IV. 1 it is said: ‘Judgments about money may be commenced in the day and concluded in the night, but judgments about life must be begun in the day and concluded in the day.’ And even the rule about the declaration of the new moon, which was looked on as a judicial proceeding, is similarly regulated (Mishna Rosh ha-Shanah III. 1), and it may not be declared unless the examination of the witnesses and all other preliminaries enjoined before its proclamation be completed before dark.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3.] ἑσπέρα, perhaps, from their adjourning the case till the next day, the second evening, beginning with the twelfth hour: see Mat 14:15, and note.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In hold [εις τηρησιν] . A somewhat antiquated rendering. Better, as Rev., in ward. See on 1Pe 1:4.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.