Acts 4:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The apostles were asked, “By what power, or by whose name, have you done this?” Perhaps they did not expect them to dare speak before the Sanhedrin as openly as before the common people. Yet the apostles, without hesitation, declared that the lame man who had lain at the temple had been raised by them in the name of Jesus. He was the One crucified by them, that is, according to the decree of the Sanhedrin. They added that this Jesus, as He Himself had declared to them, is indeed the stone rejected by the builders, which has become the head of the corner. They were recognized. John was known to one of the chief priests. Their boldness amazed the members of the Sanhedrin. Yet it was impossible to deny the miracle. The people were on their side, since they were not disposed toward the Sadducees. Therefore they decided only to forbid them to preach any longer to anyone “in this name.” Peter and John answered that they must obey God rather than men. They were merely threatened and released with the same command.

But the healed man, who was there with the apostles, stood as silent and irrefutable confirmation of the truth of the apostolic testimony. Then, having sent the accused out, they conferred about how to proceed. The opponents of Christ openly confessed among themselves that the truth was on the side of the accused. Nevertheless, after calling the apostles back, they strictly forbade them to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But the apostles answered: “Judge whether it is right before God to listen to you rather than to God. We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (vv. 19-20). The apostles had received directly from Christ Himself the appointment to be His witnesses throughout the whole world, and first of all in Jerusalem. Yet Christ Himself had once said: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do” (Mt 23:2-3). Therefore the apostles had to show obedience to the Sanhedrin as guardian of this order. They owed this not only according to their former purely Jewish concepts and beliefs. They owed it also on the basis of the Lord’s teaching that, even with the opening of the New Testament, the Old Testament order of things would continue for a time. Thus two duties were demanded of the apostles at the same time. These duties stood in such a relation to one another that, by fulfilling one, they violated the other. Yet the apostles did not deliberate over how to escape this difficulty. Calmly and firmly they declared that in this case they could not be obedient. They had to fulfill a higher commandment, the commandment of God Himself. On the other hand, their own conscience did not permit them to be silent. It did not permit them to conceal the truth concerning that of which they were firmly and unquestionably convinced by experience.

Of some of those events, at least, they could not have been ignorant. What, indeed, was taking place before their eyes? This was a question over which some members may from that time have begun to ponder more seriously. An echo of this may perhaps be recognized in one respected member of the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel (cf. Acts 5:34 ff.). Let us also remember Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Nor should we overlook the fact that no special activity of the Pharisees is mentioned here. Yet in the sessions of the Sanhedrin against the Lord, they were especially active. Were they not shaken, at least some of them, concerning the matter of Christ? And was this not, among other things, the reason for their irresolute actions against the apostles?

And so they asked one another: “What shall we do with these men?” Earlier, after Jesus Christ raised Lazarus, they had asked, “What shall we do with Jesus?” Caiaphas decided that it was better for one man to perish than for all to perish (cf. Jn 11:50). Now, plainly, such danger did not appear as it had then. Some interpreters explain the calmer treatment of the apostles, as compared with Jesus Christ, by the fact that the Sadducees now held greater sway in the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees are almost unnoticed here, whereas they had been the especially fierce opponents of Jesus Christ. It was then fitting for Him to suffer in order to enter into His glory. But the apostles still had great labors of evangelization before them. Therefore Divine Providence protected them. As Providence shut the mouths of lions at the sight of the defenseless Daniel, so it restrained a whole assembly of judges before a solitary pair of humble apostles. They spoke only of what was infinitely higher than the vain trifles of life. With such trifles the time and interests of self-loving, flesh-pleasing Sadducees were filled. Many of them said, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (1 Cor 15:32; cf. Lk 12:19).