Acts 4:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Here they name God instead of Christ. Do you see how what Christ said to them was now fulfilled? "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves." "Therefore do not fear" (Mt 10:16, 31).

Honorable governor! In all our affairs we have one Judge and King, against whom men now rise up. He will also judge us now for the ordination which we performed lawfully and according to His will. It is very easy for you, if you wish, to do us violence in some other matter. But no one will take from us the right to defend a matter accomplished by us lawfully and justly, unless you issue another law forbidding us to dispose even of our own affairs.

The imperial command began to be proclaimed throughout the city by the Greek prefect: no one should dare interpret the faith or start disputes about it, but all should follow the will of the king. This also reached the hearing of Saint Theodore. He said to those who reported it: “Whether it is right to listen to you rather than to God, judge.” It is better to have one’s tongue cut out than to be silent and not defend the true faith when men attempt to distort it. From that time he began fearlessly to teach all and to persuade them to hold firmly to the right faith handed down by the Fathers. He summoned some to himself, went himself to others, and wrote letters to still others. He often went also to the Patriarch, both to be mutually comforted by the common faith and to encourage him to endure the coming sorrows and persecutions with good courage.

It goes without saying that this prohibition and threat had no effect on the apostles. They returned home after they had experienced the first persecution for the name of Christ. They had also seen the first experience of the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ had foretold that it would not be they who spoke at the trial, but the Holy Spirit. Therefore they made it their first task to pray to God that He would continue His help to them. They asked for signs and wonders for the conversion of unbelievers. And when they received a new sign in confirmation of God’s good pleasure, the place where they prayed was shaken. Then they preached the gospel with still greater boldness.

The courage and resolute, firm assurance with which the apostles presented their testimony concerning Christ made such an impression on the judges that they were amazed. At first they did not know what to say. Their astonishment increased when they noticed that the accused were unlettered and simple men. Among such men the teachers of the people were not accustomed to meet opposition. Looking attentively at the accused and pondering what this might mean, they at last remembered that these very persons belonged, with others, to the close circle of Christ’s disciples. This supposition probably revealed the whole matter to them in its true form. Naturally, their malice against the name of Jesus now boiled up again with still greater force.

"They said to them in answer," and so forth: with astonishing courage and boldness Peter and John answer the members of the Sanhedrin to their threats and prohibitions. They appeal to the judgment of the Sanhedrin's own conscience: would they, the Apostles, act justly if they obeyed them, the members of the Sanhedrin, rather than God, who commanded them to preach the salvation of the world in Christ Jesus?

The apostles’ answer to the decree of the Sanhedrin is as firm as it is reasonable. It bears witness to their complete devotion to God, and also to the work of preaching Christ. Having become moral judges of the members of the Sanhedrin, the apostles now appeal to their understanding. They ask them to judge for the apostles whom they ought to obey more, them or God. They had spoken with complete clarity about acting in His name. But the members of the Sanhedrin could no longer reason, much less openly express their judgments. Therefore the apostles say that they cannot but speak of what they had witnessed. “The conviction gained by experience among men pure in heart and enlightened in faith always acts decisively.