Acts 4:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They do not recount this from vainglory. How could they? Rather, here they bear witness to the manifestation of Christ’s grace. Therefore they repeat what the chief priests and elders said to them. Their own words they omit, yet even on this occasion they show still greater boldness. See how they again fled to true help, to the invincible Defender, and again with one accord and diligence. Their prayer was not offered casually. See the humility and wisdom of the apostles. They did not go everywhere boasting and saying how they had answered the priests. Nor did they vaunt themselves when telling the story. Rather, when they came, they simply reported what they had heard from the elders.

"And they reported." They report this not from vainglory, but to show the manifest testimonies of the grace of Christ.

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.

Peter and John reported to their own what the chief priests and elders had said to them. As earlier, so here the sacred historian does not define more closely the content of the threats with which Peter and John were released from the Sanhedrin hall. But the content of the prayer, with which the souls of the believers responded to the news of these threats, indicates it to us. This first known public Christian prayer is a petition. The believers pray to almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, for His defense against their persecutors. They ask Him to grant them strength to remain firm and fearless confessors of Christ’s name while suffering for Christ.

They came to their own, that is, to the house where the apostles and some of the believers were then staying. They were probably in prayer for the release of the arrested apostles and in expectation of the outcome of their case (cf. Acts 12:5). The sacred historian does not say where this was. Nor does he say who, or how many believers, were in the assembly. Any guesses about this would be vain, and they are unnecessary for explaining the substance of the narrative. “They reported what they had said,” and so forth. They reported not what they, the apostles, had said, but what the members of the Sanhedrin had threatened them with and commanded them to do (v. 29). This account of the dangers threatening the community and the cause of Christ moved the whole community to unanimous prayer.

The return of the apostles to the Christian community was, of course, joyful for all. The prisoners told what had happened to them. Then all with one accord glorified God, first as Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and then as Savior. He had shown the example of suffering for the common salvation. Petitions for deliverance from coming dangers were then joined to glorification. The apostles probably came to the house where the Christians especially often gathered for prayer. Perhaps they were praying there even then, asking the Lord for the release of those arrested (cf. Acts 12:5). One of the apostles first said the prayer of glorification for the apostles’ release, and the others repeated it after him.