Acts 4:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See how wise their prayers are. When they asked that one worthy of the apostolate be shown to them, they cried out: "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show" (Acts 1:24), because foreknowledge was needed there. But here, when the mouths of adversaries had to be stopped, they speak of dominion. They lifted up their voice from joy and great zeal. Such prayers are truly successful: prayers filled with wisdom, made for such matters, by such people, in such circumstances, and in such a way. All others are unworthy and impure. See how they say nothing superfluous, but speak only of the power of the Lord.

“You, God, who made.” See how fitting the prayers of the apostles are. When they asked the Lord to show them a man suited for the apostolic ministry, they prayed thus: “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all” (Acts 1:24), because then there was need of foreknowledge. But now, when it was necessary to stop the mouths of their opponents, they cry out: “Master, You are God, who made heaven and earth.” Yet many heretics divide the Godhead, saying that one God is the Creator of the world and another is the Father of Christ. Therefore they also divide Scripture and say that the Old Testament is the Scripture of the God who created the world, while the New is that of the Father of Christ.

Such are the voices of the Church, from which every church took its beginning. Such are the voices of the commonwealth of the New Covenant. Such are the voices of the Apostles. Such are the voices of the disciples of the Lord, who after the Lord's Ascension were made perfect through the Spirit. They called upon God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, who had been proclaimed by the prophets, and upon His Son Jesus, whom God revealed. They knew no other God.

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.

The believers received them with joy and expressed their gratitude to God by a common prayer, which is the first example of the common prayer of Christians (Acts 4:24-30).

“They lifted up their voice with one accord and said.” This was not a prayer previously used in the newly formed community. Rather, it now poured forth involuntarily, as an improvisation from the stirred spirit of the believers. The whole composition of the speech testifies to this. Probably one of those present, perhaps Peter, expressed this prayerful disposition of spirit shared by all who had gathered. The rest of the community lifted up their voice with one accord, repeating what was uttered by one. They did this as the expression of the prayerful disposition of each person praying. Thus the prayer uttered by one was the prayer of the whole community (cf. note on Acts 1:24). “Master, God,” and so forth.

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.

The apostles and disciples of the Lord remained and prayed “with one accord together.” The Lord Himself established this union among them when He commanded them “not to depart from Jerusalem.” He had done so even earlier. When He taught them: “If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:19-20). A great aid in prayer is the unanimity of those who pray. Like the power of the Holy Spirit in His wondrous descent, the power of the united prayer of the Apostolic Church more than once extended its action from spiritual nature to material nature. By it, once, “the place where they were gathered” was shaken (Acts 4:31).