Acts 4:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It says that the captain of the temple was with them. This was so that, by such circumstances, they might give the matter the character of a public charge and make it seem not their own affair.

They always try to act so. "And they put them in custody until the morning." Thus the Jews acted with the Apostles and kept guard over them, desiring to humble them.

Meanwhile the lengthened time made the Apostles more fearless. The priests bound them before the people in order to make the spectators themselves more timid. Yet the opposite happened.

They questioned the Apostles privately, fearing that their boldness might influence the hearers.

The Apostles were asked, "By what power, or by whose name, have you done this?" Perhaps they did not expect them to dare to speak before the Sanhedrin as openly as before the common people.

Yet the Apostles declared without hesitation that the lame man who had lain at the temple was raised up by them in the name of Jesus, whom they had crucified, that is, by the decree of the Sanhedrin.

They added that this Jesus, as He Himself had declared to them, truly is the stone rejected by the builders, but become the head of the corner.

They were recognized: John was known to one of the chief priests. Their boldness astonished the members of the Sanhedrin. Yet the miracle could not be denied.

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 had to obey God rather than men. They were only threatened and released with the same prohibition.

In the present case they were irritated because the Apostles, by preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ, thereby taught in general about the resurrection from the dead.

This irritated them as Sadducees. But as members of the Sanhedrin and of the Jewish hierarchy generally, they were also vexed that the Apostles were teaching the people at all.

In this respect they agreed with all the priests. The latter saw in the teaching activity of simple men a usurpation of rights belonging only to themselves.

They saw damage to their authority as teachers of the people and guides in matters of faith. They feared the loss of their religious and moral influence over the people.

The guardian of external order could see, in simple men gathering crowds around themselves and teaching in one of the temple porticoes, both a breach of external decorum and order and the danger of popular agitation in any sense by the preachers.

Could the murderers of the Lord leave His disciples in peace? For this reason it seems probable that the arrest of Peter and John was carried out by order of the people's authorities.

The miracle of healing the lame man and Peter's speech to the people were only the external occasion for it. "They put them in custody," probably in prison (cf. Acts 5:18).

"Until morning, for it was already evening." The Apostles healed the lame man while going to the temple for prayer at the ninth hour, that is, at three o'clock in the afternoon.

Some time had to pass between the healing of the lame man and Peter's speech to the people. The speech itself, of which the writer likely gives only the substance, as is customary, certainly lasted no little time.

Thus the arrest of the Apostles took place only in the evening, when it was too late to assemble the Sanhedrin. There was also no special need for haste.

There they could strengthen, instruct, and teach the newly converted, preparing them to receive the Holy Mysteries and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This happened after hands had been laid on the Apostles, that is, after they had been bound. Clearly, reverence for the miracle of the Apostles' speaking in various tongues grew a hundredfold in its power of influence.

Those prepared for faith by a new miracle, the healing of the lame man, felt this power. In essence this miracle was lesser than the first, but it was more concrete, more evident, and therefore more striking.

It acted first upon hearts and minds, and then upon the will, in the face of an unfitting persecution of holy wonderworkers and wondrous God-speaking preachers.

Drawing attention to this persecution, blessed Theophylact says: "Turn your gaze to the Jews' progress in malice and shamelessness. Earlier, during Christ's time, they sought a man to betray Him."

"Now they themselves lay hands on them, having become more daring and shameless after the Cross. It says that the captain of the temple was with them."

"This was so that, by such circumstances, they might give the matter the character of a public charge and make it seem not their own. They always try to act so."

"And they put them in custody until the morning. Thus the Jews acted with the Apostles and kept guard over them. Meanwhile the lengthened time made the Apostles more fearless."