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Luke has painted an
idyllic picture of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. Its
members, having received forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, were
conscientious in their learning from the
apostles, their worship of God, their care of one another and their
witness to those as yet outside their fellowship. Everything was
sweetness and light. Love, joy and peace reigned. Commissioned by Christ
and empowered by his Spirit, they stood on the threshold of the great
missionary adventure which Luke is going to describe. The good
ship *Christ-church* was ready to catch the wind of the Spirit and to
set sail on her voyage of spiritual conquest. But
almost immediately a perilous storm blew up, a storm of such ferocity
that the church's very existence was threatened. Alternatively, we
might say that, if the chief actor in the story of Acts 1 and 2 is the
Holy Spirit, the chief actor in Acts 3 - 6 almost seems to be
Satan. True, he is identified only once by name, but his activity
may be discerned throughout. His one
specific mention is when Peter confronts Ananias: `Ananias, how is
it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy
Spirit...?' (5:3). Here the Holy Spirit and that evil
spirit often called the devil stand in opposition to one another.
According to outward appearance, two men faced each other, and one of
them lied to the other, but Peter had the spiritual discernment to see
behind the appearance of the unseen reality: Satan had lied to God
(5:3-4). Indeed, Satan had filled Ananias' heart to induce him to do so
- a kind of diabolical equivalent to Peter's being filled with the
Spirit.
For a full understanding of the early church we need to read *the Acts
of the Apostles* and *The Book of Revelation* side by side. Both
tell much the same tale of the church and its
experience of conflict, but from a different perspective. Luke in
Acts chronicles what unfolded on the stage of history before the eyes of
observers; John in the Revelation enables us to see the hidden forces at
work. In the Acts human beings oppose and undermine the church; in the
Revelation the curtain is lifted and we see the hostility of the devil
himself, depicted as an enormous red dragon, aided and abetted by two
grotesque monsters and a lewd prostitute. Indeed the Revelation is a
vision of the age-long battle between the Lamb and the dragon, Christ
and Satan, Jerusalem the holy city and Babylon the great city, the
church and the world. Moreover, it can hardly be a coincidence that the
symbolism of the dragon's three allies in Revelation corresponds to the
devil's three weapons wielded against the church in the early chapters
of Acts, that is, persecution, moral compromise, and the danger of
exposure to false teaching when the apostles became distracted
from their chief responsibility, namely, `the
ministry of the Word and prayer'.
The devil's crudest weapon was physical violence, and Luke describes two
outbreaks of persecution by the Sanhedrin. In the first Peter and
John are arrested, jailed, tried, forbidden to preach, warned and
released (4:1-22); in the second they and others (`the apostles' in
general) are arrested, jailed and tried, and this time flogged before
being again forbidden to preach and released. Luke sees this as a
fulfilment of Jesus' own predictions, which he has recorded in his
Gospel, that his disciples would be hated, insulted and rejected
(Lk.6:22,26), brought to trial before `rulers and authorities' (Lk. 12:11), and
persecuted and imprisoned on account of his name (Lk. 21:12ff). It
is noteworthy that the structure Luke adopts in chapters
3 and 4 is the same as in chapter 2. First, he describes from the
spectator's viewpoint a miraculous event - in chapter 2 the coming of
the Spirit (2:1-13), in chapter 3 the healing of the cripple
(3:1-10). The story is told in an objective, matter-of-fact way,
although in both cases the crowd are said to have been utterly amazed
and `unable to explain' what had happened (JB, 2:7, 12;3:10). Secondly,
Luke records a speech by Peter which takes the miraculous event as its
text and interprets it in such a way as to glorify Christ, whom his
hearers had killed, but God had raised, as the apostles had witnessed.
In addition, the now exalted Christ had both poured out the Spirit and
healed the cripple, thus demonstrating the power of his name to those
who believe (2:23-39; 3:13-16; 4:12). In each case Peter concluded his
speech with an
appeal to the crowd to repent, so that they might receive the promised
blessings (2:38ff. and 3:17ff). Thirdly, Luke describes the
consequences of the miraculous event and Peter's explanation of it,
namely a Spirit-filled church which in the first case learns, worships,
shares and witnesses (2:42-47) and in the second is persecuted, but also
prays and shares (4:1-37).
As Luke develops this second vignette of the post-Pentecost church, he
focuses successively on the cripple who was healed (3:1-10), on the
apostle Peter who addressed the crowd (3:11-26), on the council which arrested and arraigned the apostles (4:1-22), and
on the church which turned to God in prayer (4:23-31).
Acts 3:1-10. A congenital cripple healed
What triggered the opposition of the Jewish authorities was the healing
of the cripple, together with Peter's sermon which followed it.
Luke began his second volume by telling his readers that he was going to
record what Jesus continued, after his ascension, `to do and to teach'
through his apostles (1:1-2). He has also told us that `many wonders and
miraculous signs were done by the apostles' (2:43). Now he
supplies a particularly dramatic example. *Peter and John were going up
to the temple*. The date is not given (it happened *one day*), but
the time is, namely, *at three in the afternoon*, which is *the time of
prayer* (1). This took place shortly after the evening sacrifice
and was observed by all pious Jews like Daniel and `God-fearers' like
Cornelius (Dn.9:20-21; Acts 10:2,22). The apostles' arrival at the
temple coincided with the arrival of *a man crippled from birth*, who
*was being carried* there, presumably by friends and/or relatives, so
that he could beg from those who came to worship and who thought
(incidentally) that they would gain some merit by their almsgiving.
The beggar's pitch, Luke says, was *the temple gate called Beautiful*.
Commentators mostly identify this as the Nicanor Gate, which was the
main eastern entrance to the temple precincts from the Court of the
Gentiles. Because Luke names it `the Beautiful Gate', it is
probably the one made of Corinthian brass which Josephus said `greatly
excelled those that were only covered over with silver and gold'. It was
about seventy-five feet high and had huge double doors. But at the
foot of this magnificent gate the cripple sat begging. Luke's
medical interest seems to be betrayed in the brief clinical history he
gives. It was a congenital case, he tells us; the man was now
*over forty years old* (4:22); and he was so severely handicapped that
he had to be carried and *put every day to beg from those going into the
temple courts* (2). As *Peter and John* were *about to enter* the
temple *he asked them for money* (3). The apostles stopped and
*looked straight at him*, and Peter gave him two commands, First,
`*look at us!*' (4). *So the man gave then his attention, expecting to
get something from them* (5). But by his second command peter told
him he had something better to give him than money: `*Silver and gold I
do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, walk*' (6). The apostle did not stand back and watch the man
struggle to his feet; he leaned forward and, *taking him by the right
hand, he helped him up* (7a). As Thomas Walker comments, `the
power was Christ's, but the hand was Peter's'. It was not a
gesture of unbelief, but of love. Besides, it was something Peter had
seen Jesus do when he took Jairus' daughter by the hand (Lk.8:54). Then
*instantly*, Dr. Luke continues, *the man's feet and ankles became
strong* (7b) - so strong and agile that *he jumped to his feet and began
to walk*, which he had never done before. Not only so, but he now
accompanied the apostles *into the temple courts*, all the time *walking
and jumping, and praising God* (8). It was an outstanding fulfilment of
the Messianic prophecy: `Then will the lame leap like a deer.'
(Is.35:6).
A crowd quickly gathered, For they *saw him walking and praising God*
(9). This is the fourth time that Luke describes the man *as
walking*, as if to emphasize the incredible fact that his poor crippled
legs and feet were now for the first time fully operational. *They
recognized him as the same man who* had been a familiar sight for
decades, since he *used to sit* every day *begging at the temple gate
called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what
had happened to him* (10).
Acts 3:11-26. 2). The apostle Peter preaches to
the crowd
*While the beggar held on to Peter and John*, cured but still
clinging to them and not yet confident, *all the people were astonished
and came running to them*, and assembled *in the place called Solomon's
Colonnade* (11). This was a cloister or `portico' (NEB), formed by a
double row of marbled columns and roofed with cedar, which ran all the
way along the eastern wall of the outer court. Jesus himself sometimes
walked and taught in it (Jn.10:23). Peter seized the opportunity
to preach. Just as the Pentecost event had been the text for his first
sermon, so the cripple's healing became the text for his second. Both
were mighty acts of the exalted Christ. Both were signs which proclaimed
him Lord and Saviour. Both aroused the crowd's amazement. Peter
began by ascribing all the credit to Jesus. `*Men of Israel, why does
this surprise you?*' he asked (12), presumably pointing to the healed
cripple. And `*Why do you stare at us*, presumably making a gesture
which pointed to themselves, *as if* it had been *by our own power or
goodness* that *we had made this man walk*?' (12). Instead, he
redirected their gaze to Jesus, by whose powerful name the miracle had
taken place. For `*The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our
fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus*' (13a). Peter's designation of
God expressed his conviction that what was new in Jesus nevertheless
enjoyed a direct continuity with the Old Testament. Then, in contrast to
the honour that God had given to Jesus, Peter is outspoken in describing
the fourfold dishonour which the inhabitants of Jerusalem had shown him:
(i) *You handed him over to be killed*, and (ii) *you disowned him
before Pilate* (as indeed Peter had himself `disowned' or `denied' him
before a servant girl and others cf. Lk. 22:54-62), *though he had
decided to let him go*(13b). (iii) *You disowned the Holy and Righteous
One and asked that a murderer be released to you* (14), thus demanding
both `the condemnation of the innocent' and `the acquittal of the
guilty'. (iv) *You killed the author of life*, a striking oxymoron, in
which the pioneer or giver of life (*archegos* could mean either) is
himself deprived of life, *but God*, wonderfully reversing this fourfold
rejection of Jesus, *raised him from the dead*, and of this mighty
resurrection *we (apostles) are witnesses* (15).
So then, it is *by faith in the name of Jesus*, of the once rejected but
now resurrected and reigning Jesus, that *this* crippled *man whom you
see and know was made strong*. Peter goes on to repeat it for emphasis,
this time separating the name and the faith which apprehends
it. For it was *Jesus' name* (all he is and has done), together
with *the faith that comes through him*, being aroused by him in those
who grasp the implications of his name, which *has given this complete
healing to him, as you can all see*'(16). The most remarkable
feature of Peter's second sermon, as of his first, is its
Christ-centredness. He directed the crowd's attention away from
both the healed cripple and the apostles to the Christ whom men disowned
by killing him but God vindicated by raising him, and whose name, having
been appropriated by faith, was strong enough to heal the man
completely. Moreover, in his testimony to Jesus Peter attributed
to him a cluster of significant titles. He began by calling him
`Jesus Christ of Nazareth' (6), but went on to style him God's `servant'
(13), who first suffered and then was glorified in fulfilment of Isaiah
52:13ff. (cf. 18 and 26; 4:27,30). Next he was `the Holy and
Righteousness One' (14) and `the author [or pioneer] of life' (15),
while in the concluding part of the sermon Peter called him the
`prophet' foretold by Moses (22) and before the Sanhedrin the rejected
stone which has become the capstone (4:11). Servant and Christ,
Holy One and source of life, Prophet and Stone - these titles speak of
the uniqueness of Jesus in his suffering and glory, his character and
mission, his revelation and redemption. All this is encapsulated
in his `Name' and helps to explain its saving power.
Having exalted the name of Jesus, Peter ended his sermon by challenging
his hearers (*brothers*, he calls them) with the necessity and the
blessing of repentance, `*I know*', he says, `*that you acted in
ignorance, as did your leaders*' (17). His purpose in saying this was
neither to excuse their sin, nor to imply that forgiveness was
unnecessary, but to show why it was possible. Peter was echoing
the Old Testament distinction between sins of `ignorance' and sins of
`presumption' (eg. Num. 15:27ff.; and cf. Lk.23:34; 1 Cor.2:8; 1Tim.
1:13). Next, although they did not know what they were doing, God
knew what they were doing. For what happened to Jesus was the fulfilment
of prophecy, for `*this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold
through all the prophets*, especially *that his Christ should suffer*
(18). Neither their ignorance nor God's predictions exonerated
them, however. They must *repent...and turn to God*' (19a).
Then three successive blessings would take place. The first is
*that your sins may be wiped out* (19b), even their sin of doing to
death the author of life. *Exaleipho* means to wash off, erase,
obliterate. It is used in the book of Revelation both of God who
wipes away out tears (Re. 7:17; 21:4) and of Christ who refuses to erase
our name from the book of life (Re. 3:5). William Barclay
explains the allusion: `Ancient writing was upon papyrus, and the ink
used had no acid in it. It therefore did not bite into the papyrus
as modern ink does.; it simply lay upon the top of it. To erase
the writing a man might take a wet sponge and simply wipe it away.' Just
so, when God forgives our sins, he wipes the slate clean (cf. Is.
43:25).
The second promised blessing is *that times of refreshing may
come from the Lord* (19c). The Greek word *anapsyxis* can mean rest,
relief, respite or refreshment. It seems here to be the positive
counterpart of forgiveness, for God does not wipe away our sins without
adding his refreshment for our spirits.
The third promised
blessing is *that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you
- even Jesus* (20). Although during the present interim period he
continuously gives us his forgiveness and his refreshment, yet he
himself *must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore
everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets* (21).
Some commentators believe that the word `everything' in this sentence
refers not to the universe which God will `restore' but to the promises
which he will `establish'. Thus the RSV translates the verse: `until the
time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy
prophets...." But *apokatastasis* is more naturally understood of
the eschatological `restoration', which Jesus called a `regeneration'
(Mt.19:28), when nature will be liberated from its bondage to pain and
decay (Rom.8:19ff) and God will make a new heaven and earth (2 Pet.
3:13; Rev.21:5). This final perfection awaits the return of Christ.
These Christ-centred
promises of total forgiveness (sins wiped out), spiritual refreshment
and universal restoration were all adumbrated in the Old Testament. So
Peter concludes with more significant quotations and allusions. He
refers to three major prophetic strands which were associated with
Moses, Samuel (and his successors) and Abraham. First, `*Moses said,
"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from
among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you (22),
for anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from
among his people"*' (23) (Dt.18:15ff; cf. Lk.9:35). Secondly, `*all
the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these
days*', the days of the Messiah (24). Although this is a very general
statement perhaps the chief reference is to God's promise, which began
with Samuel, to establish the kingdom of David (e.g. 2 Sam.7:12ff). At
all events Peter assured his hearers, `*you are heirs of the prophets
and of the covenant of God made with your fathers*' (25a). It is
impressive that Peter regards the many and varied strands of Old
Testament prophecy as a united testimony, applying to `these days'
because fulfilled in Christ and his people. Thirdly, God `*said to
Abraham, "Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be
blessed"*' (25b) (Gn. 12:3; 22:18; 26:4). This was a foundation
promise of the Old Testament. Consider both the beneficiaries and the
nature of the promised blessing. As for the beneficiaries, `*When God
raised up his servant*' Jesus, `*he sent him first to you to bless you*'
(26a), the physical descendants of Abraham, as is several times
emphasized by Paul (`First the Jew', e.g. Rom.1:16; 2:9-10; 3:1-2). But
later Paul argues, especially in his letters to the Romans and the
Galatians, that the promised blessing is for all believers, including
Gentiles who by faith have become Abraham's spiritual children. And what
is the blessing? It is not forgiveness only, but righteousness. For God
sent Jesus Christ his servant `*to bless you by turning each of you from
your wicked ways*' (26).
Looking back over
Peter's colonnade sermon, it is striking that he presents Christ to the
crowd `according to the Scriptures' as successively the suffering
servant (13, 18), the Moses-like prophet (22-23), the Davidic king (24)
and the seed of Abraham (25-26). And if we add his Pentecost sermon, and
glance on to his speech before the Sanhedrin (4:8ff), it is possible to
weave a biblical tapestry which forms a thorough
portrait of Christ. Arranged chronologically according to
the events of his career, the Old Testament texts declare that he was
descended from David (Ps. 132:11 = 2:30); that he suffered and died for
us as God's servant (Is. 53 = 2:23; 3:18); that the stone the builders
rejected has nevertheless become the capstone (Ps.118:22 = 4:11), for
God raised him up from the dead (Is.52:13 = 2:25ff), since death could
not hold him and God would not abandon him to decay (Ps.16:8ff = 2:24,
27, 31); that God then exalted him to his right hand, to wait for his
final triumph (Ps.110:1 = 2:34-35); that meanwhile through him the
Spirit has been poured out (Joel 2:28ff =2:16ff, 33); that now the
gospel is to be preached world-wide, even to those afar off (Is.57:19 =
2:39), although opposition to him has been foretold (Ps.2:1ff =
4:25-26); that people must listen to him or pay the penalty of their
disobedience (Dt. 18:18-19 = 3:22-23); and that those who do listen and
respond will inherit the blessing promised to Abraham (Gen. 12:3; 22:18
= 3:25-26).
This comprehensive
testimony to Jesus as rejected by men but vindicated by God, as the
fulfilment of all Old Testament prophecy, as demanding repentance and
promising blessing, and as the author and giver of life, physically to
the healed cripple and spiritually to those who believe, aroused the
indignation and antagonism of the authorities. The devil cannot endure
the exaltation of Jesus Christ. So he stirred up the Sanhedrin to
persecute the apostles.
Next:
Acts 4:1-22. The council
brings the apostles to trial.
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