Acts 4:15 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the result of Peter and John’s trial before the council. They came through it in triumph, because they were being trained for suffering little by little. Smaller trials were preparing them for greater ones. For now they had only run with foot soldiers; later they would have to contend with horses, as Jeremiah said (Jeremiah 12:5).

The court first consulted and decided what to do. The prisoners were told to leave the room, because the rulers were glad to be rid of them. Their words had pricked their consciences, and the rulers did not want to hear the truth they had been forced to admit. They might shut the apostles out of the room, but the record of what happened remains for us. Christ’s enemies often work in secret meetings, digging as if they could hide their plans from the Lord.

Then the rulers debated the matter among themselves. Each one was asked to speak freely and give advice about this serious case. In this, Scripture was being fulfilled, that the rulers would take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed, that is, his chosen King, the Messiah (Psalm 2:2).

Their question was, “What shall we do with these men?” (Acts 4:16). If they had been willing to yield to the clear power of truth, the answer would have been simple. They should have placed the apostles at the head of the council, received their teaching, been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and joined their fellowship. But when people refuse to do what they know they should do, it is no wonder they are left unsure what to do at all. Christ’s truth, if received rightly, would give them no trouble. But if they suppress it in wrongdoing, they find it like a heavy stone they cannot handle (Romans 1:18; Zechariah 12:3).

In the end, they settled on two points. First, it was not safe to punish the apostles for what they had done. They would gladly have done so, but they lacked courage, because the people were on the apostles’ side and praised the miracle. The rulers now feared the crowd just as they once had feared it when they would not lay hands on Christ. This shows that the public outcry against our Savior had been forced or managed, because the same people soon returned to their former view.

They could not find a way to punish Peter and John, or even a reason they could present for doing so, because of the people. They knew such punishment would be unjust, and they should have been restrained by fear of God. Instead, they were held back only by fear of the people. The people were convinced the miracle was real. It was a known miracle, done in Christ’s name, and a clear sign of his power and teaching. Everyone in Jerusalem knew of it, because it happened at the temple gate. Even the rulers, with all their cleverness and boldness, could not deny it. They could deny it to their own consciences, but not before the public. The evidence for the gospel was plain.

More than that, all the people were glorifying God for what had been done. Even those who were not ready to believe in Christ were moved by the mercy shown to a poor man and by the honor brought to their nation. They could not help praising God for it. Even natural religion, the basic sense that God is to be honored, taught them that. If the priests had punished Peter and John for what all men were praising God for, they would have lost all standing with the people and been seen as enemies of both God and man. In this way, their wrath would still end up praising God, and the rest of it would be held back.

Second, they decided the apostles had to be silenced in the future (Acts 4:17-18). They could not prove that the apostles had done or said anything wrong, and yet they wanted them to stop speaking and acting as they had. Their only concern was that the teaching about Christ should spread no farther among the people. It was as if a healing work had begun like a plague, and they must stop its spread. Here we see how hell fights against heaven’s plans. God means the knowledge of Christ to go through the whole world, but the chief priests wanted it stopped there. The One who sits in heaven laughs at such plans.

To stop this teaching from spreading, they ordered the apostles never to preach it again. By their authority, which they thought every Israelite should obey in conscience, they decreed that no one should speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). They did not give any real reason why Christ’s teaching should be suppressed. They could not say it was false, dangerous, or harmful. They were ashamed to say the true reason, which was that it exposed their hypocrisy, wickedness, and tyranny. They had no reason, only their will. They demanded not only that the apostles stop preaching publicly, but that they stop speaking to anyone privately in Jesus’ name as well (Acts 4:17).

There is no greater help to the devil’s kingdom than silencing faithful ministers, those who are the light of the world. They are like lamps hidden under a basket. The rulers also threatened them if they disobeyed. They warned them strictly that they would be punished. They wanted the apostles to know that the court would count itself deeply insulted if they continued. Christ had commanded his followers to preach the gospel to every creature, and he had promised to support them and reward them for doing it. But these priests not only forbade gospel preaching, they threatened it as though it were a serious crime. Yet those who know the true value of the world’s threats, even when the world breathes out threats of death, can stand firm (Acts 9:1).

Second, we see the brave decision of the prisoners to keep on doing their work, despite the court’s orders, and to make that decision known (Acts 4:19-20).

Peter and John did not need to talk privately to know each other’s minds, because they were both led by the same Spirit. They answered together and at once: “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you judge for yourselves. We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard, and what we are charged to announce.”

Careful wisdom might have suggested silence. They could not honestly promise that they would never preach the gospel again, but they did not need to say that openly to the rulers. Yet the bold courage God gave them led them to face both the rulers’ authority and their hatred without fear. In effect, they told them they were determined to keep preaching, and they defended that choice in two ways.

First, they appealed to God’s command. The rulers told them not to preach the gospel, but God had told them to preach it. He had entrusted this message to them as a sacred trust, and he required them to carry it out faithfully. So the real question was, whom should they obey, God or human rulers? They appealed to a truth everyone should know, that when human commands conflict with God’s commands, God’s commands must come first. Even English law has long held that a law against God’s law has no force. Nothing is more unreasonable than to obey weak and limited people, who are only fellow creatures and fellow subjects, more than God, who is infinitely wise and holy, our Creator, our sovereign Lord, and the Judge before whom we will all stand. The matter is so clear that they were willing to leave the judgment to the rulers themselves, even though the rulers were biased against them. Could it ever be right in God’s sight to break a divine command in order to obey a human order? What is right is what is right in God’s sight, because his judgment is always true, and we should live by it.

Second, they pointed to the convictions of their own consciences. Even if they had not received such a direct command from heaven to preach Christ, they still could not help speaking about what they had seen and heard, and they had to speak publicly. Like Elihu, they were full of this message, and God’s Spirit within them pressed them to speak, so that they might find relief (Job 32:18, Job 32:20). They felt its power in their own lives, and it had changed them so deeply that they could not stay silent. Those speak best about Christ who have felt his power, tasted his goodness, and been deeply moved by him. For them, the message was like a fire in their bones (Jeremiah 20:9).

They also knew how important this message was for others. They looked with concern on people headed for ruin, and they knew no one could escape eternal loss except through Jesus Christ. So they felt bound to warn them and point them to the right way. These were things they had seen and heard, and if they did not tell others, who would? Who could? Knowing both the kindness and the warning of the Lord, they tried to persuade people. The love of Christ and the love of souls compelled them (2 Corinthians 5:11, 2 Corinthians 5:14).

Then the prisoners were released (Acts 4:21). The rulers threatened them again, thinking they had frightened them, and then let them go. They had scared many people into obeying their unfair orders. They knew how to keep men in line by threats of excommunication (John 9:22), and they thought they could do the same to the apostles. But they were mistaken, because the apostles had been with Jesus.

They only threatened them, and that was all they did. After that, they let them go, first because they did not dare oppose the people, who were praising God for what had happened and, as they thought, would have torn them from their seats if they had punished the apostles for it. In God’s providence, rulers who are meant to restrain wicked people can sometimes be restrained themselves by the people. Second, they could not deny the miracle. The man who had been healed was more than forty years old (Acts 4:22). That made the miracle even greater, because he had been lame from birth (Acts 3:2). The older he was, the longer the disease had lasted and the harder it was to cure. So when people who are grown and long used to evil are healed of their spiritual weakness and bad habits, God’s grace is shown to be even more powerful. It also made the truth of the miracle easier to prove, because the man was old enough to speak for himself, like the blind man Jesus healed when he was questioned (John 9:21).