Read or listen The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 4 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

The healing of the lame man in the temple in Jerusalem, recounted in chapter three, did not please everyone. A couple of thousand men converted to Christianity (Acts 5:14, 2:41), and this growth of the church did not please the Jewish religious leadership.

Opposition rises – Acts 4:1-4

While Peter and John were still speaking, the captain of the temple guard came with his troops to arrest them. Countless times after this, the proclamation of the gospel has been interrupted and/or attempted to be stopped by violence.

The captain of the Temple Guard was the second most respected person in the Jewish hierarchy. He was the man closest to the high priest. The Jewish historian Josephus says that often the captain of the Temple Guard was chosen as the new high priest. The imprisonment of the apostles was therefore a statement from a very high authority about their actions.

The Sadducees (verse 1) were followers of the rational religion of that time. They did not believe in the resurrection or in angels (Acts 23:8, Matt. 22:23-32). They were irritated by two things in the apostles’ proclamation: first, the talk of the resurrection and second, the fact that the apostles “preached the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, appealing to his resurrection” (verse 2). After all, the matter of Jesus had already been dealt with to the end.

Since the miracle performed by the apostles had occurred at the ninth hour (3:00 p.m. our time, v. 3:1) and the arrest apparently occurred shortly before evening (evening began at 6:00 p.m.), the Sanhedrin did not hold a session on that day. The apostles were thrown into prison to await the next day and their appearance before the Sanhedrin.

Luke mentions the number of Christians as 5,000. While the entire population of Jerusalem at that time is estimated to have been about 30,000, Christians constituted one-sixth of the entire city’s population. The religious leaders of Judaism began to be in a hurry to put an end to the expansion of the church!

By what name did you do this? – Acts 4:5-12

The Sanhedrin of the Jews was their supreme governing body in both religious and secular matters, although the Romans had deprived it of the power to pass sentence of death.​—Joh 18:31.

The president of the council was the high priest, who at that time was (Joseph) Caiaphas. He served as high priest from 18 to 36 AD. In addition to him, the council consisted of 70 members.

There were three groups in the Sanhedrin (verse 5):

1. The rulers, which meant the high priests, the highest ranking priests. They were the Sadducees.

2. The elders, who were heads of families, i.e. laymen. They too were generally close in their thinking to the Sadducees.

3. The teachers of the law were professional theologians. They usually belonged to the Pharisaic “revival movement.”

Although Caiaphas was the official high priest, the real leader of the Jews was the former high priest Annas, whom Luke also mentions first (verse 6). Annas had been high priest from 6 to 15 AD, but the Romans had deposed him. The Jews, of course, did not accept Roman interference in their religious affairs, and so Annas, as the head of his family, effectively still held power.

It is known that the Jews elected high priests from four families. Thus, five sons of Annas served in turn as high priests: Eleazar in 16-17, Jonathan in 36-37, Theophilus in 37-41, Matthias in 43, and Annas (the younger) in 62. In addition, since Caiaphas was Annas' son-in-law, the Annas family held supreme power in Judaism from 6-41 AD.

In accordance with Jesus’ promise (Luke 12:11-12), Peter received the Holy Spirit as his "defense attorney". and Peter did not hesitate to proclaim Christ's resurrection to the judges (verse 8).

The change that took place in the disciples (compare John 20:19) is significant evidence that something had happened to them between Easter and Pentecost that changed their entire lives. They had encountered the risen Jesus. If Jesus had conquered death, his followers would not have to fear even before the Sanhedrin.

The council wanted to find out the relationship between Jesus and the apostles (verse 7), although some scholars have seen the question as a reference to connections with the powers of darkness (compare Matthew 12:24).

The parts change when Peter answered the question clearly: the apostles acted in the name of Jesus. At the same time, he makes a serious accusation to the council: it had made a great mistake in condemning God’s chosen one, Jesus, to death (verses 10-11). Peter quotes Psalm 118:22, which Jesus himself had used when rebuking his opponents for their unrepentance (Luke 20:17).

"The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone."
(Psalm 118:22)

On top of all that, the apostles were accused of a strange thing: doing good (verse 9).

"And there is salvation in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.”
(verse 12)

In the Greek text, Peter’s speech involves a profound play on words: “healing” in verse 9 and “salvation” in verse 12 are from the same root. Jesus is not just a healer, but a Savior. And he is not just one of the saviors, but the only Savior (verse 12, John 14:6).

Be quiet! – Acts 4:13-22

The council ordered the apostles out while they made their decision (verse 15). Apparently the Sadducees still had a majority in the council at that time, but there were also many Pharisees and their opinions had to be taken into account. So there could be no argument on the principle of the matter, since the Pharisees supported the resurrection (compare Acts 23:6-9, where Paul wisely took advantage of the doctrinal differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees).

The miracle could not be denied, for the people were excited about it. If the apostles had been convicted, the consequences could have been serious. So it was wisest to try to silence the whole noise. So the apostles were ordered to keep quiet about Jesus completely, so that “the trouble would not grow worse” or spread beyond Jerusalem (verse 17).

The apostles responded to the council's order:

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
(verse 29)

The apostles understood that they had no reason to be silent, for the miracle that had occurred could not be denied. If Jesus had risen from the dead and was working through the apostles, why should there have been silence about him?

In fact, the trial ended badly for the accusers: the apostles were declared innocent. "Uneducated, common men" (verse 13) – this word can mean an illiterate, unaccustomed speaker, or simply "an ordinary commoner, a layman" – the apostles and the man "above forty years of age" (verse 22) left the council meeting victorious. Even today, many things and entities threaten to silence the proclamation of the gospel or prevent it from being heard.

Whose side is God on? – Acts 4:23-31

After their release, the apostles went to a congregation meeting. Apparently, Christians had gathered to pray for the apostles during their imprisonment. After hearing the news from Peter and John, the Christians did as King Hezekiah of Judah had done: they took the matter to God in prayer (2 Kings 19:14-19, Isa. 37:14-20).

The prayer was full of quotations and references from the Old Testament (especially the Psalms: Ps 146:6, 2:1-2). This is one indication of how important the Old Testament was to the early Christians.

The believers did not pray that God would remove the dangers and difficulties, but that they would be given the strength to proclaim the gospel boldly despite them. God answered the prayer in two ways: by an earthquake (cf. Exodus 19:18, Isaiah 6:4) and by the filling of the Holy Spirit. God had thus rejected Judaism and its leaders and taken the Christians as his own people.

A Christian socialism? – Acts 4:32-37

This passage has often been used to claim that the first Christians were the first socialists. But although the property of the first Christians was common, ownership was by no means forbidden (5:4), but everyone made their contributions voluntarily. Christ had become so important that his own property was used to meet the needs of his fellow believers.

One of the donors was Joseph, to whom the apostles had given the surname Barnabas to distinguish him from other Josephs. Later, Barnabas and Paul became co-workers in the mission to the Gentiles (Acts 11:22-26).