TWENTY-EIGHT thrilling chapters lie before us! Any one of them we can read a dozen times, only to find its fascination growing with each reading. . . . [The Acts of the Apostles] is the sequel to the mighty events of the Gospels, and the gateway to the glorious doctrines of the Epistles. It marks, in fact, one of the greatest turning-points in history, as we shall soon see.
—J. SIDLOW BAXTER1
Luke begins Acts with a brief prologue addressing the book to Theophilus,2 noting that in his Gospel he chronicled Jesus’ acts and teachings until His ascension. Jesus made numerous appearances to His apostles over forty days, preaching the kingdom of God and giving instructions from the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ selection of His apostles authorized them to “preach, teach, direct the Church, and preserve the record of His life and teaching.”3 His instructions represented a transition from His earthly ministry to His ministry through them.4 Luke mentions that Christ’s instructions were through the Holy Spirit to introduce the Holy Spirit’s central role in forming and growing the Church and in the lives of all believers.
Luke demonstrates the continuity between the ministries of Jesus and the apostles, as the Spirit who rested upon and empowered Jesus in His earthly ministry now empowers the apostles for their witness. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the apostles experienced the Spirit through Jesus’ presence; but after Pentecost, they experience Christ through the Spirit’s presence.5 Had Jesus stayed on earth, His physical presence would have inhibited the rapid spread of the Gospel because, in His human form, He could be in only one place at a time. After His ascension, however, He would be with them everywhere, through the Spirit.6 “He who was born into our humanity, lived our life, died for our sins, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven,” writes John Stott, “now sent his Spirit to his people to constitute them his body and to work out in them what he had won for them.”7
Jesus commanded the apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit (cf. Luke 24:49), reaffirming His promise at the Last Supper: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16–17). Jesus assured them about the Holy Spirit’s role: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Jesus told the apostles that “not many days from now,” they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit—as distinguished from the water baptism that John the Baptist had administered. John had humbly admitted that his baptism was only with water and was a baptism of repentance, merely preparatory for their later baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11: Luke 3:16). Paul describes baptism of the Holy Spirit as the process whereby the Spirit unites believers with Jesus upon their conversion, and they become part of the body of Christ (His Church) (1 Cor. 12:13; cf. Romans 8:9). At the moment of conversion, believers are indwelt by the Spirit—“your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you” (1 Cor. 6:19)—and thereafter empowered by Him for service to Christ, to resist sin, and to become more Christ-like. Jesus had said earlier that believers would not receive the Spirit until He had ascended (John 7:38–39).
The Holy Spirit in the believer is what distinguishes him from the nonbeliever (1 Cor. 2:10–14) and makes him a child of God (Romans 8:14–17). Receiving the Spirit begins one’s Christian life (Gal. 3:2–3)8 and empowers him for discipleship, witnessing, understanding the things freely given him by God (salvation in Jesus Christ)9 (1 Cor. 2: 12), understanding God’s Word and His will (1 Cor. 2:14, 15; 1 John 2:27), praying when we don’t know what we ought to pray for (Romans 8:26), and overcoming sin on a daily basis (Romans 5:5; 6:1–14, 8:13; 1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 5:22–23; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2). The Spirit glorifies Christ (John 16:14) and convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).
The Spirit, as one of the three persons of the Triune Godhead, has existed forever. He was at work in Old Testament times, as the Old Testament records and the New Testament confirms (Acts 7:51; 2 Peter. 1:21). He was involved in the planning (Isaiah 40:12–14) and creation of the universe (Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; 27:3; 33:4; Psalms 33:6; 104:30; Isaiah 40:12–14), and the earth (Gen. 1:2). He revealed God’s messages to man just as He would in New Testament times.10 But in Old Testament times, the Spirit only directly interacted with specific individuals—and only temporarily—to serve God’s purposes (Exodus 31:3; Judges 14:6; 1 Samuel 16:13),11 as opposed to His permanent indwelling of New Testament believers (John 14:16). “The Old Testament witness to the Spirit anticipates a coming time when the ministry of the Spirit is to be more complete,” writes Millard Erickson.12
Before Jesus ascended, the apostles asked Him if He was about to restore the kingdom to Israel, and He said it wasn’t for them to know when this would occur. They should focus instead on the power they were about to receive from the Holy Spirit and their charge, thereupon, to be His witnesses “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus then ascended and as the apostles watched, two angels in white robes appeared and told them Jesus would return to earth (at His second coming) in the same way He left, namely, He would come with power and great glory (Luke 21:27; Matt. 24:30; Mark 13:26), defeating Satan and evil to establish His eternal reign. At that time, there would be no doubt as to His identity.13
Returning to Jerusalem, the apostles go to the upper room where they are staying. Along with others (120 people altogether), they join in prayer and cast lots to determine God’s will on whether Barsabbas or Matthias should replace Judas Iscariot as an apostle. The lot falls on Matthias (cf. Prov. 16:33).
Notice two things about this event. First, Peter invokes Old Testament Scripture in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David (Psalm 109:8), prophesied that the apostles would replace Judas (though the Scripture did not name him). Second, Peter stresses that Judas’ replacement must be one who’s been with the apostles, witnessed Jesus’ earthly ministry, and most important, witnessed His resurrection (Acts 1:22).14 This shows they understand the pivotal importance of the resurrection to their witness. It’s not a matter of apostolic succession, as if it were some generic office to be occupied by others in the future. There could be no succession, as such.15 The replacement must have been with them all along as a firsthand witness.
While Paul fails to meet all these criteria (he did later see the resurrected Christ), who can dispute that his direct commission from Christ supersedes these rules? That’s probably one reason Luke mentions Paul’s call three times in Acts, as when he relates that Christ told Ananias, “For he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (9:15; see also 22:6–16; 26:12–18). Paul elsewhere refers to himself as an exceptionally called apostle, saying Christ appeared to him “as to one untimely born” (1 Cor. 15:8); and, as described earlier, he identifies himself as an apostle at the beginning of most of his epistles. Paul also relates that the other apostles accepted him as a fellow apostle (Gal. 2:1–2, 7–10). Adding further weight to Paul’s apostolic authority is Peter’s reference to his writings as wisdom God had given him (2 Peter 3:15) and as Scripture (2 Peter 3:16). They are inspired works.16 Paul also affirms his writings as divine revelations (1 Cor. 2:6–16).
After the appointment of Judas’ replacement, the apostles obediently await their empowerment by the Holy Spirit so they may begin to discharge Christ’s command to spread the Gospel.
The apostles and other believers gather together in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, anticipating God’s promised Spirit. Pentecost, known as the Feast of Weeks (Lev. 23:15; Deut. 16:9), is one of the major annual Jewish feasts. Celebrating the end of the grain harvest, it usually lasts the entire fifty days—“pentecost” being the Greek word for “fifty”—between Passover and the Feast of Weeks.17 During the intertestamental period, shortly before the New Testament period, the Jews also began to recognize Pentecost as the time when God gave them the Law at Mount Sinai, which occurred fifty days after the Exodus and was immediately preceded by the first Passover observance (Exodus 12:6–13).
Jesus was crucified and resurrected at the time of Passover, and He ascended forty days later. Now, just ten days later, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles from heaven “with a sound like a mighty rushing wind, it fills the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2), and what appear to be tongues of fire rest on each of them. Instantly filled with the Holy Spirit, they miraculously begin to speak in foreign languages they don’t know. Many are amazed but confused. Others mock the speakers, accusing them of being drunk on wine. The arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is considered the birth of the Christian Church.18 As such, it’s interesting that Jesus was also conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).
Luke analogizes the Holy Spirit to the wind, which share a linguistic connection and a similarity of characteristics. The Hebrew term “ruah” in the Old Testament refers to “wind,” “breath” or “spirit,” including the Spirit of God.19 While the Greek word for spirit—pneuma—generally does not refer to wind, the verbal form of the word pneo means “to blow,” so there is still a strong linguistic association.20 The wind and the Spirit share the attributes of invisibility, formidable force, mysteriousness, inscrutability, and uncontrollability. The effects of each can be found everywhere. Jesus compared the wind and the Spirit in His exchange with Nicodemus about His regeneration: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
Peter, standing alongside the other eleven apostles, responds forcefully to the mockers who diminish the event’s sacredness, telling them the speakers are not drunk, as it’s only 9:00 a.m. Rather, they are experiencing what the Old Testament prophet Joel had described—the pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh (Joel 2:28–32). Most scholars conclude that only part of Joel’s prophesy was fulfilled at Pentecost and that the remainder of it—the sun turning to darkness, the moon to blood, and the coming of the great day of the Lord—will happen at the time of Christ’s second coming.21
After rebuking the mockers, Peter turns to the subject of Jesus Christ and begins the first Christian sermon.22 He talks of the mighty works and miracles Christ has done in their presence, His crucifixion by lawless men according to God’s plan, and His resurrection and victory over death. Jesus’ executioners thought they were in charge of Jesus’ fate; Peter sets the record straight, affirming God’s sovereignty in carrying out this essential step of incomprehensible grace in His salvation plan. Peter quotes Psalm 16, in which David rejoiced in the Lord for his secure knowledge that God would not abandon his soul, just as He would not allow His “holy one [to] see corruption” (Psalm 16:8–11). Though modern scholars disagree about whether this is a messianic prophecy,23 Peter clearly interprets it as such, as he cites David’s statement that the Holy One will not see corruption. (Christ’s body did not decay, but David’s did.) Further, Peter cites the psalm in the context of his sermon about the resurrected Christ.24 Notably, Paul also regards this as a messianic prophecy (Acts 13:35).25
Before the prophet David died and was buried, Peter observes, God had assured David that He would place one of David’s descendants on his throne. And David “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.” (Acts 2:31–32) Christ now occupies the highest position of authority, having been exalted at God’s right hand. He received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, which He has now given to them pursuant to that authority, as they are witnessing.
Peter proclaims that it was not David but his descendant—Jesus Christ—who ascended into the heavens to share God’s throne, as David himself testified (Psalm 110:1): “The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” F. F. Bruce observes, “This exaltation of Jesus in accordance with Psalm 110:1 is an integral part of the primitive apostolic message, as it remains an integral part of the historic Christian creeds.”26 Christ has ultimate authority over God’s creation and will use it to conquer His enemies, which He has already begun to do with His triumph over death, and which He will complete in the future. To be sure, Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, is entirely capable of subduing His own enemies, but He is acting at the Father’s direction; they are in complete harmony.27
Peter declares that all of Israel must “know for certain that God has made [Jesus] both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” This is a stark, convicting assertion. Not only was their craven act of crucifying the innocent and holy Jesus utterly futile, but they are also now wholly subject to His authority. When the audience hears these biting words, “they [are] cut to the heart” and ask Peter and the other apostles, “What shall we do?” Peter tells them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for them and their children, and for everyone whom the Lord calls. In response, some three thousand people are saved and baptized.
To repent means to change one’s mind and heart, to change direction—to quit running away from God, to turn away from sin and self-centeredness, and turn toward Christ in obedience.28 Baptism is a sign of obedience and appreciation for what Jesus has done for us. Those who practice infant baptism believe it may quicken the Spirit to accelerate one’s faith walk, but most evangelical Christians do not believe it’s necessary for salvation. There are numerous biblical passages affirming salvation by faith in Christ alone (John 3:16, 36; Romans 4:1–17; 11:6; Gal 3:8–9; Eph. 2:8–9; and others), including other passages in Acts in which Peter affirms the principle (5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18). In this sermon, Peter is likely urging their baptism parenthetically, not as a condition to salvation.29
Theologian Wayne Grudem explains that if baptism is necessary for salvation, then we are not saved by faith alone. Recall that Jesus told the dying thief beside him on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The thief couldn’t have been baptized before dying, yet Jesus’ promise is unambiguous. Additionally, our justification from sin (and salvation) occurs at the precise moment we have faith. Subsequent baptism cannot confer salvation that has already been given. However, while it is not needed for salvation, baptism is still an important act of obedience to Christ.30
What follows the conversion of three thousand people is a remarkable display of Christian fellowship, love, sharing, learning, and worship among the new believers. Hungry to learn about Christ and grow in the faith, they steep themselves in the apostles’ teaching. Filled with awe, they witness many miracles performed by the apostles, further authenticating the apostles’ authority. They become an intimately close-knit community of believers who freely share their personal assets with those among them in need. They dine, worship, and pray together in the Temple. As they eat together in their homes with joyous and grateful spirits, they praise God. Consequently, God increases their numbers each day through the salvation of new believers.
After reporting that the apostles perform many signs, Luke describes how outside the Temple Peter and John heal a man who has been lame from birth. When the man asks them for money, the apostles direct him to look at them, which he does, expecting to receive money. Instead, Peter says, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” Peter takes his hand and raises him up, and his feet and ankles are immediately strengthened—the immediacy signifying a miracle. He leaps up, begins to walk, and enters the Temple with them. The amazed people recognize him as the lame man always begging at the Temple’s Beautiful Gate. Aware that he has been lame for forty years, they know this isn’t a staged event—the man is vigorously jumping around and praising God ecstatically. While the man clings to Peter and John, the people, still in awe, gather around them in Solomon’s Colonnade.
Peter uses this healing and the gathered witnesses as an opportunity to preach the Gospel. Some commentators suggest that the Jews present would have taken special notice of this healing in light of the prophet Isaiah’s prediction that such things would occur: “Then shall the lame leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Isaiah 35:6).31 Peter asks them why they are staring at him and John as if they performed this miracle on their own power. Then he draws them in, attributing the miracle to the very God they have always worshipped—“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers” (Acts 3:13). This same God—their God—also glorified Jesus Christ, whom they denied and gave over to Pilate to be crucified.
Then Peter openly calls Jesus “the Holy and Righteous One” and the “Author of Life”—unmistakable declarations of His deity and His activity in the creation. Notice the stark contrast: they “killed” the One who is the very Giver of life. Peter again declares they are all witnesses to Christ’s resurrection, the lynchpin of the faith. For as Paul concedes, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then all those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:17–19). This puts the lie to the lazy claim that Jesus was merely a great prophet but not the Son of God—an idea that is fundamentally irreconcilable with biblical Christianity. While Christianity would be pure myth without the resurrection, it is irresistible truth because of it. This is why Peter, Paul, and the other apostles forever highlight the resurrection.
Peter is careful to disclaim any credit for this healing. It was Jesus—and faith in His name—that restored the man’s strength and health in their presence. Peter uses the power of the Holy Spirit to heal pursuant to the authority of Jesus Christ. Peter’s derivative power is only possible because of His faith in Christ and His sacrificial work.32
Peter is determined that they understand that the man they crucified is the One the prophets pre-announced, whose suffering they foretold. Though shaming them for their actions, he acknowledges they and their rulers were acting in ignorance. Here Peter may be shrewdly hinting at the scriptural distinction between intentional and unintentional sins, the latter of which require a lesser sacrifice in atonement (Lev. 4:27–31; Num. 15:27–29). The apostle Paul would employ this same technique of tailoring his message to identify with particular audiences, sometimes by citing scriptures or extra-biblical ideas common to their culture—always meeting them on their own terms. As Paul tells the Corinthians, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings” (1 Cor. 9:19–23). This is a wise and timeless model for evangelism and one that premiere apologist Ravi Zacharias employs. Ravi trains his students to focus on the questioner as much as the question he is asking. To reach a skeptic, you must seek to understand the person behind the question and frame your responses accordingly.33
After extending them grace Peter goes further, offering them complete forgiveness through Jesus Christ provided they repent and turn away from sin and toward Christ. “Repent therefore, and turn back,” says Peter, “that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:19–21) Peter urges them to repent and be redeemed, informing them Christ will remain in heaven until He returns in the future (at His Second Coming), as the prophets promised.
Winding up, Peter again emphasizes that the Gospel flows naturally from Old Testament Scripture, declaring they are the sons of the Old Testament prophets and of the covenant God made with their ancestor Abraham, whereby He promised Abraham that He would bless all the families of the earth through his offspring (the Abrahamic Covenant) (Gen. 12:3; 22:18). God’s promise is now being fulfilled in Jesus Christ, a descendant of Abraham in the line of King David, whose finished work on the cross ensures salvation for all who place their faith in Him. Paul explicitly identifies God’s promise of blessing to Abraham as the Gospel, saying, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So, then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Gal. 3:7–9).
This is a stunning closing argument: the Gospel is not an affront to their Scriptures, but in fact, the completion of them. No, they are not condemned for their complicity in killing their own Messiah. No, their Scriptures are not invalidated by Christ’s death. They merely need to open their hearts and allow the scales to fall from their eyes—to see Christ for who He is, turn from their sins, and embrace Him in saving faith. They can have their cake and eat it too—accepting Christ will not require them to reject their own Scriptures, but it will allow them to escape the penalty for their sins. Not a bad bargain!
While Peter and John are speaking to the crowd, religious leaders approach—the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and the Sadducees, who are particularly annoyed at the duo’s preaching on Jesus’ resurrection, as the leaders don’t believe in resurrection at all (Acts 23:8). It’s bad enough to teach resurrection in the abstract, but to say it has already occurred is aggravated blasphemy to them. It isn’t just a religious matter for the Sadducees, who are influential, though fewer in number than the Pharisees. This sect routinely panders to the Roman authorities, striving to maintain the peace at all costs in exchange for powerful political positions such as high priest.34 They know that messianic ideas such as Peter and John are presenting have led to Jewish revolts in the past, and they must strenuously avoid that outcome here.35
The leaders arrest Peter and John and place them in custody until the next day—but by now, Peter’s words have already created thousands of new converts. This brings to five thousand the total number of people who have been saved in Jerusalem—representing a substantial portion of the city’s population, which scholars estimate was between twenty-five thousand and eighty-five thousand at the time.36 Jewish historian Josephus estimates there were only six thousand Pharisees then in Judea.37
The next day, the rulers bring John and Peter before the Sanhedrin—the Jewish high council, which consists of seventy-one members, counting the high priest. They ask the pair by what power or name they performed their healing, implying they were presumptuous to have spoken authoritatively given their lack of credentials.38 Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, reiterates what he told the assembled crowds the previous day: they healed the lame man in “the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.” He continues, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 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.” (Acts 4:10–12) This is an audacious move—to go beyond denying their own culpability to charging their accusers with the far worse crime of killing mankind’s Savior.
The rulers are astonished at such defiance from uneducated and common men, whom they recognize as Jesus’ disciples. But with the presence of the healed man and the many who witnessed the miracle, they can’t rebut the charges. After conferring among themselves, they command Peter and John to speak to no one else in Jesus’ name, hoping to prevent news of the healing from spreading further.
Undaunted, Peter and John reply that while the Sanhedrin is free to believe that its authority should supersede God’s, they themselves are compelled to obey Him and proclaim what they have seen and heard. Seeing people praising God for the miracle, the Sanhedrin merely threatens the pair and lets them go. Jewish historian Joseph Klausner asserts that the Sanhedrin’s arrest and release of the apostles “was the first mistake which the Jewish leaders made with regard to the new sect [Christianity]. And the mistake was fatal.” He argues that arresting and then quickly releasing them made them martyrs while also signaling that it might not be so dangerous to be a disciple of Jesus after all.39
Perhaps, but the reality is that God is sovereign; the spread of the Gospel was not to be contained. If Peter and John hadn’t been arrested, they would have continued to preach boldly, and if they had been punished, the Gospel would surely have proliferated just as explosively. There were too many witnesses of God’s miracles and of the apostles’ contagious message for this genie to be put back in the bottle.
Once released, Peter and John return to their friends and report what has happened. The people pray to God, quoting Psalm 2:1, 2: “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
The new believers increasingly understand that God’s salvation history had not begun with Jesus but was culminating in Him. In quoting the second psalm, the believers show they understand that Hebrew Scripture is still relevant and is being fulfilled in their day. The Romans are the Gentiles raging against God and His Anointed, Jesus, while the Jewish people and their rulers are those who plotted against Him. The psalmist’s accurate prediction of the unfolding events, as described above, shows this has all been part of God’s master plan for mankind.40 Significantly, these believers consider both the Gentile authorities and the Jews as common foes of the Gospel in this case.41 Many commentators believe this psalm was immediately fulfilled in the early Church and is also a prophecy of the end-times Tribulation.42 “In the last days,” Warren Wiersbe writes, “it will have its complete fulfillment as the ‘kings of the earth’ unite to fight against God” (see Rev. 1:5; 6:15; 16:12–16; 17:2, 18; 19:11–21).43
After praying together, the believers’ meeting place shakes. They are all filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak God’s word boldly. They come together as a finely tuned community “of one heart and soul,” and again, they share all their belongings, sell their assets, and give the proceeds to the apostles for distribution to the poor. With great power, the apostles give their testimony to Christ’s resurrection, and God brings grace to them all.
Not quite everyone practices this communal spirit of generosity. After Ananias and his wife Sapphira sell some property, Ananias, with Sapphira’s knowledge, retains some of the proceeds, giving only part of it to the apostles. Peter asks Ananias why Satan has filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep part of the proceeds, clarifying that though it was his property to dispose of as he wished, and that the proceeds were his after he sold it, his sin was lying to God. Hearing this rebuke, Ananias immediately dies, striking great fear in all who hear of this. A group of young men wrap his body, carry him out, and bury him. Three hours later, Sapphira enters, unaware of what has happened. Peter asks her if they have given all the proceeds from the sale of their land to the apostles, and she says they have. Peter then asks why she and Ananias had agreed to test the Spirit of the Lord. She too instantly falls and dies, and the young men bury her beside her husband. Again, great fear comes upon the whole Church and everyone else who hears about these events.
Many commentators regard this as one of the most troubling passages in the New Testament. On first glance, it’s difficult to reconcile it with our perception of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. But some scholars’ explanations strike me as either evasive or too harsh. Let me take a stab at presenting the issues.
First, most agree that the text, especially the original Greek, indicates the couple had agreed to sell the property and give all the proceeds to the Church, even though they weren’t required to do so. If they hadn’t agreed to this, such a severe penalty would not have been imposed because the infraction would have been different—selfishness or greed, rather than lying to God. The Greek translation reveals they virtually embezzled the money—meaning it was no longer theirs once they had pledged it to God and the Church.
The beginning chapters in Acts emphasize that the nascent Church was thoroughly community oriented and spirit-filled. Perhaps this is why Luke introduced the word “church” for the first time in the Book of Acts in the context of this story.44 The two verses immediately preceding the Ananias and Sapphira story mention that Barnabas sold his field and delivered the proceeds to the apostles, presumably to draw a sharp contrast with the couple’s attitude. We may safely assume God deemed that a high level of purity was needed to spur the rapid spread of the Gospel, which was for the benefit of all people. The couple damaged both the spirit-filled nature of the Church and the communal trust among its members—and if the “spirit” of the Church is compromised, so is its power. “The church can only thrive as the people of God if it lives within the total trust of all its members,” writes John Polhill. “Where there is that unity of trust, that oneness of heart and mind, the church flourishes in the power of the Spirit. Where there is duplicity and distrust, its witness fails.”45
If this corruptive taint were allowed to infect the Church at the beginning, it could severely inhibit its growth and the consequent spread of the Gospel in Jerusalem and beyond. So it may be that God regards the couple’s actions and spirits as corrosive influences on the Church—a door for Satan to enter from the beginning. In response, He decides to eradicate the menace altogether and preserve the spirit-driven community.
It’s not a great stretch to analogize this to those disturbing sections in the Old Testament in which God orders Israel to kill all the Canaanites in the Promised Land. One mitigating factor is that God’s ultimate plan was to use His chosen people in the land to establish a nation from which would spring the Messiah, Who would offer salvation to all mankind. Allowing the depraved pagans to remain in the land would hinder His plan by promoting idolatry, so He demanded purity.
While I am not entirely comforted by these arguments, I am not one to contradict God, Who has the right to judge human beings He created. What gives me greater solace is that nothing in the story suggests that Ananias or Sapphira lost their salvation because of their sin. We don’t know, and it isn’t for us to know. All we know is that God took their earthly lives and preserved the spirit of the early Church. Perhaps Luke twice reports fear among the believers to elucidate that they understand how gravely God regards sin that taints the Church.46
The narrative picks back up with the apostles performing many miracles among the people gathered at Solomon’s Colonnade. For unstated reasons—perhaps they are fearful of being judged47—some don’t dare join the believers, though they highly respect them. But nonbelievers are being converted at an ever-increasing pace. The excitement repels some people and irresistibly attracts others. John Stott observes that this remains true today. “The presence of the living God, whether manifest through preaching or miracles or both, is alarming to some and appealing to others,” he contends. “Some are frightened away, while others are drawn to faith.”48
The people carry their sick into the streets and lay them on cots and mats, hoping that when Peter walks by, his passing shadow might heal them. Word of these healings spreads to surrounding towns, and people bring their sick and spirit-possessed into Jerusalem for healing. When they learn of the healings, the religious rulers are jealous and fearful for their authority. They again arrest the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night, an Angel of the Lord frees them and says, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” God will not be thwarted: He not only releases the apostles but commands them to preach the Gospel message of salvation and the spirit-filled life it entails, in all its fullness. An ironic twist is at play here: the Sadducees, who are behind the imprisonment, don’t believe in angels (just as they don’t believe in resurrection), yet it is an angel that foils their plan.49 In obedience, the apostles enter the Temple at dawn and begin to teach.
The high priest convenes the Sanhedrin and orders the prisoners to be brought in. But the officers return and report that though the prison was securely locked with the guards at the doors, the apostles are gone. The unnoticed escape of the prisoners through locked gates and armed guards perplexes the authorities. When the rulers hear that the apostles are teaching in the Temple, they bring them back peaceably. They fear using force could provoke people to stone them, indicating the people’s growing respect for the apostles. The authorities reprimand the apostles for disobeying their order not to preach in Christ’s name, and for blaming them for Jesus’ death. Curiously, the high priest does not inquire about their mysterious escape.
Just as in the first hearing, Peter and the apostles respond that they are compelled to obey God—Who has commanded them to preach in Jesus’ name—rather than men, no matter how powerful. In this spirit, Peter continues with unpleasant truths, matter-of-factly rebuking the authorities for crucifying the Messiah sent by the God of their fathers—the same God they had always worshipped. Beyond defending himself, Peter is witnessing to the authorities, declaring that God has raised Jesus as Leader and Savior to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. As if to say, “I know you want us to shut up about this, but the truth is the truth,” Peter testifies that, along with the Holy Spirit, Whom God has given to believers, they are eyewitnesses to these events. It is a striking illustration of the power of prayer, for they had prayed for the courage to preach Christ boldly in the power of the Holy Spirit. Whether the authorities fully comprehend the message, they are furious and want to kill Peter and the other apostles.
At that moment, the Pharisee Gamaliel—a well-respected teacher of the Law who had been Paul’s instructor before his conversion—orders that the apostles be removed from the building temporarily. He urges his colleagues to be cautious, reminding them of past religious leaders who inspired rebellions. They should simply distance themselves from the apostles, he says, because unless it’s truly inspired by God, their message will fail; but if God is behind it, it will succeed despite their resistance, and they would be opposing God.
It’s unsurprising that an orthodox Jewish believer endorses God’s sovereignty, but it’s shocking that he allows for the possibility that the Gospel is authentic. Then again, Pharisees have far more in common theologically with Christians than do the powerful Sadducees. Unlike the Sadducees, Pharisees believe in angels, resurrection, the after-life, and a coming Messiah (Acts 23:8, Matt. 22:41). Perhaps Gamaliel is sensing that this new movement is inspired because of the miraculous healings, the apparent supernatural escape from jail, and the apostles’ bold preaching in Christ’s name based on their firm belief in His bodily resurrection.
It is ironic that this venerated rabbi, by intervening in the proceeding, has become God’s instrument in advancing the Gospel. The authorities yield to his wisdom and call the apostles back in, beat them, and finally release them, after again ordering them not to preach in Jesus’ name. After their release, the apostles rejoice that they have been persecuted in Christ’s name, which they consider a high honor—the very type of reaction Peter would encourage in his first epistle: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter 4:13–14). Paul also promotes joy in suffering, as previously noted, because suffering produces endurance, then character, and then hope (Romans 5:3–5). Every day thereafter, the apostles, paradoxically empowered by their persecution for defending Christ, flagrantly ignore the Sanhedrin’s commands and preach in Jesus’ name in the Temple and in the people’s homes.
With the rapid expansion of the Church comes growing pains. The Hellenists (in this instance, converted Grecian Jews)50 complain that their widows are not receiving their fair share of the daily food distribution. Assembling all the disciples, the apostles put seven upstanding men in charge of food distribution and free the rest to preach and teach the Word. The apostles lay their hands on the seven and pray for them. This problem solved, they continue to advance the Gospel, multiplying the number of believers, including many Jewish priests.
Stephen is one of the seven servants, full of grace and power, and is working great wonders and signs among the people. He stirs the ire of certain synagogue members when he begins to powerfully preach the Gospel, but they are powerless to refute Him and his Spirit-filled wisdom. This brings to mind Jesus’ assurances to His followers: “for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say,” when challenged by authorities or faced with any adversity (Luke 12:11–12). Jesus also promised to give them wisdom that their adversaries could not withstand or contradict (Luke 21:15).
In frustration and anger, these Jews recruit men to frame Stephen for blasphemy against Moses and God. This stirs up people and the elders and scribes, who seize Stephen, bring him before the Sanhedrin, and produce false witnesses against him. They accuse him of blasphemy against Moses and the Temple, for he had allegedly quoted Jesus as saying He would destroy the Temple and change Jewish customs. Everyone in the council notices that despite these charges, Stephen’s face has an angelic appearance—a reflection of God’s glory—while he’s poised to make an inspired defense of the Gospel.51
When the high priest asks him whether the charges are true, Stephen—though he’s not an apostle—begins one of the most profound speeches recorded in Acts or elsewhere in the Bible. This has long been one of my favorite biblical speeches, for Stephen masterfully summarizes Old Testament history and demonstrates its continuity with the Gospel message. It’s unfortunate that some Christians fail to appreciate, or even dispute, the relevance of the Old Testament. Stephen’s speech is powerfully succinct, reviewing God’s formation and superintendence of the Jewish nation. The following is a summary of his remarks with comments.
Stephen begins by telling of the “God of glory” calling Abram (Abraham) and commanding him to go to the land He would show him—Canaan. He gave Abraham and his descendants the land as an everlasting possession, though at the time of God’s command, he had no descendants. Right off the bat, Stephen refers to God as the “God of glory,” showing his reverence for the same God the Jews worship, Whom he would never blaspheme. His accusers must be perplexed at Stephen’s endorsement of their God while being such an ardent follower of Christ—though, if they understood the Gospel, they would see there is no inconsistency.
God had told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved (by the Egyptians) for four hundred years, and then God would judge Egypt, deliver His people from its clutches, and return them to the Promised Land, where they would worship Him. God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, which required all males to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant that God had made with him (Gen. 17:9–14). As God promised, Abraham became Isaac’s father and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, who became the father of the twelve patriarchs of Israel. These three men were God’s chosen founding fathers of the nation of Israel—God referred to Himself as “the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob” (Exodus 3:16). Throughout his speech, Stephen fully embraces the Old Testament narrative and recognizes God’s special relationship with the Jewish people—something his accusers must have noticed.
Jealous of their brother Joseph, Stephen continues, the patriarchs sold him into Egypt, but God rescued him and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, who appointed him ruler of Egypt and of his household. When a famine fell upon Egypt and Canaan, Jacob sent his sons—the patriarchs—into Egypt to get grain. They didn’t recognize Joseph, and he didn’t reveal himself to them at that time. But on their second visit, Joseph disclosed his identity to his brothers and introduced them to Pharaoh. Joseph then sent for his father Jacob and his seventy-five relatives. After coming to Egypt, Jacob died and they buried him in Shechem in a tomb that Abraham had purchased.
As the promised four hundred year period of captivity was ending, the Israelites were multiplying and another king came to power who was unfamiliar with Joseph. He mistreated the Israelites, and even forced them to expose and abandon their infants so they would die. When Moses was born, he was exposed and meant to die, but Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and saved him. He was instructed in Egyptian wisdom and became a great man of words and deeds.
When Moses was forty, he was moved to visit his fellow Jews. Though he killed an Egyptian who was persecuting one of them, the Jews did not understand Moses was trying to help them. The next day, when Moses tried to break up a quarrel between some other Jews, they rebuked him, asking who made him their ruler and judge. One asked if Moses wanted to kill him as he had the Egyptian, whereupon Moses fled to Midian, where he eventually fathered two sons.
Notably, Stephen accentuates the Jews’ initial rejection of Moses, which could be a subtle reminder to his accusers that their fathers, not Stephen, were the ones who rejected Moses and thereby resisted God, Who was raising Moses up to be their leader. Stephen might be mentioning the initial failure of Joseph’s brothers to recognize him as an example of the same kind of spiritual rebellion. John Polhill argues that Stephen could be comparing both events to the Jews’ rejection of Christ. Polhill asks, “Would they now accept him when confronted by Christ through Stephen’s preaching?”52
Stephen continues preaching. He tells how after forty more years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. Amazed, Moses drew near and heard the voice of the Lord say, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.” Moses trembled and was afraid to look. Then God said to him, “Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” Stephen is highlighting God’s trustworthiness and His steadfast protection of Israel. Polhill suggests that by including the account of God’s directing the removal of Moses’ sandals, Stephen is reminding his accusers that the Temple in Jerusalem is not the only place that is holy ground.53
Stephen then declares that this same Moses the Jews had mocked for trying to be their ruler and judge, God made a ruler and redeemer of his people. Moses led his people out of Egypt and performed miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. Stephen then pivots to Moses’ announcement of God’s promise of a prophet who would rise from His people, referring to Jesus Christ. Moses was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with the fathers. Moses was the one who received God’s Law. The people disobeyed him and turned to Moses’ brother Aaron, asking him to make Egyptian idols for them. They made a calf as an idol and offered sacrifices to it. So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship this idol, as the prophets had written.
Stephen is reminding his audience again that their fathers rejected Moses and God. Similarly, they are now rejecting Jesus Christ, whom Moses himself effectively embraced by predicting that God would raise him up. It is clear from Stephen’s words that he is not only innocent of the charges being leveled against him, but that his accusers are culpable of those very misdeeds.
Stephen explains that the Israelites had a tabernacle in the wilderness, made according to God’s instructions. They brought it with them into Canaan with Joshua when they drove the Canaanites from the land, using it as their temple until God allowed them to build the true Temple to worship Him. God denied King David permission to build the Temple but allowed Solomon to do it, though God does not actually dwell in houses made by human hands. Stephen quotes Psalm 11:4: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?”
After rehearsing this history, Stephen calls his accusers a “stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,” who always resist the Holy Spirit, just as their fathers did. Their fathers also persecuted all the prophets and killed the ones who had prophesied the coming Messiah—the One whom his accusers had just betrayed and killed. Though the angels entrusted them with the Law, they did not keep it. In this final portion of his speech, Stephen connects the dots, pointedly indicting them while demonstrating his innocence. Their guilt is in failing to recognize the sins of their fathers unlike Stephen, who recognizes God’s salvation plan and accepts His Son in faith. Repentance is theirs for the asking, but they are stiff-necked, hardhearted, and militantly resistant to God’s offer of grace. In resisting the Holy Spirit as their fathers did, they are repeating their fathers’ mistake, but with less excuse; after all, they have the Scriptures outlining their fathers’ errors. “The pattern of rejection in the past,” writes Polhill, “foreshadows the ultimate rejection of God’s appointed Messiah in the present.”54
Stephen is hardly the rebellious one among them. Rather, he is a mirror reflecting their guilt, which further enrages them against him. It is remarkable that they are blind to a corollary truth laced throughout Stephen’s defense: God is a long-suffering God of grace and forgiveness, offering his people repeated chances at redemption—from Joseph’s brothers, who had tried to murder Joseph, to His grace in the face of the Israelites’ repeated rejections of Moses, to their idolatry in the wilderness, to their constant breaking of the covenant, and to His sending of His Son to die in their place and ours. Through it all, God watched over His people—He delivered Moses from the Egyptians so he could lead His people out of slavery, and He protected and kept His covenants with them despite their unending breaches.
This blistering indictment infuriates the authorities, who grind their teeth at Stephen. Full of the Holy Spirit, he gazes into heaven and tells his accusers what he sees: God’s glory and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. With this proclamation—even in the face of his own death—Stephen is committing blasphemy in their eyes all over again, and even more severely. His vision is a further affront to their authority since they, not Stephen, are supposed to have a direct line to God. How dare he say he has special access to Him! This is a far cry from a criminal defendant confessing his guilt or contritely begging the judge for mercy. They begin to yell and rush toward him before casting him out of the city and stoning him. During the stoning Stephen calls out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” then falls to his knees and implores Jesus not to hold this sin against his murderers. Then Stephen dies.
It’s impossible to miss that Stephen is imitating Christ in his final words—asking God to receive his spirit and making an intercessory prayer for his accusers. It’s equally impossible to miss that during the stoning, the witnesses lay down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Believers in the nascent Church were persecuted from the outset. Hounded by Jewish leaders and Roman authorities, they were subject to arrests, trials, mob violence, and even murder. Yet the community persevered, enduring their suffering with dignity and grace. In fact, their tribulations clearly strengthened their resolve and created deep bonds among them. The authorities quickly found they could not lock up or otherwise eliminate believers as quickly as new believers were arising. However, that did not mean their persecutors would stop trying, as the apostles soon learned.
Indeed, the Church’s greatest persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, will now enter the scene, determined to obliterate this blasphemous movement in its infancy. The Lord, however, has other plans. In His providence, He will re-channel Saul’s animating passion into proclaiming and proliferating the Gospel instead of opposing it.