Conversation Points for Acts 4:5-12

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• All of the Easter season Acts readings so far have come from the same incident. The event started at the beginning of Chapter 3, when Peter healed the man born lame at the Temple gate. Peter then delivered the sermon we heard a part of last Sunday, 3:12-19, when Peter declared us to be witnesses to the power of healing in Christ’s name. After Peter finished preaching, some of the religious authorities came and arrested him and John for proclaiming the resurrection of the dead (4:1-2). Peter and John were held in custody overnight, while many who heard believed, and the number of Jesus followers grew to 5,000 (4:4).
• The list of people who assembled for the trial of Peter and John make up a group that Acts will later identify as “the Sanhedrin. Members of this group include people of high family pedigree (priests in the first century were part of the Levite clan), social prominence (elders), and education (scribes). The issues this group addressed were often tasked off to the members who had the most knowledge of the subject, for example ethical issues generally were handled by the Pharisees.
• This assembled group is not so much important for whom they specifically were but for who they represent, the powers that tried—and failed—to put Jesus to death.
• The key question the council addressed to Peter and John was “By what power or by what name did you do this?” The trick in this question is the word “this.” “This” could either refer to Peter’s healing of the man born lame or Peter’s teaching the people.
• Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit” to give his response, showing again that the work is done by God, and Peter is merely the vessel.
• The speech that follows is a compressed version of the one he gave on Pentecost and at Solomon’s Portico earlier in this incident.
• Peter defines “this” as the “good deed” (euergesia) of “healing” (sozo) the man. The word “good deed” applies to the sort of action any law-abiding, civil-minded Jew might perform to someone in need. “Healing” has a deeper meaning. Sozo has the double meaning of to heal and to save, and is used interchangeably throughout Acts for both of these meanings. This echoes the salvation theme in the Joel prophesy that Peter spoke of in 2:21.
• As Peter did in 3:13 (“…Jesus, whom you handed over…”), again in 4:10 (“…Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified…”) Peter makes clear that the authorities are not in line with God’s purpose.
• Peter spoke because he was filled with the Holy Spirit, even though he was “uneducated and ordinary.” While education is helpful, it is not a requirement of being able to share the good news of God in Christ.
• “The name of Jesus” is not a passcode for salvation, it is the power of ongoing healing.

Works Sourced:
Kirk, J. R. Daniel. “Commentary on Acts 4:5-12.” Working Preacher. . Accessed: 16 April 2018.

Wall, Robert W. “The Acts of the Apostles.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume X. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002.