Acts 4:1-12
Chapter 4
Peter and John Before the Council
While Peter and John were still speaking to the crowd, the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees approached them.They were very upset because the apostles were teaching the people and claiming that resurrection from the dead had been proven through Jesus.
Since it was already evening, they arrested them and kept them in custody until the next day.
Despite this, many who heard the message believed, and their numbers grew to about five thousand.
The next day, the Jewish leaders, elders, and teachers of the law gathered in Jerusalem.
Annias, the High Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and everyone from the high priestly family were present.
They brought Peter and John before them and started to question them:
How did you manage to do this? Whose name did you use?
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke up:
“Leaders of the people! Elders!
It is a fact that we are being examined today for a good deed done to a cripple. How was he healed?
You and all the people of Israel must know that this man stands before you cured through the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazorean. You had him crucified. But God raised him from the dead.
Jesus is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
There is no salvation in anyone else; for there is no other Name given to humankind all over the world, by which we may be saved.”
Commentaries
Peter and John Before the Council.
A new element appears in the community’s life: persecution, which will continue for the witnesses and missionaries of the Gospel throughout the entire book of Acts. What Jesus predicted comes to pass: His disciples will face persecution, but the Holy Spirit will speak through them before their persecutors (cf. Lk 12:4-12; 21:12-19). Usually, humble people bow their heads, ask for forgiveness, and wait for punishment. However, the unexpected happens here: the accused become the accusers. Peter takes the opportunity to testify about Jesus, and this moment is unique. As in his previous speeches, he restates the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection. But this time, he says even more: he firmly declares that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (12).