Font Size
Acts 4:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Acts 4:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 4
First Phase of the Trial: A Warning.[a] 1 While they were still speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple guard,[b] and the Sadducees came over to them, 2 greatly annoyed that they were teaching and proclaiming to the people the resurrection of the dead through Jesus. 3 Therefore, they arrested them and placed them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Acts 4:1 The religious authorities understand very well the main points of Peter’s discourse: Jesus has been raised; therefore, he has entered the sphere of God. Christians are not healers possessed of some secret or magical art; they act and teach with an authority that does not belong to a group of people. They do it in the name of Jesus Christ. When the Jewish authorities ask Peter and John why they are still preaching in the name of Jesus even though they have been told not to do so anymore, Peter and John answer, “You be the judges about whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God. We cannot possibly refrain from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Concerning the name of Jesus, Peter says, “There is no salvation in anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to men by which we can be saved.” This is a call to salvation. To act in the name of Jesus, or to invoke him, means that every action of God is done through Jesus. God’s role in the last times announced by Joel (3:5) is fulfilled through Jesus alone. If the Jewish authorities accept the fact that the movement of the History of Salvation lies in this new initiative of Jesus, they would signal the failure of their mandate and their institutions. As it is, they seek to escape embarrassment by cutting short the interrogation. But they cannot withstand the assurance of the apostles. - Acts 4:1 Captain of the temple guard: a priest who oversaw the activities of the police within the temple. Sadducees: a religious sect of the Jews that insisted upon human free will but denied immortality, the resurrection, and the existence of angels.
