Bible Studies for Life By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Religion, Samford University
Unstoppable Courage
Acts 4:1–3, 8–12, 19–20
In the third chapter of Acts, Luke describes a miracle performed by Peter and John. As the two disciples walked to the temple for evening prayers, a man lame from birth asked them for alms. Telling the man they had neither silver nor gold to share with him, they went on to tell him what they did have they would give: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” Peter said, “Rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). The man did just as Peter said; he stood and walked. But he did much more than that. He began leaping and praising God and, perhaps for the first time, entered the temple to worship with everyone else.
As the man’s words of praise echoed through the temple grounds, crowds gathered to see what had happened. There they found Peter explaining that it was not through any power of their own that the man had been healed. It was God Himself who had healed him, and it was this same God whose son, Jesus, the worshippers had rejected just a few weeks before.
Speaking for Christ can lead
to confrontation. (1–3)
While many people were convicted by Peter’s message, others were less impressed. Luke notes that the priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees approached Peter and John and had them arrested. While it can be tempting to think of priests and temple personnel as pious individuals, focused especially on religious life, various historical sources from the period suggest this was not the case. The Sadducees gained control of the temple during the Maccabean period through shrewd political machinations, and they maintained that control by cooperating with the heavy-handed rule of Rome. No wonder Jesus seems to have responded so dismissively when the Sadducees challenged Him (Matt. 22:29). Perhaps perceiving a threat in Peter and John’s preaching, the powerful men who controlled the temple decided to put a stop to it.
Proclaim faith in Christ as the only way to receive eternal life. (8–12)
Faced with questions from the high priest and his supporters, the temptation for Peter and John to back away from their message must have been quite strong. Having seen in the death of Jesus just a few months before what power the priests could wield when they needed to, the disciples might have thought it the better part of wisdom to downplay their message and live on to preach another day. But now a new sense of boldness filled the disciples, compelling them to affirm before one and all that it was Jesus Himself who had given the lame man new strength and that it was Jesus Himself who stood as the only means of salvation for priest and peasant alike.
Speak boldly for Christ in spite
of opposition. (19–20)
With the lame man standing in their midst, the religious leaders could hardly deny the reality of miracle that had taken place. Instead, they opted to warn the disciples not to spread their message any further. If they expected their show of force to cow the disciples into submission, they must have been sorely disappointed. Standing face to face with their opponents, Peter and John mustered a newfound courage and answered, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. As for us, we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” The disciples could hardly have expected to escape punishment with such an answer. It seems rather that escape was not their chief concern. With their lives or even with their deaths, the disciples had at last determined they would bear witness to the One in whom they had placed their hope.
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