538 Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrim, and examined. SECT. viii. Acts that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, 6 And Annas the and John, and high-priest, and CaiaAlexander, and many as were of the kindred of the high And the next day there was a general assembly 5 And it came to of their rulers, and elders, and scribes, which pass on the morrow, constituted the Sanhedrim, who gathered togeIV. 5, 6. ther, and formed a court at Jerusalem: And there was with them Annas, who had formerly been the high priest, and Caiaphas also who then bore that office, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the high-priest's priest, were gathered kindred, who came and joined the council upon this occasion. 7 And having ordered the apostles to be brought before them, and set them in the midst of the assembly, (the place were criminals used to stand to be tried by their court,) they inquired of them, saying, Declare to us truly, and with out reserve, what is the bottom of this affair? By what power, or in the authority of what name, have you done this strange work, which has been wrought on the cripple now healed? Is it by the art of medicine, or by magic? Or do you pretend to any prophetic mission, in attestation of which this is done? so long unquestioned in their public work; and to suppose they did not teach publicly would be most absurd. d Annas the high-priest, and Caiaphas.] As it seems evident, that Caiaphas was the high-priest at this time, it may appear strange, that the title should be given to another, merely to signify that he, that is, the Annas spoken of, was that Annas who had once borne that office with great honour, and had now most of the authority, though his son-in-law Caiaphas had the name.—] would submit it to examination, whether, placing a comma after Away, the following words might not be joined, TOV HEXLERER nai Kaiapay, and rendered the high-priest also, that is, Caiaphas; though I confess the insertion of copulatives between each name in the following clauses does not favour such a version: and there fore I rather incline to acquiesce in the former solution; for the illustration of which, see Mr. Biscoe, at Boyle's Lect. p. 648-659. e John and Alexander.] It is very evident, these were persons of great note among the Jews at that time: and it is not improbable, that (as Dr. Lightfoot and others suppose) the former might be the celebrated Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai, mentioned in the Talmud, the scholar of Hillel, and that the latter might be the Alabarch, or governor of the Jews at Alexandria, brother to the famous Philo Judæus, and in great favour with Claudius Cæsar. Josephus Then together at Jerusalem. as 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name have ye done this? mentions him often, and tells us, among other things, that he adorned nine gates of the temple with plates of gold and silver. Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5, [al. vi. 6.] § 3. f As many as were of the high-priest's kindred.] Or as others render it, of the pontifical family. Dr. Hammond explains this of the twenty-four members of the Aaronic family, who presided over the twenty-four courses: Others refer it to those, who were nearly related to Annas and Caiaphas: But Grotius thinks that it includes the kindred of those who had lately been in the office of high-priest, which (he says) made them members of the Sanhedrim. Who were properly members of that council, it is extremely difficult to say; but I cannot think with a late learned writer, (Mr. Biscoe, at Boyle's Lect. p. 79.) that the presence of Alexander (though statedly resident in Egypt) will prove, that this was not properly the Sanhedrim, but an extraordinary council occasionally called, consisting of some who were, and others who were not, of that court. It is very evident, they act with authority as a court of judicature here, and the council, expressly called Euvidprov, again and again in the 5th chapter, (ver. 21, 27, 34, 41.) refer to the acts of this assembly as their own: (Compare chap. v. ver. 27, 28.) And the same word is likewise used here in this chapter, ver. 15. Whom said unto them; Ye and elders of Israel, 9 If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the im potent man, by what ineans he is made whole; 10 Be it known unto you all, and to all that by the name of Jesus Christ of Naza the people of Israel, 539 viii. Acts Peter declares what they had done was in the name of Jesus. 8 Then Peter, filled Then Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, according SECT. with the Holy Ghost, to the promise of his now glorified Master, rulers of the people, which was upon this occasion remarkably verified, (compare Mat. x. 19, 20. and Mark xiii. IV. 8. 11.) spake with the utmost freedom, and said unto them, O ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, before whom we are now brought as malefactors! We are not conscious to ourselves, 9 that we have done any thing to deserve censure or punishment; but if we are this day examined and called to an account as criminals, about the benefit conferred upon the impotent man, and you would have us to declare by what means he is saved from his calamitous state, and healed in the manner which you now see, we are most free to tell you what we before have testified on this occasion: (Chap. iii. 16:) Be it known 10 therefore to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you a few weeks ago crucified with all the reth, whom ye crucifi- marks of detestation and contempt, as a criminal worthy of the most infamous death, but by him doth this man whom God hath owned, in that he hath raised stand here before you him from the deads, and received him to glory: [Fea,] I declare it again, and will abide by it whatever be the consequence, that it is by him, even by that illustrious name of his, that this poor man, whom you well know to have been a cripple from his mother's womb, now stands before you perfectly sound and well. And give 11 at me leave, Sirs, to tell you, that this Jesus is a person, with whom you are all intimately concerned; for as David expresses it, (Psal. exviii. 22,) "This is the stone which was contemptuously refused and set at nought by you, who by your office should have been builders in the church of God, that is indeed become the very head of the corner, to which the whole building owes its strength, its union, and its beauty. 12 Neither is there And there is really salvation and healing in no 12 salvation in any other; other but in him; neither is there any other under heaven name under heaven, given out by God among given among men, the children of men, whether of patriarch or whereby we must be prophet, or priest or king, in which we must saved. ed, whom God raised from the dead, even whole. 11 This is the stone which w38 set nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. for there is none other name Whom God hath raised from the dead.] They knew in their own consciences, that it was so; and, though they had hired the soldiers to tell a most senseless and incredi VOL. VII. be ble tale to the contrary, (Mat. xxviii. 12- 540 SECT. viii. It is in Jesus there is salvation and in no other. be saved and recovered: For though we are not thus disabled and afflicted in body, yet there are other maladies of a much more threatening IV. 12. nature, for the cure of which you and I, and all that hear me this day, must, as we value the very lives of our souls, apply to Jesus, and only to him. Acts 13 13 Now when they norant men, they marvelled; and they took with Jesus. Now when they of the council saw the boldness of Peter and John, and observed the freedom sa the boldness of Peter and John, and of speech with which they pleaded their Master's perceived that they cause, and the high degree to which they extol- were unlearned and igled him, in the presence of those magistrates who had so lately condemned him to the most knowledge of them, shameful death; and understood at the same time that they had been that they were illiterate men, and in private stations of life, they were greatly astonished. And upon farther recollection too they knew them, and remembered of those two disciples, that they had been with Jesus, particularly the night that he was taken, and had attended him to the house of Caiphas, where several now in court had been present at his examination *. (Com14 pare John xviii. 15, 16.) And they would 14 And beholding gladly have done their utmost to confound a the man which was testimony which bore so hard upon themselves. healed standing with them, they could say But seeing the man that was cured, whom they nothing against it. knew to have been so long lame, now standing with them perfectly recovered, they had nothing to say against the fact, though they were most unwilling to own a doctrine which [it] tended so strongly to prove. h In which we must be saved.] Dr. Whitby and some later writers have taken a great deal of pains to prove, that ownvas here signifies healing, and have argued for it from the connection, and from many texts, especially in the Evangelists, where it plainly has that sense, as it has likewise, Acts xiv. 9, where it is translated to be heal ed. (See Mat. ix. 21, 22; Mark v. 23; vi. 56; x. 52; Luke xvii. 19; and compare noted on Mark v. 28, Vol. VI. p. 378) But it is strange, that any should not have seen, that, if the most determinate word for healing had been here used, (as Jepanεvonval, or aca,) it must have signified spiritual and eternal salvation, since it is plain, that, when Peter says, y w dowenaι nuas, he takes it for granted, that all who heard him needed to apply to Christ for this healing: Now there is no reason to believe, they were all afflicted with bodily maladies, nor could he have any imaginable warrant to promise them all supernatural recovery in that case. Raphelius in a remarkable But note on this text, (er Herod. p. 329— 32,) endeavours among other things to prove, that roua, or the name of a person, was a manner of speaking used in reference to one regarded as God, and the Author of salvation. i Illiterate men, and in private stations of life.] The original words aygappatos xas dia have literally this signification, that they were not scholars, nor in any public rank of life as the priests and magistrates were; but they import no want of natural good sense, or any ignorance of what was then the subject of debate: so that our translation seems very unhappy here. k They knew them that they had been with Jesus, particularly the night that he was taken, &c.] See note g on Luke xxii. 57, p. 563.- -Grotius justly observes also, that the rulers were often present when Christ taught publicly, and so might have seen Peter and John near him at other times, as well as on the occasion mentioned in the paraphrase. 1 Never The council are at a loss what to do with them. had commanded them men? For that indeed lem, and we cannot deny it. spread no farther 541 viii. Acts 15 But when they But as they did not choose the apostles should SECT. to go aside out of the perceive they knew not what to say, having orcouncil, they confer- dered them to withdraw for a while out of the red among themselves. room where the council was sitting, they private- IV. 15. 16 Saying, What ly conferred among themselves, Saying, What 16 shall we do to these shall we do with these men? It would be neither a notable miracle hath reasonable nor safe to punish them now, for that been done by them, is indeed a very surprising and signal miracle hath manifest to all them been wrought by them, is clearly manifest to all that dwell in Jerusa- the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we ourselves cannot possibly deny [it.] Nevertheless on the 17 177 But that it other hand, it is equally plain, that both our among the people, let credit and our interest require us, to suppress straitly threaten the rumour of it as much as we can; and therethem, that they speak fore that it may not any farther spread among the people, and be a means of raising discontent, and perhaps of occasioning some dangerous insurrection among them, which may throw the city and nation into confusion, let us severely threaten them with the most rigorous punishment, in case they persist in such bold discourses as those we have now been hearing, that so they may not dare to preach as they have done, and from henceforth may speak no more to any man in this obnoxious name. henceforth to no man in this name. 18 And they called them, and comn,anded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and And the whole council having agreed to this 18. But Peter and John felt themselves animated 19 unto 1 Nevertheless.] Instances in which ɑɑ signifies Nevertheless, are numerous in the New Testament; and it is often rendered so by our translators. See Mark xiv. 36; John xi. 15; Rom. v. 14; 2 Cor. xii. 16; Gal. iv. 30; 2 Tim. i. 12; And many instances from profane writers are brought by Elsner in his note here. zeal, m They charged them that they should not speak any more in the name of Jesus. The very thing, that men conscious of the truth of the apostle's testimony, and selfcondemned, would do; attempting by violence to stop their mouths, as they knew they could not answer them any other way. SY 2 D Whether 542 They charge them to speak no more in the name of Jesus. viii. Acts 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen SECT. zeal, which would not permit them to be silent, unto them, Whether it lest that silence should be interpreted as a pro- God, to hearken unto be right in the sight of mise to quit their ministry, and therefore an- you more than unto IV. 19. swering them with an undaunted freedom, they God, judge ye. said before them all, Whether it be a fit or a righteous thing in the sight of God, to whom we are all accountable, to obey you rather than God, judge ye". You cannot but know in your own consciences on which side the superior obligation lies; and you must therefore expect, that 20 we shall act accordingly. For though we respect you as our civil rulers, and are heartily willing to yield all subjection to you so far as we and heard. lawfully can, yet since God hath charged us with the publication of this important message, on which, as we have already testified, the eternal salvation of men depends, we dare not to be silent in a case of such importance, and are free to tell you that we cannot but speak the things which we have so often seen and heard, and which God hath so miraculously impowered us to declare, not only in this city, but throughout all the earth. 21 And though the apostles spake with such great freedom, the council were so confounded by the force of truth, that they did not think fit to proceed to any further extremities at that time; but having threatened them again in severer terms than before, they dismissed them; finding nothing done by them for which they might with any shew of reason punish them, and not daring to proceed in so arbitrary a manner as they would otherwise have done, because of the people, whose resentment they feared: For such was the impression that was made upon the people by the cure of the lame man, that they had all an high esteem and mighty veneration for the apostles, who were publicly. known to be the instruments of working it, and all glorified God in raptures of astonishment n Whether it be righteous to obey you rather than God, judge ye.] As they professed to believe the being and infinite perfections of God, they must, on their own principles, easily see the absurdity of expecting obedience to their commands from good men, who believed themselves divinely commissioned. There is a passage which bears some resemblance to this, in the apology of Socrates as recorded by Plato, (oper. p. 23,) which appears to me among the finest of antiquity. When they were con for 21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. demning him to death for teaching the people, he said, "O ye Athenians, I embrace and love you; but I will obey God rather than you; [meσoμl de TW Oew pankor? v,] and if you would dismiss me and spare my life, on condition that I should cease to teach my fellow-citizens, I would rather die a thousand times than accept the proposal." What are ten thousand subtilties of the ancient philosophers, when compared with a sentiment like this! |