'But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in
the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. 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. 22. For the man was above forty
years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed. 23. And being
let go they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief
priests and elders had said unto them. 24. And when they heard that,
they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, Thou
art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that
in them is: 25. Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why
did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26. The kings
of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord, and against His Christ. 27. For of a truth against Thy holy
child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
28. For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to
be done. 29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto
Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word, 30. By
stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be
done by the name of Thy holy child Jesus. 31. And when they had prayed,
the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with
boldness.'--ACTS iv. 19-31.
The only chance for persecution to succeed is to smite hard and
swiftly. If you cannot strike, do not threaten. Menacing words only
give courage. The rulers betrayed their hesitation when the end of
their solemn conclave was but to 'straitly threaten'; and less heroic
confessors than Peter and John would have disregarded the prohibition
as mere wind. None the less the attitude of these two Galilean
fishermen is noble and singular, when their previous cowardice is
remembered. This first collision with civil authority gives, as has
been already noticed, the main lines on which the relations of the
Church to hostile powers have proceeded.
I. The heroic refusal of unlawful obedience. We shall probably not do
injustice to John if we suppose that Peter was spokesman. If so, the
contrast of the tone of his answer with all previously recorded
utterances of his is remarkable. Warm-hearted impulsiveness, often
wrong-headed and sometimes illogical, had been their mark; but here we
have calm, fixed determination, which, as is usually its manner, wastes
no words, but in its very brevity impresses the hearers as being
immovable. Whence did this man get the power to lay down once for all
the foundation principles of the limits of civil obedience, and of the
duty of Christian confession? His words take rank with the
ever-memorable sayings of thinkers and heroes, from Socrates in his
prison telling the Athenians that he loved them, but that he must 'obey
God rather than you,' to Luther at Worms with his 'It is neither safe
nor right to do anything against conscience. Here I stand; I can do
nothing else. God help me! Amen.' Peter's words are the first of a long
series.
This first instance of persecution is made the occasion for the clear
expression of the great principles which are to guide the Church. The
answer falls into two parts, in the first of which the limits of
obedience to civil authority are laid down in a perfectly general form
to which even the Council are expected to assent, and in the second an
irresistible compulsion to speak is boldly alleged as driving the two
Apostles to a flat refusal to obey.
It was a daring stroke to appeal to the Council for an endorsement of
the principle in verse 19, but the appeal was unanswerable; for this
tribunal had no other ostensible reason for existence than to enforce
obedience to the law of God, and to Peter's dilemma only one reply was
possible. But it rested on a bold assumption, which was calculated to
irritate the court; namely, that there was a blank contradiction
between their commands and God's, so that to obey the one was to
disobey the other. When that parting of the ways is reached, there
remains no doubt as to which road a religious man must take.
The limits of civil obedience are clearly drawn. It is a duty, because
'the powers that be are ordained of God,' and obedience to them is
obedience to Him. But if they, transcending their sphere, claim
obedience which can only be rendered by disobedience to Him who has
appointed them, then they are no longer His ministers, and the duty of
allegiance falls away. But there must be a plain conflict of commands,
and we must take care lest we substitute whims and fancies of our own
for the injunctions of God. Peter was not guided by his own conceptions
of duty, but by the distinct precept of his Master, which had bid him
speak. It is not true that it is the cause which makes the martyr, but
it is true that many good men have made themselves martyrs needlessly.
This principle is too sharp a weapon to be causelessly drawn and
brandished. Only an unmistakable opposition of commandments warrants
its use; and then, he has little right to be called Christ's soldier
who keeps the sword in the scabbard.
The articulate refusal in verse 20 bases itself on the ground of
irrepressible necessity: 'We cannot but speak.' The immediate
application was to the facts of Christ's life, death, and glory. The
Apostles could not help speaking of these, both because to do so was
their commission, and because the knowledge of them and of their
importance forbade silence. The truth implied is of wide reach. Whoever
has a real, personal experience of Christ's saving power, and has heard
and seen Him, will be irresistibly impelled to impart what he has
received. Speech is a relief to a full heart. The word, concealed in
the prophet's heart, burned there 'like fire in his bones, and he was
weary of forbearing.' So it always is with deep conviction. If a man
has never felt that he must speak of Christ, he is a very imperfect
Christian. The glow of his own heart, the pity for men who know Him
not, his Lord's command, all concur to compel speech. The full river
cannot be dammed up.
II. The lame and impotent conclusion of the perplexed Council. How
plain the path is when only duty is taken as a guide, and how
vigorously and decisively a man marches along it! Peter had no
hesitation, and his resolved answer comes crashing in a straight
course, like a cannon-ball. The Council had a much more ambiguous
oracle to consult in order to settle their course, and they hesitate
accordingly, and at last do a something which is a nothing. They wanted
to trim their sails to catch popular favour, and so they could not do
anything thoroughly. To punish or acquit was the only alternative for
just judges. But they were not just; and as Jesus had been crucified,
not because Pilate thought Him guilty, but to please the people, so His
Apostles were let off, not because they were innocent, but for the same
reason. When popularity-hunters get on the judicial bench, society must
be rotten, and nearing its dissolution. To 'decree unrighteousness by a
law' is among the most hideous of crimes. Judges 'willing to wound, and
yet afraid to strike,' are portents indicative of corruption. We may
remark here how the physician's pen takes note of the patient's age, as
making his cure more striking, and manifestly miraculous.
III. The Church's answer to the first assault of the world's power. How
beautifully natural that is, 'Being let go, they went to their own,'
and how large a principle is expressed in the naive words! The great
law of association according to spiritual affinity has much to do in
determining relations here. It aggregates men, according to sorts; but
its operation is thwarted by other conditions, so that companionship is
often misery. But a time comes when it will work unhindered, and men
will be united with their like, as the stones on some sea-beaches are
laid in rows, according to their size, by the force of the sea. Judas
'went to his own place,' and, in another world, like will draw to like,
and prevailing tendencies will be increased by association with those
who share them.
The prayer of the Church was probably the inspired outpouring of one
voice, and all the people said 'Amen,' and so made it theirs. Whose
voice it was which thus put into words the common sentiment we should
gladly have known, but need not speculate. The great fact is that the
Church answered threats by prayer. It augurs healthy spiritual life
when opposition and danger neither make cheeks blanch with fear nor
flush with anger. No man there trembled nor thought of vengeance, or of
repaying threats with threats. Every man there instinctively turned
heavenwards, and flung himself, as it were, into God's arms for
protection. Prayer is the strongest weapon that a persecuted Church can
use. Browning makes a tyrant say, recounting how he had tried to crush
a man, that his intended victim
'Stood erect, caught at God's skirts, and prayed,
So _I_ was afraid.'
The contents of the prayer are equally noteworthy. Instead of minutely
studying it verse by verse, we may note some of its salient points.
Observe its undaunted courage. That company never quivered or wavered.
They had no thought of obeying the mandate of the Council. They were a
little army of heroes. What had made them so? What but the conviction
that they had a living Lord at God's right hand, and a mighty Spirit in
their spirits? The world has never seen a transformation like that.
Unique effects demand unique causes for their explanation, and nothing
but the historical truth of the facts recorded in the last pages of the
Gospels and first of the Acts accounts for the demeanour of these men.
Their courage is strikingly marked by their petition. All they ask is
'boldness' to speak a word which shall not be theirs, but God's. Fear
would have prayed for protection; passion would have asked retribution
on enemies. Christian courage and devotion only ask that they may not
shrink from their duty, and that the word may be spoken, whatever
becomes of the speakers. The world is powerless against men like that.
Would the Church of to-day meet threats with like unanimity of desire
for boldness in confession? If not, it must be because it has not the
same firm hold of the Risen Lord which these first believers had. The
truest courage is that which is conscious of its weakness, and yet has
no thought of flight, but prays for its own increase.
We may observe, too, the body of belief expressed in the prayer. First
it lays hold on the creative omnipotence of God, and thence passes to
the recognition of His written revelation. The Church has begun to
learn the inmost meaning of the Old Testament, and to find Christ
there. David may not have written the second Psalm. Its attribution to
him by the Church stands on a different level from Christ's attribution
of authorship, as, for instance, of the hundred and tenth Psalm. The
prophecy of the Psalm is plainly Messianic, however it may have had a
historical occasion in some forgotten revolt against some Davidic king;
and, while the particular incidents to which the prayer alludes do not
exhaust its far-reaching application, they are rightly regarded as
partly fulfilling it. Herod is a 'king of the earth,' Pilate is a
'ruler'; Roman soldiers are Gentiles; Jewish rulers are the
representatives of 'the people.' Jesus is 'God's Anointed.' The fact
that such an unnatural and daring combination of rebels was predicted
in the Psalm bears witness that even that crime at Calvary was
foreordained to come to pass, and that God's hand and counsel ruled.
Therefore all other opposition, such as now threatened, will turn out
to be swayed by that same Mighty Hand, to work out His counsel. Why,
then, should the Church fear? If we can see God's hand moving all
things, terror is dead for us, and threats are like the whistling of
idle wind.
Mark, too, the strong expression of the Church's dependence on God.
'Lord' here is an unusual word, and means 'Master,' while the Church
collectively is called 'Thy servants,' or properly, 'slaves.' It is a
different word from that of 'servant' (rather than 'child') applied to
Jesus in verses 27 and 30. God is the Master, we are His 'slaves,'
bound to absolute obedience, unconditional submission, belonging to
Him, not to ourselves, and therefore having claims on Him for such care
as an owner gives to his slaves or his cattle. He will not let them be
maltreated nor starved. He will defend them and feed them; but they
must serve him by life, and death if need be. Unquestioning submission
and unreserved dependence are our duties. Absolute ownership and
unshared responsibility for our well-being belong to Him.
Further, the view of Christ's relationship to God is the same as occurs
in other of the early chapters of the Acts. The title of 'Thy holy
Servant Jesus' dwells on Christ's office, rather than on His nature.
Here it puts Him in contrast with David, also called 'Thy servant.' The
latter was imperfectly what Jesus was perfectly. His complete
realisation of the prophetic picture of the Servant of the Lord in
Isaiah is emphasised by the adjective 'holy,' implying complete
devotion or separation to the service of God, and unsullied, unlimited
moral purity. The uniqueness of His relation in this aspect is
expressed by the definite article in the original. He is _the_ Servant,
in a sense and measure all His own. He is further _the_ Anointed
Messiah. This was the Church's message to Israel and the stay of its
own courage, that Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed and perfect
Servant of the Lord, who was now in heaven, reigning there. All that
this faith involved had not yet become clear to their consciousness,
but the Spirit was guiding them step by step into all the truth; and
what they saw and heard, not only in the historical facts of which they
were the witnesses, but in the teaching of that Spirit, they could not
but speak.
The answer came swift as the roll of thunder after lightning. They who
ask for courage to do God's will and speak Christ's name have never
long to wait for response. The place 'was shaken,' symbol of the effect
of faithful witness-bearing, or manifestation of the power which was
given in answer to their prayer. 'They were all filled with the Holy
Ghost,' who now did not, as before, confer ability to speak with other
tongues, but wrought no less worthily in heartening and fitting them to
speak 'in their own tongue, wherein they were born,' in bold defiance
of unlawful commands.
The statement of the answer repeats the petition verbatim: 'With all
boldness they spake the word.' What we desire of spiritual gifts we
get, and God moulds His replies so as to remind us of our petitions,
and to show by the event that these have reached His ear and guided His
giving hand.