The next morning the high court of the Jewish nation, having the
absolute control of all religious matters, was called together to
decide upon the fate of the apostles, and probably also of the lame man
whom they had cured. This great court was the same whose members had,
by unwearied exertions, succeeded a few weeks before, in bringing about
the death of Jesus, and were therefore little disposed to show mercy
to any who were trying to perpetuate his name, or the innovations which
he had attempted against the high authority of the ecclesiastical
rulers of the nation. Of these, the principal were Annas and Caiaphas,
the high priests, with John and Alexander, and many others, who were
entitled to a place in the council, by relationship to the high priests.
Besides these, there were the rulers and elders of the people, and the
scribes, who had been so active in the condemnation of Jesus. These
all having arrayed themselves for judgment, the apostles and their poor
healed cripple were brought in before them, and sternly questioned,
by what power and by what name they had done the thing for which they
had been summoned before the court. They stood charged with having
arrogated to themselves the high character and office of teachers, and
what was worse, reformers, of the national religion,――of that religion
which had been, of old, received straight from God by the holy prophets,
and which the wisdom of long-following ages had secured in sanctity
and purity, by entrusting it to the watchful guardianship of the most
learned and venerable of a hereditary order of priests and scholars.
And who were they that now proposed to take into their hands the
religion given by Moses and the prophets, and to offer to the people a
new dispensation? Were they deep and critical scholars in the law, the
prophets, the history of the faith, or the stored wisdom of the ancient
teachers of the law? No; they were a set of rude, ill-taught men, who
had left their honest but low employments in their miserable province,
and had come down to Jerusalem with their Master, on the likely
enterprise of overturning the established order of things in church
and state, and erecting in its place an administration which should be
managed by the Nazarene and his company of Galileans. In this seditious
attempt their Master had been arrested and punished with death, and
they whose lives were spared by the mere clemency of their offended
lords, were now so little grateful for this mercy, and so little awed
by this example of justice, that they had been publicly haranguing the
people in the temple, and imposing on them with a show of miracles, all
with the view of raising again those disturbances which their Master
had before excited, but too successfully, by the same means, until his
death. In this light would the two apostles stand before their stern
and angry judges, as soon as they were recognized as the followers
of Jesus. And how did they maintain their ground before this awful
tribunal? Peter had, only a few weeks before, absolutely denied all
connection and acquaintance with Jesus, when questioned by the mere
menials in attendance on his Master’s trial. And on this solemn
occasion, tenfold more appalling, did that once false disciple find in
his present circumstances, consolations to raise him above his former
weakness? Peter was now changed; and he stood up boldly before his
overbearing foes, to meet their tyranny by a dauntless assertion of his
rights and of the truth of what he had preached. Freshly indued with a
courage from on high, and full of that divine influence so lately shed
abroad, he and his modest yet firm companion, replied to the haughty
inquiries of his judges, by naming as the source of their power, and
as their sanction in their work, the venerated name of their crucified
Master. “Princes of the people and elders of Israel, if we to-day are
called to account for this good deed which we have done to this poor
man, and are to say in whose name this man has been cured; be it known
to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus
Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, and whom God raised from
the dead, this man now stands before you, made sound and strong. This
crucified Jesus is the stone which, though rejected by you builders,
has become the chief corner stone; and in no other name is there
salvation, (or healing;) for there is no other name given under heaven,
among men, by which any can be saved,” (or healed.) When the judges
saw the free-spoken manner of Peter and John, observing that they were
unlearned men, of the lower orders, they were surprised; and noticing
them more particularly, they recognized them as the immediate personal
followers of Jesus, remembering now that they had often seen them in
his company. This recognition made them the more desirous to put a stop
to their miracles and preaching. Yet there stood the man with them,
whom they had healed, and with this palpable evidence before their
eyes, how could the members of the Sanhedrim justify themselves to the
people, for any act of positive violence against these men? These high
dignitaries were a good deal perplexed, and sending the apostles out of
the court, they deliberated with one another, and inquired, “What can
we do with these men? For there is a general impression that they have
done a great miracle, among all who are now in Jerusalem, both citizens
and strangers, and we cannot disprove it. Still we cannot let these
things go on so, nor suffer this heresy to spread any further among the
people; and we will therefore charge them threateningly to use the name
of Jesus no more to the people.” Having come to this conclusion, they
summoned the prisoners once more into the court, and gave them a strict
command, never to teach any more nor utter a word in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John, undismayed by the authority of their great judges,
boldly avowed their unshaken resolution to proceed as they had begun.
“We appeal to you, to say if it is right in the sight of God to obey
you rather than God. For we cannot but speak what we have seen and
heard?” The judges being able to bring these stubborn heretics to no
terms at all, after having threatened them still further, were obliged
to let them go unpunished, not being able to make out any plea against
them, that would make it safe to injure them, while the popular voice
was so loud in their favor, on account of the miracle. For the man
whom they had so suddenly healed, being more than forty years old, and
having been lame from his birth, no one could pretend to say that such
a lameness could be cured by any sudden impression made on his
imagination.
_Salvation_, (_or healing_.)――The Greek word here in the
original, Σωτηρια, (_Soteria_,) is entirely dubious in its
meaning, conveying one or the other of these two ideas according
to the sense of the connection; and here the general meaning of
the passage is such, that either meaning is perfectly allowable,
and equally appropriate to the context. This ambiguity in the
substantive is caused by the same variety of meaning in the verb
which is the root, Σαω, (_Sao_,) whose primary idea admits of
its application either to the act of saving from ruin and death,
or of relieving any bodily evil, that is, of healing. In this
latter sense it is frequently used in the New Testament, as in
Matthew ix. 21, 22. commonly translated “made whole.” Also, Mark
v. 28, 33: vi. 56: x. 52. In Luke vii. 50, and in viii. 48, the
same expression occurs, both passages being exactly alike in
Greek; but the common translation has varied the interpretation
in the two places, to suit the circumstances,――in the former,
“_saved_ thee,” and in the latter, “_made_ thee _whole_.” In
this passage also, Acts iv. 12, the word is exactly the same as
that used in verse 9, where the common translation gives “made
whole.” The close connection therefore between these two verses
would seem to require the same meaning in the word thus used,
and hence I should feel justified in preferring this rendering;
but the general power of the verb makes it very probable that
in this second use of it here, there was a sort of intentional
equivoque in the writer and speaker, giving force to the
expression, by the play on the meaning afforded by the present
peculiar circumstances.