These Are not Idiots
Acts 4:5-22
Peter and John had been under great pressure before when Jesus was arrested by both the Temple guard and Roman soldiers. Peter made a temporary and futile attempt at bravado before he caved miserably. The two of them followed at a distance and came into the courtyard outside. John remained silent, while Peter, when confronted, denied Jesus three times. After this, Peter ran out and hid with bitter tears. John remained silent. He had failed also. Jesus called them to be bold witnesses. It looked as though all was lost.
But nothing is lost with God.After the resurrection, Jesus came to the disciples who had, as predicted, utterly failed with craven fear. they had locked the doors for fear of the Jews. But Jesus would not be stopped by the locked door. He needed to come to them. Over a forty day period, He convinced them that He had indeed bodily risen from the dead (Acts 1:3). He told them that they were to be witnesses, first in Jerusalem, then in Judaea and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. But they still were not ready. They needed to wait for the descent of the promised Holy Spirit. This happened on Pentecost. what a difference that would make!
Not long after Pentecost, Peter and John were coming to the Temple to pray, as was their custom. A lame man who had never walked was carried and set before the gate called “beautiful.” Peter and John commanded that in the name of Jesus, this man should rise and walk. The first thing the man did was to do what no lame man could ever do. He entered into the Temple. And he did not do this silently. He was leaping for joy and making quite a ruckus. He was shouting out God’s praise.
This provided an opportunity for the gospel. Everyone wanted to know what was going on. they knew that the man could not walk. One can just look at the deformity of his feet and know that he was not putting on a show in order to get donations. The people gathered together at Solomon’s Porch where the Rabbis taught. Peter and John had no rabbinic credentials to preach there. To the Jewish leaders, they were “agrammatoi” and “idiotai” in Greek. The first word means “without letters” or “having no credentials.” The second Greek word needs no definition. The only credentials they possessed was that an undeniable miracle had happened to the lame man.
Peter and John did not brag about their own power as some “Pentecostal” and “Charismatic” preachers do today on television. they centered everything on Jesus. This is how we know they had the Holy Spirit, as the Gospel of John quotes Jesus as saying that the Holy Spirit would not center upon Himself, but would rather lift up Jesus and make His deeds and teachings understandable. Even though we rightly assert that the Holy Spirit is equally God with the Father and the Son, the Spirit subordinates His role to that of Jesus, just as Jesus subordinated His role to the Father. Jesus did not come to speak His own words, but the words the Father had given Him.
Peter and John waxed bold. They told the crowd to stop marvelling at them and instead fix their attention upon the message. This was not their doing but God’s. Peter told them that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their God, had glorified Jesus. They had betrayed the One whom the Father had glorified. The Greek verb translated “handed over” is the same one which is used for Judas’ betrayal. They betrayed a brother to a Gentile ruler, Pilate. They were responsible of killing the author of life itself. They commanded the people to repent as they had done this ignorantly in unbelief. (For more information, read “They Don’t Preach like this Anymore” in this archive.
The net result of this preaching was that Peter, John, and apparently the man who had been healed were thrown into a holding cell. They would be kept until the High Priest, some of his family and leaders could be assembled to try this matter. Peter and John were in considerable danger. The Sanhedrin did not think of betraying Jesus to Roman authority, contrary to the Torah. They would think no less about having them put to death.
It must have been a long night. Some people call jail “the cooler.” It serves as a time of reflection as well as a means of intimidation. Was it worth the trouble that they had gotten into to preach and teach boldly in the name of Jesus. The leaders hoped that Peter and John would repent of their actions and leave off teaching and preaching in Jesus’ name. they hoped that they would recant their error and receive the admonition of the leaders not to repeat such a folly. the leaders feared the wrath of the people, so to hope the fervor would die down seemed like a pragmatic approach.
Peter and John were stood before the council. They were asked in what power or what name they had done this miracle of healing. By saying “power” the council was trying to accuse them of using demonic power to heal the man. They had accused Jesus of the same before when they said that he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. The “what name” is the same as saying “Who gave you the authority to do this?” The extra “you” at the end of the Greek sentence is stressing that Peter and John were responsible for the “evil” they had done. this was meant to instill fear into Peter and John.
But this time, Peter and John did not stand down like thy had at Gethsemane.they were fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. This is because they were now full of the Spirit. Peter boldly answers them: “If you want an answer today why this good work was done to the invalid man and how he was made well who is standing before you healthy, then let all of you and all the people of Israel know, it was in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead . that this man stands in front of you whole.”
This is bold preaching. Let us examine what Peter is saying. The Council was accusing Peter and John of doing an evil work. Peter says is is a good work. They were accused of using witchcraft, but Peter clearly says that it was in the authority of Jesus of Nazareth. It was they who had perpetrated evil as they crucified Jesus of Nazareth. But God raised Jesus from the dead. They had thought that had rendered Jesus impotent by slaying Him. But God made Him stand again. This invalid could not stand, but now in the name of Jesus, He now stands before you. Look at him for yourself.
Peter goes on to further explain what had happened to Jesus. He quotes the 118th Psalm. This is an important prophecy about Jesus Christ. (To study more on this, see: The Day the LORD has Made in this archive.) Jesus was the stone the builders scornfully rejected. He has been made the chief corner stone. The corner stone is the stone by which the entire building is oriented and stands. Not only was Jesus raised, but ll of Israel is built upon Him. there is no other name that someone can be saved apart from this one. In fact, the Greek is stronger. It says “must be saved.” This is not merely giving out information about Jesus. It is a command to repent. Without Jesus, one is eternally lost.
This is quite a reasoned answer by those whom they considered as we noted before “unlettered idiots.” Their reply wasn’t some sort of emotional appeal as is used in our evangelistic appeals today. the Sanhedrin demanded an answer, and they gave a well-reasoned reply grounded not only by the evidence of a standing invalid which they could point to. they als grounded it upon Scripture as well. From their presentation of the facts, they demanded an answer from them and all the people of Israel. They demanded a verdict upon what they had said. It was really them who were in trouble, not Peter and John. What answer would they give to the work of God?
The Sanhedrin recognized that these “idiots” had been with Jesus. No greater praise can be said about a disciple of Jesus. They were no longer driven by craven fear, but by boldness. They were amazed, just as they had been amazed by Jesus. Jesus Himself said it was sufficient for a servant to be as his master. The disciples had graduated with honors.The Holy Spirit in the believer makes all the difference. They were amazed! The Greek imperfect tense here draws out the amazement. This wasn’t just a mere moment of amazement. They actually continued in this amazement.
It is too bad that their amazement did not result in their conversion. They were perplexed but not convinced. they needed to think it over. So they told Peter, John and the lame man to go outside. Now they could think without being bothered by these pesky Galileans. Instead of coming to Jesus, they deliberated on how to minimize the impact of the miracle. they did not fear God, but they did fear the people. It was better for them to obey man rather than God. They could not deny the fact that the miracle had been done. This man was over 40 years of age. He had been seen by too many people at the Temple door. they could see the crippled feet. But they also could not afford for this to continue. They also knew that many of the rabble of Israel believed on Jesus. So they were in a dilemma. Unlike the new Spirit emboldened Peter and John, they were cowards.
They decided to threaten and strictly charge Peter and John to not preach or teach any more in the name of Jesus. This time, they were too afraid to punish them. They would gradually get more punitive later. But God does not permit His people to be tempted above their means to withstand. God took care of Peter and John in being dismissed, this time.
They were commanded not to preach and teach in Jesus’ name. But Peter gives a bold response” “Should we obey God or men.” They could not but tell Israel and the world. The right thing to do was to obey God. They were let go, and all the people were emboldened all the more. The movement could not be silenced.
This is a picture of a living church. As Martyn Lloyd Jones reminds us, this is a blueprint from God of what the church should be. Are our church leaders boldly proclaiming the truth in the name of Jesus? Or are we proclaiming something else? Are we like the Sanhedrin or Peter and John? Is the church being led by the Holy Spirit? Are we grounded in the Scripture enough to even be able to give a reasonable reply of the hope that is within us? Do we really desire to be this kind of church at all?
Or are we happy in just a little bit or morality and respectability? Do we just want to be a social club? Do we just want an inoculation against religiosity. We just want enough religion to keep from catching the real thing. We really need a little more than a little bit of the live virus. We want to baptize our culture and Christen everything. But we don’t really want to live for Jesus, do we? Wen don’t want to suffer for the name of Jesus.
This seems to be the case in much of America. We want health, wealth and respectability. We don’t want to be seen as idiots. Then we wonder why the churches are dying. But in other parts of the world, people are dying for the name of Jesus Christ, but the church is alive. They have joy in suffering, while we are not happy, even with all of our possessions and status. Let us stop being like the Sanhedrin and be a little more like Peter and John. The Sanhedrin wanted to promote fake news. Let us counter this with the truth of the Gospel or Jesus Christ.
However, we can not be bold without the Spirit. We must wait upon the Holy Spirit to empower and embolden us. Without Jesus, we can do nothing. Jesus said as much. Jesus said to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit. O that the Holy Spirit might fall upon the american churches again!
The real idiot is the one who is not prepared when he or she stands before the judgment seat of Christ.
