Acts 4:7-10

4:7 After ¹  making Peter and John ²  stand in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or by what name ³  did you do this?” 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁴  replied, ⁵  “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁶  4:9 if ⁷  we are being examined ⁸  today for a good deed ⁹  done to a sick man – by what means this man was healed ¹⁰  – 4:10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ ¹¹  the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy.

[4:7]  ¹ tn Grk “And after.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new sentence is begun in the translation at the beginning of v. 7.

[4:7]  ² tn Grk “making them”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ³ sn By what name. The issue of the “name” comes up again here. This question, meaning “by whose authority,” surfaces an old dispute (see Luke 20:1-8). Who speaks for God about the ancient faith?

[4:8]  ⁴ sn Filled with the Holy Spirit. The narrator’s remark about the Holy Spirit indicates that Peter speaks as directed by God and for God. This fulfills Luke 12:11-12 (1 Pet 3:15).

[4:8]  ⁵ tn Grk “Spirit, said to them.”

[4:8]  ⁶ tc The Western and Byzantine texts, as well as one or two Alexandrian witnesses, read τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ (tou Israhl, “of Israel”) after πρεσβύτεροι (presbuteroi, “elders”; so D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï it), while most of the better witnesses, chiefly Alexandrian (Ì⁷⁴ א A B 0165 1175 vg sa bo), lack this modifier. The longer reading was most likely added by scribes to give literary balance to the addressees in that “Rulers” already had an adjunct while “elders” was left absolute.

[4:9]  ⁷ tn This clause is a first class condition. It assumes for the sake of argument that this is what they were being questioned about.

[4:9]  ⁸ tn Or “questioned.” The Greek term ἀνακρίνω (anakrinw) points to an examination similar to a legal one.

[4:9]  ⁹ tn Or “for an act of kindness.”

[4:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “delivered” (σέσωται [seswtai], from σώζω [swzw]). See 4:12.

[4:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”