In chapters 4-7 there is a series of similar confrontations with each one building up to the crisis of Stephen's death and the persecution that followed. The first four verses of chapter 4 conclude the incident recorded in chapter 3 ("as they were speaking,"v. 1) and introduce what follows in 4:5-31.
4:1 Evidently John spoke to the people as well as Peter ("they"). Three separate though related (5:17) individuals and groups objected to Peter and John addressing the people as they did. Jesus had also encountered opposition from leaders who questioned His authority when He taught in the temple (Mark 11:27-28; Luke 20:1-2). The captain (Gr. strategos) of the temple guard, the commanding officer of the temple police force,224apparently feared that this already excited throng of hearers might get out of control.225The Sadducees were Levitical priests who claimed to represent ancient orthodoxy. They opposed any developments in biblical law, and they denied the doctrine of bodily resurrection (23:8) and so disagreed with Peter's teaching on that subject (cf. John 12:10). They believed that the messianic age had begun with the Maccabean heroes (168-134 B.C.) and continued under their supervision, so they rejected Peter's identification of Jesus as the Messiah.226
"For them the Messiah was an ideal, not a person, and the Messianic Age was a process, not a cataclysmic or even datable event. Furthermore, as political rulers and dominant landlords, to whom a grateful nation had turned over all political and economic powers during the time of the Maccabean supremacy, for entirely practical reasons they stressed cooperation with Rome and maintenance of the status quo. Most of the priests were of Sadducean persuasion; the temple police force was composed entirely of Levites; the captain of the temple guard was always a high-caste Sadducee, and so were each of the high priests."227
4:2 Two things disturbed these leaders. First, the apostles were teaching the people. This was the Sadducees' function since they were the recognized leaders of the Jews. Second, they were teaching that Jesus had risen from the dead and that there was resurrection from the dead.
". . . a woman called and asked me to serve on a committee that was trying to clean up downtown Los Angeles. I agreed it needed cleaning up, but I told her that I could not serve on the committee. She was amazed. Aren't you a minister?' she asked. Aren't you interested in cleaning up Los Angeles?' I answered, I will not serve on your committee because I don't think you are going about it in the right way.' Then I told her what the late Dr. Bob Shuler had told me years ago. He said, We are called to fish in the fish pond, not to clean up the fish pond.' This old world is a place to fish. Jesus said He would make us fishers of men, and the world is the place to fish. We are not called upon to clean up the fish pond. We need to catch the fish and get the fish cleaned up.
"I have found that the biggest enemies of the preaching of the gospel are not the liquor folk. The gangsters have never bothered me. Do you know where I had my trouble as a preacher? It was with the so-called religious leaders, the liberals, those who claimed to be born again. They actually became enemies of the preaching of the gospel. It was amazing to me to find out how many of them wanted to destroy my radio ministry."228
4:3 It was too late in the day to begin a hearing to examine Peter and John formally, though this had not stopped the Sanhedrin from abusing Jesus (cf. Luke 22:63-66). Therefore the temple officials arrested them and put them in jail, probably the Antonia Fortress. Thus the Sadducees became the first opponents of Christianity (cf. 2:47).
4:4 Belief was the key factor in many more becoming Christians (cf. 3:19), not believing and being baptized (2:38). Note that Luke wrote that they "believed"the message they had heard. The total number of male converts in Jerusalem now reached 5,000 (cf. 1:15; 2:41) because of Peter's message.229Normally most of the people in the temple courtyard who would have witnessed these events would have been males. Estimates of Jerusalem's total population range from 25,000 to 250,000, though the lower figure seems more probable.230
