(1) The apostles went through 40 days of training by Jesus, learned to wait and pray and saw the result — the miraculous baptism of the Spirit and the conversion of thousands instantly. They even dared to go to the temple now. How would John and Peter feel about the arrest? Were they prepared for it?
They were afraid before (Peter denied Jesus before these people three times), but they weren’t now? Why?
(2) The absence of Jesus’ body must have been a very disturbing event to the religious leaders. What might the religious leaders be thinking when they heard of the resurfacing of the apostles out of their hiding, the miracle at Pentecost, the growing number of disciples and now the blatant challenge of the apostles by not only worshipping as usual at the temple, but healing and preaching as if it were their territory? As they asked, “By what power or what name did you do this?” (4:7), they of course knew the answer. Why then did they ask such a question to the apostles? What was the intention?
(3) Reflect on the response of Peter:
a. How did he refer to the act of healing of the cripple?
b. As expected, he pointed out that he healed in the name of Jesus and he highlighted the following:
- Jesus is from Nazareth
- He is the Christ (i.e. the Messiah)
- They crucified Him
- God raised Him from the dead
- The prophecy of Psalm 118:22 is now fulfilled
If you were a skeptic among them, would you have any ground to dispute Peter? Why or why not?
(4) While the above facts may be indisputable, how then could Peter connect these directly to his assertion in v. 12, namely:
a. Salvation is found in no one else, and
b. No other name is given to men by which we must be saved?
(5) How then should we respond to other religions, as when people in general like to say, “All religions are the same”?
(6) What is the main message to you today?
(1) From the description in v. 13 about their deliberation, can you tell what the core problem with these religious leaders was?
(2) In their opinion, what kind of people might be qualified to teach the word of God and to be used by God to perform miracles? To what extent is it still the problem with Christians, including yourself?
(3) What had caused these accusers to have, “nothing to say” in v. 14?
(4) In this generation where Evangelical Christians are somewhat suspect in the eyes of the world, what is the one thing that can cause skeptics to have, “nothing to say”?
(5) The people saw the miracle and these religious leaders acknowledged it too. Yet, their responses were very different. Why? What then should your attitude be towards miracles?
(6) John and Peter’s famous statement that “whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God” deserves our reflection:
a. What was the thing that the leaders asked them to obey?
b. How did it conflict with what God has asked them to obey?
c. In our days, there are many things that our culture is imposing on us that are in conflict with God, whether it be at school, at work and in the society. Can you cite three of them and see how you might apply the principle above?
d. What might be the thing that the “law” of our land is imposing on us that is in blatant violation of the Scripture? How can we learn from Peter and John in this case?
(7) Why were Peter and John let go?
(8) What is the main message to you today?
The response by the early church to Peter and John’s account gives us a glimpse about their corporate life:
(1) How did the church respond immediately to the account given by Peter and John? How (not what) did they pray?
(2) Can you divide their prayers into meaningful sub-divisions?
a. V. 24 is adoration: Why did they start with adoration and why did they focus on the sovereignty of God in response to the report?
b. Vv. 25-26 is a quote from Psalm 2:1-2: How did they make a point by point correspondence with this Psalm in vv. 27-28? What was their conclusion in echoing their adoration?
c. Vv. 29-30 is their request: Without looking at their request, what might your request be under the circumstances? Compare yours with that of the early church. What can you learn from their request?
(3) What can you learn from the pattern and the contents of their prayer?
(4) What was the result of their prayer?
(5) Did you focus your answer on the phenomenon or on their boldness? What is more important?
(6) What is the main message to you today?
(1) What does it mean to be “one in heart and in mind”? In what ways can we, believers, express our oneness in heart and mind? Think of at least three times in which you have seen this oneness in the church?
(2) The phrase, “from time to time” (v.34 in some versions of the NIV) is more of a paraphrase, but it does point to the fact that the believers might not have sold all they had, but as the need arose and as prompted by the Holy Spirit, they would continue to sell part or all of their possession. Nonetheless, the facts remain:
a. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own
b. They shared everything they had
c. There was no needy persons among them
d. From time to time, i.e. continuously, believers were disposing part or all of their possessions and entrusting the proceeds into the hands of the apostles, and
e. The apostles distributed them according to needs.
What might have been the motives behind such actions? List three at least.
Among those you have listed (and they might include the expectation of Jesus’ immediate return, a genuine love for one another, or the understanding that all they had was not theirs, but God’s) which might be the most important motive and one that you should learn to have?
(3) As we know, these apostles were humans too and would make mistakes, including being manipulated by phony claims of need (in chapter 6, they did show negligence over caring for the widows). Why then would people still sell their possessions and entrust them (like Barnabas) to the apostles? Why did they not worry about abuse? What can you learn from them about your own attitude:
a. On tithing?
b. On how you would manage your possessions?
(4) What is the main message today, and how would you act on it?
(1) Do you think Ananias and his wife were true believers? Why or why not?
(2) We do not know how much they kept back from the proceeds of sale, and perhaps, not a lot since everyone would know how much a parcel would have fetched. In any case, what then was their motive for offering what was probably not too small an amount of money to the church?
(3) What was their sin: Not giving all the proceeds of sale or not telling the truth?
(4) Note that the word, “kept back” is translated “steal” in Titus 2:10. Why would such a sin deserve the punishment of death?
(5) We all know that a husband and wife have become one. Can you blame his wife for lying with the husband? What should she have done in the first place? What if Ananias insisted on his way? Would what Peter said in 4:19 apply here? Why or why not?
(6) Did their death necessarily signify loss of salvation? (See 1 Co. 5:5)
(7) In your opinion, why do divine disciplines not seem as obvious and instant these days?
(8) What is the main message to you today?
(1) Vv. 12-17 give us an exciting picture, as crowds gathered and the apostles appeared to be performing miracles even in the temple court area (Solomon’s Colonnade was on the east side of the temple):
a. Luke mentioned that “no one dared join them”, in spite of their miracles and the high regard of the people. Why was that? Did it have anything to do with what was described in v. 11?
b. At the same time, others did join them. What then might be their difference?
(2) It appeared that the arrest of the apostles was sparked by “jealousy” (v. 17). Do you think jealousy was the root cause or the immediate cause? What do you think the root cause was? (Consult v. 28 as well.)
(3) Reflect on why the angel of the Lord told the apostles to “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life” (v.20).
(4) Luke’s narrative of how the leaders (stressing the full assembly of them) were all set to put the apostles on trial only to discover them at the temple court is quite humorous. What would you expect them to do and say? Compare what they said and what Gamaliel said. How did Gamaliel differ in his response with the rest?
(5) Reflect on Peter’s reply and see
a. How he tailored his response to the Jews and
b. What you can learn from Peter in telling the “full message” of this new life, by
- Affirming their obedience to God, rather than man
- Accusing them of killing Jesus on a tree
- Asserting that God (of their fathers) raised Jesus from the dead
- Asserting that God has exalted Jesus to His own right hand
- Asserting that He is now Prince (Ezek. 34:24, 37:25 and Isa. 9:6) and Savior
- Asserting that He is to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to “Israel”
- Asserting that the apostles were not the only witness, but the Holy Spirit was also
- Asserting that God will give the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him
(6) How did they eventually deal with the apostles and how did the apostles react to their treatment? Would you be rejoicing if you were the apostles? Why or why not?
(7) What is the main message to you today?
(1) Judging from the accounts of the previous 5 chapters, how much had the early church grown, in terms of number, by now?
(2) We learned earlier in 4:34 that “there were no needy persons among them.” So why were some of the widows being overlooked? What is meant by being “overlooked”?
(3) Why were the overseas widows (immigrants to the Greek world) overlooked, and not the native Jewish widows?
(4) If you were one of the apostles (and they were all Jewish), how would you respond to such a complain?
a. Set up a committee to investigate
b. View the complaint as a nuisance
c. Consider such an act as a typical reaction of a minority
d. Focus only on caring for those who feel hurt and seek to remedy the situation right away
What was the Apostles’ choice of action?
(5) Why did the Twelve choose not to get involved in this ministry directly? What can we learn from their emphases?
(6) Since they seemed to put ministry of the word above that of waiting on tables, why would they need to select people who were “known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” to take on the latter ministry and even lay hands on them? What is the message for the church today?
(7) The church has now become a multi-cultural church, and since this issue has an ethnic overtone, apart from the spiritual criteria, whom would you choose to take up this new responsibility in order to appear to be fair?
(8) Surprisingly, the group of seven chosen all bore Greek names, not one bore a Hebrew name (Marshall, TNTC, Acts, 127). What does it tell you about the mentality of the early church? How can we emulate them?
(9) What is the main message to you today?