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persecution from the authorities,
at which point Luke’s narrative
borders on comedy. Once more the
Apostles are arrested and thrown
into prison, but during the night an
angel comes and opens the prison
doors, allowing them to go free. The
angel tells them to go back to the
Temple and preach as they usually
do. When morning comes, the
Sanhedrin meets and sends for the
prisoners. Shocked officers return
empty-handed with this report:
“We found the jail securely locked,
with the guards standing at the
doors; but when we opened them,
we found no one inside” (5:23).Outwitting the council
Baffled once more, the Sanhedrin
then receive a report from the
Temple: the men imprisoned last
night are there teaching the people.
Yet again the Apostles are arrested.
When upbraided for continuing to
teach about Jesus, they reply: “We
must obey God rather than human
beings!” (5:29). Infuriated, many of
the Sanhedrin want to put them
to death and are only dissuaded
by the more cautious counsels of
a Pharisee named Gamaliel. In theend, the Apostles are flogged, once
more told not to speak in Jesus’s
name, and allowed to go free. Yet
again they ignore the Sanhedrin’s
orders. They continue, Luke writes,
joyfully “teaching and proclaiming
the good news that Jesus is the
Messiah” (Acts 5:42).Inherited leadership
Throughout this narrative, Luke
makes important theological
points. With their bold Spirit-
empowered preaching, confirmed
by God in signs and wonders, the
Apostles have established that they
stand in a clear line of continuity
reaching back as far as Abraham,
Moses, and the prophets of the
Hebrew scriptures. God has been
faithful: the great covenants He
made with Abraham and the
Hebrew patriarchs have found
fulfillment in Jesus, the promised
Messiah, whom God affirmed with
miraculous works—notably, the
supreme miracle of His resurrection.
Now though, the traditional leaders
of the Jews, the Sanhedrin refuse
to accept Jesus as the Son of God,
and so the leadership of God’s
people passes out of their hands
and to the Apostles. The believers
are portrayed by Luke as the “new
Israel,” true heirs of the covenant
promises of the Old Testament.
In this context, the fact that
Peter and John heal the beggar in
the name of Jesus is important.
Peter’s speech acknowledges that
not only are the disciples following
in the tradition of Jesus’s ministry,
the power they are exercising is
not their own: Jesus now works
through them. Peter, John, and
their fellow disciples have been
empowered by the Holy Spirit to
continue Jesus’s work on Earth,
and have been given the authority
to carry out this task because of
their faith in Him. ■ACTS, EPISTLES, AND REVELATION
Simon Peter
One of Jesus’s closest disciples
Simon Peter became a leading
member of the early Church.
His real name was Simon, but
Jesus called him “Rock”:
“Peter” in Greek, “Cephas”
in Aramaic. He and his brother
Andrew were both fishermen,
and worked with another pair
of brothers, James and John.
John’s Gospel says Peter met
Jesus through Andrew, who
was a disciple of John the
Baptist. However, the Gospels
of Mark and Luke report
that Peter and Andrew were
working as fishermen when
Jesus called them to be
His disciples.
During the ministry of
Jesus, Peter was one of the
inner circle of three disciples,
along with James and John,
but when Jesus was arrested,
Peter denied Him three times.
This failure marked a turning
point in Peter’s life; he was
forgiven by Jesus and soon
emerged as a dauntless leader
in the early Church. He was
also the first to share the
Christian message and baptism
with non-Jews. Peter was
famously crucified upside-
down during the persecution
unleashed by Emperor Nero
in 64–68 ce.People brought the
sick into the streets and
laid them on beds and
mats so that at least
Peter’s shadow might
fall on some of them
as he passed by.
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