Acts 4:4,Acts 2:38

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 4:4-22

The first trial of Christian preachers in a court of judgment, and their victory. A few words of an historic character lay for us the scene of this trial, put us in possession of the question at issue and of the parties, as between whom, if not really so, it is to be settled. We are, however, justly at liberty to take note of certain silence as well as of certain utterance and preparations for utterance. Those who" laid hands" on Peter and John, "and put them in ward" last night, were... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Acts 4:4

Howbeit - But; notwithstanding.Many of them ... - This was one of the instances, which has since been so often repeated, in which persecution is seen to have a tendency to extend and establish the faith which it was designed to destroy. It finally came to be a proverb that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”; and there is no lesson which men have been so slow to learn as that to oppose and persecute men is the very way to confirm them in their opinions and to spread their... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Acts 4:4

Acts 4:4. Howbeit, many of them which heard the word believed For though the preachers were persecuted, the word prevailed. Thus the suffering days of the church have often been her growing days. And the number of the men, besides women and children, was about five thousand “The assembly that owned Christianity was increased to above five thousand, and that success grieved the malignants.” Baxter. Dr. Benson supposes that five thousand were converted on this occasion, besides the three... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Acts 4:1-31

Growth brings opposition (4:1-31)During the centuries leading up to the Christian era (see ‘The New Testament World’), several parties had arisen within the Jewish religion. The most important of these were the Pharisees and the Sadducees.The Pharisees came mainly from the common people, and tried to preserve the Jewish way of life from the corruption of foreign ideas and political ambition. They were concerned with the outward show of religion, but not so concerned with correct attitudes of... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Acts 4:4

Howbeit = But. word. Greek. logos. App-121 . believed. App-150 . men. Greek. aner. App-123 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Acts 4:4

But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.That heard the word ... has "exclusive reference to the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ."[8] This use of "the word" as a designation of the Christian gospel goes back to Christ himself (Matthew 13:23).Believed ... As throughout the New Testament, "believed" here stands not as the sole condition of salvation, but as a synecdoche for all the preconditions of redemption in Jesus'... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Acts 4:4

Acts 4:4. The number of the men was about five thousand.— Dr. Benson concludes, that five thousand men were converted on this occasion, besides the three thousand mentioned before, chap. Acts 2:41. If it had been said, as there, that so many were added to the church, it would have determined the sense as he and others understand it; but the use of the word εγενηθη here, became, favours the interpretation,thatthewholenumber,includingthosewhohadbeenconverted before, became about five thousand.... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Acts 4:4

4. the number of the men—or males, exclusive of women; though the word sometimes includes both. about five thousand—and this in Jerusalem, where the means of detecting the imposture or crushing the fanaticism, if such it had been, were within everyone's reach, and where there was every inducement to sift it to the bottom. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Acts 4:1-4

The arrest of Peter and John 4:1-4In 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," Acts 4:1), and they introduce what follows in Acts 4:5-31. read more