Acts 4:9

4:5-14 Peter being filled with the Holy Ghost, would have all to understand, that the miracle had been wrought by the name, or power, of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, whom they had crucified; and this confirmed their testimony to his resurrection from the dead, which proved him to be the Messiah. These rulers must either be saved by that Jesus whom they had crucified, or they must perish for ever. The name of Jesus is given to men of every age and nation, as that whereby alone believers are saved from the wrath to come. But when covetousness, pride, or any corrupt passion, rules within, men shut their eyes, and close their hearts, in enmity against the light; considering all as ignorant and unlearned, who desire to know nothing in comparison with Christ crucified. And the followers of Christ should act so that all who converse with them, may take knowledge that they have been with Jesus. That makes them holy, heavenly, spiritual, and cheerful, and raises them above this world.

If we this day be examined of the good deed,.... Or "seeing" we are; for it was not a matter of doubt, but a clear case, that they were brought into court, and were passing under an examination, about the cure of the lame man; which the apostle rightly calls a good deed, it being done in faith, and to the glory of God, and for the good of the man; and hereby tacitly suggests, that they were dealt very hardly with, to be seized and kept in custody, and be called in question, for doing an action so beneficent and kind, as this was, which was done to the impotent man; who could not help himself, nor get his bread any other way, than by begging: by what means he is made whole; restored to perfect health, and the proper use of his limbs; that is, by what power, and in what name this was done; the answer is ready, and it is as follows.

Examined; juridically called in question; it is a forensic word. Of the good deed; though they disputed not the authority of the court, yet they assert their integrity; that it was no other than a good deed they had done, which rulers ought not to be a terror unto, Romans 8:3 . By what means, that is, in the words of the question which was propounded unto them, Acts 4:7 , by what power, or by what name, he is made whole?

Acts 4:9 . Εἰ , if ) i.e. since. He means the ἀνάκρισις , examination , now going forward.— ἀνακρινόμεθα , we be examined ) By judicial process.— εὐεργεσίᾳ , a good deed ) whereas ordinarily it is persons who have done an evil deed , that must submit to examination. The article is not added; but there follows, in Acts 4:12 , ἡ σωτηρία , the salvation , where the article forms an Epitasis [emphatic addition to the previous enunciation, viz. to the εὐεργεσίᾳ without the article]. Christ was σωτὴρ καὶ εὐεργέτης , a most beneficent Saviour . See Chrysost. de Sacerd. p. 208.— ἐν τίνι , by what ) The rulers had asked, by what power (virtue), and by what name . This Peter takes up, changing the adjective [substituting τίνι for ποίᾳ , ποίῳ ], in order to make his reply the more definite: and immediately also replies concerning the authority and name , Acts 4:10 .— οὗτος , this man ) who is here present, Acts 4:10 ; Acts 4:14 .— σέσωσται , is made whole ) To this word is to be referred ἡ σωτηρία , σωθῆναι , the salvation, be saved , Acts 4:12 , from the notation (signification) of the name Jesus , Acts 4:10 . [The health of the body is as it were a type and mirror of the health of the soul.—V. g.]

Verse 9. - Are for be , A.V.; concerning a ( good deed ) for of the , A.V.; an ( impotent ) for the , A.V.; this man for he , A.V. We; eraphatic, probably in response to the emphatic "you" at the end of ver. 7. An impotent man . The following οῦτος , this man , makes it necessary to supply the definite article, as the A.V. has done. St. Peter alludes to the good deed, i.e. the benefit done to the lame man, being the subject of a criminal inquiry, as a tacit condemnation of the unrighteousness of such a course. Acts 4:9

9 . if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man ] Both the nouns are without the article. Read “ a good deed done to an impotent man.” Of = concerning, as we still use it in “to speak of.” St Peter’s words imply that perhaps there would be some other charge brought against them, for teachers of a new doctrine who had in a brief space gained five thousand followers must have attracted much notice in Jerusalem. Nor is it long before we hear ( Acts 6:13 ) blasphemy “against the Temple and the law” laid to the charge of Stephen, whose preaching (for this accusation precedes Stephen’s defence) must have been of the same character as that of Peter and John. by what means he is made whole ] The Greek has this (man), the demonstrative pronoun, for the man was there in the council-house to be seen by all. See Acts 4:14 .

(9) If we this day be examined. —The word is employed in its technical sense of a judicial inter rogation, as in Luke 23:14 . It is used by St. Luke and St. Paul ( Acts 12:19 ; Acts 24:8 ; 1Corinthians 2:14-15 ; 1Corinthians 4:3-4 ), and by them only, in the New Testament. Of the good deed.—Strictly, the act of beneficence. There is a manifest emphasis on the word as contrasted with the contemptuous “this thing” of the question. It meets us again in 1Timothy 6:2. By what means he is made whole.—Better, this man. The pronoun assumes the presence of the man who had been made able to walk. (Comp. John 9:15.) The verb, as in our Lord’s words, “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mark 10:52; Luke 7:50), has a pregnant, underlying meaning, suggesting the thought of a spiritual as well as bodily restoration.

If we this day - If as is the fact; or since we are thus examined. Examined - Questioned; if the purpose is to institute an inquiry into this case, or since it is the purpose to institute such an inquiry. The good deed - The act of benevolence; the benefit conferred on an infirm man. He assumes that it was undeniable that the deed had been done. To the impotent man - To this man who was infirm or lame. The man was then present, Acts 4:10, Acts 4:14. He may have been arrested with the apostles; or he may have been present as a spectator; or, as Neander supposes, he may have been summoned as a witness. By what means - This was the real point of the inquiry. The fact that he had been made whole was not denied. The only question was whether it had been done by the authority and power of Jesus of Nazareth, as Peter declared it to be, Acts 3:6, Acts 3:16.

Acts 4:9 . εἰ : chosen not without oratorical nicety, if, as is the case = ἐπεὶ ἡμεῖς , expressing at the same time the righteous indignation of the Apostles in contrast to the contemptuous ὑμεῖς of Acts 4:7 , and their surprise at the object of the present inquiry; so too in ἐπʼ εὐεργεσίᾳ St. Peter again indicates the unfairness of such inquisitorial treatment (“cum alias dijudicari debeant, qui malum fecerunt ,” Bengel).— ἀνακρινόμεθα : used here of a judicial examination, see Acts 12:19 and Luke 23:14 , and cf. Acts 24:8 ; Acts 28:18 , and 1 Corinthians 9:3 , although the strictly technical sense of ἀνάκρισις as a preliminary investigation cannot be pressed here.— ἐπʼ εὐεργ . ἀ . ἀσθενοῦς : “concerning a good deal done to an impotent man”—the omission of the articles in both nouns adds to St. Peter’s irony; “he hits them hard in that they are always making a crime of such acts, finding fault with works of beneficence,” Chrys., Hom. , x.; ἀνθρώπου on the objective genitive, Winer-Schmiedel, pp. 260 and 267.— ἐν τίνι : “by what means,” R.V.; “in whom,” margin. The neuter instrumental dative, cf. Matthew 5:13 , is supported by Blass, Weiss, Holtzmann, and others, as if the expression embraced the two questions of Acts 4:7 .

Rendall, following the older commentators, regards the expression as masculine.— οὗτος : the healed man is thought of as present, although nothing is said of his summons; “this man,” R.V.— σέσωσται : the word familiar to us in the Gospels, Luke 7:50 , Mark 10:52 , with the pregnant meaning of health for body and soul alike.