As you may or may not remember, I was out of town last Sunday, and due to unforeseen circumstances, the lesson taught by Craig Bondy was not recorded. So, in order to prevent gaps in our studies, my husband and I joined Craig and his wife Linda at their home to record a summary of his lesson with some bonus discussion in the process. We hope you enjoy it!
This week, we studied the aftermath of Peter’s and John’s interrogation by the Sanhedrin. Would they retreat into a shell and heed the stern warning they received? Or would they resist the “cease and desist” order and continue to proclaim the good news of the gospel?
>> Click to read this week’s passage in KJV, CSB, ESV, NIV: Acts 4:23-31 <<
Acts 4:23-31 ~ Praying for Boldness
They returned to their own; Prayed for boldness; Asked God to continue working His plan.
* Recorded: LIVE. This audio has been edited for class member privacy, time, and content.
PowerPoint Presentation:
There was no PowerPoint this week.
Comparison Chart:
The following chart is presented in the Interpreter’s Bible Commentary with the following comments:
The key verse in this section is 4:31, describing a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This reads so like a repetition of the Pentecost experience that it is convenient at this point to call attention to the remarkable parallelism between the two blocks of material…It is of course not impossible that events did thus repeat themselves. If, on the other hand, we accept the theory of two accounts of the same series of happenings, then the very closeness of the parallelism, quite unconsciously reproduced by our author, is surely a proof of the historicity of the sequence of events.” 1
| Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4:30) | Post-Interrogation (Acts 4:31-5:42) | ||
| 2:1-13 | Outpouring of the Spirit | 4:31a | Outpouring of the Spirit |
| 2:14-21 | Peter’s speech at Pentecost | 4:31b | “They…spoke the word of God with boldness.” |
| 2:42-47 | Summary: The communal life of the church | 4:32-35 | Summary: The communal life of the church |
| 4:36-5:11 | Two examples of communism: Barnabas, Ananias & Sapphira | ||
| 2:43a | “Fear came upon every soul” | 5:11 | “Fear came upon all who heard it….Great fear came upon the whole church.” |
| 2:43b | “Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” | 5:12a | “Many signs and wonders were done…by the hands of the apostles.” |
| 3:1-11 | “Healing of the lame man.” | 5:12b-16 | Typical healings |
| 3:12-26 | Peter’s speech in Solomon’s Portico | 5:12b | “They were together in Solomon’s Portico” |
| 4:1-17 | Arrest of the apostles | 5:17-18 | Arrest of the apostles |
| 4:4 | “Many of those who heard the word believed.” | 5:19-28 | The apostles escape and preach the word (v. 20) |
| 4:8-12 | Peter’s speech to his accusers | 5:29-32 | Peter’s speech to his accusers |
| 4:13-17 | The council deliberates. | 5:33-39 | The council deliberates (Gamaliel) |
| 4:18-22 | The apostles are warned and freed. | 5:40 | The apostles are warned and freed. |
| 4:23-30 | The community rejoices | 5:41-42 | “Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer.” |
Books Referenced in Class:
1MacGregor, G.H.C. and Theodore P. Ferris. “The Acts of the Apostles,” in Acts and Romans. Vol. 9 of The Interpreters Bible, edited by George Arthur Buttrick. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), pages 69-70.
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