Acts 4:4

"They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening."

Key Reflection

In Acts 4:4, after Peter and John heal a lame man at the temple gate, the religious leaders lay hands on them as a sign of authority to arrest them. This action reflects their immediate concern and desire to suppress this act of defiance, placing the apostles under official custody until the following day when they could convene for an investigation. The timing, coming just before the evening sacrifices at the temple, underscores the urgency with which the leaders sought to address this challenge to their authority, highlighting the growing conflict between the early Christian community and the Sanhedrin.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 4. Howbeit. But; notwithstanding. Many of them, etc. This was one of the instances which has since been so often repeated, in which persecution has only had 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 doctrines. It was supposed here that the disciples were few, that they were without power, wealth, and influence, and that it was easy to crush them at once.

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