Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 4:2
Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
2. being grieved ] Better, being troubled. The word signifies thoroughly pained. It is used (Act 16:18) of St Paul’s feeling when the “damsel possessed with a spirit of divination” cried after him at Philippi.
that they taught the people ] One objection which the scribes and priests would feel towards the Apostles would be that they were “unlearned and ignorant men” ( Act 4:13), and so not deemed fit to teach.
and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead ] Better, and published in Jesus. This would rouse the feelings of the Sadducees. The resurrection is said to be in Jesus, because His resurrection was a pledge that all should rise. “In Christ all shall be made alive” (1Co 15:22). The language of the Apostles in the Acts does not dwell on this as a consequence of the resurrection of Jesus, for like all Jewish teaching, what they said was historical rather than doctrinal.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Being grieved – The word thus translated occurs in only one other place in the New Testament Act 16:18. It implies more than simple sorrow; it was a mingled emotion of indignation and anger. They did not grieve because they thought it a public calamity, but because it interfered with their authority and opposed their doctrine. It means that it was painful to them, or they could not bear it. It is often the case that bigots, and people in authority, have this kind of grief, at the zeal of people in spreading the truth, and thus undermining their influence and authority.
That they taught the people – The ground of their grief was as much the fact that they should presume to instruct the people as the matter which they taught them. They were offended that unlearned Galileans, in no way connected with the priestly office, and unauthorized by them, should presume to set themselves up as religious teachers. They claimed the right to watch over the interests of the people, and to declare who was authorized to instruct the nation. It has been no unusual thing for men in ecclesiastical stations to take exceptions to the ministry of those who have not been commissioned by themselves. Such men easily fancy that all power to instruct others is lodged in their hands, and they oppose others simply from the fact that they have not derived their authority from them. The true question in this case was whether these Galileans gave proof that they were sent by God. The working of the miracle in this case should have been satisfactory. We have here, also, a striking instance of the fact that men may turn away from evidence, and from most important points, and fix their attention on something that opposes their prejudices, and which may be a matter of very little moment. No inquiry was made whether the miracle had been really performed; but the only inquiry was whether they had conformed to their views of doctrine and order.
And preached through Jesus … – The Sadducees would be particularly opposed to this. They denied the doctrine of the resurrection, and they were troubled that the apostles adduced proof of it so strong as the resurrection of Jesus. It was perceived that this doctrine was becoming established among the people; multitudes believed that he had risen; and if he had been raised up, it followed also that others would rise. The Sadducees, therefore, felt that their cause was in danger, and they joined with the priests in endeavoring to arrest its spread among the people. This is the account of the first opposition that was made to the gospel as it was preached by the apostles. It is worthy of remark that it excited so much and so speedily the enmity of those in power, and that the apostles were so soon called to test the sincerity of their attachment to their Master. They who but a few days before had fled at the approach of danger, were now called to meet this opposition, and to show their attachment to a risen Redeemer; and they did it without shrinking. They showed now that they were indeed the true friends of the crucified Saviour, and this remarkable change in their conduct is one of the many proofs that they were influenced from above.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 4:2
They taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection.
Apostolic teaching
A tolerably full report of two or three of St. Peters sermons is given us in the Acts, and we may assume that they are fair specimens of his ordinary preaching. A striking likeness runs through them.
1. As to style he deals largely in quotations from the Old Testament, and shows how those quotations were fulfilled in Christ, adducing this correspondence as a proof of Messiah-ship. In respect of matter, it may be summed up in one sentence–Whom ye have slain, but whom God hath raised up. It was not necessary for the apostles to bear witness to His death, for nobody disputed the fact. But His resurrection was not an open triumph. It therefore resolved itself into a matter of testimony, which testimony formed the chief burden of apostolic teaching. Reading the Epistles we cannot help observing a slight difference in tone. The atonement receives more attention, and the doctrinal significance of the resurrection more than the fact. Addressing unbelievers they dwell on the simple facts. Addressing believers they take the bare facts for granted, and expatiate on their doctrinal significance.
I. They taught. Teaching consists in
(1) drawing out the mind and making it work on the object-matter presented to it;
(2) presenting the object-matter to the mind, and bringing within its ken the proper materials of knowledge. The first is represented in education, the second in instruction. There must be power in the eye to see, and there must be light outside the eye in and on which sight may exercise itself. Eyes without light are purposeless; light without eyes is useless; good eyes and good light are necessary to clear vision.
1. Christianity educates men by teaching them to think. It leads out the mind, and develops its dormant faculties. The masses of men expend more thought upon religion than upon any other subject. The little thinking they do is chiefly in connection with the religion of Jesus Christ. And it stimulates thought not only in the vulgar, but also in the learned. Go to the British Museum; four out of every five books there discuss the problems of Christianity. There is a subtle, indescribable quality in Christianity eminently calculated to provoke thought. Just as the rising of the sun drives away slumber, the rays quietly but effectually tickling the drowsy eye into wakefulness, so Christianity pours such a flood of white radiance on the eyes that it feels constrained to open them. The presentation of Christianity to the mind constrains thought; and in the exercise of thought the world learns to think. The angel Uriel came down to Eden in search of the devil, and noticing a toad crouching at Eves ear, he touched it with his mystic wand and up sprang an angel. A fallen one, it is true, but an angel still. Christianity possesses similar powers of transformation. If it only touch the rude, unlettered boor, there gradually will be unfolded a holy angel, glowing with enthusiasm for all that is noble and divine. The foremost nations are those which have come most largely under the influences of Christianity. The religions of the heathen are the greatest obstruction to their progress. Philosophy taught the learned to think, but Christianity aims at making every man a thinker, and man, to be a man, must be a thinker.
2. Christianity teaches men to know. That is the meaning of the word instruct–to pile up in the mind the proper materials of knowledge. No amount of hard thinking answers its purpose, unless it leads to knowing. Now, Christianity brings within the sweep of our intellectual vision verities which before lay inaccessible. This confers a vast advantage on us as compared with the mighty minds which lay outside the sphere of revelation. The philosophers are renowned merely for their thinking–indeed, they evolved and formulated the laws of thought for all succeeding generations. Nevertheless, their knowledge was small in quantity and poor in quality. They had excellent eyes; still they did not see very far, and what little they did see was shrouded in obscurity. Did the fault lie with the eyes? No; they lacked light. But this much-needed light the gospel abundantly supplies. Our eyes, maybe, are not so strong as theirs; but the medium through which we see is clearer, and the objects have been brought nearer.
3. Thinking answers not its paramount purpose except as it leads to knowing; and Christianity conjoins thinking and knowing, thereby perfectly fulfilling our idea of teaching. There is a school of philosophy which disparages thinking, and runs down the metaphysics of the ancients. This school–sometimes called the Positive, and sometimes the Utilitarian–judges thought by its material results. Christianity avoids this extreme–it encourages thinking more or less for its own sake; the profoundest Christian thinkers feel impelled by a kind of natural instinct to grapple with the questions which baffled the giants of ancient days. Another school swings to the other extreme, and disparages knowing. If God, says Lessing, was to hold Truth in one hand, and Search after Truth in the other, and offer me my choice, I should with all deference choose the Search after Truth in preference to the Truth itself. This is a mistake. To think is well, but to know is better. To hunt for truth is commendable, but to catch truth is more satisfactory. The Greek philosophers hunted well, but it was very little they caught. We do not hunt so well, nevertheless we catch more. Our children know more of God and the soul and eternity than the most accomplished writers of classic times. Christianity lays more stress on thinking than the Positivists; it lays more stress on knowing than the Transcendentalists; and thus it is the reconciliation of the opposite schools of philosophy.
II. They taught the people. There are two stages in religion.
1. The first is that in which is awakened within us reverence for the High–worship of that which is above us. The first essential in the education of the race as of the individual, is to cultivate this sense, and this the religion of the Old Testament was eminently calculated to do. God is seldom mentioned, but some sublime epithet is appended. The religions of nature served to engender fear; but a religion of revelation was necessary to engender reverence.
2. But Christianity marks a second stage–it teaches us also to reverence that which is under us; not only to worship God, but to compassionate and succour the great masses of men. In Platos Republic the population is divided into the philosophers who govern, the soldiers who fight, and the people who serve; and the people are immured in slavery the most abject and helpless. Plato never entertained the idea that the vast bulk of mankind are capable of being enlightened, elevated, made pure and wise. But Jesus Christ cherished a larger hope of the human race, the common people heard Him gladly. John the Baptist sent to ask Him the evidences of His Messiahship. The blind receive their sight, etc., replied He, and, as the crowning proof, the poor have the gospel preached unto them. The Saviour adduces this as a more convincing evidence than even His miracles. It was easier to suspend the laws of nature than reverse the usages of society.
3. But Christianity cultivates reverence for the high and reverence for the low. Did it teach the first only, it would establish gigantic despotisms, and authority would crush out freedom. Did it teach the second only, it would establish anarchy, and freedom would destroy all authority. But laying due emphasis on both, it serves as the mainstay of authority, and the sure guarantee of liberty. To the subjects it says–Submit yourselves to those who are above you. To the rulers it says–Respect the liberty of those who are under you. And thus touching the two extremes of government and filling all the space between, it is the very religion which covers all the worlds wants.
III. They taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
1. They preached the fact of the resurrection by the example of Jesus. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. They preached it. They did not argue and weigh probabilities. The sages had thought and argued much, but left the subject in a state of chaotic uncertainty. What professes to be an historical fact must be judged by historical evidence, and the evidence the apostles brought forward was the undoubted witness of their bodily senses. We require no theories to confirm or confute that. But the Rationalists reply, The evidence would suffice to establish beyond controversy any event in the history of Greece or Rome; but no amount of evidence can serve to establish the miraculous. That indeed is theorising with a vengeance! But you will notice that such reasoning shifts the ground of the argument from the realm of history to the province of science. Again we must remind sceptics that the resurrection of the Saviour is primarily an historical question. No amount of evidence can establish the miraculous! Then did they see miracles with their own eyes, still they would not believe. But any candid inquirer can see that such reasoning is not reason, but unbelief The man who denies that God can perform miracles, says Rousseau, himself not on terms of amity with the Christian religion, is not fit to be reasoned with–he should be sent to the lock-up.
2. They preached the doctrine of the resurrection. Christianity is first a religion of facts; and out of the facts grow the doctrines. First the Gospels, next the Epistles. First the foundation in history, next the development in doctrine. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. What, then, is the legitimate conclusion? That there is life after death.
3. Preaching through Jesus the resurrection from the dead, the apostles doctrine was much in advance of the highest Gentile teaching. Philosophy unceasingly returned to this fascinating problem; but its utterances were vague, wavering, and contradictory. Is the soul of man immortal? Ages passed before the human mind was sufficiently educated to launch the question, and then philosophy could not return a decisive answer–it could only hope. Will the body survive death? Ancient speculation did not concern itself about this. Christianity has raised the masses of men to a loftier altitude of knowledge than the sublimest philosophers of the old world ever achieved, notwithstanding their strenuous lifelong efforts.
4. Their teaching is also much in advance of Judaism. Is man immortal? Very little is said on the matter in the books of Moses. No doubt it is implied, for Christ perceived it and beautifully evolved it in His conversation with the Sadducees; and we, reading the Pentateuch under the light of the gospel, can perceive in it certain other passages. As you come on to the Psalms the consciousness of immortality becomes more definite; Sheol becomes an important word in the writings of David and the Prophets. But still, when the Saviour appeared, Jewish opinion was divided as to the precise teaching of Judaism. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Being grieved] , They were thoroughly fatigued with the continuance of this preaching; their minds suffered more labour, through vexation at the success of the apostles, than the bodies of the apostles did in their fatiguing exercise of preaching during the whole day.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Being grieved; or angry to such a degree that it was a great trouble to them. The doctrine of the resurrection alone could not but vex the Sadducees, who denied it; but it did more afflict them, that the apostles
preached it through Jesus; asserting, not only the resurrection of our Saviour, which the Jews gave so much money unto the soldiers to hinder the report of, Mat 28:12,13, but also that Christ was the author of the resurrection, and the first fruits of them that sleep; and because they inferred from Christs resurrection that his disciples should rise from the dead also.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Being grieved that they taught the people,…. Any doctrine, and especially that which follows, and which particularly gave uneasiness to the Sadducees, they were exceedingly distressed by it; it pained them to the very heart, and they were filled with wrath and indignation:
and preached through, or in Jesus, the resurrection of the dead; they not only preached the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead in general, but gave an instance and proof of it in the resurrection of Christ, affirming that he was risen from the dead; and they also preached up the resurrection of the dead in his name, and asserted, that he would be the author of it, and it would be erected by his power: so that their doctrine was equally disagreeable to the Pharisees and Sadducees; to the Sadducees, who denied that there was, or would be any resurrection of the dead; and to the Pharisees, who though they believed it, yet were highly offended that it should be said, that Jesus was risen from the dead; and that the general resurrection of the dead should be attributed to him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Being sore troubled (). Present passive participle of old verb (perfective use of ) to be worked up, indignant. In the N.T. only here and 16:8.
Because ( ). The articular infinitive with two accusatives, one the object (the people), the other (“they”) of general reference.
In Jesus ( ). In the case of Jesus, an actual instance of resurrection which the Sadducees denied (Mt 22:23). This same use of appears in 1Co 4:6 (in us). The Sadducees were also aristocrats and political ecclesiastics who disliked popular disturbances. In particular, they resented the claim about Jesus whom they had helped crucify.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Being grieved [] . Only here and ch. 16 18. The Rev. renders the force of dia by “sore troubled;” vexed through and through. The resurrection. The Sadducees denied both the resurrection and a future state. “In the Gospels the Pharisees are represented as the great opponents of Christ; in the Acts it is the Sadducees who are the most violent opponents of the apostles. The reason of this seems to be, that in the Gospels Jesus Christ came in direct collision with the Pharisees, by unmasking their hypocrisies and endangering their influence among the people; whereas the apostles, in testifying to the resurrection of Christ, opposed the creed of the Sadducees. Perhaps, also, in attacking the apostles, who taught the resurrection of that Jesus whom the Pharisees had persecuted and crucified, the Sadducees aimed an indirect blow at the favorite dogma of their rival sect” (Gloag, ” Commentary on Acts “).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Being grieved,” (diaponoumenoi) “Being greatly troubled or emotionally disturbed,” angry, vexed, indignant, or sore troubled, with mental anguish; So why? The answer is that with witnessing power they were exposing the fallacy of the doctrine of Sadduceeism, Act 23:8.
2) “That they taught the people,” (dia to cliclaskein autous ton laon) “Because they repeatedly taught them,” the masses of people on Solomon’s Porch, as they obeyed the Lord in witnessing to them, Act 1:8; Mat 28:19-20; Joh 20:21. The officers objected to the disturbing presence of Peter, John and their learning audience, and the Sadducees were furious because of their resurrection and Holy Spirit doctrine.
3) “And preached through Jesus,” (kai katangellein en to lesou) “To announce that by or in Jesus,” there existed, had occurred or been confirmed in the resurrection of Jesus that the “no resurrection” and “no Spirit” doctrines of the Sadducees were held by them in error and in ignorance, Act 23:8; 1Co 15:1-7; 1Co 15:12-19; Rom 10:1-4.
4) “The resurrection from the dead,” (ten anastasin ten ek nekron) “The resurrection out of the physically dead corpse state or condition.” Peter and John emphatically declared that the resurrection of Jesus attested by so many living witnesses, and the gift of the Holy Spirit He had sent, was proof or incontestable evidence, that they too would one day be raised from the dead. This was an open rebuke to all Sadduceeism. Why, if it were so, the High Priests and all these temple employees would lose their jobs, they reasoned in the flesh, Mat 6:33; Mat 26:31-32; Mat 18:1; Mat 18:5-8; Rom 8:11; Rev 1:18.
Let it be noted that liquor profits, prostitutes, pimps, illegal narcotics dealers, etc. are grieved when sobriety and moral ethics prevail by restraining laws against their illegal trades. If it be true that “the wicked f lee when no man pursueth,” they run faster when the law does pursue, Pro 28:1.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(2) Being grieved.The verb is one which expresses something like an intensity of trouble and vexation. (Comp. Act. 16:18.)
Preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.Literally, preached in Jesusi.e., in this as the crucial instance in which the resurrection of the dead had been made manifest. (Comp. the close union of Jesus and the resurrection in Act. 17:18.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Grieved Vexed or tired out.
Jesus resurrection We see, therefore, the three pretexts upon which this assemblage was broken up by the three assailing parties, the hierarchy, the military, and the theology: namely, By the priests, because these laymen taught the people; by the captain and his police, because so large a gathering was disturbing Solomon’s Porch, perhaps obstructing the passage through Gate Shushan, and threatening the tranquillity of the city; and by the Sadducees, because their doctrine was the resurrection.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
Ver. 2. Being grieved ] Being sick of the devil’s disease, as Moab was, Num 22:3-4 “fretting and vexing” at God’s Israel, and eating up their own hearts, because they could not tear out theirs.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2. ] . , not, as E. V., ‘ through Jesus,’ but in the person (or example) of Jesus , alleging Him as an example of that which the Sadducees denied: preaching by implication, inasmuch as one resurrection would imply that of all, the resurrection of the dead. The in reff. carries this somewhat further, but the usage is philologically the same. ‘The resurrection through Jesus’ does not appear on the present occasion to have formed part of their preaching.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 4:2 . , cf. Act 16:18 , only in Acts in the N.T., not, as often in classical Greek, referring to the exertions made by them, but to the vexation which they felt, “being sore troubled,” R.V. ( , dolor , Blass), cf. LXX, Ecc 10:9 , used of pain caused to the body, and 2Ma 2:28 , R. (A. al. ), but cf. Aquila, Gen 6:6 ; Gen 34:7 , 1Sa 20:3 ; 1Sa 20:34 , of mental grief. : not “through,” but as in R.V., “in Jesus,” i.e. , “in persona Jesu quem resurrexisse dicebant” (Blass). Others render it “in the instance of Jesus” (so Holtzmann, Wendt, Felten, Zckler). : on the form of the expression see Plummer on St. Luke , Luk 20:35 , and Lumby’s note, in loco . It must be distinguished from ( ) . It is the more limited term implying that some from among the dead are raised, while others as yet are not; used of the Resurrection of Christ and of the righteous, cf. with this passage 1Pe 1:3 (Col 1:18 ), but see also Grimm-Thayer, sub . It was not merely a dogmatic question of the denial of the Resurrection which concerned the Sadducees, but the danger to their power, and to their wealth from the Temple sacrifices and dues, if the Resurrection of Jesus was proclaimed and accepted (see Wendt and Holtzmann, in loco , and Plummer on Luk 23:1-7 , note). Spitta agrees with Weiss, Feine, Jngst, in regarding the mention of the distress of the Sadducees at the preaching of the Apostles as not belonging to the original source. But it is worthy of notice that in estimating the positive value of his source, A., he decides to retain the mention of the Sadducees in Act 4:1 it would have been more easy, he thinks, for a forger to have represented the enmity to the Church as proceeding not from the Sadducees but from the Pharisees, as in the Gospels. But the Sadducees, as Spitta reminds us, according to Josephus, included the high-priestly families in their number, and it was by this sect that at a later date the death of James the Just was caused. Only once in the Gospels, Joh 12:10 , the chief priests, rather than the Pharisees, take the initiative against our Lord, but this was in the case of what was essentially a question for the Sadducees (as here in Act 4:2 ), the advisability of getting rid of Lazarus, a living witness to the truth which the Sadducees denied. It is no unfair inference that the chief priests in St. John occupy the place of the Sadducees in the Synoptists, as the latter are never mentioned by name in the fourth Gospel; and if so, this is exactly in accordance with what we should expect from the notices here and in Act 5:17 , and in Josephus; see on the point Lightfoot in Expositor , 1890, pp. 86, 87.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
grieved = exasperated. Greek. diaponeomai. Only here, and Act 16:18.
that = because. Greek. dia. App-104. Act 4:2.
preached. Greek. katangello. App-121.
through = in. Greek. en. App-104.
Jesus. App-98.
resurrection. Greek. anastasis. App-178.
from the dead. Greek. ek nekron. App-139.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2.] . ,-not, as E. V., through Jesus, but in the person (or example) of Jesus, alleging Him as an example of that which the Sadducees denied: preaching by implication, inasmuch as one resurrection would imply that of all, the resurrection of the dead. The in reff. carries this somewhat further, but the usage is philologically the same. The resurrection through Jesus does not appear on the present occasion to have formed part of their preaching.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 4:2. , on account of their teaching) This the Priests were annoyed at, on account of their authority: the Prefect of the temple, through fear of attempts at revolution.-, their announcing) This the Sadducees were annoyed at, as they denied the resurrection: and their error was being utterly refuted by the one sole and incontrovertible example of Jesus Christ especially.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
grieved: Act 5:17, Act 13:45, Act 19:23, Neh 2:10, Joh 11:47, Joh 11:48
preached: Act 10:40-43, Act 17:18, Act 17:31, Act 17:32, Act 24:14, Act 24:15, Act 24:21, Act 26:8, Act 26:23, Rom 8:11, 1Co 15:12-20, 1Co 15:23, 2Co 4:13, 2Co 4:14, 1Th 4:13, 1Th 4:14
Reciprocal: Exo 1:12 – grieved Jer 38:1 – heard Dan 11:33 – understand Mat 2:3 – he Mat 3:7 – the Pharisees Mat 10:7 – preach Mat 24:9 – shall they Mar 12:18 – say Luk 19:39 – rebuke Luk 20:27 – the Sadducees Heb 6:2 – resurrection
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
Act 4:2. Grieved is from DIAPONEO, which the Thayer lexicon defines at this place, “To be troubled, displeased, offended, pained, worked up.” The Sad-ducees did not believe in the resurrection and would naturally resent any teaching in favor of the subject. The main cause of this displeasure, however, was that the apostles were telling that it was through Jesus that the dead would be resurrected. They had already come to hate Him because of His exposure of their sins and inconsistencies (Mat 16:1-4 Mat 22:23 Mat 22:34), and now to have Him held up to the people as the hope of the resurrection, a doctrine they rejected with all the bitterness possible, was more than they could stand.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 4:2. Being grieved that they taught the people. The anger of the priests and captain of the Temple, whose duty it was to preserve a reverential order among the crowds who worshipped in the great sanctuary of Israel, was easily aroused by the Sadducees against these unauthorized teachers who were making such a rapid progress in the affections of the people (see Act 4:4).
And taught through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Here we have the real ground of the hostility of the powerful Sadducee party; they were troubled at this public announcement of the resurrection of the Crucified, well knowing that if this single instance of one being raised from the dead were substantiated before the people, their creed would be at once discredited.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 1
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 2
Grieved; displeased, angry. The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Two things disturbed these leaders. First, the apostles were teaching the people. This was the Sadducees’ function since they were the recognized leaders of the Jews. Second, they were teaching that Jesus had risen from the dead and that there was resurrection from the dead.
". . . a woman called and asked me to serve on a committee that was trying to clean up downtown Los Angeles. I agreed it needed cleaning up, but I told her that I could not serve on the committee. She was amazed. ’Aren’t you a minister?’ she asked. ’Aren’t you interested in cleaning up Los Angeles?’ I answered, ’I will not serve on your committee because I don’t think you are going about it in the right way.’ Then I told her what the late Dr. Bob Shuler had told me years ago. He said, ’We are called to fish in the fish pond, not to clean up the fish pond.’ This old world is a place to fish. Jesus said He would make us fishers of men, and the world is the place to fish. We are not called upon to clean up the fish pond. We need to catch the fish and get the fish cleaned up.
"I have found that the biggest enemies of the preaching of the gospel are not the liquor folk. The gangsters have never bothered me. Do you know where I had my trouble as a preacher? It was with the so-called religious leaders, the liberals, those who claimed to be born again. They actually became enemies of the preaching of the gospel. It was amazing to me to find out how many of them wanted to destroy my radio ministry." [Note: McGee, 4:526.]
Having worked with Dr. McGee in his church, I know that he sought to help people physically as well as spiritually. His point here was that spiritual help is more important than physical help.