Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 4:27
For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
27. For of a truth ] Here the best MSS. insert the words in this city. The Apostle proceeds here to apply the language of the Psalmist to the events preceding the Crucifixion. The insertion of in this city is very natural under such circumstances.
against thy holy child Jesus ] Read here, Servant Jesus, as Act 3:13, for the original is the same though differently translated in the A.V.
whom thou hast anointed ] By the descent of the Holy Ghost at His Baptism. (Mat 3:16.)
both Herod ] The representative of the rulers of the Jews. This Herod was Antipas the son of Herod the Great by his Samaritan wife Malthace. He was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea (Luk 3:19), and because our Lord belonged to Galilee Pilate took occasion to send Jesus to be examined by him, as Herod was in Jerusalem to keep the feast of the Passover.
and Pontius Pilate ] who was the Roman Governor, and so in his person were represented many nations at this time under the sway of Rome. His officials and soldiers would be drawn from all lands, and the mockery to which Jesus was exposed at their hands might well be described as the rage of the Gentiles.
Pontius Pilate ] was the sixth Roman procurator of Juda; he was appointed a.d. 25 6 in the twelfth year of Tiberius, and he continued to hold the office till a.d. 36, when he was sent to Rome by Vitellius under an accusation brought against him by the Samaritans. Of his after life and his death there are many legends, but no history.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For of a truth – Truly; in reality.
Thy holy child Jesus – The word child is commonly applied to infants, or to sons and daughters in very early life. The word which is used here pais is different from what is commonly applied to the Lord Jesus huios. The latter expresses sonship without respect to age. The word which is here used also sometimes expresses sonship with out any regard to age, and the word son would have been a more happy translation. Thus, the same word is translated in Act 3:13, Act 3:26. In Act 20:12, it is translated youngman.
Both Herod … – Luk 23:1-12.
With the Gentiles – The Romans, to whom he was delivered to be crucified.
The people of Israel – The Jews, who were excited to this by the rulers, Mat 27:20.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. There is a parenthesis in this verse that is not sufficiently noticed: it should be read in connection with Ac 4:28, thus: For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, (for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done,) both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, were gathered together.
It is evident that what God’s hand and counsel determined before to be done was not that which Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, (Romans,) and the people of Israel had done and were doing; for, then, their rage and vain counsel would be such as God himself had determined should take place, which is both impious and absurd; but these gathered together to hinder what God had before determined that his Christ or Anointed should perform; and thus the passage is undoubtedly to be understood.
Were gathered together] , In this very city, are added by ABDE, and several others; all the Syriac, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonian, Vulgate, Itala, and several of the primitive fathers. This reading Griesbach has received into the text. This makes the words much more emphatic; in this thy own city, these different and in all other cases dissentient powers are leagued together against thine Anointed, and are determined to prevent the accomplishment of thy purpose.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thy holy child; it speaks Christs dearness to God as a child, and obeying of God as a servant.
Whom thou hast anointed, to be a King Priest, and Prophet to his church.
Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, &c.: a strange agreement against Christ, his truths, and people; Gentiles and Jews never combined so together before. Henceforth it is no dishonour to any, if they follow that which is good, to have great and many enemies, for so had our Saviour: nor is it any honour to any to persecute and despise such; so did Herod, Pilate, Judas, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus,…. This is the interpretation of the above passages in Ps 2:1 and the application of them to Jesus; who is called the “child” of God, because the human nature of Christ was taken into union with the second person, who is the Son of God: unless the word should rather be rendered “servant”, as it is in Ac 4:25 and which is a character that belongs to Christ, and is often given him as Mediator, who, as such, is God’s righteous servant; and he is called “holy”, because he was so in his conception and birth, and in his life and conversation, being free both from original sin, and actual transgression; and which is an aggravation of the sin and guilt of these men, that they should rise up, and gather together against him; and yet it was a clear case, a notorious fact, a certain truth, that could not be denied: and for the further aggravation of their crime, as well as for the sake of explaining the phrase “his, Christ”, it is added,
whom thou hast anointed; with the oil of gladness, above his fellows. Christ was, in some sense, anointed to be prophet, priest, and King, from eternity, being so early set up as Mediator, or called unto, and invested with that office; see Pr 8:22 and he was anointed in time, both at his incarnation and baptism, having the Spirit without measure given unto him, which is that anointing, that teacheth all things.
Both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. This Herod was Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the great, and who beheaded John the Baptist; and Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, at the time of Christ’s death; the Gentiles were those of Pilate’s council, and the Roman soldiers;
and the people of Israel, were the Jews, both the rulers, and the common people; the Syriac version renders it, “the synagogue of Israel”: and these, though they were of different nations, and of different interests, yea enemies to one another, as the Jews and Gentiles in general were; and as were Herod and Pontius Pilate in particular; yet all gathered, consented, and agreed together to mock, scourge, and crucify this innocent and holy person. The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions add, “in this city”; and so the above copies of Beza’s, and others; meaning, in the city of Jerusalem, where the apostles now were, and where the above persons met together, and from whence a prophet could only perish. The Alexandrian copy reads, “in this thy city”: which was called the city of God, and the holy city; and yet in this was this wicked convention, and all this wickedness done.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Both Herod and Pontios Pilate (H ). Luke alone (Lu 23:12) tells of the reconciliation between Herod and Pilate at the trial of Jesus. So Peter and the rest interpret this prophecy as directly fulfilled in their conduct towards Jesus Christ.
Whom thou didst anoint ( ). As in verse 26 (cf. Luke 4:18; Isa 61:1). Inaugurated as King Messiah.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Didst anoint [] . See on Christ, Mt 1:1.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For of a truth,” (ep’ aletheia) “Based upon truth,” with ample evidence as follows with citations.
2) “Against the holy child Jesus,” (epi ton hagion paida
sou lesoun) “Upon or against thy holy servant-son, Jesus,” of whom David was a type, the Sanhedrin assembled in collusion, for entrapment, devious purpose to devise a plan by which they might subtly kill Jesus, Mat 26:3-4; Luk 22:2.
3) “Whom thou hast anointed,” (hon echrisas) “The one whom thou didst anoint,” as aforetold by Isaiah and declared to be fulfilled by Jesus, Himself, Isa 611; Luk 4:18.
4) “Both Herod and Pontius Pilate,” (Herodes te kai Pontios Pilatos) “Indeed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,” at His birth and in His death, Mat 2:7; Mat 2:10; Mat 2:12; Mat 2:16-18; Mat 27:1-2; Mat 27:13; Mat 27:17-18; Mat 27:22-26.
5) “With the Gentiles and the people of Israel,” (sun ethesin kai laois Israel) “In affinity, company, colleague or collusion with the masses of Gentile (heathen) and peoples of Israel,” the heathen Herodians, and Jews, Joh 10:31; Joh 10:33; 1Th 2:14-15; Mat 22:16; Mar 3:6; Mar 12:13.
6) “Were gathered together,” (sunechthesan) “Were gathered together in colleague or covenant,” with a perverse intent against Jesus Christ, Mar 3:6; Mat 23:15-18.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
27 Have met together in this city. They declare that this prophecy was proved to be true by the event, to the end they may believe the same more assuredly, for the sense is, Lord, thou hast spoken it and we have in truth tried [experienced] the same to be true; and they call to mind that which was done four years before, or thereabout. In like sort, it is expedient for us to apply the events of things which are foretold to the confirmation of our faith; but because it might seem that the matter fell out far otherwise then than the Psalm pronounceth, forasmuch as they raged not in vain, neither were the assaults of the enemies frustrate when they had put Christ to death; and their violence went further afterwards after a fearful manner. The faithful remove this offense, and say that the enemies could do no more than God had appointed; therefore, howsoever the wicked did suppose that Christ was quite taken away by death, and did now vainly triumph, yet the faithful confess that their rage was all but vain. But here may a question be moved, why he calleth them the Gentiles and people of Israel, seeing there was but one body? I think that the diversity of countries is noted in this place, out of which the Jews came together to the feast, as if they should have said, that the Jews which were born in divers places, having made, as it were, a concourse, did assault the kingdom of Christ, yet was their fury frustrate and of none effect.
Thy holy Son Jesus. The Grecians use the very same word which I translated even now, servant, when mention was made of David, for they call [ πᾶιδα ] sometimes a servant sometimes a son; and David is so called, because he was the minister of God, as well in ruling the people as in the office of a prophet; but this word, son, agreeth better with the person of Christ, unless some man had liefer take it thus, that Luke meant to allude unto that likelihood [resemblance] which David had with Christ when he setteth down a word of a double signification. It is expressly said, that God hath anointed his Son, that that may truly agree to him which is in the Psalm, for in anointing him God made him a King, and yet we must note therewithal what anointing this was, for we know that he was not anointed with visible oil, but with the Holy Ghost.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(27) Of a truth. . . .Many of the better MSS. add the words in this city.
Against thy holy child Jesus.Better, as before, Servant. (See Notes on Act. 3:13) The word is the same as that used of David in Act. 4:25.
Both Herod, and Pontius Pilate.The narrative of Herods share in the proceedings connected with the Passion is, it will be remembered, found only in Luk. 23:8-12. So far as the hymn here recorded may be considered as an independent evidence, the two present an undesigned coincidence.
With the Gentiles, and the people of Israel.Even here the nouns are, in the Greek, without an article. The peoples (the Greek noun is plural) are rightly defined, looking to the use of the Hebrew word, as those of Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Herod Pilate Gentiles Israel All these four forces are pictured as gathered together at the crucifixion as the image of the persecuting powers still in operation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“For in truth in this city against your holy Servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to come about.”
Now the same situation was being repeated. The kings and governors of the earth (Herod and Pilate) and the Gentiles and peoples (of Israel), had raised themselves up into opposition against God’s holy Servant Jesus. They had mobilised in order to rid the world of Him. But although they did not realise it they had done it at God’s behest. They were as puppets in His hands, responding to His pulling of the strings. They were only doing what God’s hand and council had foreordained. For His death had been necessary in order to propitiate for the sins of the whole world.
So Pilate, and Herod, together will all peoples, were under God’s control and did His will in such matters. It is slightly unusual for Luke to put blame on Pilate but all he is necessarily saying is that Pilate was involved in what happened, even though he did not like it, which was undeniable. Without his say-so, albeit forced from him, it could not have happened. Note that here the peoples of Israel are included among the enemies of the Lord’s Anointed. This can only be because the King now has a new people of Israel to guard and watch over. The false vine has been replaced by the true vine, the true vine of ‘Christ at one with His people’ (Joh 15:1-6; Eph 2:11-22). The church is God’s new people. The old Israel has been cut off.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 4:27-28. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, &c. We must here observe, that the hand of God most frequently in the Old Testament relates not so much to his power, as to his wisdom, and providential dispensations. So Job 27:11. I will teach you by the hand of God, that is, by his wisdom, in his providential dispensations. Ecc 2:24. That a man should enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God: here the hand of God, is his favour, or gracious providence. See also Ezr 7:9; Ezr 8:18; Ezr 8:22. Neh 8:18. The phrase being here joined with God’s counsel, and applied to what was done by Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers, and also by the Jews, toward the crucifixion of the holy Jesus,to which actions so highly displeasingto God, his power could not actually concur, or effectively incline them,we have great reason here to prefer this import of the phrase before the other; and then the meaning of the words will be, that Jews and Gentiles were assembled to accomplish those sufferings of our Saviour for mankind, which God had foretold, and by foretelling had determined should come to pass, according to those words of St. Paul, Act 13:27. They that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets,have fulfilled them, in condemning him, fulfilling all that was written of him, Act 4:29. As therefore St. Peter and St. Paul, by calling the Jews to repentance for this sin in crucifying the Lord of life, evidence that their sin was not the less, because they did by it fulfil the counsel of God’s holy will and kind intentions to mankind, so do they consequently evidence, that God’s foreknowledge and determination of a thing future, does not impair the liberty of men’s wills in the accomplishment of it; as all the antient fathers have declared in this particular. At the same time we fully grant, that it is grace alone which gives to man the will or power to think, speak, or do any thing that is good.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 4:27-28 . For in truth there assembled , etc. This confirms the contents of the divine utterance quoted from that by which it had been historically fulfilled.
] according to truth (Bernhardy, p. 248), really . Comp. Act 10:34 ; Luk 4:25 ; Dem. 538; Polyb. i. 84. 6.
. .] against Thy holy servant , etc. Explanation of the above . The (ideal) anointing of Jesus, i.e. His consecration on the part of God to be the Messianic king, took place, according to Luke, at His baptism (Act 10:38 ; Luk 3:21-22 ), by means of the Spirit, which came upon Him, while the voice of God declared Him the Messiah. The consecration of Christ is otherwise conceived of in John ( ; see on Joh 10:36 ).
] Luk 23:11 .
. .] with Gentiles and Israel’s peoples . The plural does not stand for the singular, but is put on account of Act 4:25 , and is to be referred either, with Calvin and others, to the different nationalities (comp. Act 2:5 ) from which the Jews in great measure from foreign countries were assembled at the Passover against Jesus; or, with Grotius and others, to the twelve tribes , which latter opinion is to be preferred, in accordance with such passages as Gen 28:3 ; Gen 35:5 ; Gen 48:4 . The priesthood not specially named is included in the .
] contains the design of the . This design of their coming together was “to kill Jesus;” but the matter is viewed according to the decree of God overruling it: “ to do what God has predetermined .”
] symbolizes in the lofty strain of the discourse the disposing power of God . Comp. Act 4:30 ; Act 7:50 ; Act 13:11 ; 1Pe 5:6 ; Herod, viii. 140. 2; Herm. ad Viger. p. 732. A zeugma is contained in , inasmuch as the notion of the verb does not stand in logical relation to the literal meaning of with which some such word as would have been in accord but only to the attribute of God thereby symbolized.
The death of the Lord was not the accidental work of hostile caprice, but (comp. Act 2:23 , Act 3:18 ) the necessary result of the divine predetermination (Luk 22:22 ), to which divine (Luk 24:26 ) the personally free action of man had to serve as an instrument. , , , , Oecumenius. Beza aptly says: refers not to the consilia et voluntates Herodis , etc., but to the eventus consiliorum. Comp. Flacius, Clav. I. p. 818.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1750
CHRISTS SUFFERINGS FORE-ORDAINED
Act 4:27-28. Of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
A COMPARISON of events with prophecy is a source of the strongest conviction and consolation to the mind. So the Apostles found it in the hour of trial, when, for the Gospels sake, they had been imprisoned, and menaced with the severest punishment that could be inflicted on them. They saw that the prophecies relating to their Divine Master had all been unwittingly fulfilled, even by his bitterest enemies: and they comforted themselves with the thought, that the same God, who had so accomplished his own gracious purposes in relation to him, would in like manner bring glory to himself out of the sufferings which they also were called to endure. They cite before God the prediction brought to their minds; and they declare, that, in all which had been done to the holy child Jesus, they saw nothing less than a complete accomplishment of Gods eternal counsels and decrees.
In discoursing on these words, I will,
I.
Confirm their assertion
The assertion is made in the form of an appeal to God: and it relates to the sufferings of Christ,
1.
As fore-ordained of God
[All of them were fore-ordained, when God determined to give up his only dear Son to die for the sins of men. Man had merited condemnation: and Jesus must be condemned by a legal process, and be numbered with transgressors. Man had incurred the penalty of Gods law, and was to be accursed from God: and Christ must die a death which Gods law pronounced accursed, even the death of the cross [Note: Gal 3:13.]. In executing this judgment, there must be a concurrence of all orders of men, Jews and Gentiles, the highest rulers and the lowest populace; Jews, to accuse him according to their law; and Gentiles, to adjudge him to a death which was not recognised by that law, and which could be inflicted by Gentiles only. Man had deserved the utmost shame and contempt: and to these must Jesus be exposed, even as one worthy to be abhorred by all mankind [Note: Isa 49:7.]. He must be scourged also [Note: Psa 129:3.], though that was no part of the punishment connected with crucifixion. A vast number of very minute circumstances, also, were to attend his crucifixion. He was to be betrayed by one of his own Disciples; sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave; and, whilst yet upon the cross, to be taunted by the populace, and challenged, if he were not an impostor, to save himself. Vinegar was to be offered to him, instead of a draught that should assuage his anguish: lots were to be cast for his vesture: and though no bone of his was to be broken, he was to be pierced in his hands and feet, and in his side even to the heart [Note: Joh 19:36-37.]. Together with these, and a multitude of other minute circumstances which were ordained of God to be attendant on his death, it was appointed that he should make his grave with the rich.
And all these things the Apostles speak of,]
2.
As executed by man
[The Psalmist clearly predicts the union of all manner of persons, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, in the execution of this bloody tragedy. And the Apostles call God to witness, that the prophecy adduced had been literally fulfilled in Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentile soldiers and the people Israel [Note: Psa 2:2-3. with ver. 25, 26.]. Yea, so exactly had every prophecy been fulfilled, that it seemed as if all the different classes had been called together, to examine carefully into the predictions; and each person had had his part assigned him, so that not one jot or tittle of them might remain unfulfilled. Judas shall betray him. The chief priests, unable, by reason of their subjection to the Romans, to execute their own law, shall deliver him to Pilate, the Roman governor. He, willing to pacify them, shall have him scourged; but afterwards shall be constrained, by their clamour, to give orders for his crucifixion. The populace shall be ready enough, each in his place, to fulfil the rest; and the Roman soldier, to ascertain, or complete, his death, shall pierce him with the spear. All shall be as active as if they had conspired together to perform their respective parts, and to accomplish every prediction respecting him. Thus it had been ordained of God that it should be: and thus, in fact, it was; even one acting an independent part, as occasion called for it, and as his situation enabled him to act: and thus was there as complete an agreement between the predictions and events, as between a seal with ten thousand lines and the impression taken from it.]
Their assertion being thus confirmed, I will proceed to,
II.
Shew the proper and legitimate consequences to be deduced from it
If we mark only the expressions in my text, we shall be ready to draw from them very erroneous inferences and deductions. We shall be ready to say, If what these people did was only what Gods hand and counsel had determined before to be done, we must not condemn them: they were only instruments in the hand of a superior power: and if there be any evil in what they did, it must be traced to Jehovah himself, whose counsel had decreed it, and who, by his power, stimulated them to the commission of it. But all this is quite erroneous. Though God had ordained these things, he never instigated any man to the commission of them; he only elevated men to situations, where, if they were so disposed, they might execute all the evil that was in their hearts, and left them at liberty to follow their own will. It was thus that he elevated Pharaoh to the throne of Egypt, and gave him up to the hardness of his own heart: and Pharaoh, of his own mind and will, persisted in his opposition, till the Jews were irrecoverably delivered, and he with all his army were destroyed. Thus St. Peter told the Jews, that though Jesus had been delivered according to the determinate counsel of God, they with wicked hands had crucified and slain him [Note: Act 2:23.]. As for God, he cannot be tempted of evil; neither tempteth he any man [Note: Jam 1:13.]. In all that those murderers did, they were voluntary agents, and put forth only the evil that was in their own hearts. Therefore to them, and to them alone, must be imputed all the evil which they respectively committed.
But if we look to the facts, they will afford very rich and useful instruction. From them may be
deduced the following most important consequences:
1.
That Christ is assuredly the true Messiah
[If there had been but few predictions relative to the Messiahs death, and they such as admitted of being carried into effect by a well-concerted conspiracy, the fulfilment of them would have had comparatively but little weight in a subject of such importance. But they were so numerous, so minute, and, if I may so express myself, so contradictory, that it was not possible for his friends to form a conspiracy equal to the occasion. Besides, there were many of the predictions which could not be carried into effect, but by enemies. Who but enemies could deliver him up to the Gentiles? who but enemies could nail him to the cross, and load him with such contempt, and pierce him to the heart with the spear? But when we see so many prophecies fulfilled by people wholly unconnected with each other, yea, and hostile to each other, as Herod and Pilate were, and Jews and Gentiles were, the conviction is irresistible: He is, and must be, the predicted Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world ]
2.
That no opposition, however sanctioned by the great and learned, should at all weaken our conviction of the truths we have received
[Against the Lord Jesus Christ were engaged all the great and learned of the land. But was his religion, therefore, the more questionable? No: if there had not been one added to his Apostles as a witness for him, he would still have been the same Almighty Saviour, worthy of all possible honour and trust. So I may say with respect to us at this day. Many will urge, as they did, in reference to our Saviour, Have any of the rulers and of the Pharisees believed on him? But this poor people are cursed. Yes, many will ask, with a kind of confidence, What do your governors in Church and State think of your opinions? Do you find them walking in the same strict and self-denying ways that you do? I grant, there are not many rich, or mighty, or noble, or wise, that are called: and that, for the most part, it is to the poor that the Lord Jesus Christ is preached; and that by them, almost alone, is he received. But, if this invalidated not in any degree the testimony of the Apostles, neither does it weaken our testimony respecting the Gospel of Christ. It is to the word and to the testimony that we make our appeal; and by that must all sentiments be tried and judged. And, if we speak according to the Scriptures, we should not regard it, even though, like Elijah, we, in appearance, stood alone in the midst of the land. I grant, that singularity will not prove us to be right: but neither will it prove us to be wrong. Christs have ever been a little flock, and his way a narrow way: and if ever we would be saved, we must come forth, like Lot, from Sodom; and be saved, like Noah, in the Ark prepared for us.]
3.
That no trial shall come upon us beyond what our all-wise God shall see fit to permit, and what our infinitely gracious God will overrule for our good
[Of all the heavy trials which our blessed Lord sustained, there was not so much as one which was not allotted to him by infinite Wisdom, and rendered subservient to the great ends of his mission. No one could seize him before his time: and though they drove nails through parts full of small bones, and pierced his side with a spear, no one was permitted to break so much as one of his bones. Now, thus will God take care of us, both in our individual and collective capacity. The attempts to destroy his Church have been numerous and sanguinary: but the gates of hell have never been able to prevail against it. And our trials, also, may be heavy; but God has engaged, that they shall all work together for our spiritual and eternal good. We may well, therefore, adopt the language of the Psalmist; and say, We will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof [Note: Psa 46:2-3.]. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ as enthroned in glory, and see in what his troubles have issued: or behold Joseph, when at the highest post of honour in Egypt, and his parents and his brethren were bowing down to him. There you see in what his successive trials issued; and how every one was but as a link in the chain of Gods eternal purposes; a link without which, humanly speaking, all Gods purposes respecting him had failed. Be not then cast down, because your troubles are numerous and heavy, and because you cannot yet discern what will be the end of them; but commit yourselves to God, in the assured expectation, that if you suffer with your adorable Lord, you shall also reign with him in due time, and be eternally glorified together.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Ver. 27. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, &c. ] So of old,Psa 2:1-3Psa 2:1-3 ; Psa 83:5-7 . So lately against Luther, the emperor, the pope, the kings of Spain, France, England, Hungary, which two last wrote against him, as did also Eckius, Roffensis, Cajetan, Sir Thomas Moore, Johannes Faber, Cochlaeus, Catharinus, Pighins, summo conatu acerrimo desiderio, non vulgari doctrina (as Pareus saith), with all eager desire, utmost endeavour, and extraordinary learning. But what said he to all this? Agant quicquid possunt Henrici, Episcopi, atque adeo Turca, et ipse Satan; nos filii sumus regni, &c.: Let the Henries, the bishops, the Turk, and the devil himself, do what they can, we are the children of the kingdom, worshipping and waiting for that Saviour, whom they and such as they spit upon and crucify. Praeter vitam hanc misellam, Satanas et mundus eripere nobis nihil potest. At vivit et in sempiternum regnat Christus, &c.; with many like golden sentences, which a man would fetch upon his knees (saith Mr Samuel Clark) from Rome or Jerusalem.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27 .] The implies an acknowledgment of the truth of God in the fulfilment of the prophecy: Thou art the God who hast , &c., for these events have happened accordingly.
. which has been excluded from the text on account of its apparent redundance, answers to , Psa 2:6 . See also Mat 23:37 ; Luk 13:33 . The parts of this verse correspond accurately to those of the prophecy just quoted.
, servant , as be fore, ch. Act 3:26 . Jesus, the Servant of Jehovah, is the antitype and completion of David, and of all other servants of the Lord: what is said of them only partially and hyperbolically, is said literally and entirely of Him.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 4:27 . : confirms the truth of the preceding prophecy, by pointing to its historical fulfilment, and does not simply give a reason for addressing God as to emphasise this fulfilment . is again quoted, and placed first in the sentence. , of a truth, i.e. , assuredly, Luk 4:25 ; Luk 20:21 ; Luk 22:59 , Act 10:34 ; so too in LXX, Job 9:2 , and also in classical Greek. The phrase is characteristic of St. Luke, and is only used elsewhere in N.T. in Mar 12:14 ; Mar 12:32 , the usual expression being , never used by St. Luke (Friedrich). , see on Act 3:13 . : showing that Jesus = named in the quotation just made, cf. Luk 4:18 , and Isa 61:1 and Act 10:38 . Nsgen compares also Joh 10:36 , and refuses to limit the reference to Act 3:21 . The words may no doubt be referred to the Baptism, but they need not be confined to that. = of the Psalm, . = , but Nsgen, referring to Act 3:17 , regards the . as included in the . . instead of , Blass, in loco , and Grammatik des N. G. , pp. 7, 8, the iota subscript W.H [163] thus accounted for; Winer-Schmiedel, p. 41. .: the first word = the centurion and soldiers, those who carried out the orders of Pilate; the plural (quoted from the Psalm) does not refer with Calvin to the different nationalities out of which the Jews who came up to the Feast were gathered, but possibly to the tribes of Israel, Grimm-Thayer, sub , , like , Gen 49:10 , Deu 32:8 , Isa 3:13 , etc., R. V., “the peoples of Israel”. St. Luke’s Gospel alone gives us the narrative of Herod’s share in the proceedings connected with the Passion, Act 23:8-12 ; see Plumptre, in loco , and Friedrich, Das Lucasevangelium , pp. 54, 55.
[163] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Acts
OBEDIENT DISOBEDIENCE
THE SERVANT AND THE SLAVES
Act 4:25
I do not often take fragments of Scripture for texts; but though these are fragments, their juxtaposition results in by no means fragmentary thoughts. There is obvious intention in the recurrence of the expression so frequently in so few verses, and to the elucidation of that intention my remarks will be directed. The words are parts of the Church’s prayer on the occasion of its first collision with the civil power. The incident is recorded at full length because it is the first of a long and bloody series, in order that succeeding generations might learn their true weapon and their sure defence. Prayer is the right answer to the world’s hostility, and they who only ask for courage to stand by their confession will never ask in vain. But it is no part of my intention to deal either with the incident or with this noble prayer.
A word or two of explanation may be necessary as to the language of our texts. You will observe that, in the second of them, I have followed the Revised Version, which, instead of ‘Thy holy child,’ as in the Authorised Version, reads ‘Thy holy Servant.’ The alteration is clearly correct. The word, indeed, literally means ‘a child,’ but, like our own English ‘boy,’ or even ‘man,’ or ‘maid,’ it is used to express the relation of servant, when the desire is to cover over the harsher features of servitude, and to represent the servant as a part of the family. Thus the kindly centurion, who besought Jesus to come and heal his servant, speaks of him as his ‘boy.’ And that the word is here used in this secondary sense of ‘servant’ is unmistakable. For there is no discernible reason why, if stress were meant to be laid on Christ as being the Son of God, the recognised expression for that relationship should not have been employed. Again, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, with which the Apostles were familiar, employs the very phrase that is here used as its translation of the well-known Old Testament designation of the Messiah, ‘the Servant of the Lord’ and the words here are really a quotation from the great prophecies of the second part of the Book of Isaiah. Further, the same word is employed in reference to King David and in reference to Jesus Christ. In regard to the former, it is evident that it must have the meaning of ‘servant’; and it would be too harsh to suppose that in the compass of so few verses the same expression should be used, at one time in the one signification, and at another in the other. So, then, David and Jesus are in some sense classified here together as both servants of God. That is the first point that I desire to make.
Then, in regard to the third of my texts, the expression is not the same there as in the other two. The disciples do not venture to take the loftier designation. Rather they prefer the humble one, ‘slaves,’ bondmen, the familiar expression found all through the New Testament as almost a synonym to Christians.
So, then, we have here three figures: the Psalmist-king, the Messiah, the disciples; Christ in the midst, on the one hand a servant with whom He deigns to be classed, on the other hand the slaves who, through Him, have become sons. And I think I shall best bring out the intended lessons of these clauses in their connection if I ask you to note these two contrasts, the servants and the Servant; the Servant and the slaves. ‘David Thy servant’; ‘Thy holy Servant Jesus’; us ‘Thy servants.’
I. First, then, notice the servants and the Servant.
But then, whilst this is true, and whilst Jesus Christ comes into this category, and is one of these special men raised up and adapted for special service in connection with the carrying out of the divine purpose, mark how emphatically and broadly the line is drawn here between Him and the other members of the class to which, in a certain sense, He does belong. Peter says, ‘Thy servant David,’ but he says ‘Thy holy Servant Jesus.’ And in the Greek the emphasis is still stronger, because the definite article is employed before the word ‘servant.’ ‘ The holy Servant of Thine’-that is His specific and unique designation.
There are many imperfect instruments of the divine will. Thinkers and heroes and saints and statesmen and warriors, as well as prophets and priests and kings, are so regarded in Scripture, and may profitably be so regarded by us; but amongst them all there is One who stands in their midst and yet apart from them, because He, and He alone, can say, ‘I have done all Thy pleasure, and into my doing of Thy pleasure no bitter leaven of self-regard or by-ends has ever, in the faintest degree, entered.’ ‘Thy holy Servant Jesus’ is the unique designation of the Servant of the Lord.
And what is the meaning of holy ? The word does not originally and primarily refer to character so much as to relation to God. The root idea of holiness is not righteousness nor moral perfectness, but something that lies behind these-viz, separation for the service and uses of God. The first notion of the word is consecration, and, built upon that and resulting from it, moral perfection. So then these men, some of whom had lived beside Jesus Christ for all those years, and had seen everything that He did, and studied Him through and through, had summered and wintered with Him, came away from the close inspection of His character with this thought; He is utterly and entirely devoted to the service of God, and in Him there is neither spot nor wrinkle nor blemish such as is found in all other men.
I need not remind you with what strange persistence of affirmation, and yet with what humility of self-consciousness, our Lord Himself always claimed to be in possession of this entire consecration, and complete obedience, and consequent perfection. Think of human lips saying, ‘I do always the things that please Him.’ Think of human lips saying, ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.’ Think of a man whose whole life’s secret was summed up in this: ‘As the Father hath given Me commandment, so’-no more, no less, no otherwise-’so I speak.’ Think of a man whose inspiring principle was, consciously to himself, ‘not My will, but Thine be done’; and who could say that it was so, and not be met by universal ridicule. There followed in Jesus the moral perfectness that comes from such uninterrupted and complete consecration of self to God. ‘Thy servant David,’-what about Bathsheba, David? What about a great many other things in your life? The poet-king, with the poet-nature so sensitive to all the delights of sense, and so easily moved in the matter of pleasure, is but like all God’s other servants in the fact of imperfection. In every machine power is lost through friction; and in every man, the noblest and the purest, there is resistance to be overcome ere motion in conformity with the divine impulse can be secured. We pass in review before our minds saints and martyrs and lovely characters by the hundred, and amongst them all there is not a jewel without a flaw, not a mirror without some dint in it where the rays are distorted, or some dark place where the reflecting surface has been rubbed away by the attrition of sin, and where there is no reflection of the divine light. And then we turn to that meek Figure who stands there with the question that has been awaiting an answer for nineteen centuries upon His lips, and is unanswered yet: ‘Which of you convinceth Me of sin?’ ‘He is the holy Servant,’ whose consecration and character mark Him off from all the class to which He belongs as the only one of them all who, in completeness, has executed the Father’s purpose, and has never attempted anything contrary to it.
Now there is another step to be taken, and it is this. The Servant who stands out in front of all the group-though the noblest names in the world’s history are included therein-could not be the Servant unless He were the Son. This designation, as applied to Jesus Christ, is peculiar to these three or four earlier chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. It is interesting because it occurs over and over again there, and because it never occurs anywhere else in the New Testament. If we recognise what I think must be recognised, that it is a quotation from the ancient prophecies, and is an assertion of the Messianic character of Jesus, then I think we here see the Church in a period of transition in regard to their conceptions of their Lord. There is no sign that the proper Sonship and Divinity of our Lord was clear before them at this period. They had the facts, but they had not yet come to the distinct apprehension of how much was involved in these. But, if they knew that Jesus Christ had died and had risen again-and they knew that, for they had seen Him-and if they believed that He was the Messiah, and if they were certain that in His character of Messiah there had been faultlessness and absolute perfection-and they were certain of that, because they had lived beside Him-then it would not be long before they took the next step, and said, as I say, ‘He cannot be the Servant unless He is more than man.’
And we may well ask ourselves the question, if we admit, as the world does admit, the moral perfectness of Jesus Christ, how comes it that this Man alone managed to escape failures and deflections from the right, and sins, and that He only carried through life a stainless garment, and went down to the grave never having needed, and not needing then, the exercise of divine forgiveness? Brethren, I venture to say that it is hopeless to account for Jesus Christ on naturalistic principles; and that either you must give up your belief in His sinlessness, or advance, as the Christian Church as a whole advanced, to the other belief, on which alone that perfectness is explicable: ‘Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ! Thou art the Everlasting Son of the Father!’
II. And so, secondly, let us turn to the other contrast here-the Servant and the slaves.
The true position, then, for a man is to be God’s slave. The harsh, repellent features of that wicked institution assume an altogether different character when they become the features of my relation to Him. Absolute submission, unconditional obedience, on the slave’s part; and on the part of the Master complete ownership, the right of life and death, the right of disposing of all goods and chattels, the right of separating husband and wife, parents and children, the right of issuing commandments without a reason, the right to expect that those commandments shall be swiftly, unhesitatingly, punctiliously, and completely performed-these things inhere in our relation to God. Blessed the man who has learned that they do, and has accepted them as his highest glory and the security of his most blessed life! For, brethren, such submission, absolute and unconditional, the blending and the absorption of my own will in His will, is the secret of all that makes manhood glorious and great and happy.
Remember, however, that in the New Testament these names of slave and owner are transferred to Christians and Jesus Christ. ‘The Servant’ has His slaves; and He who is God’s Servant, and does not His own will but the Father’s will, has us for His servants, imposes His will upon us, and we are bound to render to Him a revenue of entire obedience like that which He hath laid at His Father’s feet.
Such slavery is the only freedom. Liberty does not mean doing as you like, it means liking as you ought, and doing that. He only is free who submits to God in Christ, and thereby overcomes himself and the world and all antagonism, and is able to do that which it is his life to do. A prison out of which we do not desire to go is no restraint, and the will which coincides with law is the only will that is truly free. You talk about the bondage of obedience. Ah! ‘the weight of too much liberty’ is a far sorer bondage. They are the slaves who say, ‘Let us break His bonds asunder, and cast away His cords from us’; and they are the free men who say, ‘Lord, put Thy blessed shackles on my arms, and impose Thy will upon my will, and fill my heart with Thy love; and then will and hands will move freely and delightedly.’ ‘If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.’
Such slavery is the only nobility. In the wicked old empires, as in some of their modern survivals to-day, viziers and prime ministers were mostly drawn from the servile classes. It is so in God’s kingdom. They who make themselves God’s slaves are by Him made kings and priests, and shall reign with Him on earth. If we are slaves, then are we sons and heirs of God through Jesus Christ.
Remember the alternative. You cannot be your own masters without being your own slaves. It is a far worse bondage to live as chartered libertines than to walk in the paths of obedience. Better serve God than the devil, than the world, than the flesh. Whilst they promise men liberty, they make them ‘the most abject and downtrodden vassals of perdition.’
The Servant-Son makes us slaves and sons. It matters nothing to me that Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the law of God; it is so much the better for Him, but of no value for me, unless He has the power of making me like Himself. And He has it, and if you will trust yourselves to Him, and give your hearts to Him, and ask Him to govern you, He will govern you; and if you will abandon your false liberty which is servitude, and take the sober freedom which is obedience, then He will bring you to share in His temper of joyful service; and even we may be able to say, ‘My meat and my drink is to do the will of Him that sent me,’ and truly saying that, we shall have the key to all delights, and our feet will be, at least, on the lower rungs of the ladder whose top reaches to Heaven.
‘What fruit had ye in the things of which ye are now ashamed? But being made free from sin, and become the slaves of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness; and the end everlasting life.’ Brethren, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye yield yourselves to Him, crying, ‘O Lord, truly I am Thy servant. Thou hast loosed my bonds.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
of a truth. Literally upon (App-104.) truth. The texts add “in this city”.
Child = servant. Greek. pais, as Act 4:25. Figure of speech Catachresis App-6.
hast anointed = didst anoint. See note on Luk 4:18.
Gentiles. Greek. ethnos, as in Act 4:25.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27.] The implies an acknowledgment of the truth of God in the fulfilment of the prophecy: Thou art the God who hast, &c., for these events have happened accordingly.
. which has been excluded from the text on account of its apparent redundance, answers to , Psa 2:6. See also Mat 23:37; Luk 13:33. The parts of this verse correspond accurately to those of the prophecy just quoted.
, servant, as be fore, ch. Act 3:26. Jesus, the Servant of Jehovah, is the antitype and completion of David, and of all other servants of the Lord: what is said of them only partially and hyperbolically, is said literally and entirely of Him.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 4:27. , were gathered together) This is repeated from Act 4:26.- , of a truth) as the fact itself demonstrates.- , Thy Servant or Minister [not child, as Engl. Vers.]) of whom David was a type: for the latter is called by the same designation, Act 4:25, Thy servant ( ) David.- , whom Thou hast anointed) He is the Lords Anointed (= Christ) King, Act 4:26. Psa 2:2; Psa 2:6, Yet have I set (Hebr. anointed) my King upon My holy hill of Zion.-, Herod) He, when he had Jesus in his power, nevertheless did not let Him go, but sent Him back to Pilate; thereby consenting to those things which the latter was about to do: Luk 23:7, etc., Act 13:31, The Pharisees said,-Herod will kill Thee.-, the peoples) The plural, repeated from the Psalm; used poetically. One or two MSS. have , but has reference to the 25th verse, , plural.[36] Comp. 1Ki 22:28, . And the present prayer of the disciples answers to the second Psalm, as a comparison shows:
[36] E and Hilary read . But the weight of authorities is on the side of .-E. and T.
the kings,
Herod:
the rulers, Pontius Pilate:
the heathen, the heathen (= the Gentiles):
the peoples, the peoples of Israel.
The Psalm is treating of the Kingdom of Christ: wherefore Herod and Pilate are mentioned among His enemies, rather than Caiaphas the High Priest, who is included in Act 4:29.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Herod
See margin ref., (See Scofield “Mat 14:1”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
of a: Mat 26:3, Luk 22:1, Luk 23:1, Luk 23:8-12
thy: Act 4:30, Act 2:27, Act 3:14, Job 14:4, Job 15:14, Job 25:4, Luk 1:35, Heb 7:26
whom: Act 10:38, Psa 2:2, Psa 2:6, *marg. Psa 45:7, Isa 61:1, Luk 4:18, Joh 10:36
both: Mat 2:13-16, Luk 13:31-33, Luk 23:7-12
Pontius Pilate: Act 3:13, Mat 27:2, Mat 27:11-36, Mar 15:1-28, Luk 18:31-33, Luk 23:13-38, Joh 19:1-24, Joh 19:34
the people: Isa 49:7, Isa 53:3, Zec 11:7, Zec 11:8, Mat 20:18, Mat 20:19, Mat 21:28, Mat 23:37, Mat 26:3, Mat 26:4, Mat 26:59-68, Mat 27:25, Mat 27:40-43, Mar 10:33, Mar 14:1, Mar 14:2, Mar 14:43-65, Mar 15:1-3, Mar 15:31, Luk 9:22, Luk 20:13-19, Luk 22:2-6, Luk 22:47-52, Luk 22:63-71, Luk 23:1-5, Joh 1:11, Joh 18:1-14, Joh 18:19-24, Joh 18:28-40, Joh 19:15
Reciprocal: Gen 37:8 – reign over us Exo 12:6 – the whole Lev 3:6 – he shall Lev 16:9 – upon which Jdg 9:9 – wherewith 1Sa 2:10 – anointed 1Sa 16:12 – anoint him 1Ki 16:7 – because he killed him 2Ki 11:12 – anointed him 2Ki 19:17 – Of a truth 2Ki 19:25 – Hast thou not 2Ch 23:11 – anointed him Job 16:10 – gathered Psa 22:12 – strong Psa 22:21 – horns Psa 33:11 – The counsel Psa 59:3 – the mighty Psa 69:12 – They Psa 84:9 – the face Psa 86:14 – assemblies Psa 94:21 – gather Psa 119:157 – Many Pro 19:21 – nevertheless Pro 21:30 – General Ecc 5:8 – matter Isa 10:27 – because Isa 37:26 – how I Isa 46:10 – My counsel Jer 5:5 – but these Hos 9:15 – all Hab 3:14 – they Mat 14:1 – Herod Mat 21:38 – This Mat 27:62 – the chief priests Mar 1:24 – the Holy One Mar 9:31 – The Son Mar 11:27 – the chief Mar 14:21 – goeth Luk 3:1 – Pontius Pilate Luk 4:34 – the Holy One Luk 9:44 – for Luk 19:14 – General Luk 21:3 – Of Luk 23:11 – Herod Luk 23:12 – General Luk 24:20 – General Joh 1:41 – Christ Joh 3:14 – even Joh 11:47 – gathered Joh 15:20 – word Rom 9:19 – Why doth Heb 1:9 – anointed Rev 17:17 – God hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
Act 4:27. Of a truth. It was a true prediction that David made, for such opposition actually took place within the knowledge of these disciples. Herod was in the line set up by the Maccabees, and was supposed to represent the interests of the Jews. Pilate was a governor in the Roman Empire, and represented the heathen or Gentile nations. Gentiles and people of Israel are named as a general summing up of the forces that worked against the Lord. The Herod who is named in this verse is Antipas, son of Herod the Great; he is the one mentioned in Luk 23:7-12.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 4:27. In this city. These words answer to the statement of Psa 2:6 : Upon my holy hill of Zion, I have set my King.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 23
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 27
Anointed; invested with power.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the {l} people of Israel, were gathered together,
(l) Although the people of Israel were but one people, yet the plural number is used here, not so much for the twelve tribes, every one of which counted as a people, but because of the great multitude of them, as though many nations had assembled themselves together, as in Jud 5:14 .