Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 5:42

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

42. And daily in the temple, and in every house ] Read, as in Act 2:46, in the temple and at home. These are their two fields of labour, in the Temple, while they may be there, and then in their own houses; and it may be that some would not be able to go to the Temple, yet these at home were teachers still.

Jesus Christ ] Better, Jesus the Christ, i.e. the anointed, the Messiah. This is the Name of Act 5:41.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And daily … – Compare 2Ti 4:2. See also notes on Act 2:46.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 5:42

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Daily apostolic labours

This is a suggestive picture of the life and work of the early Church. We like to trace enterprises to their beginnings, rivers to their springs. These were times of holy zeal and fervour which may be accounted for by four considerations.

1. The apostles felt the impulse of a new undertaking.

2. They held fresh in memory their intercourse with their Lord.

3. They had the inward energy of the Holy Spirit.

4. They were inspired by the truths they preached. The text is one of the best exhibitions of this energy, and suggests to us–

I. Our work. Teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. That may seem to be the specific work of apostles and ministers, but in truth it is the work of every Christian. Moses wished that all the Lords people were prophets; Jesus said, Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.

1. The subject.

(1) Jesus, regarded as the object of love–in the infinite grace of His character, and in the persuasions of His self-sacrificing love.

(2) Christ, as the object of faith–in His mission, death, resurrection.

(3) Jesus Christ–sent of God to save from sin.

2. The mode.

(1) Preaching, announcing, heralding, witnessing, proclaiming the Saviour present and almighty to save.

(2) Teaching–careful and minute instruction in Christian facts, truths, duties.

II. Our spheres. In the temple and in every house. Not only in appointed sanctuaries, but also in–

1. Society, which we are to leaven and purify for Christ with wise teachings and preachings.

2. Our houses–homes where family bonds and sympathies make for it a preparatory atmosphere. Our first circle to win for Christ is the home circle. But these two circles cannot be properly occupied in any one way or by any one agency. We want–

(1) A life voice, the testimony of a daily pure and helpful conduct.

(2) A lip voice, the witness of wise, earnest, and loving words.

(3) A works voice, the hallowing influence of good and gracious deeds.

III. Our times. Daily, i.e., always. Not a day should pass without some witness for Christ. Christ wants service from us on week-days as well as Sundays. We may preach–

1. Christs spirit, which is charity.

2. Christs will, which is holiness.

3. Christs salvation. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

Ministerial fidelity and devotedness

In this brief but emphatic record of the labours of the first apostles we may find a pattern after which to model ours, in the prosecution of that great work to which we have been set apart.

I. Examine the comprehensive character of the ministerial office delineated–marking its adaptation to the end for which it was originally instituted. The recovery of the sinner–his restoration to the Divine image and favour, is the revealed purpose of God. We must not shun to declare the whole counsel of God. Herein we perceive what should constitute the staple of our preaching. It is Christ, in the glory of His person, in the all-sufficiency of His offices, in the riches of His grace.

1. To preach Jesus is to announce Him as a Peacemaker, who brought in, by His one oblation of Himself once offered, an atonement. It is to herald Him as the Saviour, to the exclusion of all other humanly-devised methods, wherein salvation is sought; a Saviour, suitable and sufficient–suitable as man, sufficient as God–His deity being the altar upon which His humanity was immolated; the altar sanctifying the gift.

2. To preach Jesus is to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins; a righteousness resulting from His obedience, at once active and passive, exacted and rendered as the sinners substitute, and imparted unto all who exercise faith in Him.

3. Further, the title of Christ is applied to the Saviour. Christ, the anointed Prophet, Priest, Advocate, and King.

4. It is further recorded of the apostles that they did not restrict their labours to the service of the temple, but that they instructed from house to house. We watch for souls, and should therefore have our people under constant inspection, and ever-wakeful supervision. By such a course we shall best prove that we are indeed alive to their highest interests; by this will the cause of religion and morality and public tranquillity be best advanced; by this, too, shall we be best prepared for meeting that solemn inquiry, Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

5. Another remark upon this part of our subject is suggested by the expression, they taught Jesus Christ. It is in the power of conduct, as well as of words, to convey instruction. Ye, said our Lord, are the light of the world. Like a moral Pharos, enkindled from above, we are placed in a direct line with the haven of eternity, in order that, by the concentrated beams of purity of doctrine and of conduct, we may guide the endangered sinner across these perilous waters, wherein many are engulphed and for ever lost. We are to be ensamples unto our flock, giving strength and power to our public admonitions by the consistency of our private deportment. That which we have heard and seen, tasted, and are enjoying, we declare unto our perishing fellow sinners; and this invests our addresses with a charm and power which nothing short of it could possibly impart. Ours it is to utter testimony confirmed by experience; and who can fail to admit its force, in its peculiar fitness for the end designed?

II. The constancy and fulness of dedication to their work exhibited by the apostles, furnishing for our imitation a just and impressive pattern. It was a noble declaration of the twelve, We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. They appear to have been influenced by an inconceivable severity of conviction, that they had one thing to do. Upon this one object the whole force of their mind was expended. For its furtherance they were content to suffer the loss of all things, deeming reproach an honour, suffering a privilege, a martyrs death a gain. The necessity for this self-sacrificing devotedness still exists, in order to our reaching the highest style of ministerial excellence.

1. The ministry of the gospel, in its widest acceptation, is emphatically the work we have to do. Well may we, engaged in such an undertaking, affirm in the language of Nehemiah, I am doing a great work. The magnitude of that work will be further seen in the diversity of the employment connected with its due discharge. To the Christian pastor belongs the study of human character in its every different aspect. He will have to adapt his resources to the peculiarities of every rank and age in the Church and in the world.

2. The disproportion between our powers and the undertaking upon which they are to be expended is another consideration calculated to prove the necessity for the accumulated force of all our powers in its performance.

3. Moreover, we may observe that the amount of our success will bear some proportion to our efforts. The seed will reproduce itself, and the greater the quantity sown in prayer and watered by that gracious influence which faithful sustained supplication calls down, the more abundant will be the crop. The manifestation of this success may be for a while denied; we may be permitted to toil on, witnessing but little fruit of our labour; nevertheless, the result is certain. (Henry Abney, B. A.)

A model Christian ministry

I. Its subject. Not things about Jesus Christ, but Himself. Creeds may satisfy the reason, but the heart craves a Person. The heart grows, but creeds are stationary. Christ and His fulness ever transcend our utmost need. A ministry of which Christ is not the grand theme is a misnomer–worthless and injurious:

II. Its method. Preaching, i.e., evangelising; teaching, i.e., instructing those who have received the evangel, Notice–

1. The great importance of these two things.

2. The difficulty of doing both well.

3. The difficulty of obtaining appreciation for both in one congregation. Yet the Church must have and exercise both.

III. Its spheres.

1. Public.

2. Domestic (Act 2:46).

IV. Its frequency. Daily. Here is a message for those who never enter the sanctuary except on the Lords day. (W. Jones.)

Apostolic ministration

I. Its subject. Jesus Christ. This was not one subject of many; it was the only one. Note that this is a subject of–

1. Infinite importance. Neither is there salvation in any other. You may be interested in many subjects; you may love music, history, etc.; but you may die to-morrow; and without an interest in Christ you are lost: and therefore to know how you are to be saved must be matter of infinite importance.

2. Unequalled suitableness. It is adapted to the moral necessities of all mankind.

3. Endless vapory. The mind of man is so constituted that it never can be happy without variety; and that variety is furnished us in the heavens and on the earth. But in Christ all Gods various wonders meet; He is the great Centre of both worlds, in whom the glories of both are concentrated. I can hardly look at an object in creation without being reminded of Him; and the Bible is intended that whichever way I look it should preach to me about Jesus Christ.

4. Peculiar sweetness. What is so sweet to a starving man as food, to a weary traveller as rest, to the criminal as pardon?

5. Singular efficacy. It is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And what subject has the efficacy which this possesses? Mahometanism has converted its millions; but how? By the sword and by the allowance of sensual indulgence. Idolatry has its millions; but they curse their senseless and blood-thirsty deities for the slavery which they impose upon them. But without any carnal weapons, or human authority, the simple preaching of Christ, which first conquered the Roman world, brought England into the state into which it now is, and will, by its blessed conquests, finally convert and subdue the whole world. If you are alarmed at the vice and misery of London, see the trophies of the simple preaching of Jesus Christ. Saul, the persecuting bigot; Mary Magdalene, the habitation of foul demons; the thief on the cross, etc.

6. Eternal duration. Many subjects which are excellent in their nature, and adapted to the present wants of man, involve only the interests of time. But this one subject promises present peace and eternal felicity. I would be a Christian if its influence extended no further than the waters of Jordan. But although there is great blessedness now, it is but a taste of what is to come.

II. Its method.

1. Public preaching. This was according to the charge of our Saviour, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, and according to the plan of Divine wisdom. By the foolishness of preaching it pleased God to save them that believe. And this is a mode adapted to the wants, habits, and the constitution of the human mind. People are fond of a crowd, and God has so ordained it, that by the preaching of the gospel multitudes should be gathered to listen to it. They could not spare the time nor the money that books would require, to derive the same instruction; therefore they are congregated to save both. The same attention employed in reading would not produce the same effects that are produced by preaching; there is a certain charm, enthusiasm in the human voice, the piercing look, the animated manner of the speaker, which no books in the world can supply. There is also something in the place; there is something charming to the mind in a place consecrated to the service of God. If ever the world is converted, preachers must be multiplied, and multiplied to an extent of which, at present, we have very little knowledge: we must not wait till new churches are built. We must convert school-rooms into preaching-places, and barns into chapels, and every house we can enter for a spot in which multitudes can be assembled to hearken to the words of life. This was the apostolical plan. John Marks was the house where the people met together to pray for Peters deliverance. The Church assembled in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. The Church assembled in the house of Onesiphorus. And if these cannot be obtained, then we must have open-air preaching, with the sky for a sounding-board and the multitudes around for a congregation. Every spot is consecrated. If you go on board a ship, Christ was there before, and preached there. If you go to the hills, the apostles preached there before you. If you go to the prisons, the apostles preached there before you.

2. Private teaching. They were net satisfied with public preaching, but they went to every house. This is the communication of the truth to individuals, as the other was the communication of the truth to multitudes. David had often heard Nathan speak in public; but he heard him in private to purpose when he came and related his parable, and then said, Thou art the man. I doubt not that a part of this private tuition consisted in the application of the consolation of the gospel to individuals who have been pricked in their hearts, and their minds somewhat illuminated by the truth: they had to strengthen them that were weak, and to bring back those who had fallen away. But the chief end of this private tuition was, to seek out that which was lost. Now ministers are not only to teach and preach to them who will come, but they are to go to those who will not come. They are not only to invite people to come to the temple, but they are to go to their houses.

III. Its constancy. Daily they ceased not. The influence of the Spirit of God produced three blessed states of mind.

1. Burning zeal for their Masters glory. They went into every house; not only those into which they were invited; of the rich as well as of the poor; of the learned as well as the illiterate. And what though it was said, You have no business here; keep your religion to yourself! Their Masters honour was what they attempted to sustain: and if men dishonoured them they bound the scorn to their brow, and gloried in their shame.

2. Ardent love for the souls of men.

3. Indefatigable perseverance in their work. (J. Sherman.)

Teaching and preaching

As preachers, the apostles proclaimed the gospel to men; and as teachers they expounded its doctrines and enforced its duties. In this they obeyed the command of their Lord, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Go and disciple all nations, teaching them. During His own personal ministry He exemplified what He thus enjoined. He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

I. This command was laid not upon the apostles alone, but upon the ministry which they had so vigorously inaugurated.

1. In the age which succeeded that of the apostles preaching and teaching were sedulously maintained by the Christians. From every congregation men seem to have gone forth as evangelists to make known the message of salvation; and in the assemblies of the believers, besides the reading of the Scriptures, a discourse delivered in the audience of the people formed a regular part of the service. Justin Martyr, in the former half of the second century, gives an account of how service was conducted in the assembly of the Christians on the Lords day; and he says that after the reading of the Scriptures the president delivered a discourse of a hortatory character in which he admonished his hearers to reduce to practice what they had heard read. These discourses were homely, unartificial addresses, partaking rather of the nature of conversational utterances than regularly constructed orations or discourses. In the Eastern churches, where they chiefly were in use in the earliest age, the name homily was given to them, a word which signifies intercourse, converse, and secondarily, instruction. For a long time these homilies continued to be mere expositions of Scripture with practical applications and exhortations, often of the simplest character, but sometimes containing the results of careful investigation and profound thought, as in the case of Origen, whose homilies are still valued by scholars for their suggestiveness and the light they sometimes throw on the meaning of Scripture.

2. As Christianity advanced, and the Christian assemblies became more numerous and cultured, the addresses of the pastors came to be of a more ambitious, character, and to be formed more on the model of the oratory of the senate or the forum. The slightly elevated platform which at first was common.to the reader and to the preacher, was by the latter exchanged for, first, a loftier pulpit, and afterwards for a throne, from which the bishop delivered his oration. Gradually the ancient wholesome usage of expounding the prophetic and evangelic writings was relinquished, and discourses in praise of martyrs, or funeral orations, highly ornate harangues, and pieces of artificial rhetoric were in their stead offered to the people, who, captivated by the gaudy show, followed the usage of the theatre, and at the close of each eloquent burst, expressed their approbation by acclamation and clapping of hands.

3. During the Middle Ages, and on to the time of the Reformation,)reaching and teaching had well-nigh ceased. It is true, sermons continued to be written, and were probably delivered, but as they were in a tongue which only the learned understood, they were confined in their use to the clergy; and it is true also that enlightened rulers like Charlemagne and Alfred the Great saw the importance of the people being instructed in religion, and took measures to enforce on the clergy the duty of preaching to the people in the vulgar tongue; but how little prepared were the clergy may be gathered from the fact that the Emperor found it necessary to enjoin that bishops and presbyters are themselves to understand the Lords Prayer, and preach it to all that each may know what he asks of God. Now and then a man fired by holy zeal–a Tauler, a Wicliffe, a Huss, a Gerson, a Savonarola–preached the gospel to the people and taught them the truths and duties of Christianity, and doubtless there were faithful but unknown men labouring in retired districts. But for the most part, all through these dreary centuries, the pulpit was virtually a nonentity in Christendom, and the people perished for lack of knowledge. Things were at the worst when the dawn of a better day arrived, and, as Milton expresses it, then was the Sacred Bible sought out of the dusty corners where profane falsehood and neglect had thrown it, the schools opened, Divine and human learning raked out of the embers of forgotten tongues, the princes and cities trooping apace to the new-erected banner of salvation.

4. All the leading reformers were assiduous and eminent preachers, and by this more than any other means they made good their position and effected a real and lasting revival of religious life among the nations. Since then, in all the Protestant Churches, preaching and teaching have been recognised as a chief duty of the Christian pastor; and even in the Romish and Greek churches the value of these is to a greater or less extent practically acknowledged.

II. A tendency has shown itself of late to depreciate preaching as compared with the devotional parts of our public services. A cry has been heard for less preaching and more of prayer and praise. But after much consideration and observation I am brought to the conclusion, that not for instruction alone, but for devotion and spiritual quickening as well, it is needful that the preaching of Gods Word should keep that place in the service of the sanctuary which the wisdom and the piety of our ancestors led them to assign to it. Consider well the following things.

1. The testimony of experience is strongly in favour of the value of preaching as a means of sustaining spiritual life in the Church. Turn over the volumes of Church history and it will be found that the free add earnest preaching of Gods Word has ever gone hand in hand with a lively state of religious feeling and an earnest and elevated devotion among the people; whilst, on the other hand, when the Church has relied principally on prayer and praise for the sustenance of her spiritual vigour, coldness, indifference, and formality have become characteristic of her members, and the pure fire of devotion on her altar has given place to a lurid and unwholesome flame.

2. Devotion being the utterance of feeling has no self-sustaining power. No emotion, high or low, holy or common, sustains itself; unless it be fed from without it becomes feeble and dies. But how is devotional emotion to be fed except by the Word of God? But it is by preaching and teaching in the sanctuary that the Word of God is chiefly and most effectually to be ministered to the people.

3. Whatever help devotional exercises may lend to She sanctification of the soul, they can never minister so directly to this as does the preaching of Gods Word. If devotion fans the flame, it is preaching that must supply the fuel, and it is by it that the fire is to be kindled. Pure affections spring from holy thoughts, and holy thoughts are the offspring of Divine knowledge.

4. The proper hearing of Gods Word is in itself an act of worship and devotion. If indeed it is merely to be pleased by an interesting preacher that people come to church; or if they come merely to sit in judgment on him or to enjoy an intellectual pastime or a sensational display–then truly they are as far from worship as if they were engaged in any secular pursuit or worldly amusement. But if they come to hear Gods Word, bowing their minds and hearts to the utterance of the Divine mind and seeking the blessing which lies in the reception of the truth, then do they in that very act rise to a true devotion, and offer a worship which is acceptable to God. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)

Preaching Christ

I. The subject. To preach Jesus Christ aright we must preach Him in–

1. His infinite and indisputable Godhead. Take away the Divinity of Christ from the gospel, and you have nothing whatever left upon which the anxious soul can rest. If Christ were not God He was the basest of impostors.

2. His true humanity. We must never make Him to be less manlike because He was perfectly Divine. We must have a human Christ, not of shadows or fancies, one to whom we can talk, with whom we can walk, who in His measure feels afresh what every member bears.

3. His personality. A doctrinal Christ, a practical Christ, or an experimental Christ. I do not feel to be sufficient for the people of God. We want a personal Christ. This has been a power to the Romish Church–a power which they have used for ill, but always a power. Whatever we fail to preach we must preach Him. If we are wrong in many points, if we be but right here, this will save our ministry from the flames; but if we be wrong here, however orthodox we may pretend to be, we cannot be right in the rest.

4. His solitary mediatorship. Admitting the efficacy of the intercession of living saints for sinners, yet must we have it that the only Mediator in the heavens, and the only direct Intercessor with God, is the Man Christ Jesus. Nay, we must not be content with making Him the only Mediator; we must set aside all approach to God in any way whatever, except by Him. We must not only have Him for the Priest, but we must have Him for the Altar, the Victim, and the Offerer too. We must not permit for a moment the fair white linen of His righteousness to be stained by the patch-work of our filthy rags.

5. His authority as the only Lawgiver and Rabbi of the Church. When you put it down as a canon of your faith that the Church has right and power to decree rites and ceremonies, you have robbed Christ of His proper position. Or when you claim the office of controlling other mens consciences by the decree of the Church, or the vote of a synod apart from the authority of Christ, you have taken away from Christ that chair which He occupies in the Christian Church.

6. His dignity as the sole King of the Church. The Church is queen above all queens, and Christ her only King. If any of our acts violate the civil laws we are citizens, and we acknowledge the right of a state to govern us as individuals. But we maintain that the excommunication of a Christian Church can never be reversed by the civil power, nor are its censures to be examined, much less to be removed, mitigated, or even judged.

7. His supremacy as the King of kings. He has an absolute right to the entire dominion of this world.

II. The surpassing excellencies of the subject.

1. Blessed variety. There are many strings to the harp of the gospel. There are some brethren who are so charmed with five of the strings, which certainly have very rich music in them, that they never meddle with any of the others; the cobwebs hang on the rest while these five are pretty well worn out. Any man who preaches Christ will ensure variety in his preaching. He is all manner of precious perfume, myrrh, and aloes, and cassia. He is all sorts of music, He is everything that is sweet to the ear; He is all manner of fruits; there is not one dainty in Him, but many. He is all manner of raiment; He is golden raiment for beauty, He is the warm raiment for comfort, He is the stout raiment for harness in the day of battle. There are all things in Christ, and he that hath Christ will have as great a variety as there is to be found in the scenery of the world where are no two rocks alike, and no two rivers wind in precisely the same manner, and no two trees grow in precisely the same form.

2. It suits all sorts of people. Are there rebels? Preach Christ; it will suit them. Are there pardoned sinners? What is better to melt their hearts than the blood of the Lord Jesus? Are there doubting Christians? What can cheer them better than the name of Christ? Are there strong believers? What is stronger meat than Jesus crucified? Are there learned, polite, intellectual hearers? If they are not satisfied with Christ they ought to be. Are there poor, ignorant, unlettered men? Jesus Christ is just the thing to preach to them–a naked Christ to their simple ears. Jesus Christ is a topic that will keep in all climates. Stand in New Zealand in the midst of uncivilised men, stand in the midst of poetical Persia or fickle France, the Cross is adapted to all.

III. The power of this subject.

1. To promote the union of the people of God. There is a man there, he is almost a Puseyite. I do not like him, says one. There is another man, a Presbyterian; he cannot bear Independency. Well, I like him a little better; but I do not suppose we shall get on very well. There is another man, a very strong Calvinist. I shall not admire him. Stop, stop! That man yonder, whom I called almost a Puseyite, was George Herbert; but what a Christian! What a lover of Jesus! You know that hymn of his, How sweetly doth my Masters sound! That second man, the Presbyterian, who would not have liked George Herbert, was Samuel Rutherford. What a seraphic spirit! Well, now, I think, we will introduce Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Herbert together, and I am persuaded when they begin to speak about their Master they will find each other next of kin; and I feel sure that, by this time, Samuel Rutherford and George Herbert have found each other out in heaven, and are sitting side by side. That high Calvinist was Dr. Hawker. Now, I am sure, George Herbert would not have liked Dr. Hawker, and I am certain that Dr. Hawker would not have liked George Herbert, and I do not suppose that Samuel Rutherford would have had anything to do with either of them. But what a sweet spirit! He cannot take up his pen, but dips it in Christ and begins to write about his Lord at once. Precious Immanuel–precious Jesus. Those words in his morning and evening portions are repeated again and again. Let a man stand up and exalt Christ, and we are all agreed.

2. Upon the heart of sinners. There is a person, now a member of my church, whose conversion was owing to the reading of that hymn–Jesus, lover of my soul. Ah, says he, does Jesus love my soul? Then how vile I have been to neglect Him! There are scores whose conversion is distinct and directly traceable, not to doctrine–though that is often useful–nor experience, nor practice, though these are fruitful, but to the preaching of Christ. This is a seed which seldom rots under the clod. One may fall upon the stony ground, but it oftener happens that the seed breaks the stone when it falls. We ought to thunder out the threatenings of God, but they must never be the main topic. Judge not any mans ministry. The world has too often condemned the man whom God intended to honour. Say not of such an one He can do no good, for his language is rough and rude. Say not of another that his style is too often marred with flippancy. Say not of a third that he is too erudite or soars too high. Every man in his own order. If that man preach Christ, whether he be Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, God will bless the Christ he preaches, and forgive the error which mingled with his ministry. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Preaching Christ

Little beginnings have large endings. A man drops a small seed upon the earth, and it starts up and expands into a tree of a thousand arms. The slender rill that leaps from a rock presently increases to a stream, and the stream swells into a river, and the river, gathering as it rolls, becomes the arm of the sea; and then there is a mingling, a sweeping, and a spreading of the waters through the circuit of the broad ocean. And so of the rise and progress of the religion of Jesus. At first there was the utterance of a single voice in the solitudes of the wilderness, and next was the testimony of the Son of God to Himself in the village and in the city; forthwith was the gathering of the twelve, and a declaration from these of the gospel to the surrounding nations. Then arose from the apostles the great company of preachers multiplying and widening their circles of influence abroad the earth unto this present, and looking forward we anticipate the time when the whole world, now lying in darkness, shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the channels of the sea. Yes, whatever is or shall be, the aspect of the globe in the light and beauty of holiness cometh under God of preaching. This is the great lever, which by little and little is lifting the wide universe out of the bondage of ignorance and superstition. It was this which overturned the Mosaical economy, which struck to their centre and shivered the idols of the heathen, which enkindled a light, that the power of the most numerous and mighty of adversaries could not put out, which snatched from the grasp of Satan, which drew as brands from the burning, thousands of souls now ministering before the throne of the Lamb.

I. Our obligations to preach Jesus Christ. It is the solemn object of our ordination, and we should be recreants from our vows, apostate from the articles of our faith, and traitors to the cause we professedly espouse, were we to gainsay the appeal that presses. To teach and preach Jesus is the great business of our days; whatever be the varieties of our talents, if the lines converge not to this centre our talents are abused; whatever be the plenitude of our strength, if it be not consecrated to this, our strength is worse than unprofitable. Our lamp must burn at the altar, our sinews must bear the cross. Our obligations to preach Jesus Christ rest upon the conviction–

1. That sinners have need of Him. In their natural estate they area

(1) Blind.

(a) In their ignorance of the true God and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent.

(b) To the interests of their souls, preferring the evil and rejecting the good, and turning their back to the only light which shines from to lead their steps to heaven.

(2) Poor.

(a) As despoiled of the privileges and honours of a happier estate.

(b) As defrauded by an enemy of the birthright of the sons of God.

(c) As cast from the affluence of the garden into the necessities of the wilderness.

(d) As the heirs of bodily sorrows, and as the victims of an inwardly consuming anguish because of guilt and the judgment.

(e) As the slaves of sin and the subjects.to death, temporally and eternally.

(3) Naked.

(a) As possessing no garment in their own righteousness, nor in that of others, wherewith they might stand clothed in the sight of God.

(b) As wanting that white raiment which alone Christ can put on.

2. That in all the multifarious wants of man, Christ is the One, the near, the all-sufficient, the ever-living, the inexhaustible supply. The poor wandering and fainting flock lacks a shepherd to guide and cherish–Christ is the true Shepherd. The plague-stricken lack the hand of the physician to bind up and heal–Christ is the wise Physician, The deceived, the forsaken, and the abandoned lack the faithful adviser, the able defender, the counsellor for good–Christ is the unchangeable Friend, and the mighty Advocate, and the Prince of Peace.

3. That without Him everything is nothing, whilst with Him and in Him there is abundantly more than we can either ask or think to satisfy and enrich here, and to bless everlastingly.

II. What it is to preach Jesus Christ.

1. In substance. Let us analyse the title–

(1) Jesus–a name synonymous with Joshua, and meaning a deliverer–a deliverer from the bondage of sin; from the tyranny of Satan; from sin as a ruling principle and as a destroying violence; from the fears of the valley of the shadow of death and from the terrors of the deeper darkness beyond I A deliverer from these evils, and by what means? At what cost? By the offering up of Himself, the just for the unjust, by the shedding of His blood as the Lamb of atonement for the sins of the world.

(2) Christ, i.e., the anointed. The anointed, the consecrated, through the Spirit. Do you acknowledge Christ in the separate glories of His offices aa having in each the seal and testimony of the Spirit?

2. The manner should be characterised with a spirit of simplicity, decision, faithfulness, affection, and the devotion of a holy zeal. The man should be forgotten in his message, the wise, after the rudiments of this world, should be hidden to himself and others in the office of the minister of Christ.

III. The posture in which you should hear Christ preached.

1. As fully sensible of the value of the privilege of hearing. What gem had not David plucked from his royal crown for one of the opportunities with which you are blessed? How lavish had priests been of their distinctions and prophets of their gifts in exchange for one hour of your sabbaths. And oh, the treasures expended and the blood shed for your present liberty.

2. As men personally concerned and addressed in every appeal and invitation and reproof, in every promise and curse. You should bring the application home, not fancying how well the preachers word affixes to some one else.

3. With humility, keeping self in subjection, schooling down your natural arrogancy into the dependence and simple credence of the little child.

4. With watchfulness against the sins and temptations that are most prevailing; and with prayer to the Holy Spirit of God that He may impress, and sanctify, and guide you into all truth.

5. With faith receiving the mysteries of Christ as mysteries–as those deeper things of God, whose reception is for an exercise of faith here, and whose solution and discovery shall be amongst the felicities of eternity. (T. J. Judkin.)

The right kind of preaching

A sermon devoted to metaphysics is a stack of dry corn-stalks, after the corn has been ripped out with the husking-peg, a sermon given up to sentimental and flowery speech is as a nosegay flung to a drowning sailor. A sermon devoted to moral essay is a basket of chips to help on the great burning. What the world wants now is to be told in the most flat-footed way of Jesus Christ who comes to save men from eternal damnation.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 42. Daily in the temple] That is at the hours of morning and evening prayer; for they felt it their duty to worship God in public, and to help others to make a profitable use of the practice. Every man that professes Christianity should, in this respect also, copy their conduct: nor can any man be considered to have any religion, let his sentiments be what they may, who does not attend on the public worship of his Maker.

They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus.] Far from desisting, they became more zealous, yea, incessant, in their work. They took advantage of the public assemblies in the temple, as well as of all private opportunities, to teach all the truths of their holy religion; and to preach, proclaim Jesus as the only Messiah, that he who was crucified rose from the dead, and was exalted a Prince and a Saviour at the right hand of God. How little must these men have regarded their lives, who in the midst of such danger could pursue a line of conduct which, to all human views, must terminate in their ruin. They loved their Master, they loved his work, they loved their thankless countrymen, they loved their present wages-persecution and stripes, and hated nothing but their own lives! These men were proper persons to be employed in converting the world. Preachers of the Gospel, look at those men, and learn at once your duty, your employment, and your interest. Live and preach like apostles, and God will crown your labours with similar success.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This is the same with what we read Act 20:20, publicly, and from house to house; that is, in the temple, and public places, they preached unto the Jews; and in more private places, (or houses), where they saw it needful; unto such they conversed with. They visited their flock, and instructed, exhorted, comforted them as their condition required. See the power of the grace of God; these were the men who forsook Christ when the soldiers came to apprehend him, they durst not be seen in his company; yet now they profess his name, and abide by their profession, though they are derided and beaten for it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

42. in every housein private.(See on Ac 2:46).

ceased not to preach JesusChristthat is, Jesus (to be the) Christ.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And daily in the temple, and in every house,…. Every day, with great constancy and assiduity, both publicly and privately; in the temple, the place of public worship, where the Jews resorted on that account; and in each of their private houses, as often as they had opportunity:

they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, truly and properly God, the only Saviour of sinners: they preached up the dignity of his person, the grace of his incarnation, the obedience of his life, the benefits of his sufferings and death; they preached his resurrection from the dead, and the resurrection of the dead through him; they declared his ascension to heaven, his session at the right hand of God, and intercession for his people; they preached peace and pardon by his blood, atonement of sin by his sacrifice, justification by his righteousness, and complete redemption and salvation by him. And this they did without ceasing, not regarding the orders and threats of the sanhedrim; they waxed bolder and bolder in the ministry of the word, and were more constant and assiduous in it; their reproaches and persecutions increased their zeal for Christ, and his cause.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Every day ( ). Accusative of extent of time, all through every day.

In the temple and at home ( ‘ ). This was a distinct triumph to go back to the temple where they had been arrested (verse 25) and at home or from house to house, as it probably means (cf. 2:46). It was a great day for the disciples in Jerusalem.

They ceased not ( ). Imperfect middle. They kept it up.

Jesus as the Christ ( ). Jesus is the direct object of the participles (teaching) and (preaching or evangelizing) while “the Christ” ( ) is the predicate accusative. These words give the substance of the early apostolic preaching as these opening chapters of Acts show, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of promise. Gamaliel had opened the prison doors for them and they took full advantage of the opportunity that now was theirs.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “And daily in the temple,” (pasan te hemeran en to

hiero) “And every day in the temple area or temple proper. Stripes and threats did not keep them silent, because they held steadfastly their allegiance to the call and commission from the Lord, Joh 20:21; Act 1:8.

2) “And in every house they ceased not,” (kai kat’ oikon ouk epauonto) “And according to (the) where they were they ceased not,” did not refrain from their calling and commission from the Lord; The idea of door knocking and personal visitation from one house to another, known in America today, was unknown and seems not to have been practiced in Judea in those days. This passage does affirm that wherever they were, they witnessed, in every house or gathering place or group.

3) “To teach and preach Jesus Christ,” (didaskontes kai euangellizomenoi ton Christon lesoun) “Indoctrinating (teaching, informing) and preaching Jesus Christ,” as the Saviour, Redeemer, Lord, and coming judge and King. They simply preached Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and/or for all men who would receive Him, Joh 1:11-12; Joh 20:21; Act 1:8; Rom 1:14-16; 1Co 15:1-4; and they taught, instructed or indoctrinated to service, fidelity, and usefulness those who believed, Mat 5:13-15; Joh 14:15; Joh 15:14; 1Co 11:2; 1Co 15:58; Eph 2:10; Jas 1:22; 2Ti 4:2.

THE CHRISTIAN IN PERSECUTION

Unless a grain of mustard seed be bruised, the extent of its virtue is never acknowledged. For without bruising, it is insipid, but if it is bruised, it becomes hot, and it gives out all those pungent properties that were concealed in it. Thus every good man so long as he is not smitten, is regarded as insipid, and of slight account. But if ever the grinding of persecution crush him, instantly he gives forth all the warmth of his savor, and all that before appeared to be weak or contemptible is turned into godly fervor, and that which in peaceful times he had been glad to keep from view within his own bosom, he is driven by the force of tribulation to make known. —Gregory.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

42. They ceased not. Constancy did also accompany their Joy. For how is it that we are discouraged with persecution, save only because none lifteth up himself unto Christ, that he may in mind lay hold upon the fruit of victory, and so be pricked forward unto patience? But that man which thinketh with himself that he is happy when he suffereth for Christ’s sake, shall never faint, though he must suffer hard conflicts. Therefore the apostles are, after a sort, armed with stripes, so that they valiantly make haste unto death. Therefore, woe be to our daintiness, who, having suffered a little persecution, do by and by resign up the light (305) to another, as if we were now old worn soldiers.

(305) “ Facem resignamus,” resign the torch.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(42) And daily in the temple.Probably, as before, in the Portico of Solomon; the captain of the Temple now acting on the resolution just taken, and letting the movement take its course without interruption.

And in every house.Better, as in Act. 2:46, at home: in their place, or, it may be, places, of meeting.

To teach and preach Jesus Christ.Better, to teach and to declare the good tidings of Jesus Christ. The word for preach is literally to evangelise, as in Act. 8:4; Act. 8:12; Act. 8:25; Rom. 10:15, and elsewhere.

As the chief members of the Sanhedrin disappear from the scene at this stage, it may be well to note the later fortunes of those who have been prominent up to this point in the history. (1) Annas lived to see five of his sons fill the office of high priest (Jos. Ant. xx. 9, 1); but his old age was overclouded by the tumults raised by the Zealots under John of Gischala, in the reign of Vespasian, and before he died the sanctuary was occupied by them, and became in very deed a den of robbers (Jos. Wars, iv. 3, 7). (2) Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas, his son-in-law, who owed his appointment to Gratus (Jos. Ant. xviii. 2, 2), was deposed by the Proconsul Vitellius, A.D. 36 (Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 3), and disappears from history. (3) On John and Alexander, see Notes on Act. 4:6. (4) Gamaliel, who is not mentioned by Josephus, continued to preside over the Sanhedrin under Caligula and Claudius, and is said to have died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and to have sanctioned the Anathema, or Prayer against heretics, drawn up by Samuel the Little (Lightfoot, Cent. Chorograph, c. 15). Christian traditions, however, represent him as having been secretly a disciple of Christ (Pseudo-Clement, Recogn. i. 65), and to have been baptised by Peter and Paul, with Nicodemus, who is represented as his nephew, and his son Abibas (Photius Cod. 171, p. 199). In a legendary story, purporting to come from a priest of Syria, named Lucian, accepted by Augustine, he appears as having buried Stephen and other Christians, and to have been buried himself in the same sepulchre with the Protomartyr and Nicodemus at Caphar-algama (August. de Civ. Dei xvii. 8, Serm. 318). Later Rabbis looked on him as the last of the great Teachers or Rabbans, and noted that till his time men had taught the Law standing, while afterwards they sat. The glory of the Law, they said, had departed with Gamaliel.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

42. Ceased not to teach They preached not in dark corners or private rooms merely, but daily in the temple.

Jesus Christ That is, Jesus the Messiah. These unsilenceable men, with a persistence that truth and duty alone could justify, ceased not to proclaim to reluctant Israel that the Messiah had come and was yet to come again.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And every day, in the temple and at home, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ (Messiah).’

The final consequence was that the message was now proclaimed unhindered. Wherever they went, both publicly in the Temple, and more privately at home, they did not cease teaching that Jesus was the Messiah. There was no danger now of His being arrested for insurgency, and the Romans were not too bothered about other worldly adversaries. As Jesus had said to Pilate, ‘My Kingly Rule is not of this world’ (Joh 18:36). Meanwhile the Jews, with a deeper spiritual awareness, were made aware that He was active over the Kingly Rule of God as the Risen Lord.

Chapter 6. The Appointment of Other Officials in the Church.

Up to this point the whole responsibility for the new people of God had rested on the Apostles. Consideration had not been given concerning a wider ministry. This was both an indication of their worldly inexperience, and of the genuineness of the narrative. They were learning as they went along. It had not struck them that if Jesus’ command was to be fulfilled more assistance would be needed, and the matter was only brought home to them by what at first simply seemed like a useful expediency, which arose from the charitable side of the ministry.

The Jews had a great sense of responsibility for those among them who were less fortunate, and in the synagogue it was the routine custom for two ‘collectors’ to go round the market and the private houses every Friday morning and make a collection for the needy. This would be obtained partly in money and partly in goods. Later in the day it would then be distributed. Those who were temporarily in need received enough to enable them to carry on, while those who were permanently unable to support themselves would be provided with enough food for fourteen meals, so that they could have two meals a day during the ensuing week, together with clothing. The fund from which this distribution was made was called the Quppah (basket). In addition to this a house-to-house collection was made daily for those in pressing need. This was called the Tamhui (bowl for the poor).

It seems very probable that the Christian Jews followed something like this tradition. If this was so we can see how it had become an impossible burden on the Apostles, which would result in some with whose circumstances they were familiar being adequately provided for, while others who were possibly living in a part of the city occupied mainly by Hellenists were accidentally overlooked. It was a matter that they would now seek to remedy.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Act 5:42. And in every house, , in the house where their upper-room was. See on ch. Act 2:46.

Inferences.Who can behold, without humble reverence, the aweful instance of the divine severity recorded in this chapter, so well calculated to impress the minds of these new converts, and to prevent any of those frauds, which the charity of those who were most zealous in their profession, might have occasioned in some others. Hence we may learn how hateful falsehood is to the God of truth, and how strictly cautious we should be to avoid it; not only shunning every direct lie, but the taking undue advantage from any ambiguities of expression; and, in a word, all recourse to the arts of equivocation and insincerity. God is a swift witness against every one who loveth or maketh a lie; and he only knows how soon such treacherous lips as those here before us, may be sealed up in eternal silence.

How miserably does Satan delude the heart which he once fills! But how peculiarly fatal is the delusion, when he leads men to sins which especially affront the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD!that Spirit who rested on the apostles, and taught them to discover hidden things of darkness, so that they who tempted him, fell in the attempt, and became a sign. O may integrity and uprightness ever preserve us! (Psa 25:21.) and while we avoid all the kinds and arts of dissimulation, let us peculiarly detest those which would offer a double insult to the God of heaven, by taking their dress from the religion which his own Son hath planted.

The church is never more happy than when the sons of falsehood are deterred from intruding into it. If its members are less numerous, it is a sufficient balance that it is more pure. We see in this chapter what singular miracles were done by the apostles,miracles equal, and, in some respects, (as it appears by these instances, and in perfect accomplishment of our Lord’s own express prediction, Joh 14:12.) superior to those which Christ performed in the days of his ministration here below. When will the happy time come, in which men shall express as great a concern for their souls, as they here did for their bodies? When shall the streets and assemblies be filled with those, who, from a sense of their spiritual maladies, shall apply to the ministers of Christ for healing?Let it always be remembered, that whatever they do for this happy purpose, it is indeed their Master who does it by them, and that all their most assiduous applications, separate from his blessing, can effect no more than the shadow of Peter would have done, if the power of Christ had not wrought on those over whom it passed.

Which shall we survey with the greater surprize, the continued courage of the apostles, or the continued malice of their persecutors? Again they seize them; again they imprison them; but how vainly do these feeble worms, amidst all the pride of dignity and power, oppose the counsels of Omnipotence!

The angel of the Lord opens the door of their prison, and leads forth his faithful servants to renewed liberty,an office which this celestial Spirit could not but perform with delight; as it was no doubt with unutterable pleasure that he gave them their errand to go and publish with undaunted freedom and zeal the words of this life, of this gospel, which enlivens dead souls, and points out the road to a happy immortality. O that the folly of too many of those who heard it, and who still hear it, had never converted it into a savour of death!

Yet behold, the council renew the attack! The same madness which instigated the Jews to seize Jesus, when they had been struck to the ground by his miraculous power, (Joh 18:6.) now animates these wretches to continue the destruction of persons, whom God himself had just before rescued from their hands: as they had formerly plotted that of Lazarus, (Joh 12:10.) who had by a yet more astonishing wonder been recalled from the grave. To what fatal extravagances will not prejudice hurry the mind? Against what convincing evidence will it not harden it?

Ye shall be brought before councils for my sake, says our Lord, and it shall be for a testimony against them, Mat 10:18. And such was this repeated admonition, which these holy prisoners, then at the bar, gave to the Judges of Israel. Still they urge the divine authority of their mission; still they proclaim HIM as Head of the church and world, whom these very men had so lately crucified in so outrageous and contemptuous a manner. They point to Him, whom these priests and rulers had insulted on the cross, as now exalted at the right hand of God; and urge them to seek repentance and remission of sins from Him, to whom they had denied the most common justice due to the meanest of men.

Thousands of the people had fallen under this charge; and Jesus the Prince had taken them under his protection: Jesus the Saviour had washed them in his blood. But, through what is too frequently the fatal prerogative of greatness, these princes of Israel had hearts too high for the discipline of wisdom, and were enraged against these humble ministers of the Son of God, who nevertheless addressed them with all the respect which fidelity would allow, and could gladly have poured forth their blood for the salvation of those who so cruelly thirsted for it. They gnashed on these faithful ambassadors with their teeth, as if they would have devoured them alive; and justly will gnashing of teeth be the eternal portion of those, who thus outrageously rejected the counsel of God against themselves.

But God raised up a guardian for the apostles, where perhaps they least expected it; and the prudence of Gamaliel, for a while, checks the fury of his brethren. Gamaliel had attentively observed former events; which is indeed the way to learn the surest lessons of wisdom that are to be learned any where, except from the word of God. He had seen some ruined by their seditious zeal;and let those who call themselves Christians, take heed how they rashly rise up against legal authority, lest taking the sword, they perish by it. Judiciously does he admonish the council, to take heed lest they be found fighters against

God. May divine Grace ever guard us from that fatal error into which all who oppose the gospel, whatever they may imagine, assuredly fall. They cannot indeed abolish it, but they dash themselves in pieces against it: Be wise therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth!

For reasons of state the apostles were to be scourged, though their judges were inwardly convinced, that it was at least possible their message might be divine. Deliver us, O Lord, from that policy which leads men to imagine any evil so great, as that which may offend thee! The punishment which these excellent men suffered, was infamous; but the cause in which they endured it, rendered it glorious! Nor could those stripes be half so painful to their flesh, as an opportunity of thus approving their fidelity to their Lord, was delightful to their pious souls. Well might they triumph in bearing the scourge for Him, who bore the cross, and died on it, for them. Let us arm ourselves with the same mind, if, in a severer sense than this, we should be called for his sake to resist even unto blood.

REFLECTIONS.1st, The purest societies on this side heaven have some hypocrites.

1. Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, willing to appear among the foremost of the disinterested disciples of Jesus, sold a possession, and publicly brought a part of the money, which they would insinuate was the whole; and laid it at the apostles’ feet, while their covetous hearts secretly reserved a part, and still halted between God and Mammon; though they desired to make a fair show in the flesh, and thought to impose upon the apostles. Note; Hypocrites may go far in appearances, and forego for a while some temporal advantage, or endure loss; but their heart is not right with God, and therefore there is still a reserve made, which serves to make them more eminently miserable, parting with many of the comforts of this world, and yet having no portion in a better.

2. Peter, who knew by divine revelation the falsehood of this pretended disciple, said unto him, Why hath Satan filled thy heart with such covetousness and falsehood, to lie to the Holy Ghost; either to think thus to impose upon the apostles, who were endued with the discernment of spirits by the Holy Ghost; or by pretending to act under his impulse and influence when in fact he was under the spirit of the devil; and to keep back part of the price, though intimating, that the land was parted with for pious purposes, and devoted to the service of the church. While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? both the sale and surrender of the price being a voluntary act, and none were compelled to do either, but were left to their own pious zeal? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? and harboured the suggestion of Satan to contrive so base a deed? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God, to that eternal Spirit which resided in the apostles, who searcheth the hearts of all men, and from whom nothing is hid, nothing is secret. Note; (1.) Nothing betrays persons more frequently into the sin of lying, than the affectation of appearing high in others esteem. (2.) They who conceive falsehood in their hearts, are filled with Satan; a lying spirit is one of his strongest resemblances. (3.) The Holy Ghost is God omniscient. Let those whom pride, worldly-mindedness, or a maintenance, drives into the ministry, take heed how they presume to declare that they are inwardly moved by him, lest, like Ananias and Sapphira, their lie be detected, if not here, yet hereafter, to their everlasting confusion.

3. Behold the fearful example of divine vengeance! No sooner had Peter spoken, than Anaias fell down, and gave up the ghost, struck by an invisible hand, as the just punishment of his wickedness, and to make an example to deter others from such impious hypocrisy. And great fear came on all them that heard these things: it impressed an awe upon the minds of those who had joined themselves to the church, and served to keep off from the society of the apostles, those who would have been spots in their assembly.

4. The young men present, removed the corpse, wrapped it in grave-clothes, and buried it.
5. Sapphira, the wife of Ananias, who was privy to his falsehood, but ignorant of what had passed, about three hours after joined the assembly; and, being required of St. Peter to answer if they had sold the land for so much, she, without hesitation, affirmed the lie, foolishly presuming that none could disprove it. Her doom therefore is pronounced; being the partner of her husband’s sin, she shares his punishment. Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? how astonishing is your stupidity, as well as monstrous your wickedness, to attempt imposing upon the omniscient God? behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Instantly, death-struck, she fell at his feet, and they carried her out, and buried her with her husband; whilst all the church were filled with reverence and godly fear at that Jealous God, who thus appeared the avenger of falsehood and hypocrisy; and all others, that heard these judgments, were afraid of provoking or tempting the apostles, whose very word seemed clothed with death. Note; (1.) It is truly grievous, when near relations serve to encourage each other in iniquity. (2.) God, though patient under numberless provocations, is pleased to make some sinners monuments of his vengeance, that men may hear and fear, and do no more wickedly.

2nd, We are told,
1. Of the many and great miracles performed by the apostles, in proof of their divine mission; and so much were the people in general convinced of the mighty powers which they possessed, that they brought forth the sick in beds and couches, and laid them in the streets, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by, might overshadow some of them, persuaded that this would be effectual to work a cure: and from the country vast multitudes of patients, sick, and vexed with unclean spirits, were brought to them, and they were healed every one: none being rejected who made application to them.

2. Of the vast veneration in which the apostles were held. They were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch, appearing and teaching publicly in the temple with the greatest unanimity among themselves: and of the rest durst no man join himself to them: none durst make a hypocritical profession of Christianity, who were not conscious of the simplicity of their hearts, being terrified with the doom of Ananias and Sapphira: but the people magnified them, held them in the highest veneration, and spoke of them with the greatest esteem, beholding the wonders which they wrought, and the presence and power of God evident in the midst of them.

3. Of the vast accession of converts made to the church. Believers were the more added to the Lord, and made open profession of their faith in Christ, multitudes both of men and women; so mightily grew the word of God and increased.

3rdly, It cannot be supposed that the inveterate enemies of the gospel would long be quiet, or Satan rest when his kingdom was falling to ruins before the gospel word.
1. The apostles are seized and imprisoned. The hand of the high-priest was first in this transgression, supported by the Sadducean sect, who could not endure the testimony borne to the resurrection of Jesus, which radically struck at all their tenets: exasperated to fury, they could contain no longer, and, with lawless violence, laid hands on them; and, to put the greater disgrace upon them, dragged them to the common prison among the vilest malefactors. Note; (1.) The success of the gospel is a vexation to wicked men, and, when they have power in their hands, the disciples of Jesus will feel their oppression. (2.) It is Satan’s artifice, by endeavouring to make the ministers of Christ despicable, to prejudice the people against them.

2. The Lord miraculously delivers his servants, by the hand of an angel, from their confinement. The commitment was illegal; therefore the great Judge of all sends his messenger to discharge them honourably: and, by his power opening the prison doors, he said, Go, stand and speak in the temple, to the people, all the words of this life; not the least intimidated by all the malice of their inveterate foes, but in their very ears, in the temple, the most public place, must they declare the life-giving truths of the gospel word, and the offensive doctrines of a risen Redeemer. Note; (1.) God can make the most lonesome prison a paradise of delights, when he manifests his presence there. (2.) They who are put in trust with the gospel, must not shun to declare, in the most public manner, the whole counsel of God, however offensive it may prove, and whatever may be the consequence to themselves.

3. Without delay they obey the heavenly command, and early, as soon as the temple doors were open, they went thither, and boldly taught as before, fearless of any consequences. Note; When duty calls, no danger must deter us.

4. An extraordinary council was assembled by the high-priest and his abettors, consisting not only of the Sanhedrim, but of all the senate of the children of Israel. And now, ready to proceed to trial, the prisoners are commanded to be brought forth; when, big with expectations of their appearing in chains before them, they are astonished with the report of their officers, that the prison was safe as they left it, and the guards upon duty, but none of the prisoners, whom they had committed thither, were to be found. Such an account threw them into the greatest perplexity; they knew not what course to take, and began to be under terrible apprehensions whereunto this would grow: when, to their greater confusion, tidings are brought them, that the men whom they sought, and had the evening before committed to prison, were preaching openly in the temple, in defiance of all their menaces. Note; (1.) They who fight against God, must needs involve themselves in many troubles. (2.) The Lord can deliver his people out of all their trials, in spite of the malice of their most envenomed persecutors.

4thly, We have,
1. The peaceable submission of the apostles to the officers who came to seize them a second time in the temple, but who dared not use violence, for fear lest the people should have risen upon them, who held in just veneration the character of the apostles. The captain of the temple therefore, with his attendants, spoke them fair; and they, not unwilling nor afraid to appear before the council, consented to go with them.
2. The insolent reprimand given them by the high-priest, for daring to disobey the charge given them. Did not we straitly command you, that ye should not teach in this name? and you have treated our orders with contempt; and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, most detestable and pernicious as it is; and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us, both to expose us to the people, and lay the guilt of it at our doors, as if we had murdered an innocent man, and one whom you cry up so highly. But had not the apostles told them before, they must obey God rather than man? and had they not themselves invoked the blood of Jesus upon them, when Pilate would have let him go? Why then should they be angry?

3. The apostles boldly replied, We ought to obey God rather than men; and, far from softening any of the truths they declared, or the accusations they brought against them as the murderers of the Son of God, to their faces they dare declare it, and charge this atrocious deed on their consciences. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, testifying his highest approbation of him, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, with the most impious cruelty and injustice; him hath God exalted with his right hand to a throne of glory in the heavens, to be a Prince and a Saviour to his faithful saints, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins, freely and fully pardoning the transgressions of all who by true faith turn unto him, and working that conversion and faith in their hearts by the power of his grace. And we are his witnesses of these things, appointed by him, and speaking with the greatest assurance the truths that we most certainly know; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to those that obey him, who, in all his miraculous gifts, as well as by the mighty energy of his gospel on our own hearts, and the hearts of others, attests the truths which we declare. Note; (1.) Christ, as a Saviour, offers the free and full remission of their sins, be they never so many, great, or aggravated, to those who fly to him as their refuge. (2.) The promises of pardon are the great motives of evangelical repentance. (3.) All who embrace Jesus as their Saviour, submit to him as their Prince; they who would reign with him, must be ruled by him. (4.) Besides all the great and glorious external evidences of Christianity, every obedient believer has the internal witness of the Spirit in his heart, which is to him instead of a thousand arguments.

4. When they heard this, far from submitting to the Saviour, and seeking the remission of sins which he is exalted to give, they were cut to the heart; malice, indignation, and rage, burned in their bosoms; and instantly they took counsel to slay them, resolving to rid themselves at once of their troublers, and murder them together. Note; The bosom of the wicked, when triumphant in iniquity, is a present hell; whilst, even in their sufferings for righteousness’ sake, the faithful feel their heaven begun.

5. To check the fury of these zealots, Gamaliel, a man of more moderate counsels, arose. He was a Pharisee, a doctor of law by profession; and his high reputation among the people gave him weight and influence in the assembly. He commanded to put the apostles forth a little space, that he might speak more freely. Whereupon addressing his brethren, (1.) He advises them not to act too rashly. Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves, what ye intend to do as touching these men, lest by some by some hasty resolution, you bring guilt upon your souls, and provoke God’s displeasure. (2.) He instances in the ruin of some late rebels, who soon came to nothing; which would now be the case with these men, if the matter was a mere human contrivance. Theudas and Judas had arisen, and collected a number of followers; but both were quickly destroyed, their followers dispersed, and their attempts abortive: and they might reasonably expect that the same would be the issue of the present disturbance if the thing was a mere artifice of deceivers, without embroiling themselves, and taking the matter out of God’s hand. Therefore, (3.) His advice is for the present to refrain from these men, and let them alone, and wait awhile to see what course matters may take; for if this counsel, or this work be of men, a mere invention of the crafty, or the folly of deluded enthusiasts, it will come to nought, the deceit will be soon detected, and their attempts end in their own confusion, without our interfering; but if it be of God, though you oppose it with never so much violence, ye cannot overthrow it, and resistance would be as vain as impious. Therefore wait quietly the event, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God; the madness of which is evident, and the consequence of which would be your own confusion and ruin. Note; (1.) Persecution for conscience’ sake is as absurd as it is wicked. (2.) They who oppose Christ’s ministers and gospel, fight against God; and the issue of that conflict must needs be fatal to his enemies.

6. Gamaliel’s counsel so far prevailed as to rescue the apostles from immediate death; but their enemies could not so entirely abstain from them as to discharge them unhurt; their rage must be vented on their backs, though restrained from their blood: they called in the apostles, and, having ignominiously and severely scourged them as malefactors, dismissed them, with the most express injunctions of never more speaking in the name of Jesus, at the peril of all the pains and penalties which would attend their disobedience.

7. With admirable constancy the apostles bore their sufferings, and boldly persisted in their glorious work. They departed from the presence of the council, without a word of reproach or reviling, patiently submitting to these indignities, and, so far from being ashamed or intimidated, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. This reproach was their highest honour, these stripes their glory; and, so far from desisting and being silent, as they were commanded, daily in the temple, in defiance of their persecutors, and in every house where they resorted, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. He was the great theme of all their discourses; and the great salvation which he had purchased, they explained and enforced, inviting all to come and share their mercy, and believe to the saving of their souls. Note; (1.) When, for the sake of Jesus and his truth, we are called to suffer, we should take pleasure in reproaches, and rejoice at the insults that we meet with: they shall issue to our more abundant glory. (2.) A crucified Jesus must be the constant subject of our ministrations; and publicly when called into the pulpit, and privately when visiting from house to house, him should we ceaseless teach and preach.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

REFLECTIONS

What an awful delusion, must that delusion of the mind be, which like Annias and Sapphira, is trifling with God? What an horrible state to be feeding on ashes, when a deceived heart hath turned the sinner aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand?

Blessed Lord! let my soul be relieve, and comforted, when turning from the view of the Ananias’s and Sapphira’s of the present generation, I behold the zeal and honesty, the faithfulness and diligence of thy servants the Apostles in their day, holding forth the word of this life. Endued with the Spirit from on high, let me admire the burning fervor of Peter’s mind, in punishing by divine authority, the daring lie of such awful characters, committed against God the Holy Ghost. And cause me, thou dear Lord, to see how the Lord honors them, whose delight it is to honor the Lord. Oh! for such a portion of the same spirit, as actuated the mind of Peter, to be poured out on all the faithful ministers of the sanctuary, that they may teach and preach Jesus Christ, and be instant in season, and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine.

And Lord, to all the persecutions and malice of their enemies, may an holy indifferency manifest, that they are borne up and supported by thee; that though troubled on every side, yet not distressed; or if perplexed, yet never in despair; that they may always bear about the dying of the Lord Jesus; that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in their body. And do thou Lord to all the prison frames, and bondage exercises of thy Church and people, give them to see the Angel of the Covenant always at hand to bring them out. Yea, let every eye of thy redeemed family be directed by God the Spirit, to be looking to Him, who is exalted as a Prince and Savior, to give repentance to his Israel, and remission of sins. Precious Jesus! send down all thine ascension-gifts, and bless thine whole Church with the manifestation of thyself, until Christ be formed in every heart the hope of glory.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Ver. 42. They ceased not ] Crescit igitur animus cum adversis. The more outrageous the one the more courageous the other party.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

42. .] every day , not ‘ all day long ,’ which would be . .

On see note on ref.

. .] According to the true reading even more pointedly than in the rec., . is the predicate, and . the subject: preaching (that) Jesus (is) the Christ .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

in every house. Greek. kat’ (App-104.) oikon = at home. See on Act 2:46.

preach. App-121.

Jesus Christ = Jesus as the Christ (App-98), the name of Act 5:41.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

42. .] every day, not all day long, which would be . .

On see note on ref.

. .] According to the true reading even more pointedly than in the rec., . is the predicate, and . the subject: preaching (that) Jesus (is) the Christ.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 5:42. ) they did not cease) whatever prohibition the world might issue.-) They announced that Jesus is the Christ.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

daily: Act 5:20, Act 5:21, Act 2:46, Act 3:1, Act 3:2-10, Luk 21:37, Luk 22:53, 2Ti 4:2

in: Act 20:20

they: Act 4:20, Act 4:29, 2Sa 6:22, Rom 1:15, Rom 1:16, Gal 6:14

preach: Act 8:5, Act 8:35, Act 9:20, Act 17:3, 1Co 2:2, Eph 4:20, Eph 4:21

Reciprocal: Isa 40:9 – be not Jer 7:2 – Stand Jer 26:2 – Stand Luk 24:53 – in Act 28:31 – and teaching Phi 1:15 – preach Col 1:28 – Whom

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A MODEL MINISTRY

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Act 5:42

I. The subject of their ministry.That Jesus is the Christ. Not things about Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ Himself. Creeds may satisfy the reason, but the heart craves a Personthe Christ. The heart grows, but creeds are stationary, lifeless. Christ and His fullness ever transcend our utmost need. A Christian ministry of which Christ is not the grand theme is a misnomerworthless, and injurious.

II. The method of their ministry.Teaching and preaching. Preaching, literally evangelising. Teaching, instructing those who had received the evangel. Notice, (a) The great importance of these two things. (b) The difficulty of one person doing both well. (c) The difficulty of obtaining appreciation for both in one congregation. Yet the Church must have and exercise both.

III. The sphere of their ministry.In the temple and at home. Their ministry was(a) Public. (b) Domestic (compare chap. Act 2:46). And still we need the ministry of both the temple and the home.

IV. The frequency of their ministry.Daily. Every day. Here is a message to those who never enter the sanctuary except on the Lords-day. Urge the full and frequent preaching of Jesus Christ.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

2

Act 5:42. Their persecutions did not intimidate the apostles, even to the extent of decreasing the amount or frequency of their preaching, but they preached daily. Neither did they seek for private spots or places of safety to do their work. They preached in the temple, the most public building, and in every private house, where they ran a risk constantly of coming in contact with some telltale member of the Sanhedrin.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 5:42. And daily in the temple. Undismayed by any punishment in the past, undeterred by any fear for the future, they did their Masters bidding daily without rest or repose, in public, in the courts of His ancient and beautiful temple.

And in every house they ceased not to teach. In private assemblies, too, held in the now many homes of the faithful, they taught the doctrines of their Crucified and Risen Lord.

And preach Jesus Christ, better translated the Christ. Here, in one word, the special purpose of their public and private teaching is told us. They proclaimed to all in the crowded Temple courts, as in the little earnest home gatherings of the believers, that Jesus the Crucified was no other than the Christthe Messiah.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Act 5:42. And daily in the temple, &c. The apostles were punished for preaching, and commanded strictly not to preach: yet they went on with their work with unabated zeal, and indefatigable diligence, omitting no opportunity of doing it. Observe, 1st, They preached daily, not only on sabbath days, or on Lords days, but every day, as duly as the day came; not fearing lest they should either injure their health, or cloy their hearers. 2d, They preached both publicly in the temple, and privately in every house: in promiscuous assemblies, to which all resorted: and in the select assemblies of Christians, appointed for special ordinances. They did not think that either of these would excuse them from the other, knowing they were to preach the word in season and out of season. Though in the temple they were more exposed, and were under the eye of their enemies, yet they did not confine themselves to their little oratories in their own houses, but ventured into the post of danger: and though they had the liberty of the temple, a consecrated place, yet they made no difficulty of preaching in houses: in every house Even the poorest. 3d, We are also told what was the subject of their preaching; they preached Jesus Christ; they not only preached concerning him, but they preached him, exhibiting him to those that heard them, as their Prophet, Priest, and King; their Teacher, Mediator, Governor, and Judge; their Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption: they preached, not themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, as the one Saviour of lost sinners, making it their chief business to advance his honour and interest, and not their own. This was the preaching that gave most offence to the priests and rulers: they were willing they should preach any thing but Christ; but the apostles would not alter their subject to please them. Observe, reader, it ought to be the constant business of gospel ministers to preach Christ; Christ, and him crucified; Christ, and him glorified; Christ dying for us; Christ living in us; nothing besides this, or what is reducible to it.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

See notes on verse 41

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

5:42 And daily in the {p} temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

(p) Both publicly and privately.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

This treatment did not deter the apostles at all. Instead they continued explaining (Gr. didasko) and evangelizing (euaggelizomai) daily, publicly in the temple and privately from house to house (cf. Act 2:46), declaring that Jesus was the Messiah (cf. Act 28:31).

"It [Act 5:42] is a statement that has nuances of defiance, confidence, and victory; and in many ways it gathers together all Luke has set forth from Act 2:42 on." [Note: Longenecker, p. 325.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)