Bible Study: Acts 3-4

 Acts 3-4 center around another sermon by Peter, this one prompted by a healing at the temple and subsequent arrest for what he says. Notice that the action is still taking place in the city of Jerusalem (the first location Jesus gave (1:8) for where they are to be witnesses). These Jewish disciples are still going to the temple for daily prayer, being faithful Jews, in addition to expanding their understanding of faithfulness by following what Jesus would have them do, at the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Peter and John heal a lame beggar, sitting at the gate of the temple. Then they speak to the crowd that gathers, using the opportunity to talk about Jesus—this healing is not some magic on the part of the apostles, but the work of the risen Jesus, in whose name they proclaimed the healing. Once again, Peter tells the story of Jesus, weaving it together in a story they already know, citing Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. This is a good reminder that the Jesus story makes more sense if we understand the God stories it grows out of, from the Hebrew scriptures.

In a way that is parallel to Jesus’ own experience, the religious authorities recognize that these apostles are gathering a following, and they do not like the power this popularity may bring among the people, nor the content of their preaching and teaching. So they are arrested, then released the next day with a warning not to preach or teach in that name again. Notice their conviction: “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard”. (4:20) This tension between authorities and apostles will continue to grow while they remain in Jerusalem, and the apostles regard suffering for the sake of the gospel as an honor. Indeed, prior to the legalization of Christianity in the 4th century, many people died standing up for their faith, including some of these apostles. We recognize them as martyrs, from the Greek /martyras/, “witness”.

The chapter concludes with a story about common property and resources, and we meet Barnabas for the first time, who will be a primary companion of Paul later in Acts.

In this section, we begin to find chapter breaks inconvenient. Original manuscripts do not have such divisions; they do not even have spaces between words or punctuation! The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century, and further into verses in the 16th century. It is divided for convenience more than to form a literary unit. We see this as we continue from 4 into 5 (next week), as there are stories that seem to fit together, but are divided by this chapter break.

Guiding questions:

  1. What is God doing? 
  2. What are the people doing? 
  3. What do we learn about being church? 


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