1 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, 2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. 4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. (Acts 4:1-4 KJV)
Matthew Henry’s Commentary
Ver. 1 thru Ver. 4.
We have here the interests of the kingdom of heaven successfully carried on, and the powers of darkness appearing against them to put a stop to them. Let Christ’s servants be ever so resolute, Satan’s agents will be spiteful; and therefore, let Satan’s agents be ever so spiteful, Christ’s servants ought to be resolute.
I. The apostles, Peter and John, went on in their work, and did not labour in vain. The Spirit enabled the ministers to do their part, and the people theirs.
1. The preachers faithfully deliver the doctrine of Christ: They spoke unto the people, to all that were within hearing, Ac 4:1. What they said concerned them all, and they spoke it openly and publicly. They taught the people, still taught the people knowledge; taught those that as yet did not believe, for their conviction and conversion; and taught those that did believe, for their comfort and establishment. They preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead,
(1.) Was verified in Jesus; this they proved, that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, as the first, the chief, that should rise from the dead, Ac 26:23. They preached the resurrection of Christ as their warrant for what they did. Or,
(2.) It is secured by him to all believers. The resurrection of the dead includes all the happiness of the future state. This they preached through Jesus Christ, attainable through him (Php 3:10-11), and through him only. They meddled not with matters of state, but kept to their business, and preached to the people heaven as their end and Christ as their way. See Ac 17:18.
2. The hearers cheerfully receive it (Ac 4:4): Many of those who heard the word believed; not all–perhaps not the most, yet many, to the number of about five thousand, over and above the three thousand we read of before. See how the gospel got ground, and it was the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit. Though the preachers were persecuted, the word prevailed; for sometimes the church’s suffering days have been her growing days: the days of her infancy were so.