1007 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then came one and told them, saying,.... Who this man was, is of no consequence to know; it can hardly be thought that he was one of the number of the disciples, or a member of the church, or a professor of the Christian religion; but rather an enemy, and one that sought his own interest, and to obtain the favour and affection of the chief priests...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then went the captain with the offcers,.... That is, the captain of the temple, who had the command of it; he went thither attended with the officers and servants of the chief priests, the same that had been sent to the prison, to fetch the apostles: and brought them without violence; they did not lay hold upon them, and drag them away in a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when they had brought them,.... From the temple, to the place where the sanhedrim sat, which, by this, seems to have been not in the room Gazith, nor in the shops, which were both in the temple, but in some part of the city of Jerusalem: they set them before the council; whereby was fulfilled what Christ had foretold, Matthew 10:17 "they will...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Saying, did not we straitly command you,.... Or give you strict orders, with severe threatenings, that you should not teach in this name? the Ethiopic version reads, "in the name of Jesus"; which is what is meant, but was not expressed by the sanhedrim; see Acts 4:17 and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine; they disregarded the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Peter, and the other apostles, answered and said,.... Peter began, as the mouth of the apostles, being the eldest man, and very bold and zealous; and the rest followed, or joined, with him in what he said: we ought to obey God rather than men; this is said in answer to the charge of disobedience to the orders and commands of the council: men,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,.... Not from the dead, though this was true; but called him to the work and office of a Saviour, inverted him with that office, and sent him to perform that work; so that this refers rather to the incarnation of Christ, in consequence of the ancient council and covenant of grace: and this the apostles...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Him hath God exalted with his right hand,.... Not at his right hand, though he is exalted to it, and is set down at it, but with, or by his right hand; that is, by his power: for being by him raised from the dead, he was exalted to the highest heavens, and placed in human nature at the right hand of God, on the same throne with him, crowned with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And we are his witnesses of these things,.... Of the incarnation of Christ, of his crucifixion and death, of his resurrection from the dead, of his exaltation by the right hand of God, and of his offices as a Prince and a Saviour, and of the influences of his grace, in giving repentance and remission of sins to his people; and even to many of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When they heard that,.... This defence of the apostles, in which they still insisted upon it, that they had been the crucifiers of Christ, and yet that he was raised from the dead, and exalted in heaven, and was a spiritual Saviour of men: they were cut; to the heart, as if they had been cut asunder with a saw; the Ethiopic version renders it,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then stood there up one in the council,.... Or "in the sanhedrim", which the high priest had called together; this phrase is left out in the Syriac version: yet certain it is, that the great council was now assembled, and the disciples were now before them, and this man, who was one of the members of it, stood up in it; for it seems to have been...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And said unto them, ye men of Israel,.... This he said after the apostles were put out, when the council was by themselves; and he addressed them as "men of Israel"; not as distinct from the priests and Levites in the council, but because they were all of the stock of Israel; for this council did not consist of Israelites only, as distinct from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For before these days rose up Theudas,..... There is one of this name Josephus (d) speaks of, who set up for a prophet, and drew a large number of people after him; pretending, that if they would follow him to the river Jordan, and take their goods along with them, he would but give the word, and the waters would divide and leave them passage to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
After this man rose up, Judas of Galilee,.... Of whom Josephus thus says (k): "there was a man of Galilee, by name Judas, who led his countrymen into rebellion, declaring it an evil, should they suffer tribute to be paid to the Romans, and introduce mortal rulers after God.'' And not unlike this is what another Jewish writer says (l) of Judas the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now I say unto you,.... This is the sum of my advice upon the observation of these and other instances: refrain from these men, and let them alone; keep your hands off of them, do not attempt to take away their lives, but dismiss them quietly, nor go about to hinder them, in what they are concerned: for if this counsel, or this work be of men;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But if it be of God,.... If it is according to the counsel of his will; if it is a scheme of his forming, and a work to which he has called these men, and they proceed in it on good principles, and with a view to the honour and glory of God: ye cannot overthrow it; it will proceed and get ground, and stand, maugre all the opposition of hell and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And to him they agreed,.... They were convinced and persuaded by his reasonings, approved of his advice, and agreed to follow it: and when they had called the apostles; into the council again, having sent their servants for them, or ordered them to be brought in: and beaten them; or scourged and whipped them with forty stripes save one, whereby...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they departed from the presence of the council,.... Having been threatened and beaten by them: rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name; Beza's ancient copy, and others; the Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions read, "for the name of Jesus"; in which name they were forbid to speak, and for speaking in it they were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied,.... From an hundred and twenty to three thousand more, from thence to five thousand more, and after that a multitude of men and women were added, and still they were increasing; see Acts 1:15 Acts 2:41. This increase of the disciples agrees with what Maimonides says (z), before...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the twelve,.... The twelve apostles, as the Syriac version reads; for their number was now complete, Matthias being chosen in the room of Judas: these being informed of the murmur there was between the two sorts of believers, the Hebrew and thc Hellenistic Jews, called the multitude of the disciples unto them; either the hundred and twenty,...