Acts 4:1-22

After healing a lame man, Peter spoke to the crowd and told them about Jesus. However, here in chapter 4 we see the Jewish priests aren't too happy about this. So, they seized Peter and John to put an end to their proclaiming of Jesus. I guess to the Jewish priests, these men speaking about Jesus seem to be a new cult that was forming. We know better, knowing that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, which is what Peter points out to them. Even though they arrest Peter and John, it doesn't make a difference because people still believe and the followers of Jesus Christ continued to increase.

Now that they have taken away Peter and John, they bring them forward to question them. They ask Peter and John the origin of the things that they are doing. To me, this seems like a silly question, especially when reading ahead to see what happens. It makes you wonder why they would ask that or what they hoped to get out of this. Since they were high and recognized in the Jewish community, they were probably quite prideful and arrogant. They probably had to deal with a number of different troublesome groups similar to the followers of Christ. You can even skip ahead to the next chapter and read about the Pharisee Gamaliel talk about other upstart groups like one lead by Theudas and one lead by Judas the Galilean. Since these Jewish priests thought themselves to be so high and mighty, they probably thought that whatever answers Peter and John could have said, the Jewish priests could easily win an argument and prove that Peter and John were wrong in their thinking. However, they can't really dissuade Peter and John from what they plan on doing and this gives them yet another opportunity to tell others about Jesus Christ. He even refers to Jesus as the cornerstone which the builders rejected, referring to how the Jews have rejected Jesus even though Jesus is important like how a cornerstone is important.

The Jewish priests can't really do or say anything to them, but they try. The Jewish priests threaten Peter and John and command them to stop doing what they are doing, but Peter and John are not going to listen. They even present a logical argument, saying that they'd rather listen to God than to the Jewish priests.

Peter and John give God the glory and credit for the miracle of healing the man who was lame. This fact is shown in another way when the Jewish priests notice that Peter and John were unschooled people. They can't believe that these men are unschooled, yet they were capable of what they did. This once again shows the power by which they do these things, a power that is not their own.