Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 05

The Spirit Explodes
Part 5 of 22 - First Signs Of Opposition
(Acts 4:5-31)

by Roger Kirby

Luke now records the beginnings of opposition from the authorities. He probably wrote Acts sometime in the late AD 70s or early AD 80s, that is after the first wave of persecution of the early church under emperor Nero in the AD 60s. Theophilus may have been concerned about the legality of the Christian witness and about the levels of opposition it had aroused. So Luke is intent on showing that these problems had arisen unfairly and how they were handled by the early church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The most important part of this passage is Peter’s speech to the court of the Sanhedrin. Luke has a habit of emphasising a particular event by giving 3 accounts of it. So he tells us about Paul’s conversion 3 times in chapters 9, 22 and 26. He tells us about the dream of Peter that led to the admission of Gentiles into the church 3 times in chapters 10 and 11. Here he records 3 very similar speeches of Peter’s, of which this is the third.
We ask these questions in this study:

• Question 1: What things has Luke emphasised by recording them 3 times in these speeches?
• Question 2: By many modern standards that is an incredibly wrong thing to say, suggesting that there is no other way to salvation and heaven. How can we justify what they said?
• Question 3: How and why were they able to be so effective? What can we learn from the answers to that question?
• Question 4: Think about where and why that has been done in your situation. Obviously I cannot provide any help on the answers to this question.
• Question 5: Why did they pray for boldness of speech and not for the opposition to stop?
• Question 6: Does this arise from what are probably the sharp differences between their prayer and the sort of prayers we probably usually pray, or what?

Download the mp3 and listen to discover more!

Right Mouse click or tap hereto download episode 5 as an audio mp3 file