Second Verse...

Background

We’ve seen this tried before—it didn’t work out at as the priests and Sadduccees had planned 4:2 ff

The had been greatly annoyed, had them arrested, questioned them the next day and warned them not to speak about Jesus anymore—

That had the opposite effect, the believers were strengthened, the apostles emboldened!

The church grew even more, more miracles were done

Previous passage zeroes in on healings by Peter

A Destructive Emotion

They were filled with jealousy

It was provoked by this runaway emotion that the apostles were arrested

It wasn’t a matter of doctrine—at least nothing we can prove from the text

It was jealousy

Underlying word is zelos—same base as zeal, which can be a good thing

Used 20 times in the NT, 11 as jealousy, 9 as zeal

That they were filled with it adds the thought of leaving no room for things like rational thinking

Searching all the literature of 1st century brings a connection between envy, jealousy and murderous intent

Ironically, the word used for “filled” is generally, across the NT, used to refer to the filling of the Spirit

Interesting that those who should be the spiritual leaders of Israel, let emotion rule their behavior…not the Word of God

Some Divine Intervention

One of about a half dozen places in Acts where angels step in to further the work of the early church; Luke also described the action of angels in about the same number of places in his Gospel

We know that angels are ministering spirits—working on our behalf

A Daring Endeavor

The followed the instruction of the angel and went back to doing what they had been doing…preaching the Gospel, speaking the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost people

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