Prayer for Boldness
They prayed for courage
The response of the apostles to persecution is prayer, not for relief or deliverance from persecution but for boldness and power to continue to proclaim the word even in the midst of such adversity
God is addressed in v. 24 as δεσποτα (from which we get the English word despot). It is a term found elsewhere in Luke-Acts at Luke 2:29 (cf. Rev. 6:10; 3 Macc. 2:2), and it connotes one with great power and control of circumstances, something those being persecuted naturally need to know about and affirm. The point of the citation that follows is to make that control very clear. The God who made all things has human history well in hand, for human beings are only one sort of God’s creatures.
The issue here is empowerment for witnessing, not personal spiritual formation or growth. The point is empowerment for speech in the face of persecution
In other words, this text tells us nothing about the idea of blessings or spiritual experiences subsequent to conversion in a way that would allow us to discern a schematized order of Christian experience of the Holy Spirit. Luke is here indebted to the OT stories about inspiration and empowerment, even including such stories as that of Samson. A moment’s reflection on this latter story will remind us that God can use very flawed and unsanctified vessels to speak the divine word or perform a miraculous work. That one is a channel for divine power does not necessarily indicate one’s purity.
3924 ὁμοθυμαδόν (homothymadon): adv.; ≡ DBLHebr 3480, 3481; Str 3661; TDNT 5.185—LN 31.23 with one mind, unitedly, in togetherness, as one (Ac 1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 7:57; 12:20; 15:25; Ro 15:6)
† ὁμοθυμαδόν.
This word denotes the inner unity of a group of people engaged in an externally similar action. It can thus be rendered “with one mind.” Worth noting is the fact that it often occurs along with statements about the number and place of participation, e.g., πάντες (Philo Leg. Gaj., 356; Ac. 1:14; 2:1 K 5:12) and ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό (Ac. 2:1). The θυμός in which the unanimity consists may be anger (Philo Flacc., 144), fear (Jdt. 15:2), gratitude (Wis. 10:20), etc. The earliest (e.g., Aristoph. Av., 1015) and later the most common use (e.g., Ditt. Syll.3, 742, 14; 1104, 28 f.) is in the political field (Ac. 12:20). Here it confers particular weight on the decision of a corporate body (Ac. 15:25). In the religious field it occurs in Judaism (Philo Flacc., 122; 3 Macc. 5:20) and the NT, only Ac. apart from R. 15:6.
Varied though the use is, two common observations may be made, first in respect of secular Gk., then in respect of the NT, where they are of theological significance. First. the term does not denote the personal sympathy of those participating, but material interest in a specific action. Demosth. (Or., 10, 59) calls upon the people to set aside personal feelings and instead work ὁμοθυμαδόν to resist the plans of Philip. Secondly, this common material concern is not based upon a similarity of inclination or disposition but upon an event which comes on a group from without (e.g., the hostility of Philip in Demosth.) and provokes a common reaction.
In the NT ὁμοθυμαδόν is used to stress the inner unanimity of the community. The term occurs in connection with the actions which constitute the community of the risen Lord, namely, listening to apostolic teaching (Ac. 8:6; 20:18 vl.)3 and prayer (1:14; 2:1, 46; 4:24; 5:12; R. 15:6). ὁμοθυμαδόν is here almost a fixed term in the vocabulary of the community, and its use in the life of political communities forms a significant background. Christian unanimity, too, has its root elsewhere than in a similar disposition on the part of Christians. We are well acquainted with the many personal and material tensions in the first congregations. But these tensions are continually transcended when the community addresses itself to the magnifying of the one Lord (R. 15:6). Unanimity is an event; it constantly needs a new γίγνεσθαι (Ac. 15:25). This unifying worship is not the expression of a religious disposition of man; it is the response to God’s action for the world and the community in Christ (e.g., the ascension in Ac. 1:14; liberation from prison in 4:24). Unanimity is thus a gift of God to the praise of God.