Atos 4

Bede

Atos 4:1

While they were speaking to the people, the priests and the magistrates of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, and so on. And the priests and the magistrates, or the temple prefect, as another edition says, who seemed to be the teachers and judges of the people, were grieved that the multitude had flocked to hear the apostles. The Sadducees, however, were grieved because they preached the resurrection. Yet both were grieved because those whom they knew as the man Jesus, whom they had killed, were claimed by them to be glorified by God the Father. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:1

The priests and magistrates of the temple arrived. "Magistratus" should be read in the singular, as is clear from the Greek, where "στρατηγὸς" is written in the singular: for which, in Latin, some Codices have "praepositum templi," while others more correctly have "praetorem templi." For in Greek "praetor" is "στρατηγὸς," while "magistrate" or "chief" is called "ἄρχων." — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:4

And the number of men became five thousand. If in the five thousand men whom the Lord fed in the desert (Matthew XIV), the people under the law are understood but were refreshed by the gift of Christ, these five thousand instructed by the apostles' teachings can also signify the people of the Gentiles, who spiritually followed the mysteries of the same law. And both are fittingly granted the heavenly gift in the evening, because when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son (Galatians IV). — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:8

He said to them: "Rulers of the people and elders." In Greek, it includes more: "And elders of Israel, listen." Similarly, in the following, where it is said: "In this, he stands before you healthy," in Greek it is: "Before you healthy today, and in no other." — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:11

This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. The builders were the Jews, who, while all the nations were dwelling in the desolation of idols, they alone were reading the law and the prophets daily for edification. As they were building, they came upon the cornerstone, which would embrace two walls, that is, they found in the prophetic Scriptures that Christ would come in the flesh and build two peoples in Himself. And because they preferred to stand on one wall, that is, to be saved alone, they rejected the stone, which was not suited to one, but to two. However, God, though they were unwilling, Himself placed this stone as the chief cornerstone, that from the two testaments and the two peoples, a building of one and the same faith might arise. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:12

And there is no salvation in any other. If salvation is in no other, but only in Christ, then the fathers of the Old Testament were saved by the same Redeemer's incarnation and passion, in which we believe and hope to be saved. And though the sacraments may differ according to the times, yet the same faith agrees. For the dispensation of Christ, which we know to have been accomplished through the apostles, they learned through the prophets would come. For there is no redemption of human captivity except in the blood of Him who gave Himself as a ransom for all. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:13

But seeing the boldness of Peter and John, and realizing that they were unlettered and ordinary men, they marveled. "Unlettered" is said, not because they were ignorant of letters, but because they were not skilled in the art of grammar. For in Greek, it is more clearly, for this word, "ἀγράμματοι," that is, unlettered, and "idiotae" are called unskilled. Finally, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, where it is written: "And if unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge" (2 Cor. XI), for "unskilled" in Greek it is "ἰδιώτης." — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:13

Finding out that these men were unlettered and ignorant, they marveled. Illiterate men are sent to preach, so that the faith of believers might not be thought to have been brought about by human eloquence and learning, but by the power of God, as the Apostle says: "Not in the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect" (I Cor. I). For those were called idiotae who, content with their own language and natural knowledge, were unacquainted with the study of letters. Indeed, the Greeks call their own, ἴδιον. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:21

Because all were praising for what had been done. It is better in Greek: "For all were glorifying God for what had been done." And what in our Codices is added, "for what had happened," is not in the Greek. Indeed, "glorifying" and "praising" are often interchangeably translated from the same Greek, which is "ἐδόξαζον," but there is a difference between a deed being praised and God being praised or glorified in the deed. For a deed or word to be praised is to be spread to the knowledge of many by fame, which can also happen with human deeds remarkably done; but for God to be praised or glorified in the deeds of men is specific to Christian piety and humility, with Him commanding and saying: "Let your good deeds shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. V). — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:22

The man was over forty years old on whom this sign of healing was performed. According to the history, the perfect age of the man is indicated amidst the invincible critics. Allegorically, however, the people of Israel did not only seek the Egyptian impurities in the desert for forty years, despising manna, but even in the promised land, they always limped between the rituals of the Lord and of idols. Or if the number forty signifies the double fullness of the law (for four times ten makes forty), the transgressor of both, like a weak person, lying down, surpasses the forty-like perfection. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:24

Lord, you who made the heaven and the earth, etc. Hearing the threats of the persecutors, they ask for the confidence to resist through the signs of virtues. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:25

Why did the nations rage and the peoples devise vain things? The prophet does not ask as if he does not know but reproves the madness of the impious in astonishment, those who rose up against the Lord the Savior, although harmed not at all by him, rather assisted by many good deeds. He mentioned nations because of the Roman soldiers, peoples because of the Jews. Hence it is aptly said that the nations raged but the peoples devised vain things against God. For indeed, the leaders of the Jews with diligent meditation plotted how they might deliver the Lord to death; but the soldiers are found to have inflicted nothing upon him, to have laid no traps against him, but merely to have obeyed the governor's orders in his insult and death. Hence they are also said to rage, driven by an unskilled and disorderly motion; and since rage is properly of wild beasts, they are rightly said to rage who, setting aside reason, were inflamed by bestial fury. However, that the peoples are said to have devised vain things looks back to what is said about the blessed man in the preceding Psalm: "But his will is in the law of the Lord, and in his law, he will meditate day and night" (Psalm 1). For just as he is blessed who spends all his time in meditation on the divine law, so rightly must that people be assigned to perpetual miseries who not only pridefully turn away from meditating on God's law but also, in insanity, frequently engage in meditation against God himself, the lawgiver and their Lord. — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:26

The kings of the earth have taken their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. It speaks of the leaders of the Jews and Pilate himself; but it mentions kings in the plural because of Herod the tetrarch, as the subsequent words of the apostles testify. Although it can be rightly interpreted by the plural appellation of kings to refer to Herod the tetrarch who consented with Pilate in the Lord's death, as well as that one of the same name and malice who, after the Lord's birth, killed the children in Bethlehem. Even though they did not live at the same time, with the same hatred and wickedness of mind, they took their stand and gathered together with the leaders of the Jews against the Lord. It is also noteworthy that the clauses of these verses are such that the first takes the closing phrase from the second, which says "against the Lord and against His Christ," and the second takes the introductory adverb "why" from the first, so that the position of each is complete: Why did the nations rage, and the people devise futile things against the Lord and against His Christ? Why did the kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together as one, against the Lord and against His Christ? He says "kings of the earth" to distinguish them from those for whom, while they are pilgrims on earth, the kingdom is preserved in heaven. — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:27

Against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They interpret the name of Christ, about whom it was said: "And against His Christ" (Psalm II), according to the word. For Christ received his name from chrism, that is, from anointing. According to what is said: "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness" (Psalm 45:7), that is, with the Holy Spirit. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:30

In that you stretch out your hand, healings and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy Child Jesus. In Greek, it is rendered as "through the name of your holy Boy Jesus," which seems to align more with the apostles' wishes, who strove in every way to make it known that the man whom the Jews crucified, through the signs of miracles becoming evident by his name, having been taken up into heaven, should be recognized as the Son of God. — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:31

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken. Those who sought the strength of firm hearts against the deceit of the enemy received the sign of their prayer being heard through the earthquake, so that they might understand that the earthly hearts were to yield to them. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, even the earth itself was struck with fear. Although it might be understood as the joyful fear of those who, by believing, were to be subjected to the apostles, and who, with their earthly heaviness shaken off, learned to rise with Christ and seek heavenly things. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:31

And they spoke the word of God with confidence. In the Greek it is added: To everyone willing to believe. Also, in the following reading, when it was said: And the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, here too in the Greek manuscripts, which our Codices do not have, it is added: And there was no division among them. And then, which is also contained in our Codices in a subdued manner: Nor did anyone say that what they possessed was their own. Blessed Cyprian also placed this sentiment in the third book of Testimonies, saying: "But the crowd of those who believed were of one heart and soul; nor was there any distinction among them, nor did anyone consider any of their possessions to be their own." This passage fits well and coheres aptly with what was said above, since those who received the Holy Spirit on the holy day of Pentecost, though all were Galileans, spoke in the tongues of all who were present from different parts of the world, both Jews and proselytes. For there indeed, through the uniting of different languages, it was beautifully foreshadowed that the holy Church, by the gift of the same Spirit, would have one heart and soul among the different nations and languages across the world. For it is not for all believers to speak in all tongues, but the unity of different tongues in the faith of Christ was a sign, because there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (Eph. IV). — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:32

But they had all things in common. In Latin, "common" is said as "communia," which in Greek is called κοινὰ, from which it is understood that the perfect servants of God are called κοινοβίται in Greek, that is, those living in common, and their communal dwellings are called κοινόβια; for in their language, βίον is understood to mean life, not that life which is contrary to death, but the way of life someone leads in their conversation, whether in the military, or in agriculture, or in any honorable or dishonorable art, whether one is a monk, layperson, or cleric. However, the life by which we are distinguished from the dead is called ζωὴ by the Greeks. Therefore, those who live in such a way that all things are common to them in the Lord are rightly called κοινοβῖται, a name composed from two words. This life is certainly so much happier than other ways of living in this world, as it imitates the state of the future world even in the present, where all good things are common to the blessed, who see His glory from whom all good things come; and because there the highest grace of peace and security reigns, the city in which this way of life was first typified was rightly called Jerusalem, that is, the Vision of Peace. Hence, the distance of things and places is noteworthy, seeing that in the work of the prideful tower, the language and mind of the human race, when they were one, were deservedly scattered due to iniquity, so that although people spoke all languages there, no one could understand the will or words of their neighbor. However, in Jerusalem, the same languages were united by the merit of humility, and there was one language, one will, and one soul among all. This indeed continues to this day throughout the whole world, while the elect serve the Lord with one and undivided heart and intention amidst the manifold division of languages; but indeed the reprobates all serve the devil in such a way that the same service is carried out with mutual conflict and contention, because of which their city is rightly called Babylon, that is, confusion. — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:32

And the multitude of believers was of one heart and one soul. Those who had completely abandoned the world did not boast of their noble lineage, preferring one another, but being as if born from the womb of one and the same mother, the Church, all rejoiced in the same love of brotherhood. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:33

And with great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. It distinguishes the order of teachers and the attentive listeners. For the multitude of believers, having despised their possessions, were bound together by the bond of charity. The apostles, shining with powers, revealed all the mysteries of Christ. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:36

Joseph, who was surnamed Barnabas by the apostles, which is interpreted as the son of consolation, a Levite of Cyprian origin, having land, sold it, etc. It is remarkable how this Barnabas, who was later ordained an apostle of the Gentiles with Paul, and after a long companionship with him, returned to Cyprus, where he was born, to preach again, Eusebius, in the Ecclesiastical History, considers him to be among the seventy disciples of the Lord Savior, while it is clearly written by blessed Luke that he came to the discipleship of the apostles after the Lord's ascension; unless perhaps it is to be thought that he first followed the discipleship of Christ in such a way that he had not yet renounced all that he possessed. Whether this was in keeping with evangelical doctrine, anyone can easily see. — Retractions on Acts

Atos 4:36

Which means the Son of Consolation. Wherever the sacred Scriptures place the names of things or persons together with an interpretation, it undoubtedly signifies a more sacred meaning in those. He is rightly called the son of consolation, who, despising present things, is consoled by the hope of future things. For the Holy Spirit is therefore also called Paraclete because He grants consolation, that is, the joy of heavenly things, through the inner infusion of His gift to those who have pressure in the world. Similarly, blessed Peter is called Bar Jona, that is, the son of the dove, because of the same grace of the Spirit. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:36

Joseph, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles. I think this Barnabas is the same who later is read to be ordained as an apostle to the Gentiles with Paul. Hence, because he was a Cypriot by birth, after separating from Paul, he returned to his native island. Although some think he was a companion of Paul rather than the one who was established by lot with Matthias in the apostleship, they overlook the fact that, according to the more correct manuscripts, this Barnabas should be called Barsabas with a changed letter, and in the Book of Hebrew Names, this Barnabas is interpreted as the son of consolation, but the other as the son of quiet. — Commentary on Acts

Atos 4:37

And he brought the price and laid it at the feet of the apostles. About this, Arator says: They prove that they should be deprived, what they avoid touching and teach that gold should be trampled, placed under the feet. From which earthly cares come to the hearts, similarly scattered on the ground. — Commentary on Acts