"So-called gods"

Acts 4:13-17

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, "What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name." NKJV

In summary of our last study we looked briefly at the builders who “stumbled on the stumbling stone”. The builders were building their own kingdom like in the days of Babel. It is written that: (Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. NKJV) The Lord was not in what these “builders” were building, because it was for their own glory and honor. They were building themselves up with the Law that God intended to cause them to examine their sin; not their righteousness. What was intended to glorify Christ was twisted to glorify themselves (Ps.56:5). They desired a good name over glorying in God’s Name. They murdered the Lord of glory and denied the signs that accompanied His identity as the Great I AM (2Pet.3:16). Jesus defended His deity to them using their own right as “gods” of the covenant. However, because they were misusing this right and were confronted on many occasions by the Lord Himself, they used His claim as “Son of God” as an excuse to murder Him. They charged Him with blasphemy, yet never attempted to submit to what the Scriptures said of Him, or of what the providential miracles testified of Him. The witnesses were innumerable in His favor and these ordinary fishermen are reiterating what the Messiah has fulfilled in His life, death, and resurrection.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.

The Jewish leaders of the land or “gods” of the covenant were marveling again about the things taking place (1Cor.8:5). It is because of their ignorance of the Holy Spirit that these “so-called gods” lost their right as “children of the Most High” (Heb.12:16). They were so eager to hold onto their right as “lords” of the land that they rejected the Messiah. They could not and would not believe that God would work through uneducated and untrained men to bring about the good news of salvation. In other words, they would not permit anyone into their little club that did not have the special background that they had. But the truth was that the “so-called” gods of the covenant were not trained or educated in the covenant themselves (Lk.6:40). These men were adding and subtracting from the covenant using their own means rather than the means of the Holy Spirit (Jn.6:45).

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, . . .

The Jewish leaders marveled at the boldness of Peter and John because just a month or so before they were cowering and denying the Lord, but now with the same power and boldness, as Jesus Himself, they are coming against those who have apostatized from the true covenant in Christ.

. . . and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, . . .

Again the perception of the Sanhedrin was blinded by pride. They viewed these men as untrained and uneducated in their apostate traditions. But in reality they were trained strongly in the way of Truth having been with Him for a little over three years. Peter and John were handpicked and trained by the Lord Christ Himself. This is what magnifies the Lord all the more in choosing the weak and debased things of the world to glorify Himself (1Cor.1:27).

. . . they marveled.

This is in the imperfect tense in the Greek which means they continued to wonder or question what Peter and John did. The Pharisees just couldn’t get it. One reason is because they did not have the Spirit and another is because they chose to love their power over desiring to understand the Truth. They didn’t want to understand it. Remember the “devout” Jews? These men were only devout in the customs, but not in what the customs were intended to teach them about the Messiah. They were not devout regarding God. Therefore they continued to marvel at what was occurring before their very eyes.

And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

When they realized that a miracle was done through them, they identified them with Jesus whom they crucified. Jesus was ordained by God to drink the cup of His wrath and the baptism of death; and now because of the boldness of the Apostles, they too, will be baptized with the sufferings of Christ. Now that they are identified with Christ they will suffer many persecutions to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). This is what every believer must prepare himself for when entering the baptismal waters. Those who come to the waters only for God's benefits may be drowned by the waters when He troubles the waters with trials, to purify and sanctify us, in and through them.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

The Sanhedrin’s fear of losing their authority caused them to look for something to accuse the “Christians” to retain their rights over them. However, they found nothing to accuse them. The miracle was a good work to exemplify the message and the council could say nothing against it. Therefore, as is often done in our day, a city or town makes an ordiance to keep preachers from causing a disturbance in their precious authority over a particular town. As far as they were concerned they were the righteous people and they had the authority to determine righteousness, not some man who was crucified as a blasphemer and supposedly rose from the dead.

But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves . . .

Because they could find nothing against the Lord’s men the council removed Peter and John from the presence of the “so-called gods”, so that they could talk about them behind their backs robbing them of the opportunity to defend themselves. The thought that they “conferred” brings in the idea that they were working together (both the Sadducees and the Pharisees) to cease these men from further disturbance and disruption of their political system. According to this council these men didn’t have the right to speak against their practices. Remember what Jesus’s defense was when He was speaking against the errors of the “gods” or the “lords” of the land.

John 10:23-39 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. NKJV

In the very same Portico inside the “Gate called Beautiful” that Peter and John healed the beggar and preached Christ, Jesus preached Himself as "The Door" to Heaven. Jesus recognizes their right as “gods” of the nation, but while Jesus is also defending His right to be included in their council (judgment), He is also rebuking their abuse of that right directly quoting from:

Ps 82 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked. They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are unstable. I said, "You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all nations. NKJV

This is exactly what the “gods” of Jesus’s time and nation were practicing. The other nations are responsible for themselves, as Jesus intended to mean when He said, "to whom the word of God came." Because the Word of God came to "these gods", they are doubly accountable. They were judging unjustly, showing partiality to the wicked, failing to defend the poor and fatherless, and ignoring justice for the afflicted (Matt.23:13-29). Therefore when they come against Him for the “good” works He was working in their midst, which validated who He said He was, as the sanctified Son of God who proceeded from the heavenly Father, as opposed to the "so-called gods" who were of their father the devil (Jn.8:44), they accuse Him of blasphemy. The context in which He said this was: (John 10:8-9 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. NKJV) All the gods who came before Him were thieves and robbers; therefore, Jesus was exalting Himself above these “gods” as God Most High who always was and will be (Jn. 8:58).

The perception of the Jewish counsel was insolence coming from a ‘man’ who had no formal education or training. The audacity of this man to accuse them of ignorance of God’s law built in them the desire to stone Him. Therefore all who came before Him were ‘so-called gods’, in that, they failed to act righteously in their stewardship of God’s Word. Notice that the Word of God came to the ‘gods’ causing them to be responsible for their failure to comply with it. Therefore, because they are without excuse having the Word of God they shall die like mere men, but Jesus being the True Son of God, not only died as a man, but rose from the dead as God’s satisfaction for sin. All who came before Him and now all who come after Him are thieves, but have the right to be ‘called’ sons of God or “gods” if you will; because of who Jesus Christ is as the resurrected Savior of all men, who repent and believe in Him as the Christ. The term “gods” is not a reference to deity, but to their roles as governors of the land, not "lords" over it.

. . . saying, "What shall we do to these men?

The Sanhedrin, recognizing that Peter and John were with Jesus who are now doing similar works in His Name, question among themselves if they should allow these men to continue in the Name of Christ. Should they stone them as followers of the blasphemer? How are they to deal with these men when they have literally nothing on them? All that the Sanhedrin has is providential authority over Christ’s disciples, but at the destruction of their temple in the near future, the roles of these “so called gods” are going to switch and the tables are going to turn. But for now the Christ’s children are going to have to drink the same sufferings as He did. In these sufferings and identification with the Christ, Peter and John, earn the right to be called children of the Most High through humilation in His Name.

For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

Again, like Christ’s miracles, the miracle done through the Apostles is undeniable. The miracles were Jesus’s defense of His deity; and now, again, another miracle is the Apostles defense in preaching the deity of Christ; and once again the “so called gods” can’t deny it. Not only was it evident to the council, but to all in Jerusalem. Therefore the council was going to be very careful in how they dealt with Peter and John. There were just too many witnesses in the Apostles favor.

. . . But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name."

The threats of the Sanhedrin needed to be severe because of the boldness of Peter and John. They did not want the Name of Jesus to become greater than their own. This only testifies of their ignorance thinking that they can suppress the Name that heals the lame, the blind, and raises the dead. This is a Name that makes the demons tremble, yet these fools had no fear of God.

James 2:19-20 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! NKJV

Phil 2:9-11 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. NKJV