And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
All Commentaries on Acts 5:27 Go To Acts 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Then stood up the high-priest, etc. As men in high repute, these (the Apostles) were about to take their place near to the Prophets. The Sadducees were they that were most sore on the subject of the Resurrection. But perchance some one will say: Why, what man, endowed with such gifts as the Apostles were, would not have been great? But consider, I pray you, how, before that they were endowed with the grace, they were continuing steadfastly with one accord in prayer Acts 1:14, and depending on the aid from above. And do you, my beloved, hope for the kingdom of heaven, yet endurest naught? And have you received the Spirit, yet sufferest not such things, nor encounterest perils? But they, before they had breathing-time from their former dangers, were again led into others. And even this too, that there is no arrogance, no conceit, how great a good it is! To converse with mildness, what a gain it is! For not all that they did was the immediate work of grace, but there are many marks of their own zeal as well. That the gifts of grace shine forth in them, this was from their own diligence. See, for instance, from the very beginning, how careful Peter is; how sober and vigilant: how they that believed cast away their riches, had no private property, continued in prayer, showed that they were of one mind, passed their time in fastings. What grace, I ask (alone), did all this? Therefore it is that He brings the evidence home to them through their own officers. Just as in the case of Christ, it was their officers who said, Never man spoke as this Man speaks. John 7:46 These (proofs) are more apt to be believed than the Resurrection.— Observe also the moderation shown by (the rulers) themselves, and how they give way. The high-priest asked them, saying, etc. Acts 5:27: here he reasons with them, forsooth, in a moderate tone; for he was frightened: indeed to hinder was what he desired rather than to kill, since that he cannot do: and with the view to rouse them all, and show them the extreme danger they are in, And intend, says he (to the Apostles), to bring this man's blood upon us. Do you still take Him to be but man? He wants to make it appear that the injunction was necessary for their own safety.
