The action and the words of St. Peter were a double challenge. The officials in charge of the temple resented the assumption of the position of ‘teachers’ on the part of men whom they despised as ‘am hd-drez. The Sadducees were provoked by the proclamation of the Resurrection. The two apostles were therefore put in prison, and the next morning brought before the Sanhedrin. In answer to the formal question as to their authority or commission, St. Peter answered that the cripple was healed ‘by the name of Jesus Messiah, the Nazarene,’ whom the rulers to whom he speaks had crucified, whom God had raised. He then brings together the three thoughts — Messiah’s rejection, the apparent triumph of the rulers, the reversal of their judgment and the exaltation of the rejected One—in the words of Ps 117 (118)*, and declares that in this Name only is there salvation. It is to be noticed that, the first time that St. Peter appears before the high priests, he appeals to that verse of the Psalms by a reference to which (after the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen) our Lord a few weeks before had roused their vain resentment (Mt 214: || Mk, Lk). It was this, doubtless, which led them to recognize the apostles as the companions of Jesus. At length, in spite of their refusal to be silent as to the facts of their experience (439 ; ef. 1 Jn 115), the apostles are set at liberty by the chief priests.
(d) In the next subsection (433--516) the Acts turns from the external dangers and triumphs to the inner life of the Church. Two contrasted cases of the action of the members of the brotherhood in regard to property are narrated—the case of Bar- nabas, and the case of Ananias and Sapphira. In dealing with Ananias, St. Peter exercises the χάρισμα of ‘discernment of spirits.’ When the nilt of Ananias has been proved by his fate, and apphira comes before him, St. Peter is repre- sented as foretelling her doom. The apostle is the Joshua of the new Israel (Jos 718 ; ef. 2 K 525), With this history the words of St. Paul (1 Co 5°. 1 Ti 1”) should be compared.
PETER (SIMON)
Shortly afterwards there ensued among the apostles a fresh activity of the ‘gift of healing.’ In particular, St. Peter became an object of almost superstitious regard to the populace at Jerusalem. And the fame of these miracles spread through the neighbouring districts.
(e) This outburst of popular feeling awoke the envy of the Sadduczan faction (5'"-*). They now, in order to ensure the destruction of this new insurrection aparece their materializing views, imprison all the apostles. The latter, neler from prison, resume in the temple their work of public paehing: sr a by the chief officer of the temple before the Sanhedrin, the apostles by the mouth of St. Peter (1) affirm that they are acting according to a Divine command, which they have no choice but to obey. (2) They affirm the continuity of national redemption. God, who had ‘raised up’ judges (cf. ¢.g. Jg 2! 1% 3°), had ‘raised up Jesus.’ The action of the rulers in putting
im to a cruel death, which seemed to mark Him out as cursed of God (cf. Dt 21%), had been reversed by God’s action in exalting Him both to mle and to delivér, in order that Israel might receive the gifts of national ἐπα κα and national forgive- ness. (3) They rm that their witness to this message was inspired by the Spirit, a Divine gift bestowed, not on Israel’s worldly rulers, but on faithful Israelites who obeyed God’s revelation. By these words the Sadducwan party was kindled to a frenzy of murderous hatred. But in a private conference the Pharisee Gamaliel persuaded them to follow a more prudent policy. They recall the apostles, scourge them, and dismiss them with a command that they should no more ‘speak in the name of Jesus.’
St. Peter’s name does not occur in the history either of the appointment of the Seven or of the trial of Stephen. When, after the murder of the
latter, ‘a great persecution ’ arose and the brethren
“were scattered,’ St. Peter, with the other apostles, remained in Jerusalem.
Thus, during the earliest period of the Church’s life at Jerusalem, St. Peter vindicates the primacy with which the Lord entrusted him. He is never, indeed, represented as independent of the other apostles. But he is throughout the history the leader and spokesman of the rest—within the society of the brethren (1155: 615.) itself, before the crowds of listening and inquiring Jews (2'** 257 312. ; cf. 55), before the Sanhedrin (455: 5%).
2. The urch of Palestine (8'-9*!).—(a) After the outbreak of the persecution, the new, like the old, Israel became a διασπορά (διεσπάρησαν, διασπαρ- éres, 8411), The story of what seems to have been the most important of these enforced evan- gelistic journeys is given in detail. Philip, one of the Seven, instructs and baptizes many converts in ‘the city of Samaria.’ The step was an important one. It involved the admission that pure Israel- itish blood was not a necessary qualification for admission to the Christian society. The apostles, acting together (813), sent the two most prominent members of their body, Peter and John, to review and to confirm the work of the evangelist. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit in this second stage of the Church’s history answers to the day of Pentecost in the first eae But the gift is not spontaneous. It is the Divine response to the prayer of the two apostles, and it is bestowed through their act of ministry. In the sequel St. Peter appears as the sole actor. Simon Magus regards the whole transaction as an exhibition of magical dexterity, and offers to poy liberally for the impartment to himself of the apostles’ secret power. He stands out thus early in the history of the Church as the type of the de-