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.
Verses 8-12 describe the Sanhedrin’s response to Peter and John’s address (verses 13-14).
4:13
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.
Verse 13 completes Peter’s address to the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:8-12).
“Educated” does not imply that the apostles were ignorant but that they did not have formal training. The Sanhedrin realized that ordinary men spoke with boldness. They saw men with the courage to speak boldly and authoritatively even without proper training. The word “bold” carries the idea of freedom of speech. Peter and John lost their fear of telling the truth. These simple fishermen with no formal education spoke boldly about the claims of Christ.
And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
The Sanhedrin’s impression of Peter and John was that they “had been with Jesus.” The explanation for “uneducated” men doing what they did was that they had been with Jesus.
4:14
And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them,
The healing of the man born lame was irrefutable. The Sanhedrin had no argument against it.
they could say nothing against it.
The skeptical philosophy of the Sadducees had no argument against the truth of what had happened. The Sanhedrin expressed stubborn unbelief in the face of the miracle. Nothing could penetrate their unbelief. They were in a quandary.
PRINCIPLE:
Boldness is a characteristic of people who engage with the Lord Jesus.
APPLICATION:
One characteristic of Christianity in the first century was its boldness in speaking about Christ. They were people of conviction; they believed what they preached (Acts 2:29; 4:13, 29, 31; 28:31). Bold proclamation of truth is the way to deal with skeptics today. It is obvious when God is at work through His people.
Effective ministry manifests itself when people are filled with the Spirit and speak from the Word of God.
