Last year we covered today’s reading over a five-day period, so I have a number of comments in the links below from reading this chapter in shorter segments.
I am not fond of physical pain so I wince at the thought of the apostles’ being “beaten” (v. 40, ESV). My NASB Study Bible uses the term “flogged” and explains that flogging and scourging were synonymous – that the apostles had received 39 lashes as their punishment for violating the order that the chief priests had instituted when Peter and John had been brought before them some time earlier: We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching… (v. 28) Jesus had warned the apostles of the suffering they would receive based on their faith and service to Him: Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues… (Matthew 10:17). Christians around the world continue to suffer for their faith in Jesus. We need to pray regularly for the persecuted church.
See also: January 17 / Acts 5:1-11; January 18 / Acts 5:12-16; January 19 / Acts 5:17-21; January 20 / Acts 5:22-32; January 21 / Acts 5:33-42
I am commenting on chapter 5 a bit late because I’m behind—just a bit!—on my reading…
The story of Ananias and his wife always makes me pause and reflect. Wow! Serious consequences! For lying about the gift to the ministry, as Fred pointed out last year, not for not giving all of the money.
It is a serious question I ask myself: how much am I lying to myself about my gift of everything I think I’m giving to God? Of my attention? Time? And possessions, of course?
The early church didn’t claim any possessions for themselves, but “shared everything they had” (4:32). It is a considerable example to me, to us.
My two-cents’ worth…