Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 4:13

"Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." — Acts 4:13 (ASV)

When they saw the boldness of Peter and John.—John, as far as we read, had not spoken, but his look and bearing, and perhaps unrecorded words, showed that he too shared Peter’s courage. That 'boldness of speech' had been characteristic of his Lord’s teaching (Mark 8:32; John 7:13). It was now to be the distinctive feature of the disciples' teaching: here of Peter; of St. Paul in Acts 28:31, 2 Corinthians 3:12, and 2 Corinthians 7:4; and of the beloved disciple in 1 John 4:17 and 1 John 5:14. It is perhaps characteristic that the latter uses it not for boldness of speech toward men, but for confidence in approaching God.

The Greek word for 'when they saw' implies 'considering' as well as beholding; that for 'perceived' would be better expressed by having learned or having ascertained. The Greek verb implies not direct perception, but the grasp with which the mind lays hold of a fact after inquiry. In Acts 25:5, it is rightly translated 'when I found.'

Unlearned and ignorant.—The first of these two words, 'unlearned,' means literally unlettered. Considering the special meaning of the 'letters' or 'Scriptures' of the Jews, from which the scribes (grammateis, from grammata) took their name, it would convey, as used here, the sense of 'not having been educated as a scribe, not having studied the Law and other sacred writings.' This word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament.

The second word, 'ignorant,' literally means a private person—one without special office or calling, or the culture that these imply; what in English might be called a 'common man.' It appears again in 1 Corinthians 14:16; 1 Corinthians 14:23–24 with the same meaning. Its later history is curious enough to be worth noting. The Vulgate, instead of translating the Greek word, reproduced it, with scarcely an alteration, as idiota. It thus passed into modern European languages, with the idea of ignorance and incapacity closely attached to it, and so acquired its later sense of 'idiot.'

They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.—Better, they began to recognize. The tense is imperfect, implying that one after another of the rulers began to remember the persons of the two Apostles as they had seen them with their Master in the Temple. These two, and these two alone, may have been seen by many of the Council on that early dawn of the day of the Crucifixion in the courtyard of the high priest’s palace (John 18:15).