Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 4:20

"for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard." — Acts 4:20 (ASV)

The Sanhedrin decided to impose a ban on the apostles, both to warn them and to provide a legal basis for further action should such be needed (cf. 5:28; see initial comment on 4:1–31). So they called in the apostles and warned them “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” But the council had before it men whose lives had been transformed by association with Jesus, by God’s having raised him from the dead, and by the coming of the Holy Spirit. As with the prophets of old, God’s word was in the heart of Peter and John like a burning fire; and they could neither contain it nor be restrained from speaking it (cf. Jeremiah 20:9). They had been witnesses of Jesus’ earthly ministry and resurrection (cf. Acts 10:39–41) and had been commanded by their risen Lord to proclaim his name to the people (cf. 1:8; 10:42). When faced with this ban, their response was never in doubt; they would continue to speak about what they had seen and heard. Where the Jewish established authority stood in opposition to God’s authority, thus becoming in effect demonic, the early believers knew where their priorities lay and judged all religious forms and functions from a Christocentric perspective.