Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 5:12-14

"And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon`s porch. But of the rest durst no man join himself to them: howbeit the people magnified them; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of them and women;" — Acts 5:12-14 (ASV)

(12a) As with his summary paragraph of 4:32–35, Luke puts his thesis statement at the very beginning of his treatment. The Sadducees called the apostles to appear a second time before the Jewish Sanhedrin because, in defiance of the council’s orders, they were continuing their ministry among the people, with “many miraculous signs and wonders” being performed.

(12b–14) Luke now speaks resumptively of three groups of people and their response to the Sanhedrin’s warning and to the fear engendered by Ananias and Sapphira’s fate: (1) the Christians continued meeting together in Solomon’s Colonnade; (2) the unbelieving Jews (“no one else”) were reluctant to associate too closely with the Christians; and (3) some of the Jews (“the people”) responded to and honored the Christians—in fact, many men and women from this group came to believe in the Lord and were added to the number of Christian believers. Thematically, the resume serves to support the thesis statement of v.12a.