John Calvin Commentary Acts 4:27

"for of a truth in this city against thy holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together," — Acts 4:27 (ASV)

Have met together in this city. They declare that this prophecy was proved to be true by the event, so that they may believe it more assuredly. For the meaning is, Lord, you have spoken it, and we have truly experienced it to be true; and they recall what was done four years before, or thereabout.

Similarly, it is beneficial for us to apply the foretold events to the confirmation of our faith.

However, it might seem that the matter turned out far differently at that time than the Psalm declares. For they did not rage in vain, nor were the assaults of the enemies frustrated when they had put Christ to death; indeed, their violence continued afterwards in a terrifying manner.

The faithful remove this stumbling block, saying that the enemies could do no more than God had appointed. Therefore, however much the wicked supposed that Christ was completely taken away by death and now triumphed in vain, the faithful confess that their rage was ultimately in vain.

But here a question may be raised: why does he call them the Gentiles and the people of Israel, since there was only one body?

I think that the diversity of countries from which the Jews came together for the feast is noted here. It is as if to say that the Jews, born in diverse places and having formed, as it were, a large gathering, assaulted the kingdom of Christ; yet their fury was frustrated and had no effect.

Thy holy Son Jesus. The Greeks use the very same word that I just translated as servant when David was mentioned, for they call πᾶιδα sometimes a servant, sometimes a son. David is so called because he was the minister of God, both in ruling the people and in the office of a prophet.

But this word, son, agrees better with the person of Christ—unless someone would prefer to understand it this way: that Luke meant to allude to the resemblance that David had with Christ when he uses a word with a double meaning.

It is expressly said that God has anointed his Son, so that what is in the Psalm may truly apply to him. For in anointing him, God made him a King. And yet we must also note what kind of anointing this was, for we know that he was not anointed with visible oil, but with the Holy Ghost.