What does Acts 4:29 Mean?

Context Summary

Like draws to like; Judas went to his own place, and the Apostles to their own company. The best answer to threats is prayer. The Apostles' one petition just then was for boldness. They scorned to ask for their own safety; it was enough if Jesus was glorified.

What a note of jubilant triumph was in that glorious prayer, offered by this threatened little band! They realized that they were under the special protection of God, who had made the world, had spoken by the prophets, and was the Father of Jesus. They thought that more miracles of healing would promote their cause; but, though they did not realize it at the time, their unity, love, hope, willingness to share their goods, coupled with their intrepid bearing, were their most potent arguments. Notice that in their consciousness, it was God's hand that was being stretched out to heal, though their hands were the immediate channel of its beneficent operations. They had been filled before, but they were filled again. It is our privilege to claim repeated infillings to make good our leakage and evaporation. [source]

Chapter Summary: Acts 4

¹  The rulers of the Jews, offended with Peter's sermon,
³  imprison him and John
⁵  After, upon examination
⁸  Peter boldly avouching the lame man to be healed by the name of Jesus,
¹¹  and that only by the same Jesus we must be eternally saved,
¹³  they threaten him and John to preach no more in that name,
²³  whereupon the church flees to prayer
³¹  And God, by moving the place where they were assembled, testifies that he heard their prayer;
³⁴  confirming the church with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and with mutual love and charity