“The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”
Acts of the Apostles 4:13 NLT
Boldness meaning
willingness to take risks and act innovatively; other similar words are confidence or courage
The members of the council seen that Peter and John were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. Now, this means that they knew they were not prophets They were not people who studied the Scriptures, or who were trained to know every scripture so they were regular men. The council members also realized these men have been seen with Jesus. Again, these men did not study or go to special scholar school to study the scriptures, they wasn’t apart of this council, nor were they rabbis or priests . In fact they were fishermen. In Mark, chapter 1 verses 16 to 20 it tells us how Jesus found them.
16 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon[a] and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 17 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 18 And they left their nets at once and followed him.
19 A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. 20 He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.
I know I said it multiple times, but again the council seen they were ordinary men, doing amazing things by the name of a man whom they crucified.
“But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say. So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves. “What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.”
Acts of the Apostles 4:14-16 NLT
Now the council members are talking about what to do. They can’t sit there and tell everybody that Peter and John are liars, and that they didn’t heal this man because they saw it, everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. So now this would just look bad on them. So the next best thing to do for them was to forbid John and Peter to teach and do in the name of Jesus.
“But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.””
Acts of the Apostles 4:17 NLT
What does propaganda mean?
The definition for propaganda is
information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
So the council members did not want John and Peter, spreading misleading information about the man whom they killed, whom they also believed, was a false prophet they believed he was blasphemous so they did not want these men going around, saying “we healed this man, in the name of Jesus”.
“So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.””
Acts of the Apostles 4:18-20 NLT
No, when the members of the council Not to do anything in the name of Jesus they responded and said, do you think God wants us to obey you him we cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard. This is something that they could not do for one. Jesus told them before he ascended to tell everybody what they have seen. It says right here in acts, chapter 1 verse 8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””
Acts of the Apostles 1:8 NLT
And second, I believe this was hard for them to do because if I was to see everything Jesus had done, I would want to tell everybody I would never stop talking about it.
“The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign—the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years.”
Acts of the Apostles 4:21-22 NLT
So the council threatened them but had to let them go. There was no way to punish them that wouldn’t start a riot . Why would there be a riot ? There would be a riot because the people of Jerusalem saw these men heal a man who had been lame for more than forty years in the name of Jesus. So to arrest or punish these men would start a riot they would have been punished for doing a marvelous miracle.