Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Acts 4:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Introduces priests, temple captain, and Sadducees interrupting the witnesses.
Temple authorities detain the witnesses, and Peter names Jesus before rulers
This verse is one part of that explanation in Acts 4:1–4:12. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Acts 4:1–4:12
Read Acts 4:1 with 4:1–4:12. In isolation, this contribution—introduces priests, temple captain, and Sadducees interrupting the witnesses—can be mistaken for the scene's whole claim, detached from its speaker or narrator, or separated from its outcome. The complete unit establishes: Priests, the temple captain, and Sadducees detain Peter and John over resurrection teaching; before rulers Peter attributes the healing to Jesus, whom God raised, and declares salvation in no other name.
Follow the Context
- Priests, the temple captain, and Sadducees detain Peter and John over resurrection teaching; before rulers Peter attributes the healing to Jesus, whom God raised, and declares salvation in no other name.
- The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The hearing does not authorize antisemitism, contempt for authorities as a class, coercive exclusivism, or evasion of accountability for Christian leaders.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—introduces priests, temple captain, and Sadducees interrupting the witnesses—from Acts 4:1–4:12 or negate the unit's explicit boundary: The hearing does not authorize antisemitism, contempt for authorities as a class, coercive exclusivism, or evasion of accountability for Christian leaders.
What Remains True
Acts 4:1's particular contribution—introduces priests, temple captain, and Sadducees interrupting the witnesses—shows that faithful witness remains accountable to the verse's speaker, narrated setting, affected people, and the complete movement of Acts 4:1–4:12.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 4:1's precise role in Acts 4:1–4:12. Distinguish narrator and speaker, include the first Jewish, Gentile, household, disabled, enslaved, imprisoned, or Roman horizon as relevant, disclose the material uncertainty, and name one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Acts 4:1–4:12 — Temple authorities arrest the witnessesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 4:1–4:12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 4:1-4:12
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 4:1-4:12
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 4:1–4:12
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'The Church Begins in Jerusalem,' Acts 1-4 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 4:1–4:12
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 4:1–4:12, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗