Bede — Commentary on Scripture

Acts 3:23

But it shall be, every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be cut off from the people. Truly, it should be noted that blessed Peter here did not care to hold onto the words of the Mosaic sentence, but the sense. For it is written in Deuteronomy, with Moses speaking to the sons of Israel: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your nation and from your brethren like me, you shall listen to him, as you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb (Deut. XVIII). And a little later: And the Lord God said to me, Well have they spoken all that they have said: I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command. And whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will be the avenger (Ibid.). For which Peter placed: He shall be cut off from the people, more manifestly insinuating that this is the mode of divine vengeance, that those who scorn heavenly mandates are rendered exiles from the ranks of the elect. And also here, and in many oth…

But it shall be, every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be cut off from the people. Truly, it should be noted that blessed Peter here did not care to hold onto the words of the Mosaic sentence, but the sense. For it is written in Deuteronomy, with Moses speaking to the sons of Israel: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your nation and from your brethren like me, you shall listen to him, as you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb (Deut. XVIII). And a little later: And the Lord God said to me, Well have they spoken all that they have said: I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command. And whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will be the avenger (Ibid.). For which Peter placed: He shall be cut off from the people, more manifestly insinuating that this is the mode of divine vengeance, that those who scorn heavenly mandates are rendered exiles from the ranks of the elect. And also here, and in many other places, where the apostles and evangelists have taken examples from the Old Testament, it is clear that they sought the sense of the Scriptures, not the words, nor did they particularly care for the order of the speeches, so that the matter might be clear to the understanding.

Retractions on Acts

Acts 3:24

And all the prophets from Samuel and onwards. Although the patriarchs and saints of earlier times prophesied concerning Christ through their words and deeds, the proper time of the prophets, I say, is that which began with Samuel, under whom the times of the kings in Judea began, and continued until the end of the Babylonian captivity.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 3:25

Saying to Abraham: And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. From both this testimony, namely that which was given to Moses, and that which was proclaimed to Abraham by the Lord, both his severity and goodness are shown: goodness indeed in those who, having received faith in Christ, deserve to be blessed by him; severity, however, in those who, due to their own contempt and disobedience, are exterminated from the people of the blessed, that is, cast out beyond the boundaries of eternal happiness. But it was said: In your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed, just as it was said in the Gospel: He was the true light which enlightens every man coming into the world (John I). For not all the families of the earth are blessed in Christ, nor is every man coming into the world enlightened by Christ, since many are those who, living in the darkness and curse in which they were born due to the first transgression, or even adding worse deeds, are damned to eternity. But it must be understood that in the seed of Abraham, that is, in Christ, all the families…

Saying to Abraham: And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. From both this testimony, namely that which was given to Moses, and that which was proclaimed to Abraham by the Lord, both his severity and goodness are shown: goodness indeed in those who, having received faith in Christ, deserve to be blessed by him; severity, however, in those who, due to their own contempt and disobedience, are exterminated from the people of the blessed, that is, cast out beyond the boundaries of eternal happiness. But it was said: In your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed, just as it was said in the Gospel: He was the true light which enlightens every man coming into the world (John I). For not all the families of the earth are blessed in Christ, nor is every man coming into the world enlightened by Christ, since many are those who, living in the darkness and curse in which they were born due to the first transgression, or even adding worse deeds, are damned to eternity. But it must be understood that in the seed of Abraham, that is, in Christ, all the families of the earth who are to be blessed are blessed; and by his grace, every man who belongs to the lot of the saints, which is in light, is enlightened: nor is there another name under heaven given to men in which we must be saved (Acts IV). Although it can also rightly be understood in this way, that there is no clan or family of the earth in which some do not receive the blessing of the heavenly inheritance: I speak of those families, or clans of seventy-two, into which the human race was divided after the flood in the construction of the tower. Therefore, in the seed of Abraham, namely the Mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ, all the chosen are blessed, not only those who believed in him after his Incarnation, but also those who, being born in the flesh, preceded the times of his Incarnation. For to all the same man God, ascending to the heavens, opened the gates of the heavenly kingdom, to all he will say on the day of judgment: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom (Matthew XXV).

Retractions on Acts

Acts 3:25

And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The seed of Abraham is indeed Christ, in whose faith the blessing was promised to all the families of the earth, that is, to Jews and Gentiles alike. The apostle soothes the minds of the Jews to make them more prompt to believe, saying that the Healer of the whole world chose to visit and bless them first.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 3:26

To you first (he says) God, raising up His Son. Here it should equally be noted that it is concerning the same Son of God, whom he calls the seed of Abraham, due to the twofold nature of Christ, lest they believe Christ to be merely a man, or one son human and the other divine. By this snare of heresy, the insane Manes and Nestorius were deceived.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:1

While they were speaking to the people, the priests and the magistrates of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, and so on. And the priests and the magistrates, or the temple prefect, as another edition says, who seemed to be the teachers and judges of the people, were grieved that the multitude had flocked to hear the apostles. The Sadducees, however, were grieved because they preached the resurrection. Yet both were grieved because those whom they knew as the man Jesus, whom they had killed, were claimed by them to be glorified by God the Father.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:1

The priests and magistrates of the temple arrived. "Magistratus" should be read in the singular, as is clear from the Greek, where "στρατηγὸς" is written in the singular: for which, in Latin, some Codices have "praepositum templi," while others more correctly have "praetorem templi." For in Greek "praetor" is "στρατηγὸς," while "magistrate" or "chief" is called "ἄρχων."

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Acts 4:4

And the number of men became five thousand. If in the five thousand men whom the Lord fed in the desert (Matthew XIV), the people under the law are understood but were refreshed by the gift of Christ, these five thousand instructed by the apostles' teachings can also signify the people of the Gentiles, who spiritually followed the mysteries of the same law. And both are fittingly granted the heavenly gift in the evening, because when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son (Galatians IV).

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:8

He said to them: "Rulers of the people and elders." In Greek, it includes more: "And elders of Israel, listen." Similarly, in the following, where it is said: "In this, he stands before you healthy," in Greek it is: "Before you healthy today, and in no other."

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Acts 4:11

This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. The builders were the Jews, who, while all the nations were dwelling in the desolation of idols, they alone were reading the law and the prophets daily for edification. As they were building, they came upon the cornerstone, which would embrace two walls, that is, they found in the prophetic Scriptures that Christ would come in the flesh and build two peoples in Himself. And because they preferred to stand on one wall, that is, to be saved alone, they rejected the stone, which was not suited to one, but to two. However, God, though they were unwilling, Himself placed this stone as the chief cornerstone, that from the two testaments and the two peoples, a building of one and the same faith might arise.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:12

And there is no salvation in any other. If salvation is in no other, but only in Christ, then the fathers of the Old Testament were saved by the same Redeemer’s incarnation and passion, in which we believe and hope to be saved. And though the sacraments may differ according to the times, yet the same faith agrees. For the dispensation of Christ, which we know to have been accomplished through the apostles, they learned through the prophets would come. For there is no redemption of human captivity except in the blood of Him who gave Himself as a ransom for all.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:13

But seeing the boldness of Peter and John, and realizing that they were unlettered and ordinary men, they marveled. "Unlettered" is said, not because they were ignorant of letters, but because they were not skilled in the art of grammar. For in Greek, it is more clearly, for this word, "ἀγράμματοι," that is, unlettered, and "idiotae" are called unskilled. Finally, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, where it is written: "And if unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge" (2 Cor. XI), for "unskilled" in Greek it is "ἰδιώτης."

Retractions on Acts

Acts 4:13

Finding out that these men were unlettered and ignorant, they marveled. Illiterate men are sent to preach, so that the faith of believers might not be thought to have been brought about by human eloquence and learning, but by the power of God, as the Apostle says: "Not in the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect" (I Cor. I). For those were called idiotae who, content with their own language and natural knowledge, were unacquainted with the study of letters. Indeed, the Greeks call their own, ἴδιον.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:21

Because all were praising for what had been done. It is better in Greek: "For all were glorifying God for what had been done." And what in our Codices is added, "for what had happened," is not in the Greek. Indeed, "glorifying" and "praising" are often interchangeably translated from the same Greek, which is "ἐδόξαζον," but there is a difference between a deed being praised and God being praised or glorified in the deed. For a deed or word to be praised is to be spread to the knowledge of many by fame, which can also happen with human deeds remarkably done; but for God to be praised or glorified in the deeds of men is specific to Christian piety and humility, with Him commanding and saying: "Let your good deeds shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. V).

Retractions on Acts

Acts 4:22

The man was over forty years old on whom this sign of healing was performed. According to the history, the perfect age of the man is indicated amidst the invincible critics. Allegorically, however, the people of Israel did not only seek the Egyptian impurities in the desert for forty years, despising manna, but even in the promised land, they always limped between the rituals of the Lord and of idols. Or if the number forty signifies the double fullness of the law (for four times ten makes forty), the transgressor of both, like a weak person, lying down, surpasses the forty-like perfection.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:24

Lord, you who made the heaven and the earth, etc. Hearing the threats of the persecutors, they ask for the confidence to resist through the signs of virtues.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:25

Why did the nations rage and the peoples devise vain things? The prophet does not ask as if he does not know but reproves the madness of the impious in astonishment, those who rose up against the Lord the Savior, although harmed not at all by him, rather assisted by many good deeds. He mentioned nations because of the Roman soldiers, peoples because of the Jews. Hence it is aptly said that the nations raged but the peoples devised vain things against God. For indeed, the leaders of the Jews with diligent meditation plotted how they might deliver the Lord to death; but the soldiers are found to have inflicted nothing upon him, to have laid no traps against him, but merely to have obeyed the governor's orders in his insult and death. Hence they are also said to rage, driven by an unskilled and disorderly motion; and since rage is properly of wild beasts, they are rightly said to rage who, setting aside reason, were inflamed by bestial fury. However, that the peoples are said to have devised vain things looks back to what is said about the blessed man in the preceding Psalm: "But his wi…

Why did the nations rage and the peoples devise vain things? The prophet does not ask as if he does not know but reproves the madness of the impious in astonishment, those who rose up against the Lord the Savior, although harmed not at all by him, rather assisted by many good deeds. He mentioned nations because of the Roman soldiers, peoples because of the Jews. Hence it is aptly said that the nations raged but the peoples devised vain things against God. For indeed, the leaders of the Jews with diligent meditation plotted how they might deliver the Lord to death; but the soldiers are found to have inflicted nothing upon him, to have laid no traps against him, but merely to have obeyed the governor's orders in his insult and death. Hence they are also said to rage, driven by an unskilled and disorderly motion; and since rage is properly of wild beasts, they are rightly said to rage who, setting aside reason, were inflamed by bestial fury. However, that the peoples are said to have devised vain things looks back to what is said about the blessed man in the preceding Psalm: "But his will is in the law of the Lord, and in his law, he will meditate day and night" (Psalm 1). For just as he is blessed who spends all his time in meditation on the divine law, so rightly must that people be assigned to perpetual miseries who not only pridefully turn away from meditating on God's law but also, in insanity, frequently engage in meditation against God himself, the lawgiver and their Lord.

Retractions on Acts

Acts 4:26

The kings of the earth have taken their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. It speaks of the leaders of the Jews and Pilate himself; but it mentions kings in the plural because of Herod the tetrarch, as the subsequent words of the apostles testify. Although it can be rightly interpreted by the plural appellation of kings to refer to Herod the tetrarch who consented with Pilate in the Lord's death, as well as that one of the same name and malice who, after the Lord's birth, killed the children in Bethlehem. Even though they did not live at the same time, with the same hatred and wickedness of mind, they took their stand and gathered together with the leaders of the Jews against the Lord. It is also noteworthy that the clauses of these verses are such that the first takes the closing phrase from the second, which says "against the Lord and against His Christ," and the second takes the introductory adverb "why" from the first, so that the position of each is complete: Why did the nations rage, and the people devise futile things against…

The kings of the earth have taken their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. It speaks of the leaders of the Jews and Pilate himself; but it mentions kings in the plural because of Herod the tetrarch, as the subsequent words of the apostles testify. Although it can be rightly interpreted by the plural appellation of kings to refer to Herod the tetrarch who consented with Pilate in the Lord's death, as well as that one of the same name and malice who, after the Lord's birth, killed the children in Bethlehem. Even though they did not live at the same time, with the same hatred and wickedness of mind, they took their stand and gathered together with the leaders of the Jews against the Lord. It is also noteworthy that the clauses of these verses are such that the first takes the closing phrase from the second, which says "against the Lord and against His Christ," and the second takes the introductory adverb "why" from the first, so that the position of each is complete: Why did the nations rage, and the people devise futile things against the Lord and against His Christ? Why did the kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together as one, against the Lord and against His Christ? He says “kings of the earth” to distinguish them from those for whom, while they are pilgrims on earth, the kingdom is preserved in heaven.

Retractions on Acts

Acts 4:27

Against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They interpret the name of Christ, about whom it was said: "And against His Christ" (Psalm II), according to the word. For Christ received his name from chrism, that is, from anointing. According to what is said: "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness" (Psalm 45:7), that is, with the Holy Spirit.

Commentary on Acts

Acts 4:30

In that you stretch out your hand, healings and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy Child Jesus. In Greek, it is rendered as “through the name of your holy Boy Jesus,” which seems to align more with the apostles’ wishes, who strove in every way to make it known that the man whom the Jews crucified, through the signs of miracles becoming evident by his name, having been taken up into heaven, should be recognized as the Son of God.

Retractions on Acts