The presiding officer's interrogation takes the form of two charges, bolstered by an opening reminder of the command given not to speak in Jesus' name (4:18). Disdainfully refusing to refer directly to Jesus (this name . . . this man), the high priest manifests a foreshortened perspective. He charges that by human effort the apostles have filled Jerusalem with their teaching and that they are carrying out a malicious verbal vendetta against the leaders, seeking to bring divine retribution down on them for Jesus' death.

The believers' teaching, however, had been received from their Lord and had spread by God's power (1:3; 4:33). True, they had consistently proclaimed the leaders' guilt for Jesus' death (2:23; 3:17; 4:10). Yet that was always accompanied by the good news of the offer of salvation (2:38-39; 3:19, 26; 4:12). In prayer the apostles had left those hostile to them in God's hands (4:29).

With Peter as the spokesperson and the other apostles indicating their assent (the Greek has apokritheis in the singular, followed by a plural finite verb), the defendants admit the charge of civil disobedience by reiterating the principle that obedience to God takes priority over the commands of human beings, whenever the two are in conflict (compare 4:19-20; Lk 20:25). John Stott well articulates the principle for us today: "If the authority concerned misuses its God-given power to command what he forbids or forbid what he commands, then the Christian's duty is to disobey the human authority in order to obey God's" (1990:116).

Peter answers the vendetta charge by immediately preaching the good news of salvation. He begins with common ground, the God of our fathers (compare another instance where a hostile Jewish audience is appealed to—22:14). He announces that God has raised up Jesus, not from the dead (as in NIV) but onto the stage of human history to fulfill his saving purposes (compare Judg 2:18; 3:9). The one God raised up the Jewish leaders killed by hanging him on a tree (see Lk 23:21). With this language Peter refers to Deuteronomy 21:23 ("anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse") and shows the depth of contempt with which the leaders had held Jesus—they had asked for a death that would place Jesus under God's curse (compare Acts 10:39; 13:29; Gal 3:13; Wilcox 1977). But through the resurrection-ascension, captured in the phrase God exalted him to God's to his own right hand, God has vindicated Jesus (Acts 2:34/Ps 110:1). He manifests Jesus as Prince (archegos; see comment at 3:15) and Savior. It is the messianic Davidic prince (not Mosaic Messiah, as Marshall 1980:120) who is Israel's final Savior (Lk 2:11; Acts 2:36; 4:12).

Savior, like "Lord," is a bridge word that opens the way for viewing Jesus as God. The Old Testament is marked by the parallel themes that God will bring the final salvation and that the Messiah will bring it (Ps 106:47; 118:25-26; Is 63:8; Jer 17:14; Joel 2:32). The apostles reveal that God and the Messiah are one and the same, namely the Savior Jesus (Acts 2:21, 36, 38-40). The salvation blessings he gives to Israel are repentance (see comment at 3:19) and forgiveness of sins (2:38; 3:19-20, 26; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18; also Lk 24:47). Though the salvation blessings are not exclusively for Israel, it is appropriate to proclaim the fulfillment of salvation blessings to the ones whose ancestors had received the promises (Acts 3:26; 13:46). With this good news, it is almost as if the apostles are saying, "We have no vendetta against you. If you would listen to the good news, you would find the answer for your guilt." And that is ever the message of the Christian witness.

The defense climaxes with two claims for the veracity of the gospel message. The apostles declare themselves witnesses, persons with firsthand experience of their testimony's content (compare 1:8, 22; 2:32; 3:15). And they say the Holy Spirit also bears witness. This is probably neither the gift of the Spirit in salvation (as Marshall 1980:120) nor the outward miraculous manifestations that salvation has come (8:15-17; 10:44-47; 15:8; as Krodel 1986:128). Rather, it is the Spirit's indwelling those who obey God, so that their witness is characterized by boldness and convincing conviction. Those who hear the truth either freely embrace or emphatically reject it (4:8, 31, 33-34; 6:5, 10; 7:55; compare Jn 16:8-11).

Who's in charge? In no uncertain terms Luke lets us know it is God who desires to save. What does he want of us? An obedience that embraces the good news and knows the presence of the Spirit.